Holiday Spirit

I am ready for the holidays now! I can’t believe Thanksgiving is so close, but I’m happy about it. Thanksgiving has always been my favorite holiday – I’m ready for lots of cooking, eating, napping, and shopping :)

Today after church, Nick and I had to run a few errands, and we actually got some Christmas presents for family! We’re being very creative this year with gifts – most of our family is either cutting out store-bought presents completely or really scaling down so we can save up money to go to Jovenes/Honduras this coming summer and/or send money to the orphanage. I mean, in the grand scheme of things, we don’t need anything. Sure there are things we would like to have, but there are better things we can do with that money.

Anyway, Nick and I found some good deals today on things we wanted to do for gifts, so I’m excited. We still have a lot of work to do, but it’ll be fun making presents together.

After shopping for a bit, we stopped into Panera for lunch.

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Meh? I always have high hopes for Panera, but sometimes they totally let me down.

I got the pick 2 deal, which is good, but half of my salad was soggy greens and there was barely any hummus on my veggie sandwich.

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I love their whole grain bread and the hummus was good, but I would have liked about an inch more  :)

We went by a few more stores after eating to check prices and ended up back where we started. Michael’s has good deals when things are 40% off.

We just got back home, so I’ve got more laundry going and am going to vacuum downstairs this afternoon. Nick’s outside finishing the paint on the dresser – I think I’ll wait to vacuum upstairs until tomorrow when the dresser is back inside. It’ll just be too hard to get to things with my drawers all over the bedroom right now.

I just sliced up my panera apple and am having that with some nutella – yum.

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Dinner will either be a new adventure or leftovers – not sure yet! We’re waiting to see how Nick is doing with the dresser around 6.

It’ll be tasty either way!

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14 comments

  1. i feel that way about Panera sometimes too, but other times its totally awesome!

    hope you have a good evening dear! :)

    http://saladdiva.wordpress.com

  2. I have the same problem with the Panera salads too so I tend to get soup and the sandwich. It is really nice in the winter for the warmth and the crisp of the veggie sandwich.

    I love that you are doing that for Christmas. Hunni and I don’t buy each other gifts or for family so we can enjoy time with family. It’s not about the gifts anyway.

  3. You know, I don’t get all the fuss about Panera either. I always expect good things but it’s not that impressive!

  4. That’s a great idea to scale back on Christmas gifts for a trip to Honduras! How fun :)
    Last time I went to Panera, they skimped on the hummus for me, too.

  5. They rush too much at Panera!!

    Your apple and Nutella looks super amazing! :) What a perfect snack!

  6. I love what you’re doing with Christmas gifts. We feel the same way and have scaled things way back in our family and giving some away to our local charities.

    Christmas is NOT about gifts anyway. The gifts are a symbol of what Christmas means and it’s great to get away from the euphoria of Christmas shopping.

  7. sometimes Panera definitely skimps on the hummus – such a shame!

  8. Sorry Panera let you down! That rarely happens for me.

  9. I get that sandwich at Panera all the time. The trick is to ask for extra hummus — it’s no charge and when you ask for extra they really slather it on there!

  10. Everyone raves about Panera but I don’t quite feel the same. If I’m somewhere I don’t know, I feel like I can rely on it for decent food, but if I know the area I’d almost always opt for somewhere else

  11. Sorry about your Panera meal… I’m not a huge fan but Ari loves it, so we go from time. I always get the You Pick with the same sandwich, too!

    So glad you got the Upwelling package! I didn’t even know you won, but I’m happy it was you, Brandi!!!

  12. I agree with your comment about Panera… sometimes they are great and sometimes they just dont put any love into their sandwiches. I think it may depend on who is making it that day…. its really hit or miss.

  13. I have actually never been to Panera. But I would love to try it! I will keep my fingers crossed for a good service :) hehe
    Making holiday presents is SO much fun! I like to make personalized mini stockings and fill them with mini perfumes, chocolates, and such!

  14. I will be going to Panera for the first time next week–whats your top recommendation?!

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