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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:

No, this isn’t post about the song from Frozen. But I mean, it sort of relates. Same theme, really. Letting go of your fears. Sometimes I feel like Elsa is singing a song I wrote. I digress. This post is about letting go of something I have been carrying around for almost 20 years.

I have my BBA in Real Estate. I don’t know if I have ever shared that on here or not. I have worked in real estate to some capacity since 2005 when I graduated college. Real Estate Marketing is one of the classes I was required to take. This class wasn’t so much about marketing, as it was more about psychology. And my professor had me pegged early on. He was determined to break me. I mean that in a good way. I think he saw my potential, but knew that I was someone who held back. He constantly called me out in front of the whole class, and let me tell you…there were only two real estate professors at UWG at the time. So I had him A LOT throughout my years for different classes. It gave me anxiety when I saw I had to take another class with him, knowing I couldn’t just sit in the back and never talk.

Anyways, the final for Real Estate Marketing is quite terrifying. You have to write out your fears on this wooden board, and break it with your hands in front of the entire class. That is it. If you break the board, you pass. If you don’t…you fail.

I spent some time deciding which of my fears I was willing to share with the class. But I also wanted to be true to myself. My biggest fear was not succeeding. I never felt like I was good enough. Not growing up, not in grade school, not in college, not as I was about to enter the work force. I let fear control so much of me.

I had a breakdown last Thursday. Zoe told me she didn’t like me when I had asked her to help clean up her room, and that was the last thing to push me over the edge. The truth is, it was a long time coming. I am sick of the pandemic, I am sick of the political atmosphere and all the vile hate going around, I am sick of sitting at home and not being able to go places, 6 months of our lives just gone with not much to show for. Knowing that Zoe is our only child, and we only get 18 years with her, and half of one is gone and all of the little things that we missed getting to experience. I just want to hug my mom, invite my sister in my house, see my friends in person, take Zoe to dance and let her have play dates. Those are all the things I thought I was upset about. I cried for awhile for all of those things and then after Zoe went to bed, I poured a drink and went downstairs to hang out with Chris and listen to music to unwind.

Then all the rest came out. I don’t even remember what came up. But then I started talking about all this stuff from the past. And how I get in my own way constantly. And Chris mentioned the board from my Real Estate Marketing final. I went upstairs and got it. I knew exactly where I kept it. I was holding on to it as a reminder, I told myself. But really, I was holding on to it out of fear.

I handed Chris the board and said, “This is everything you need to know about me.” And he looked at it and said, “No it’s not. This isn’t you. I don’t even know this girl.” And I just stared at him. And he told me all the reasons I am none of these things. And that I hold myself back. And he walked towards the trash can with this board and I freaked out and grabbed it back from him and said “What are you doing?!?!?! You cant throw this away!” And he said, “Let it go. This isn’t you anymore. You have been carrying your fears around for 20 years and it is time to let it go.”

I stood there staring at the board for a minute…..and then I trashed it. I am none of those things on that board. And I am going to stop letting my fear, my past, the things I make up in my head, hold me back. There have been a few things I have always wanted to do, and I am going to fucking do them. Because I can. Because if I actually just start doing them, I will succeed. If I stop being afraid and telling myself I cant, and just do it.

So I am putting this out there because you have to stop carrying around your fears. For me, it was quite literally carrying them around physically. I somehow feel lighter knowing that this board isn’t sitting in a drawer in my office.

You are good enough. You can succeed.

Chris made sure to take this bag down to the curb right after I threw it away, knowing like a psycho I could potentially go back and grab it out of the trash can. I watched the next morning as the trash truck came and emptied our can. Having no clue what they were hauling off.

October is coming in fast! I don’t know what it is about this past month…but it has seriously flown by. I also don’t know what is going on with the weather down here in the south, but I am here for it!!! We have had two weeks of 70’s during the day without 259385% humidity. A real fall! I saw this week it is going to drop down in the 40s a few nights! I cant wait to smell that crisp fall air!

Thursday was rough. Zoe and I had a bad evening. You guys, they don’t tell you when you are going to be a mom, that your 3 year old will tell you that she doesn’t like you. My bad for asking her for the 5th time to clean up her mess. It ended up blowing into this huge meltdown. The meltdown was me.

So Friday morning started with Chick Fil A!

After work Friday night, we ordered Papa Sal’s for curbside pickup. Chris and I have been ordering from them for years, and we had never ordered a pizza. We always get pasta and salads. We ordered a pizza for Zoe figuring we would try some, it was pretty darn good! Zoe loved it too. We also got jalapeno chicken balls, cheese sticks, cheesy bread, I got ravioli, Chris did chicken parm.

I started reading The Night Swim Saturday morning before Chris and Zoe got up. Usually I wake up early Saturday and Sundays and work until she is up, but I decided to truly take this weekend off. It was magical.

Highly recommend adding a little pumpkin pie spice to your coffee this time of year! I just frothed a little heavy cream and sprinkled it on top my usual coffee. SO GOOD.

I had told Zoe Friday night that we were having a football party the next day. She popped out of bed and selected one of her Alabama dresses and ribbon and said, “Mommy I can take football pictures!” Yes, please!!!

We made breakfast after that, we headed outside to play for a bit. Zoe wanted to go for our Saturday car ride, and Chris was working on some stuff in the basement….so just the two of us went. We dropped off Zoe’s friend’s birthday gift, and Zoe always asks that we drive by Chris’s parents house on our way back. His mom was outside, so we stopped by for a bit and hung outside. Zoe had so much fun.

When we got back, it was time to make snacks for football!!!! It almost felt like a normal Saturday with the dips going and football on all day in the background. A Bama win is always good too! Zoe and I played several rounds of Fancy Nancy’s Posh Bedroom game.

We hung around the house Sunday morning, took another car ride around town, ate lunch out on our deck and watched movies. We ordered The Palace for dinner.

I stayed up way too late finishing my book. It was so good! I joined a virtual book club, and I am excited for our first meeting to discuss it. I like having an access to buy physical copies of a book! Usually I do ebooks, library ebooks or audiobooks. I have decided when I am done with them, I will pass them to my mom who also loves to read.

I hope you all had a fabulous weekend, and that the weather is enjoyable where you are!