My 2025 Black Friday Shopping Watch List

While I’ve never been one of those wake-up-early-and-camp-outside-a-store people for Black Friday, I am quite the internet deal finder. So, each year I make myself a little ‘watch list’ for items that I want to purchase utilizing those Black Friday/Cyber Monday deals.

Here is what I have on my watch list this year:

  •  L.L.Bean Slippers: I love L.L.Bean slippers and have been wearing them for decades. My latest pair of moccasins are nearing the end of their life, even with replacing the interior fluffy insole a few times, so I’d like a new pair. I usually get the Venetian style, but I’m thinking this year I may mix it up a bit with either the Women’s Mountain Slippers, Boot Mocs ($89.95) or the Women’s Wicked Good Slippers, Boot Mocs ($120). They are both pretty pricy, so I’d love a good sale!
  • Dog Hoodie: Here’s the thing, Ollie is NOT a dog who enjoys wearing clothes. However, Cooper might be…! Jack and I have been eyeballing this dog hoodie and if it drops in price a little, I’m going to buy it. And yes, I will absolutely post a photo of how cute it looks on Cooper. So, maybe I need one for Ollie too, so they can match?
  • Nespresso pods: I love my Nespresso machine (blog post here) and I always keep my eye out for pod sales. I already receive Nespresso emails, so I’ll be sure to do a quick check to see if any good deals pop up.
  • Hulu Subscription: We got a Black Friday deal last year, which gave us a subscription to Hulu for $1 a month for a whole year. I’m hoping they are running another great deal this year so we can keep up with our Hulu shows.

Are you planning to do any online Thanksgiving Day, Black Friday or Cyber Monday shopping?

Disclaimer: This post contains ShopStyle Collective links and an Amazon affiliate link. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.

Gluten Free: Quickie Taste Reviews

I mentioned back in August that I was going ‘low gluten’ in my diet to hopefully help with some issues I’ve been having with Eosinophilic Esophagitis (EOE). I *finally* have an appointment with an allergist later this week, so fingers-crossed that they can do all the tests on me to figure out what’s going on with my body.

Since June I’ve been trying out lots of different Gluten Free foods and baking mixes. I gave some of my initial feedback in my August post, but I’ve tried a bunch more options, so I thought I’d do some quickie taste reviews.

For my Gluten Free shopping, our typical store of Aldi is relatively limited when it comes to GF options. I have been making a special trips to Wegmans (baking mixes, pretzels, cookies, noodles, breads), Walmart (baking mixes, noodles) and Giant/Martins (baking mixes, noodles) which have bigger selections to choose from. The Wegmans is not convenient to our home, but there is one by my office – so I make it a point to go by there after work to load up!

Muffin Mixes:

  • Bettergoods Gluten Free Banana Nut Muffin Mix (Walmart) and King Arthur Gluten-Free Muffin Mix (Wegmans) – both of these are really delicious made with 1-2 smashed bananas and some dark chocolate chips. Both of them pass the ‘wow, they taste normal!’ test and my husband and I really like them.
  • Krusteaz Gluten Free Cinnamon Swirl Crumb Muffin Mix (Walmart) – if you like cinnamon coffee cake, this gluten free mix tastes practically identical to the filled-with-gluten version!

Brownie Mixes:

  • Miss Jones Double Chocolate Gluten Free Brownie Mix (Walmart) – this is the only gluten free brownie mix that I think tastes just as good as the ones that have gluten in them. It is thick and fudgy, and I’m pretty sure if I didn’t tell my kid these were GF, he’d eat the whole pan without questioning them.
  • Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Gluten-Free Brownie Mix (Giant/Martins and Walmart) – our preferred brownie brand is the Ghiradelli Double Chocolate Brownie Mix that we get at Costco (it’s four bags in a huge box and lasts us forever), because it’s so fudgy and yummy. I was super excited to try this GF version and they tasted good… BUT I had an EOE flare from them. So, while they do taste good, I can’t recommend them because I’m not sure what in the ingredients caused my flare.

Other Treats:

  • Krusteaz Gluten Free Meyer Lemon Bar Mix (Walmart) – Krusteaz does it again with this lemon bar mix… it tastes just like the kind that contains gluten!
  • Bettergoods Gluten Free Brown Butter Pecan Cookie Mix (Walmart) – I  picked up a box of this mix at Walmart (which has an impressive selection of GF mixes) and it was just ‘meh’ when I made it. I even added some dark chocolate chips to fancy it up a bit, but this mix was underwhelming.

I’m about 90% sure that gluten is one of my triggers (there may be more), so I’ll be continuing on this low gluten/no gluten journey for a while. If you’ve gone gluten free – either by choice or necessity – what are your favorites? I’m taking snacks, baking mixes, bread items that don’t taste like cardboard, etc.

Lucky Brand “Mid Rise Sweet Boot” Jeans: Website vs Reality

It’s jeans shopping time again! Back in February, I had the urge for some baggier black jeans and found luck with Lucky Brand (Lucky Brand “The Baggy” Jeans: Website vs Reality) Well, I’ve been wanting a pair of looser boyfriend-ish/bootcut jeans lately, so I let my fingers go walking over to the Lucky Brand website again.

I found two pairs of jeans that looked close to what I wanted, so I ordered them both.

The Lucky Knd Denim Easy Rider Boot was not a win for me. They were too rigid with no stretch, so they were super uncomfortable when I zipped them up. I mean, they looked dang hot… but I couldn’t ever sit down in them. So, they went back.

However, let’s look closer at the Mid Rise Sweet Boot Jeans:

Source: LuckyBrand.com

They remind me of my favorite jeans from the mid-90’s. Medium rise, fitted in the butt and thighs and then a baby boot cut, which looks great over boots. Or my Doc Martens if it’s 1995.

I ordered my typical size in the color Agate. They were on sale for $62ish (and they often run a bunch of sales, so be sure to wait for one if you order from them!).

And I’m OBSESSED WITH THEM!

The fabric is 96% Cotton 3% Polyester 1% Elastane, so they are mostly rigid with the perfect amount of stretch in the waist, which makes them comfy. Also, the most wonderful surprise – they have super deep pockets. Like, I can fit my entire hand in there up to my wrist! This is basically unheard of for women’s jeans and I even checked to see if maybe I bought a pair of men’s jeans by accident (I didn’t…). So, YAY for usable pockets!

Website vs Reality

Unlike the baggy jeans, I feel like the website photo is pretty darn similar to the in-person fit. I love the darker wash — it’s dark, without being TOO dark — and the boot cut looks great with my clunkier boots. In fact, I may need to get my old Docs back in rotation!

Disclaimer: This post contains  Shopstyle affiliate links. This means that clicking on a link may help me earn a small commission at no cost to you.