Nadine

It’s book day! I didn’t get to read a lot this month, but there are a few good ones in the mix! Linking up with Steph and Jana.

Life Less Throwaway: The Lost Art of Buying for Life by Tara Button

This book!!! I highly recommend this book! I didn’t really have any expectations going in, as it was available at my library when I was looking and thought it sounded interesting. What I found was a powerful read about how our culture is today. How companies are purposefully making things that don’t last as long as they used to, forcing you to be a repeat customer. How marketing and advertising really messes with your mind. And confirmation that I in fact don’t need to follow fast fashion trends.

I have always had the mindset that you get what you pay for. I would much rather invest in something high quality that will last a long time over something that I need to repurchase next season, or replace because it goes bad/breaks/doesn’t work after just a short amount of time. And that is basically the point of this book.

The main message of the book is to buy self-curated items that you truly love and fit your needs and lifestyle. And to buy them once, with the intention of keeping them for a long time/lifetime.

The only negative thing I have to say, is I could imagine someone reading this who cannot afford the “nicer, luxury items” that are mentioned in the book. I think she talks about an umbrella that is like $125. I have one from Amazon that is around $25 that is just fine thanks. As my non-stick pans are needing replaced, I am choosing ones that have a lifetime warranty. They are a pretty penny, and maybe not everyone can afford to do that. So I could see how this book might be geared more towards the middle and upper class.

Bottom Line: Definitely worth the read! I took more away from this book than Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up. It has a much more important message.

The Precious One by Marisa de lost Santos

This book is told in alternating views between Taisy and her 16 year old half-sister, Willow. I have never read a book by this author, but she is a wonderful storyteller and has a poetic way of writing. I don’t want to say too much and give away the story, but I enjoyed watching Willow grow throughout the book, and all the complicated, messy relationships between each of the characters.

Bottom Line: I really enjoyed this book, and would recommend it!

The Last Mrs. Parish by Liv Constantine

OMG, this book!!!! The first half of it was moving along a little slow for me at times, and I was getting annoyed. There are so many unlikable characters in it. But then all of a sudden I was like whhhhhaaaattt???? And it got so good. Some of these characters are diabolical! It really makes you realize that things aren’t always as they seem.

Bottom Line: Read this! I promise the second half of the book is worth the slow bits of the first half.

Look Alive Twenty-Five by Janet Evanovich

This is the first series of books that I have ever made it to 25. I just love Stephanie Plum, Lula, Grandma Mazur, Morelli #teammorelli and Ranger. The books really just follow a formula at this point, and I feel the characters really haven’t grown or learned any life lessons that stick with them. Yet their antics and shenanigans keep bringing me back for more. I am in deep, ya’ll. (PS-I never say ya’ll in real life, the northern blood runs too deep.)

Bottom Line: This is a fun cozy mystery series that I can’t quit, not matter how ridiculous certain situations play out.

Well, hey there May! We are just cruising right along through these spring months, no? We had a bit of a rainy day Saturday, but the weather yesterday was absolutely amazing!!!! It was in the low 70’s with mostly sunny skies all day. I live for the few weeks we get like this! Of course, we spent most of it outside playing with all the things and soaking in the fresh air.

I completely forgot about Cinco de Mayo. It sort of didn’t sink in that it was May already for some reason. No need to worry, I eat enough tacos on the regular to naturally have celebrated it! Laura and I went to El Bario on Thursday for lunch. I love that I can walk to this place from my office!! I have been meaning to go forever, and it finally happened! We split the guac, because duh!!! And I got the carnitas tacos. Delicious!!!

On Friday, I met up with a dear sweet friend of mine for lunch at The Pizitz. I got a poke bowl, but was talked in to stopping by The Birmingham Candy Company on our way out. And by talked into, I mean, I mentioned when we got there that I wanted to stop, but I was going to keep on walking when we were leaving and someone decided to “just take a look” and I followed. Best. Candy. Ever. That is all I am going to say!

That night, Chris stopped at Papa Murphy’s on the way home and grabbed a meat lovers pizza, a tuscan chicken pizza and some cheesy bread. It was delicious, especially the bread! I love their take and bake concept and I am sure we will do it again.

Saturday, we spent the day hanging around the house. Zoe and I went outside in the morning to play before the rain come and Chris went to run some errands. During nap time, I purged some more out of our dresser and guest bedroom and did about six loads of clothes. When Zoe woke up, we chilled for a little while being lazy and had fun with play-dough. That evening, the rain went away and we spent a lot of time pushing Zoe’s baby around and taking walks. Alllll the walks.

Sunday morning, my sister and the boys came over and went grocery shopping with us. I did the majority at Aldi, picking up a few things at Target. After naps, we headed outside and took a lot more walks with the baby stroller, played some golf and soaked in the amazing weather.

I had picked up stuff earlier in the week to make Carnitas Street Tacos on Sunday evening, happy accident that it happened to be Cinco de Mayo. That pork slow cooked alllllllll day long and it was falling off the bones when it was time to put together our dinner. Delicious!!!

I also made chocolate chip cookies this weekend, and prepped some veggies for snacking this week. Gotta keep that snacking under control!!

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!!!

I seem to always have good intentions with this link up, but that first Thursday always sneaks up on me! I wanted to drop in and share some of what we have been up to lately, and some favorites.

Favorite Moments: Grabbing a delicious and much needed strawberry mojito. This has pieces of strawberry and mint in it and it was sooooo good. I cant wait to grab another!

Wednesday, I grabbed a delicious cobb salad from Paramount with a co-worker. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful weather. It was nice to get out of the office for a bit.

Wednesday evening Chris was out of town for work, and on my way to pick up Zoe, I decided we would take a little trip to the City Bowls food truck. It was parked in a neighborhood on our way home, and it was so fun to crack open the tailgate and have a picnic in the back of the car. Of course, a random afternoon thunderstorm rolled through, but we didn’t let it ruin our fun.

Favorite Sale: The Sephora VIB sale is going on now! I loaded my cart up Thursday night and cashed in some Shopkicks to stock up! (If you haven’t signed up for the ShopKicks app, use my code: FREE413460 and we can both get rewards!!.) I ordered the Olaplex 3 hair treatment that I am super excited to try. Especially with the humidity and stuff building up! I also grabbed the Urban Decay Naked single shadow. It is the only one that is completely gone in the palette and my favorite every day color. I also grabbed the Beauty Blender Solid Cleanser to use my real techniques sponge. That thing is so hard to clean sometimes, you know?And I have been dying to try the Drunk Elephant Baby Facial, so I am grabbing the smaller size to see if it works before spending $$$ on the full size. I hope it is as magical as people claim.

Reading: Scored The Last Mrs. Parrish from the library. Not sure how I feel about it yet, I really dislike one of the characters. I am pretty sure you are supposed to, though.

Listening: I am really into Without Me by Halsey right now…

Watching: We have been catching up on all of our shows. My favorites are Greys, The Chicago trilogy, Blue Bloods, The Resident and Big Bang Theory.

Lusting: It is rare that I purchase jewelry anymore. I have my staple favorites that I love and are on high rotation. I have a few special necklaces that Chris has bought me over the years, and that is about it. There are a few things I have kept of my costume jewelry that go with “that one outfit.” But this layered necklace caught my eye, and I know it would go with so much!

Laughing:

I think it is supposed to rain some this weekend, so we will hopefully clean out our garage some and I guess I will say oopsy to the yard work! I hope to see my sister at some point, she wants to see Zoe. Not sure what else we have going on. I hope that whatever you are doing, you have a fabulous weekend!

You guys, the weather this past weekend was absolutely GORGEOUS!!!! The kind of weather you dream about. We basically spent most waking hours outside, and I wasn’t mad about it.

We also enjoyed some delicious food this weekend. Friday, I stopped by Edgar’s for the cobb salad, we hit up Parish on Saturday and I was whipping it up in the kitchen Sunday with steak street tacos and homemade spaghetti with Italian sausage.

I wanted to get some stuff done around the house too, but decided that it is going to rain some next weekend…and why waste all that weather being stuck inside?? In Alabama, it gets too hot too fast, so you have to enjoy it while you can!

Since I am posting a weekend recap on a Wednesday night, again, can we talk about the Billboard Music Awards?? I rarely watch award shows anymore. Mostly, because I never know who half the people are because I am old. I am either listening to 90s and early 2000’s stuff in my car, or Disney stuff that Zoe picks. But I happened to tune in tonight, and I am so glad I did. I got to watch Mariah Carey sing and accept the Icon award. How awesome. I have always loved her music, and she looked fabulous! I am stretching my bedtime so I can watch Paula Abdul too!!!

We moved into our new office Monday, and I am still trying to get used to sitting out in the open with 2 of my coworkers staring directly at me. The walls around my desk are only 4 foot tall, and I feel so exposed!!!! However, the openness and all the sunlight that pours through the windows is incredible. The space is soooo nice and there are so many little details that were thought of. Like our water machines have pellet ice. PELLET ICE YOU GUYS!!!! We have a “cafe” instead of a break room now, and that space is incredible too. Plus I am a block closer to some of the restaurants that I would like to frequent more often. And I get to park in a parking deck now instead of the shitty lost outside by the Redmont where no one can seem to park correctly and at least five of my co-workers have had their cars hit in that lot since I started back in November. Not good odds, you know?

I hope you all are having a wonderful week!! I hope to be back tomorrow with a Friday Favorites post. Anyone else have their Sephora carts loaded and ready for the VIB Sale???I am about to do that now!

Happy Friday!!! I can’t believe this is the last weekend of April, the month sure did fly by! Today is our last day in our current office, and it will be interesting to see if we can get the rest of the stuff packed in time! I spent a lot of time planning my projects so that I can get everything turned in and packed on time, fingers crossed!

Favorite Song: It has been awhile since I have shared a song. Probably because I am constantly listening to Moana, Frozen, Barney, Elmo, etc in the car. It was on my heart to share this song, like someone needed to hear it. Give it a listen.

Favorite Moments: Earlier in the week, the weather was absolutely gorgeous and we spent every evening after work/school outside. It was so nice playing with the water table, watching Zoe ride her bike and drive around in her Minnie car. Chris played with his remote control car and we even took a family walk. Of course, the rain had to come in and spoil all that fun last night.

Favorite Purchase: I ordered some reusable make-up remover pads from Amazon. They are a great size, super soft, have pretty colors around the edge and came with a cute travel bag and mesh laundry bag. I love that they are so big, I only need to use one each night. Added bonus: no cotton pieces left all over my face! Do yourself, and the planet a favor and get you some!!!

Favorite Lust: I am thinking about pulling the trigger on these beauties, the ABEO Una from The Walking Company. I am not sure if I want to get the neutral bed or the metatarsal. Anyone have any experience with them?? I read a lot of reviews saying that the shoes are awesome for plantar fasciitis, but no one ever says which ones they went with.

Also, my deodorant game needs some help. Everything I use quits working after awhile. It is so annoying. For those of you who use the Kopari Coconut, do you truly like it??? I feel like the reviews have been skewed by all the influencers who get it for free. Does it last all day? Does it really work? What is your favorite?

Favorite Funnies: