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I always like seeing how other people lay out their days. Some people make me feel lazy, and other people I envy for being able to sleep in and go at a more leisurely pace. This is what my current Monday-Friday looks like. (Well, add in dance one night a week for Zoe. That puts us getting home at 8pm, so no bath that nights and I take her for dinner out somewhere in between school and dance so she isn’t starving during class.)

4:00 am – Wake up – I am pretty good about not hitting snooze, since I wake up so much earlier than Chris, that wouldn’t be fair. 

4:01am-4:15am – I usually take this time to wake up by playing on my phone for a few minutes, change into workout clothes, etc. 

4:15am-4:45am – Work out

4:45am-6:15am – Take a shower, do my skin care and make-up, make coffee for Chris and I, pack my lunch, let Mac out, make my breakfast, pack Zoe’s car snacks and breakfast, fill my water cups for the day, eat breakfast, do my hair, get dressed.

6:15am-6:40am – Get Zoe up, pottied (we are potty training and doing really well!!!!!!), sunscreen, let Zoe pick out her shoes and clothes (this can seriously take 15 minutes, why God why?!?!?!) get her “friend” (stuffed animal) of the day to take to school, do her hair and get us out the door with all our stuff

6:40am-7:45am – Commute to daycare, drop Zoe off then continue on to work 

7:45am -4:45pm – Work 

4:45pm-6:30pm – Travel to get Zoe from daycare and travel home

6:30pm-7:00pm – Let Zoe play, usually outside. We take a family walk most nights, play with bubbles or sidewalk chalk, or Zoe drives her Minnie car or rides her bike. Other days when I can tell she worn out, we will watch a movie and color, read some books, play inside with toys, etc.

7:00pm-7:30pm – Zoe eats dinner

7:30pm – 8:00pm – Bath and bedtime for Zoe (Almost always runs well past 8pm, someone likes to get philosophical, needs to go potty three times, get water, needs 11 hugs and 14 kisses, etc. Toddlers, am I right????

The rest of the evening is me cooking dinner for Chris and I, and watching maybe one episode of something on TV while we eat before we pass out for the evening. Usually we are in bed by 9:30pm-10:00pm. 

I feel like I am in a constant rushed state most days, constantly rushing Zoe and I along so we aren’t late in the mornings, or I am not late picking her up in the evenings. When we are home, we only get a small window to hang out before it is eat/bath/bed and I hate that. But I feel like if she doesn’t get to bed before 8:15ish, the next day is hard on all of us!!

I haven’t been around here much the last two weeks. It has just been insane! I was home for maybe three daytime hours this entire past weekend? I am behind on everything! So I will leave you with these….

Is it just me, or has this been the longest week ever??? I was basically done on Tuesday when I thought it was Thursday for half the day. Lord help me! I don’t think we really have any plans this weekend or anything, just glad that the weekend is finally upon us!!!

I need to start doing some meditation or something. My commute will be the death of me this week. Poor Zoe, I need to control my road rage better. Yesterday, after sitting in traffic for 12 minutes on a tiny little country road for no reason, I was already done. Then a car pulls out in front of me and the car behind me almost hit us because we had to slam on our breaks so hard. I started yelling and Zoe was like it’s ok mommy. I was like no, its not ok. That car almost killed us. And she was like, that car needs to go to time out!!!!! Then another car did something to piss me off and Zoe was like ALL THE CARS NEED TO GO TO TIME OUT RIGHT NOW!!! That’s right! They sure do!

Anyways, I meant to post this last Thursday for the link up and I never got around to finishing it. So here we go!

Reading: Ask Again, Yes – I just started this one yesterday, so I am not quite into it. I had been finishing up Spring Fever from Mary Kay Andrews before this.

Watching: We started watching Grand Hotel a few weeks ago, and it has quickly become one of my favorite shows! It reminds me of Revenge in a lot of ways, but takes place around a hotel like Jane the Virgin. Definitely check it out! Update to this Monday, we watched the season finale. Goodness! I love this show!!! Now we are catching up on Ballers, we were a few seasons behind. I cant wait for fall tv to start back up!

Cooking: A few recipes we have enjoyed lately…

Chrissy Teigen’s Chicken Lettuce Wraps

Crunchy Cashew Thai Peanut Quinoa Salad

Working: I have been on a cleaning spree around the house the last two weeks. Deep cleaning everything. Nothing is safe! I have been following this motto…

Planning:I just realized that Zoe’s 3rd birthday is just a few short months out! Time to start planning her party! She wants to have a princess party this year, so that will be a lot of fun! I could go so many ways with it. Watch out Pinterest, I am coming for your black hole!

Excited: Zoe started dance last week!!! I asked her about a month ago if she would like to take classes this fall and she instantly said yes!!! Now???? And I was like well no, classes don’t start until September. She is constantly asking me if it is dance day. She absolutely loves it!

Inspiring:

Laughing:

Linking up with Steph and Jana to talk about books today! I only have three to link up today. I had three books come in from the library at once, had to send two of them back because I knew I couldn’t get to them. It took me awhile to get through Crawdad. I looked at my Goodreads progress for the year, and I am thirteen books behind. I better get serious, right???

One Day in December by Josie Silver

I have been on the wait list for this one since last December. Totally worth it! I absolutely loved this one and thought it was so cute. I felt like the story had a lot of realistic aspects to it, the course of the relationships, the what ifs, missed opportunities, emotions, everything. My only complaint is that Oscar seemed a little underdeveloped compared to the rest of the characters in the book.

Bottom Line: Read it! It was a well written book.

Columbine by Dave Cullen

Columbine happened when I was in high school. It was the biggest event that I can remember following up to that time, besides OJ Simpson. The fear became real when there was a bomb threat and hit list going around my school shortly after. I just remember thinking, how can people my own age do this??? It was really interesting, heartbreaking, painful, etc. to hear the story unfold from this author. He goes through all the myths and things that were accepted as fact, and how the media handled this in a new age of cell phones and such. How different law enforcement agencies handled everything. It was hard to read at times due to the nature, but that should be a given.

Bottom Line: Definitely worth the read.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens

This one started out just slow for me, but then I finally got into it. This is one of those books that is really hyped up, and I get all the hype now. It was a beautifully written book, and I felt the way the author combined the time lines together was perfect. I felt sad and lonely reading it, it is heartbreaking. But there was also beauty and kindness in the book. I liked all the poetry, the vivid descriptions, etc. And then the end!!!!

Bottom Line: Read it! Hang in there through the first half, it gets better!

Currently Reading

Ask Again, Yes by Mary Beth Keane

Long weekends are just the best! I feel like mine was extra long since I worked from home Friday. It started out as an expensive weekend, having to get my front rotors replaced Friday morning. Sitting in traffic too much has warped them. I am just thankful I work somewhere that lets me work from home so things like this can be taken care of, stress free! I also got to sit outside at Starbucks and enjoy the amazing weather. I never get to do that!

Saturday was the first game day of the season!!! Laura and her crew came over, we had all the football snacks, ordered delicious burgers from Landmark, and did some crafts with the kiddos while watching all the SEC games. It was so much fun! Zoe wasn’t a fan of watching her friend leave at the end of the day. We will just have to get them together more often.

Sunday, Zoe and I hit up Target early for some grocery shopping. The rest of the day we spent hanging around the house. We watched Secret Life of Pets 2, and played outside for a good while that evening. It actually felt pretty amazing in the shade after 5pm!!!

On Monday, we took Zoe to the Birmingham Zoo. She kept asking when we were going to be at the beach on the way there, so I got worried she would be disappointed. It took us a few minutes to get to an actual exhibit, but the first one we came to was the elephants. Girlfriend is a huge fan of elephants and she was totally mesmerized by them. If you ask what her favorite thing about the zoo is, she will tell you the elephants. Followed by the train, merry-go-round and rhinos. She has already asked multiple times to go back, and she is carrying around her giraffe and elephant from the gift shop everywhere and will tell anyone who will listen all about what she learned about them at the zoo.

After all that walking around at the zoo, we headed over to Twisted Root for some delicious burgers and fries!

I don’t know about you guys, but I need more three day weekends in my life!!!

You guys, this post has been in draft for a week now and I keep meaning to finish it, but life. You know? Anyways. With the three day weekend coming up, I am going to try to get my life together and get a few posts scheduled for next week, clean and organize around the house, and most importantly….watch a little football!!!!!! After my workout this morning, I looked at our weather station screen and it said it was 58 degrees, feels like 59. I totally had to go outside and see what 59 felt like. It has been forever. Man, did it feel goooooood!!!!! I know it is fake fall. I know for a fact it will be 90 again tomorrow. But let me have this.

It has been awhile since I shared some Amazon favorites. I love seeing what everyone else is getting. Sometimes it is overwhelming looking on that site, because you can find anything you want. I often go down rabbit holes and forget why I originally even opened the app!

Lodge Scraper – These things are genius!!! I am not sure why there isn’t an article about these in every home magazine ever. You know all that hard shit that sticks to the pan? Gone instantly!!! What about that random spot on the counter that you scrub and scrub and still there? Gone!!!! Sticky stuff on the floor? Bye bye! For $3 for a two pack, you cannot go wrong. I use one color for my pots and dishes, and one for other house areas to keep it sanitary.

Leap Frog Fridge Phonics – Biana posted this recently, and I ordered it immediately. We have been working on letters with Zoe. She has been able to spell her first name for quite a few months, but we need to work on the rest! She LOVES this so much! It keeps her busy when I am in the kitchen trying to throw dinner together. It even sings Wheels on the Bus, which is one of her favorite songs.

Mellanni Bed Sheets – Best deal ever. An entire set of sheets with pillowcases for a king size bed that actually feel amazing for $30??? Who knew?? I have had these for a month. They have been through the wash a few times, and we are quite enjoying them. I ordered the navy, but they have a million colors. I plan to order a second set for back up.

Leopard Watch Band – This is my absolute favorite watch band!!! It goes with so many things, I mean, leopard is a neutral after all. This is under $10 and a definite must have!

Air Pump – We have a lot of blow up things. Pool floats, lawn toys, beach balls, ball pit, etc. This works great and gets the job done a lot faster than physically blowing things up!! Who wants to put their mouth on that anyways??

Tea Tree Oil Foot Soak – I have been trying and failing to keep up with my feet this summer. They always get so dry, cracked, etc. On top of that, I am still dealing with plantar fasciitis off and on. It’s a real bitch. I like this foot soak because it has tee tree oil in it and the bag has lasted a good while. I think Steph originally recommended it.

Foot Soak Tub – To go with the soak, I grabbed this tub. I keep the soak and all my pedicure tools inside it in our linen closet. It is super easy to just rinse out when done. I like how deep it is.

What have you got from Amazon lately that you love?