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Here’s a roundup of some of my favorite news and links from the last week (plus a shameless self-plug for #35DaysofConfidence… but only because it’s starting so SOON I certainly have my favorites from over the years (like “A Crown for Christmas,” and “12 Men of Christmas” with Kristen Chenowith), but I’m always down to add a new favorite to the list! she’s one of my favorite authors, and anytime I see a new book from her available for pre-sale or regular sale on Amazon, I snatch it up. I just started her latest book, “Winter in Paradise,” and am devouring it as usual, albeit not quite as fast since this is her first book that’s NOT set in Nantucket (which is kind of her hallmark – all her fiction books are set there, which is part of the reason I love them).

I’ve always enjoyed sweater weather and the cozy feel that fall brings, but especially since migrating to San Diego over seven years ago, fall hits me with a wave of pumpkin-spiced flavored nostalgia for east coast seasons, and everything that the east coast represents for me: especially family and friends. This past weekend, we fit in some time to head to our local pumpkin patch – which isn’t so much a “patch” as it is a lot on a busy street corner in Pacific Beach, but it’s kind of our thing now (it also becomes a Christmas tree lot in November, and you can bet that’s where we get our tree, too! ) But here’s the thing about San Diego – in the time it took us to get our pumpkin and me to write this post (4 days later), our beautiful pumpkin has been carved to perfection… and then destroyed. We even tried a special trick that our neighbor told us about this year that’s supposed to help pumpkins last longer – coating the inside with Vaseline (has anyone else tried this? or other pumpkin-saving tricks? )

Basically you feel like you are sunburnt for a day, and your skin will likely visible peel (also similar to a sunburn) a few days later, but within a week, your skin is glowing and imperfections are diminished. Since I got the highly intensive Jessner peel done at the beginning of July (to let my skin fully recover and see the effects), Monica and I did a dermaplaning treatment a little over a week before the wedding. The Lavelier Marine Evening Repair Cream is basically like wearing a hydrating mask overnight – my skin feels dewy and fresh in the morning, and incredibly restored. –Eye Firming Concentrate: Like I mentioned above, the skin around my eyes specifically gets very sensitive and dry easily, and I feel it the most when I wake up in the morning. If there’s one thing I learned through the wedding skin prep process, it’s that occasion peels are a MUST for revealing your best skin, and reducing signs of aging and sun damage.

Over at Poised and Professional this week, I wrote up a post I’m pretty proud of about living a life that aligns with your greatest priorities. In the last several weeks, since quitting my full time job, embracing freelance life and throwing myself into launching P&P, I’ve had to take a good hard look at how I spend my time. And I’ve discovered that my best days – my most fulfilling, productive, joy-filled days are the ones where I spend my time in a way that’s congruent with my priorities and values. That’s all for today… have lots of blog posts in the works that I’m excited to share with you guys next week!