Things I’m Loving Friday #375

Hello from the beach!!! Ryan, the boys and I hit the road for Jacksonville, Florida at 5 a.m. Thursday morning and have been soaking up family time ever since our somewhat rocky arrival. No one napped on the 6+ hour drive and Rhett screamed his face off when we got there and continued to fight his nap for hours. But it’s all worth it, riiight!?

Last summer we spent two weeks at my parents’ place (a major perk of Ryan working from home and blogging flexibility) and, outside of Rhett’s birth, it was the highlight of our summer. Since Ryan is still working from home, we’re planning to spend another two weeks with family in Florida and will be filling our days with sun, sand, pool time, cousin playtime and lots of Florida fun.

I’m not exactly sure how I’ll be approaching the blog over the next two weeks but I’ll try to pop in when I can and say hi. Until then, keep on scrolling for this week’s roundup of Things I’m Loving Friday favorites!

Things I’m Loving Friday

• Jeremiah’s Italian Ice

Check out this amazing discovery! Yesterday, in the late afternoon when I was driving down Beach Blvd. in Jacksonville, I did a double-take when I saw a familiar logo from my college days. Jeremiah’s Italian Ice! Jeremiah’s was one of my all-time favorite spots when I was in college at UCF in Orlando and I was so psyched to see it in Jax Beach! I immediately grabbed a few to bring back to my parents’ place and it was just as good as I remembered. I got my college go-to: Cookies ‘n’ cream gelati, a combination of creamy cookies ‘n’ cream Italian ice and soft vanilla ice cream. Memoriesss!

• Toy Rotation

Earlier this week, I took out a bin of baby toys I’ve had packed up for years for Rhett to play with now that he’s a little older. The toys were some of Chase and Ryder’s favorites from when they were around one year old and apparently they’re still a hit because all of the boys went crazy for them. Seeing their reactions to old toys made me want to implement some kind of a toy rotation system… something to make old toys seem new again. I don’t know exactly what kind of a system I’m going to create but I started by boxing up a bunch of toys they haven’t been playing with as regularly and plan to bring them out in a month or two and swap them with a different set of toys. An added bonus – less toy clutter!

• Wide Leg Jeans

If you follow me on Instagram, you’ve seen me highlight these wide leg jeans a few times over the last month and I am loving them! They are my first foray into the whole wide leg mom jean trend. I honestly have never loved skinny jeans so I was very intrigued by the changing style from a comfort perspective. Skinny jeans just feel so restrictive to me (my booty and thighs want to breathe!) so I snagged this pair of wide leg jeans when I saw the lower price point. (They’re currently on sale for $18!)  From the minute I slipped them on, I was sold! I LOVE the high waist that’s actually high — it sits right at the top of my belly button — and I have found myself reaching for them every time I want to wear jeans. (In terms of sizing, I ordered a 6 and I’m usually a 6 or an 8 in bottoms. Proportionally, I have a smaller waist than hips/thighs/booty but I might opt to size up if your body shape is the opposite of mine as the jeans do have a somewhat slimmer pinched waist.)

• Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Taylor Jenkins Reid is one of my favorite authors (her novel Daisy Jones and the Six was my favorite book I read last year) and when I saw she had a new novel out, I couldn’t wait to dive in. It was a quick and interesting read and while it didn’t have some of the depth I remember loving in some of the author’s previous novels, Malibu Rising was still an interesting summer read. The book centers around the lives of the four Riva siblings, the children of superstar Mick Riva. Everyone seems to know and adore their famous father… everyone except for his own children.

Malibu Rising includes flashbacks to Mick’s relationship with his children’s mother but is set in the summer of 1983 on the day of the annual Riva end-of-summer party set to go down at Nina Riva’s mansion. The party is a see-and-be-seen affair and always the talk of Malibu partly because of the famous attendees and, largely because of the intrigue surrounding the Riva children –Nina, a supermodel whose tennis pro husband recently left her, Jay, a pro-surfer harboring a secret that could change his career forever, Hud, Jay’s go-to photographer who has a secret of his own that threatens to unravel his relationship with his family, and Kit, the youngest fiery sibling who sent out a secret invitation to the party that’s sure to surprise everyone.

It doesn’t take long for the annual soiree to get out of control. Police are called. Arrests are made and by 7 a.m. the next day, the Riva house is on fire, igniting not only the mansion but potentially the secrets within its walls and within the Riva family.

• Friday Flashbacks

Edamame Black Bean Salad (A deliciously simple side dish to keep in mind for any cookouts this weekend!)

Simple Summer Pasta Salad (I whipped this pasta salad up last weekend! It’s always a crowd pleaser.)

Question of the Day 

What is one thing making you smile this week?