Friday Favorites.

It's Friday, already?!  I think because of yesterday's holiday today really came quick.

1. Sean and I went on a bike ride yesterday.  It was lovely, but hot.

2. My shoulders got a little sunburned because of said bike ride.  The sun really made me tired though and I slept really great last night.

3. This is so funny to me.

via QuickMeme

4. Also, this is funny because I love Pride and Prejudice so much.  Not to be confused with my Mr. Collins of course.

via Period Drama Love!

5. I think I'm going to stay home all weekend.  There is a festival going on in my neighborhood and it's insanely busy.  Driving the car anywhere is a no-go because they block off the road to get to our parking lot.  Annoying.  I love where we live, really I do, but when it's nice and there's things going on in the park it gets a little crazy.  And then I don't like living where we do.  Win some and lose some I guess...

Happy weekend to you!

Friday Favorites.

On Sunday.  I had a busy weekend.

1. I'm an aunt for the third time to a beautiful niece.  She is quite adorable and I can't wait to see what her personality is like when she gets older.

2. I was in a friend's wedding on Friday afternoon/evening.  It was fun and nice to see some people from college.

3. I was hungover yesterday.  No bueno.

4. I made chocolate chip cookies this afternoon for Sean to bring to a work picnic this evening. 

5. I'm in the process of cleaning our apartment.  Currently, the kitchen floor is almost dry and then all I have left to do is dust.  Dusting is what I do last when I clean so sometimes I half ass it and it is starting to show.  I need to get it together. 

Have a nice rest of your weekend!

Friday Favorites.

1. I got a haircut a couple days ago.  I'm not sure how I feel about it yet.  The only person who could ever cut my hair exactly the way I wanted is 147 miles away.  That a long drive for a haircut and I wish there was some way to justify it, but alas, there is not.

2. Most days I legitimately have to think about how old I am because I can't remember if I'm 25 or 26.  Sometimes, I have to do the math.  I'm 25 and this should not be happening.  Is this normal?  Sean says it happens to him too.

3. It's been a long week at work, so I'm looking forward to sleeping in tomorrow.  Assuming this furball will let me...

My baby Boots

4. Sweet Jesus, the girls that live above us are incredibly loud.  I'm pretty sure someone and/or something is about to fall through out ceiling.  Hopefully next year at this time we won't have people living above us.

5. I registered for the Minnesota State Fair Creative Activities competitions.  I registered 14 lots so far this year.  I think I'm going to be the lady that needs a wagon or cart to carry everything in to the drop off.  I don't have to make everything for these 14 lots, but I wanted to register at least since there is a registration cut off in August.  Now comes the time where I begin to taste recipes.  The guys at Sean's work love when there are treats, so a lot them will be going there.

Well, I think I'm going to go and bake something.  Have a nice weekend!

Friday Favorites.

1. Impromptu pedicures with a friend from work today.  My feet are extremely ticklish and it turns out, so are hers.  We laughed and had a good time.  And yes, of course I got bright pink on my toes.  Also, my feet are so smooth!

2. I received my June Birchbox a couple days ago.  I got an awesome lip color from the Laqa & Co Lil' Lip Duo.  It's bright pink, so obviously I love it.  The past two mornings before work I swiped it on the lip color lasted all day at work.  I'm impressed with it.  I am definitely going to be ordering the full size duo from Birchbox so I can try out the second color!

3. I just finished reading Sisterhood Everlasting, the fifth book in the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series.  It was fantastic and a great ending to wrap up the whole series.  I'm looking for more books to read this summer, so suggestions are welcome.

4. I'm going to attempt to make peach cobbler tomorrow.  We'll see how that goes...

I can't think of a number five, so we're calling it as four being close enough.  I'm going to take a nap or at the very least, fall asleep on the couch until Sean gets home from work.

Enjoy your weekend!

Friday Favorites.

Let's jump right in, shall we?

1. I forgot to mention that I found a BETTER sewing machine at Goodwill.  A couple weeks ago, I stopped in and saw it with a $24.99 price tag on it.  More than I wanted to spend.  Then, last week I went in and it was still there along with another one.  There was no price tag on the one I had wanted a few weeks prior.  Sad face.  So, I asked an employee how much it is.  She verified no one else in the store was buying it and then slapped a $9.99 price tag on it, the same as the one right next to it on the shelf.  Lovely!  I did have to order a power cord off Ebay, but it works like a dream.  I donated the first one I found back to Goodwill over the weekend.

It's  Necchi 4575

2.  I made curtains for our guest room out of the lovely table runners Barbara, my mother-in-law, made for our wedding.  One of the first wedding things I pinned on Pinterest was of some beautiful fabric that I love.  I took two table runners and sewed them together.  Very basic curtains, but I love the fabric so much and I'm happy to have it hanging up in our home.  Picture shown below.  The left curtain is tucked back so Boots can sit on the dresser and look out the window.  She watches cat T.V. every morning while I get ready for work.

Kind of dark, but you get the idea.

3.  I'm totally turning a pair of too short pants into capris this weekend.  It will be lovely!

4.  I just got the mail and the Pyrex Barbara was mailing to me arrived.  So exciting!

5.  I'm looking forward to Saturday -- tomorrow.  I have some gardening (weeding, thinning out plants) to do so hopefully the rain will hold off for at least a couple hours.  It's been raining so much!  I don't mind because I haven't had to water my garden very much, but I'd like for it to actually be sunny outside and have blue skies.

What are you up to this weekend?

Friday Favorites.

Where has this week gone?!  It was just last Friday, I swear.

1. A couple weeks ago I talked about a coconut oil hair treatment.  Last night, I tried it out.  Yes, I think my hair was more hydrated, but by this morning it felt basically the same.  Other than making a huge mess in my bathroom sink and counter, it didn't really do much.  Maybe give it a go and test it out for yourself?

2. I'm going to try making these, spicy roasted chickpeas.  Last night I went grocery shopping and bought a couple cans of garbanzo beans to test it out.  I found this recipe on Pinterest months ago, but haven't gotten around to making it yet.  The pin had suggested using ranch seasoning instead of a spicy seasoning and that sounds delicious. 

3. This was totally me last night hauling in groceries:

some ecards

Sometimes, I like to use my big blue IKEA bag to carry in multiple grocery bags.  I throw that on my shoulder and then carry everything else with my hands.  The crappy thing is, there are a total of 4 doors and 16 stairs from my car in the parking lot to the inside of my apartment.  Yesterday, it was rough and I thought for sure I wasn't going to be able to carry everything in.  But, I did it like a champ.  Grocery shopping is easier when Sean is there to help carry in everything.

4. Have you heard of Target's Cartwheel?  It is a customer loyalty program where you select items to receive 5 or 10 percent off of at the register when the cashier scans your bar code.  I used it for the first time last night.  Using that I had saved only $1.29 with Cartwheel, but I was able to use mobile coupons as well as Target and Manufacture coupons.  All in all, I think I like Cartwheel because it is saving us money in the long run.  For example, I picked up some Clear Men Scalp Therapy shampoo for Sean.  Each bottle was marginally $5.19.  Well, Cartwheel took off 5 percent off the original price, so making it $4.93 a bottle.  Then, I had a manufactures buy one get one free coupon and the cashier took off the original $5.19 price.  Next, I had a mobile coupon for $2 off one bottle making my grand total drop from $10.38 for two bottles of shampoo to $2.93.  I felt it was a win in my book.  Check out Cartwheel if you're an avid Target shopper!

5. I'm thinking about working some more on de-cluttering and downsizing material things in our apartment.  Sean and I love where we live, but next year I know they're going to raise the rent - yet again.  And I've had enough of it.  Our rent is $75 more a month than it was when we first signed our lease.  This is our third year here and we love it, but it will just be getting too expensive.  I'd like to find a house to rent at a decent price or we may have to consider downsizing back to a larger one bedroom apartment.  If we go back to a one bedroom apartment, we have too much stuff, so we'll see what happens.  It's a good thing we have until spring 2014 to figure this out! 

Have a nice weekend!  Hopefully the sun comes out.  My garden appreciates the rain, but I definitely do not right now.

Friday Favorites.

1. I got my hair done last night.  It is the most blonde my hair has ever been and I love it.  I told Sean that it's like he's with another woman.  I thought I was funny but he wasn't amused.  Men.



Blonde!

2. Buzzfeed's 33 Unwritten Rules to Follow.  Hilarious and I completely agree!

3. Sean and I are going to a wedding tomorrow.  It's in South Dakota and I'm really excited to see my friend get married.  It will probably bring back memories of our own wedding, so that should be fun too. 

4. You've all heard of Jergen's Natural Glow, right?  It came out when I was in high school and I can remember using it, but it had a very distinct self tanner smell.  I used it on and off in college and put up with the smell.  I don't know about you, but my Super Target gives out samples of things (usually food) on Saturdays and Sundays between 11 a.m. and 2 p.m.  I couple weekends ago when I went there I was given a sample of Jergen's Natural Glow, but now they've made it without the smell.  I've used it and loved it.  My sample size bottle is basically gone and I'm going to run to Target today to get more.  I know, I know.  For someone that doesn't like to use a bunch of chemicals on my skin this is really crappy for me.  But I'd rather not have skin cancer.  Have I mentioned my recent mole removal?  No?  Well, that is a whole separate post.  I'll go into more detail later.  :)

5. It's Friday before a long weekend, so I need something to bump on the radio.  Enjoy. 

P.S. You're welcome for getting that song stuck in your head. 

Friday Favorites.

1. eos Shave Cream.  A friend from work told me about this and I love it.  It doesn't lather like other shave creams, but instead is almost lotion consistency.  It makes my legs super soft and smooth.  At Target, it is about the same price as other shave creams I've used.  I recommend it!

2. I'm going to my parent's house this weekend, this afternoon really.  I'm super excited because Sean and I haven't been there since January.  Sean has to work, but that just means I get to sleep in my childhood bed in the middle.  Just like I used to. 

3. I'm going to attempt making homemade deodrant soon.  A quick Pinterest search says this is totally possible.  I know it sounds kind of crazy, but I have most of the ingredients already anyway.  The only thing I need is coconut oil, which I am out of anyway.  Most recipes I've seen call for coconut oil, baking soda, corn starch, and any essential oils you want.  A few drops of tea tree oil help because it's anti-bacterial.  I've heard peppermint oil gives it a nice clean scent.  I have the tea tree oil, but will need to find some essential oil somewhere.  I'll do a post about making it and then let you know about my results.  I'm trying to make as many natural products as possible and not use any unnecessary products and chemicals.  We'll see how it goes.

4. Speaking of coconut oil, I've heard that if you melt a few teaspoons of cocnut oil and then put it on your hair for 30 minutes, then wash, it really moisturizes dry, damaged hair.  I'm going to give it a go once I remember to pick up some coconut oil from Trader Joe's.  Maybe this weekend or early next week.

5.  I'm going to leave you with a video of a song that I've been into lately.  The Current plays it and it's on Live Current volume 8 which I got when I became a MPR member in October.  Anyway, enjoy the song!  I know I do.

Have a nice weekend!

Friday Favorites.

1. Friday night phone calls with Charlie.  I like to ask him questions and can sometimes understand his answer.  I still love it even if I can't understand.  Every time I talk to him he knows so many different words.  The evolution of speech of a toddler is absolutely amazing. Also, I told him to tell Daddy that they are making breakfast for Becky on Sunday.  I'm not sure if he's going to relay the message, so I told Becky.

2. I made these sugar cookie squares today to bring to Sean at work.  He texted me and let me know that they were a, "BIG hit and everyone loves them."  Next time, I need to remember to bake them a few minutes less.  They got a little dried out, but overall, super easy recipe!

3. Have you heard of the Diamond Candles?  There's a diamond ring in every candle.  It sounds interesting.  I'd like to buy one sometime and try it out.

4. My May Birchbox came today!  My favorite item is the Sumita Color Contract Eyeliner in black.  It's supposed to be super long wearing, so I can't wait to test it out.

5. My sewing machine.  Now, I need to decide what I'm going to make first.  There's so many options!

Sorry this is later than normal.  I'm going to go back to the couch and nurse my cold that blind sided me yesterday afternoon. 

Also, happy Mother's Day to all of the mothers out there.  Especially to my mother, the best mother I have.  :)  No, she's actually the best mother in the world.  Have a nice weekend!

Friday Favorites.

It's Friday, yay!  This week has been felt super long, but has went by pretty quickly.  Does that make sense?  No?  Okay!  Work has been pretty busy for me this week. 

1.  e.l.f. Studio High Definition Powder.  I picked this up from Target earlier this week and I'm in love.  I got the translucent (white) and it seriously smooth the look of fine lines.  I know what you're thinking, "Fine lines?  At your ripe old age of 25?  Yeah, sure."  But seriously!  I'm starting to get fine lines and wrinkles by my eyes a bit and one giant wrinkle on my forehead.  This powder makes my face look so smooth!  Also, it makes my pores look tiny.  AND for only $6, you gotta holla!  Seriously, ladies.  If you are looking for a powder to really set your make-up, look no further.

2. Can we talk about how amazing these cups are?  I have two of them, one purple one at home and a teal one at work.  At work especially, I try to drink at least 4 daily.  I notice my skin feels a lot better and looks more hydrated when I've drank at least 60 ounces of water a day.

3. Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls, So I Will.  This has been floating around the internet/Pinterest.  It talks about being comfortable with your own body image.  It's pretty fantastic.

4. Gardening!  It's happening this weekend.  I need to clean up my garden plot, stat.  There's a bunch of leaves and debris that blew into over the winter.  My community garden officially opened last weekend.  On Saturday there was the mandatory work day and it was fun!  My arms got a little sun because I didn't think about sun screen.  Silly me.  Then, Sean and I put the fence up earlier this week.  I planted tulip and daffadil bulbs last fall which the bunnies (I'm assuming) had eaten them all off.  I wanted to get the fence up ASAP so hopefully my beautiful white tulips will grow back.  It's a good thing because the daffadils were beginning to come up.  Anyway, hopefully Sean and I will be able to get a few things in the ground.  Also, I may try out some square foot gardening.  Divide up square foot sections and then plant things accordingly.  Last year, my garden was one complete jumbled mess and this year, I'm attempted to stay a bit more organized! 

5. When in Brookings.  It has .GIF images and it's hilarious to me.  It's funny because everything on there I 100% agree with.  I know Christa will giggle at it.

That's all folks!  I'm going to my weekend with Sean since he doesn't work at all this weekend.  Lovely!

Friday Favorites.

Alright, I've got some really great favorites today.  Well... I think they're great and hopefully you find something you like here!

1.  Let's talk make-up and get a little girly.  My new(ish) absolute favorite lip gloss is Nyx Cosmetics Butter Gloss.  I got it at Ulta on a whim about a month ago and was pleasantly surprised at how much I actually like it.  It is so smooth and hydrating on and the color is really intense.  I have it in Peaches and Cream and it is a really bright pink.  The color of it actually matches the color of the tube, so if you're thinking about buying it keep that in mind.  The color is actually that bright - I did not know this when I bought it but still love it.  Again, I absolutely love it.  Ulta does buy one get one free or buy one get on 50% off a lot of the time on Nyx Cosmetics, and you better believe I will be getting two the next time that sale is going on.

2.  Let's talk books.  Around Christmas when I had two and a half weeks off, I read the book Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.  Whoa.  This book was mind blowing.  It is written extremely well and there is a few major plot twists.  While reading it and when I got to the middle of it, Sean can verify that I was completely side swiped by the plot twists.  SO GOOD!  Seriously, everyone should read it.  Then, I got to thinking... I enjoyed Gone Girl so much that I should look into other books by the same author.  So a few weeks ago I read Sharp Objects.  Again, so great.  I currently have a request in for another book by Gillian Flynn called Dark Places at the library and am waiting for my turn in the wait list. 

3.  My sister-in-law Rebecca tweeted me last night this giraffe cam.  Lovely!

4.  Have you see this video?  Big cats like boxes too!

5.  I rode my bike to work today.  I made Sean ride with me too.  We had fun and now with the weekend forecast being so lovely, we're going on a bike ride on Sunday.  I'm getting excited for spring and biking!

What are you doing this weekend?  Any big plans?

Friday Favorites.

1.  Pictures like this.  It's like a winter wonderland outside.  And I'm sick of it.  When the snow finally melts, mother nature decides to dump a few more inches on.  Lovely.

2.  Within the next week I need to figure out how to build this.  My community garden is opening next weekend!  Well, hopefully... if this dumb white stuff melts.

3.  Also, I eventually need to figure out how to build this angled rails tomato trellis.  It shall be interesting.  Can you tell that gardening is on my mind?


I really can't think of anything else.  I was trying to have each of my Friday Favorites to have five favorites, but I don't have anything else.  Do you have any suggestions about building my gardening support structures?

Friday Favorites.

... on Sunday.  Whoops.

1. The Masters.  Call me a nerd, whatever I don't care.  I love watching golf on TV.  This is my super bowl.

2. I would like to get a sewing machine soon.  There's a lot of projects and ideas from Pinterest I have pinned, but without a sewing machine it's kind of pointless.

3. I picked up my wedding dress this week after it had been cleaned and preserved.  It looks brand new!  Seriously, this lady is amazing.  Karen at Wedding Gown Care Specialist did a fantastic job.  There were marks from my spray tan rubbing off from sweat on the inside of the bodice which are no longer there.  The hem of my dress was quite dirty (she said she thought it looked cleaner than most!) and that all came out.  The grass stain on a bottom strip of organza is gone.  Like I said, she was amazing and it took less than two weeks.  I highly recommend her!

4. My mom called me letting me know she found a vintage suitcase so I can make this for Boots.  I'm so excited!  It's so cute and I think/hope she is going to love it!

5.  With spring here, even though it's snowing and doesn't feel like spring at all, I've taken on some spring cleaning projects.  I cleaned and organized three closets and under our bed.  I saw this idea on Pinterest and really love it!  I will have to get some washi tape from Amazon sometime and start doing that.  I love it because washi tape peels off easily and can be moved around, so if your schedule changes, it's easy to move things and still look nice and neat.

How was your weekend?

Friday favorites.

I think I'm going to start a Friday series with a few of my favorite things.

1. This sandwich.  Sean and I may have made it for dinner two nights this week.  I'm obsessed.  I may have had a Twitter conversation with Joy the Baker about it as well.

2. I saw this little gem on Pinterest.  I think it's utterly hilarious.  I feel like that exactly when Jacques does this.

Source

There's actually a lot of funny things I found on Pinterest this week.  I won't post them all though!

3. Boots needs this, stat. 

4. I've recently become obsessed with c. Booth products.  Have you heard of them?  I just bought their Original Bath & Shower Cleanser and their 4-in-1 Multi-Action Body Lotion in Vanilla Butter.  The Original Bath & Shower Cleanser smells exactly like my favorite Amber Romance lotion from Victoria's Secret.  The lotion hydrates really well, comes in a HUGE bottle (32 fl oz), and the smell lasts.  I highly recommend c. Booth's products.

5. I saw that Herbal Essences has started making their original shampoo and conditioner again.  I picked some up and it takes me back to 7th grade.  I use the yellow smooth and shine collection.  Love it.  And they've taken out the silicone in the shampoo and sulfates in the conditioner.  It makes me even happier.

Happy Friday!  I hope you have a nice weekend!

Friday Favorites and Real Talk

Can we please talk about the fact that I have come down with a cold since coming home from Columbia, Maryland, for work?  I forsee this weekend to be a lot laying around on the couch intermixed with working on my garden.  Other favorite things, plants in my garden!

Things that have sprouted in my garden:

• Peas
• Sunflowers (I had more sprouted when I went there last week, I think a bunny had a snack)
• Carrots
• Onions (my dad gave me some of the onions he got from Travis)
• Daisies
• Marigolds
• Gladiola (only one so far)
• Spinach
• Lettuce

And I still have plenty of room to plant my 20 tomato plants and eight jalapeno plants.  I think 20 tomato plants might be too much.  Hopefully I can give some away to Katie when she gets home from her two week trip in Europe.

Friday Favorites.

• I've been working on wedding projects again.  A necessary thing.
• Gardening!

Honestly, I can't think of anything else.  I've got wedding and gardening brain.  Leaving for Maryland for work on Sunday.  I have to start packing and such. 

What are you up to?  Big plans for the weekend?

Friday Favorites.

I'm going to start something new on Fridays.  I'm going to list a few of my favorite things from the past week.  The list may or may not include photos of everything.

• I found this amazing daily deal website last night.  YipIt is a service that combines all daily deal in your area in one website instead of having to go to Groupon, Living Social, Plum District, etc., to find deals you are interested in.  It's pretty amazing.
• I'm in the mood to bake.  These especially.
• My peas have sprouted in my garden.  Yay!

So, I'm blanking on other things I've liked this week.  How was your week?  Happy Friday!