Happy Hub: Doctor Strange, Moana, Thanksgiving, & More!

I'm confused... November is already over? Has another month really gone by as I slaved away doing homework and not finding time to read??? It wasn't all for naught. There were a bunch of things worth being happy about and I made sure to not forget about them as I worked my butt off.

Tunes:

In an effort to transition from last mont's all-consuming Newsies, I started listening to the Legally Blonde cast recording. With all that was going on this month, it was nice to have a light, fluffy respite. My favorites are Chip On My Shoulder and So Much Better and my second favorites are Serious and Positive but seriously all of these songs are so much fun. I actually have seen a production of Legally Blonde so listening to this cast recording reminded me of being on that cruise.

After what felt like decades of waiting, Olly's album has finally been released! 24 HRS is so so good. Aside from the songs he released prior to the album debut, my favorites come down to, in order of appearance, Love You More, Read My Mind, Better Than Me, Before You Go, and Better Without You. I would also put Unpredictable in there, but I find the message it sends to be questionable. Why does it have to be so catchy?! Literally the rest of the album is in second place. It's so Olly (although there's a song or two that really reminds me of DNCE... watch me listen to DNCE's new album and find songs that remind me of Olly) and it's the perfect music to write to without becoming monotonous. Also, ironically, I find 24 Hrs to be the most forgettable song on an album called 24 HRS. Oh Olly.

Another long-await release, Bridgit Mendler finally has new music out! Her new EP called Nemesis has four songs and I cannot choose my favorite out of the bunch. I feel like Library is the most like me but Atlantis is so new and I love the whistling (and everything else) in Do You Miss Me At All and Snap My Fingers makes me want to, well, snap my fingers. Her sound is so different from the tracks on Hello My Name Is it took a listen or two for me to get used to it before I really started enjoying it but it's so worth it. I personally haven't heard anything like it and I love that Bridgit is able to create what she wants.

I didn't know Train was already making new music again until just last week when I first heard Play That Song on the radio. I immediately recognized it as Heart and Soul and it made me so happy. Listening to it makes me want to wear a flowy sundress and go spin around in a meadow. And, in order to maintain my happiness, it would be a hypoallergenic meadow. Allergies get in the way everywhere except for my fantasies.

Films:

Doctor Strange (x)

I knew very little about the property going into Doctor Strange but that didn't stop me from being very, very excited. I hadn't been listening to the reviews because I wanted to make an unbiased decision for myself. It was amazing. This very well might make it into my top three Marvel movies of all time. I love the way they played with mysticism, magic, and time. Oh how I loved how they used time. The Time Stone is definitely my favorite Infinity Stone. One thing I was kinda disappointed about was the fact that we didn't get a lot of good views of Kaecilius's hair. I want to recreate that ponytail for a #hairoftheweek because it is such a Look. I already want to watch it again. Captain America: Civil War is coming to Netflix on Christmas so maybe I won't have to wait long to see Doctor Strange again? 

Moana (x)

Wow. I have so many thoughts about Moana and every single one of them is praise. The music makes me cry when I listen to it and it suits the tone of the film so perfectly. It was so much fun being able to hear the Hamilton in the music. Bless the universe for allowing me to live at the same time as Lin. Of course, there's more to the movie than just music. I love that Moana actually wanted to lead her people. The more I think about it, the more it means to me. I'm a rule-follower and that she wanted to follow the rules but had to make a difficult decision really spoke to me. We've had some rebellious princesses in the past but it's easy to be like "nah I'm not into that" when it comes to ruling. It takes strength to do what Moana did. I also want to talk about Grandma Tala but I might start crying, she means so much to me. If you haven't seen Moana yet, go do yourself a favor. The short in front of Moana, Inner Workings, is also adorable and funny. And yes, I cried during that too.  

Thanksgiving Break: 

Did I make the most out of my Thanksgiving Break or what? I was lucky to have a six-day weekend jam-packed with as many of my favorite people as I could get face time with. I just talked about the two movies I got to see during my week off but there was a lot more to it.

The first thing on the agenda was another turkey gravy session with Steph. The only problem was Trader Joe's was lacking a very crucial turkey gravy part of the title. We will suffer until we find an alternative. In the meantime, we paired orange chicken and Mochi snuggles with our TV catch-up.

Later that day, I was back with my family and off to Factoria to have dinner at Tokyo, our favorite Japanese restaurant. It'd been far too long since the last time I'd had sushi and it was heaven. It was great having family time and celebrating my dad's 25th birthday (for the 31st year in a row).

Wednesday was Doctor Strange with Mikaela and Steph (see above) so my next event was Thanksgiving dinner with family. I'm sure I went over this last year as well, but we don't do a traditional American Thanksgiving. Instead, we have homemade wontons all night long. It's so rare for our family to get together like that these days so it's such a treat to be spending time with them.

I spent Black Friday at home because I value my life and because I had a lot of work to catch up on. I did do a little online shopping, though. I like to think I have self control, but some deals are just too good to pass on. On Saturday, we got up a little earlier than usually and picked up Mikaela to go to dim sum. It'd been a good while since I'd been and I was craving it recently and when Mikaela asked if she could join us if we were going soon, I siezed the opportunity as soon as I saw it. Afterwards, we hit up the mall to bask in the glory that is the Disney Store and followed it up with a trip to Bambu, a Vietnamese dessert place. It was actually our second time there this week. The first was after Doctor Strange.

My week wasn't over just yet, I still had Sunday to see Moana with Gordon and my cousin, Lauren. I may or may not have accidentally bought some mugs at the Disney Store after the movie... They were the last ones. If I didn't buy them, somebody else would have and I just don't know if I could live with that knowledge.

Miscellaneous: 

Aside from Thanksgiving, I didn't get out much. There was way too much going on in life and in the world. However, I will always make time for a lunch date or two with my brother. This month we checked out the Old Spaghetti Factory's new location and tried their lunch menu. Their new location is a little bit off campus so I considered it exercise as well. A win-win.

Another spot we hit up was the Harmon, a place we have passed a million times but have never actually eaten at. It would've been the perfect opportunity to have Burger #10 but I opted for a sandwich instead. I didn't regret it for a second. In fact, I ended up thinking about that sandwich for two weeks nonstop. Even now I'm still thinking about it... Maybe because I enjoy Cobb salads and the sandwich was a Cobb club. I found it funny that I considered going to the Old Spaghetti Factory exercise but I come to the Harmon and Gordon and I literally had to slow our pace down because we were so full we were getting stomach cramps.

Blogosphere:

After postponing it for weeks, I finally got my first Travelog from my summer travels up! This first one was a lot of fun to write. It felt like I was back on the Norwegian Escape eating all the things. It took me a long time to finish organizing photos and writing my Norwegian Escape Travelog but fingers crossed it won't take me as long for my next two! Keep your eyes peeled for those in December!


November 2016 was a month in desperate need of some happiness. The first half was very taxing but time with friends and family in the second half helped soothe some of that. I'd love to hear what made you happy this month! How did you spend your Thanksgiving? I want to hear about it all. Most of the time a lot of what's going to be in my Happy Hub was already posted on Instagram so follow me over there to get ~early access~ to each month's Happy Hub!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette

P.S. The final #hairoftheweek for this season is on Instagram! Be sure to cast your vote for Fan Favorite ASAP by letting me know any way you can get a hold of me.