Nadine

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! It was a rainy one here, with Delta moving through our area. We spent most all of the weekend indoors, which I didn’t mind.

Friday evening we ordered from our favorite Mexican place. It has been a long work week, and was well deserved. Zoe’s favorite thing is always refried beans. It is the first thing she finishes off her plate, and is always asking for more.

Saturday morning we did a Halloween craft from our box we got at Target. It was $5 for 4 crafts. I cant find it online anymore, otherwise I would share the link. The crafts are so cute, and Zoe turned the box into a spooky dollhouse for her Little People princesses.

That afternoon, we went for a car ride and then settled in for some football. There were some upsets in the SEC this weekend. Sorry Missy! I won’t lie, Chris, Zoe and I were chanting MISS IT MISS IT during the end of the Auburn game. LOL. We got our karma back to us during our game when things were hairy for awhile. We pulled out the big W though, so Roll Tide! Of course with football, comes lots of snacks! With her mouthful, Zoe squealed “I LOVE FOOTBALL!” I made seven layer dip, bbq smokies and we had the Mexican left over from the night before. Took pictures of none of it and went straight to eating!

Sunday morning we had french toast for breakfast and had a slow morning. It was lovely.

The rain really knocked down a lot of leaves in our backyard. Good thing Zoe loves to play with her rake! I plan to put her to work soon.

I declared Sunday Halloween Movie day, and we made popcorn and settled in for some Hocus Pocus. It was Zoe’s first time watching it. I was worried that it might be too scary, or that she wouldn’t be interested in it since it isn’t animated. I was wrong! She sat there and watched the entire thing. She kept commented that she didn’t like the witches, but that they had beautiful costumes. I hope that she always looks for something positive to say about people, even when she doesn’t like them.

We got the candy apple pretzels from Target, but they aren’t near as good as the caramel apple ones from Aldi. I also made homemade brownies and made it a la mode with some ice cream and hot fudge.

And we finished the night off with some personal pan deli pizzas from Publix. To Zoe’s delight, “A whole cheese pizza just for me!!!!” Calm down, Kevin!

And that was a wrap on our weekend. Chris has off today, and I don’t. The real estate world cares not about Presidents Day. I started out this morning with an hour long Heather Robertson workout that she just posted. I had to make up for all the calories consumed this weekend. Oopsy. Got to get back on that train! It was a great workout and I burned over 400 active calories. Definitely check it out! Have a great week!

Happy Friday! It has been a week. Hasn’t it been a week all year? I have been slammed with work, which is better than the alternative, but still, busy! I have also read two books this week, finally got my haircut (it has been a year since my last hair appointment!!) and got a pumpkin cream cold brew (and a cake pop for Zoe).

Favorite Watch: I watched Father of the Bride Part 3ish on YouTube while working this week. It was really short and cute. I loved seeing all the characters again, and how the two babies in the 2nd movie grew up! The way they did it was very relevant to today.

Favorite Purchase: I was mad about the leopard barefoot dreams cardigan selling out quick during the N Sale. But now I am glad it was sold out, because I love this so much more!!! It is soft, love the color and print, and it fits perfectly. (This runs large, I sized down.) The best thing, the price!!!

Speaking of great finds, I have the hardest time with tshirts. They are always SO long on me. I have the shortest torso ever. I found these boyfriend tshirts at Walmart for under $10. They are super soft, the perfect length on me, and come in lots of colors and even stripes. I find they run true to size, and you can size up one if you really want the oversize fit and to get a little more length. I have rose blush, amber green and white with black stripes. Perfect for every day around the house or running errands with a casual look. If you have a really long torso, these may be too short for you.

Favorite Recipe: I have made these skewers twice, and I really love them. They are delicious and low carb friendly.

Favorite Workout: I am awful about training my abs. I just hate ab work so much. I found this Lily Sabri 5 minute video that I did every day this week. The first day about killed me, and I felt myself getting stronger each day. While I don’t think that you can get abs in 7 days, or any other attention grabbing thing Lily’s videos claim…they are great to do a few to make a full workout, or do one on a morning you don’t have a lot of time and just want to get some type of movement in.

Favorite Funnies:

Time to share some of my recent Amazon purchases! I love Amazon link up day with Tanya! As always, I have a super random mash up of items.

LED Candles

I don’t really buy a lot of candles for our house, since most bother Chris’s allergies when I burn them. It’s sad, I know. One of my favorite things about candles is the ambiance that they give off. I found these LED remote controlled candles on Amazon. You get eight, two of each size, and you can turn them on and off and change the dimness and flicker with the remote. I am obsessed! Zoe was so excited when she saw them, she asked to keep one in her room too. I have them scattered all over the house now. I cant wait to use them in holiday decor too!

Folex Carpet Spot Remover

I jumped on the Folex train after seeing so many people rave about it. I really got it to see if it could help get the stains off our outdoor furniture. I have no clue what got on it??? Long story short, it didn’t work for that. But it is a great carpet stain remover to have on hand for regular carpet stains!

Isotoner Slide Slippers

Apparently, I can’t walk around barefoot for 6 months. My feet have been KILLING me lately. I have a pair of Ugg slippers that Chris got me for Christmas last year. They are so cute and I love them. However, they are way too hot to wear unless it is freezing outside. And honestly, the bottoms are flat and pretty hard. They don’t help my current pain situation. I found these super cute slippers that have memory foam. They are so soft and don’t make my feet too hot for daily wear. I love that the bottoms have a real sole on them, so you could wear them outside if you needed to.

Pilot V7 Pens

I am a pen snob. When I find a pen I like, I buy it over and over until I can no longer find it. And then I am sad and lost and try a million until I find my next “it” pen. I think I originally picked a pack of these up at Walgreens one day when I stopped to grab a diet coke on the way back to my office. It was love at first strike to paper, and I wont write with anything else. My one lonely pen that was left from a year ago, died a tragic death this week. I took to google to find some. Thank you Amazon!!!

Operation

Chris got me Operation as part of my birthday present because I love playing games as a family. Such a fun, classic one!

Counting/Sorting Bears

This set is so perfect for a toddler! You can do so much with them. You can start with sorting colors, and learning motor skills with the big tweezers. Then when they are older, they can start counting bears, working on patterns, addition and subtraction, and they even have model cards to build things with the cups and bears to follow instructions. Such a great investment with tons of lessons you can build around them! I love that this comes with box to store them all in too. We have used these in so many different lessons, and Zoe just likes to play with them as well.

Jumbo Colorful Eyedroppers Set

This dropper set has been the talk of lessons lately in our house. We did an experiment with baking soda and vinegar in a muffin tin, mixed food coloring to learn about colors and just sensory play pouring them in and out of different things. These are the perfect size for smaller hands (and adults too!) Zoe loved that they were all different colors and had their own stand to keep them in. Which is great for when she didn’t empty them all the way. They weren’t leaking all over the table.

Little Kingdom Disney Princess Royal Friends

Do you know how hard it is to find the “friends” of the princesses??? Zoe has been obsessed with Rapunzel and wanted her own Pascal to play with her dolls. They made a stuff beanie size, but she wanted ones to fit in the doll house. This set is perfect, because you get so many friends in one! Plus it came with a Rapunzel doll, and skirt and animals on her detach to change up the outfit. Zoe has been all about her smaller toys and independent imaginative play lately. This was a great find!!!

Kinetic Sand Sandisfying Set

Zoe is a big fan of kinetic sand. We have a sensory bin that we do often with a bag of kinetic sand and some safari animals that we bury, and she digs up. I wanted to do more with the sand, and this is the perfect kit! You get 2 bags of sand (red and blue) and a ton of tools to do all kinds of fun things! There are circle and square shaped ones, as well as cutters, squishers and molds. I had just as much fun as Zoe doing all kinds of things with it. Would make a great gift!

DenTek Kids

Our dentist recommended these flossing sticks to us when Zoe was 2, and we have been buying them ever since. I had normally just grabbed a bag at Target when needed, but these are such a better deal on Prime!!! One bag at Target is around $3, and you can get six bags on Prime for less than $10. Zoe loves the colored ones, getting to “pick” one each night based on her mood gives her the feeling of control. These are great for reaching far back in her mouth with no issues.

LOL Advent Calendar

I know some people think it is early to start shopping for Christmas, but this year I am not taking any chances. I want to make an advent calendar a part of our traditions with Zoe, and I thought this LOL one would be the perfect for her elf to deliver on December 1! You get a doll, and each day you open an outfit or accessory to go with her. How fun is that??? We don’t have any LOL stuff, so I figured it would be something new and exciting.

Have you started your Christmas shopping yet? What is on your wish list? What are you planning on getting for the kiddos?

The first weekend of October is in the books, and it was a gorgeous one! I don’t think I ever remember a time living in the south where we have had such gorgeous weather for so many days in a row! Every day I cherish any moment I can be outside to soak it up. Seriously a blessing in such a weird year.

I tried to work a little less on Friday to make up for how much I had worked earlier in the week. Zoe and I spent a lot of time outside Friday before lunch.

While I was working, she did a lot of coloring and drawing, and pulled out some toys she hadn’t played with in awhile. She has been obsessed with these peep bunny ears lately. So funny, because we bought them 2 Easters ago I think?

We started the weekend out right with Family Savvy’s Paleo Pumpkin Pancakes. (She is a Birmingham local, and has the BEST recipes!) You guys, these things are INCREDIBLE!!!! I don’t care if you area paleo, a pancake fan, a pumpkin fan, any or none of the above…I cant imagine anyone not liking these. Her recipe has a maple pecan butter in it, and that is not to be skipped. I could have just ate that butter right out of the food processer when it was finished. And I mean…I did. Since the recipe calls for 1/2 a can of pumpkin, we made this both Saturday and Sunday. Each time I made 7 perfect pancakes, and had just enough maple pecan butter both days without leftover. All three of us licked out plates clean both days. Seriously, a new favorite and a weekend morning game changer.

After breakfast, I got some football snacks in the crockpots (cheese dip and bourbon keilbasa) and we played outside for awhile. We then headed out for our Saturday car ride around town. When we got back, I threw together Family Savvy’s Whipped Feta dip and made some pigs in a blanket too. Zoe cackled at the name and loved helping me roll the lil smokies in the crescent rolls.

We watched the Alabama game and had an ice cream sandwich party too! We basically slaughtered Texas A&M….still making them pay for that loss 8 years ago.

After that, we watched the Bulldogs walk all over Auburn. A real pleasure to see. So a good day for football in this house! Zoe and I played a game of Fancy Nancy that didn’t seem to ever end. It is such a fun game though!

We had gotten some items delivered from Publix, and I couldn’t help but order some sushi. Our favorite local place doesn’t do curbside or partner with any of the delivery services, which is such a shame. Thank goodness for Publix!

Sunday morning, we were up and outside all morning after breakfast. We then took a car ride and headed to downtown Birmingham! It was a nice change of scenery, since we haven’t been since March. It was so weird seeing all the tall buildings in the distance as we headed down I-59. We drove by Chris’s office building and a few other spots. I saw some buildings that we worked on have broken ground. There was a flurry of activity going on in Lakeview, and no one walking around near the Pizitz. So weird.

Sunday afternoon, I finished reading a book (His Only Wife), caught up on some magazines, made homemade guac and we had roast beef sandwiches with Au Jus for dinner.

Back to reality this morning. I made an effort to not open my work laptop all weekend. It felt so good to just wake up and not worry about trying to sneak some work in before Zoe woke up. Much needed for my sanity. I am ready to tackle the week head on now. Or at least until my first meeting. Ha! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

It is officially October, can you believe it???? Linking up with Kristen!

Reading: His Only Wife by Peace Adzo Medie

Watching: I mentioned last week, but I highly recommend watching This is Paris. You can watch the whole thing free on YouTube. I learned so much about her that I didn’t know. I cant imagine how hard some of the stuff she has been through was.

Buying: I love cardigans that are basic neutral colors that you can wear with anything, but offer a texture or style that makes them interesting. I grabbed this super cute cardigan. This has texture, big grandpa style buttons and the big sleeves. I love that you can wear it dressy as an alternative to a blazer, or more casual with jeans.

Working Out: This is a fabulous upper body strength workout! Definitely grab a few different sets of weights before you start. I used 5 lb, 8 lb and 10 lb. I really need to get a 15 and 25 lb dumbbell set. Strength training is my favorite. I always try to take a quick walk around the neighborhood after to get in a cardio burst too. Nothing is better for my mind (and body) than a quick morning walk!

Creating: Anyone else obsessed with the new widgets in the iOS update? I watched a quick YouTube video to quickly figure out how to do some things with them. I am still working on it, it really takes a lot of time moving apps around and creating new images, etc. But I am loving how clean my home screen is so far! I know what I want to do with my app images, just haven’t had time to sit down and create them yet.

Planning: Since I am going to be working from home full time indefinitely, I really want to finish up my office and make is super functional. I have a huge window that lets in amazing natural light during the day. Now that it is darker in the mornings when I start work, I wanted a little something cozy. I ordered a little lamp from Target last week, I think it looks really cute.

I haven’t hung anything on the walls in there yet. Honestly, I am waiting for a trip to HomeGoods to be able to pick out a few things. I ordered this mommy and me print from Nordstrom Rack last month, and have my eyes on a few other pieces. (For now it just sits on the credenza behind my desk.)

I am thinking about putting a round table in the corner with some cute chairs. I would love a place to work on crafts, scrapbooking, put together a puzzle, spread out ideas, whatever. It would also be nice to have it in here for when Zoe is hanging out with me. Currently, she sits at a book shelf with her little vanity chair. It is totally cute, but the shelf isn’t functional for that, you know?

Excited: While it is hard to get excited about things these days when there is no plans to be made, no where to go, etc. I am excited that we are experiencing some fall weather over here! I am also excited about the egg hunt that I have planned for Zoe for Halloween! I grabbed up some super cute stuff (and candy of course) and hope to make the day special for her. I also grabbed a few extra Halloween buckets for us to drop off to her 3 best school friends. She always loved sitting down and making up treat bags for her school and dance friends. Since we cant do that this year, I thought we could at least surprise her three besties with a “boo bucket” on their porch!

Laughing: