Things I’m Loving Friday #402

Hello from Colorado! Actually hello from the sky! I’m typing up today’s blog post seated next to Ryan on our first real kid-free vacation in 4 years. We are PSYCHED but you probably assumed as much. Bless my mom and my Aunt Laurie for being the ultimate sister team and teaming up to watch our dude crew. They’re the real MVPs! Knowing our kids are in loving, capable hands means the world to us and you know we’ll be more than ready to scoop the boys up into the biggest hugs when we get back on Sunday.

We will be spending the next few days in Breckenridge with some of our very best friends from college. We’re planning to fill our days with lots of skiing and plan to unplug as much as possible and soak up every second with some of our favorite people! I’m sure I’ll have some pictures to share at some point next week but until then, let’s keep things consistent and dive into my weekly Things I’m Loving Friday roundup of favorites!

Things I’m Loving Friday

• Valentine’s Day Nails + $14 Amazon Eternity Band

I always love the look of adorable nail art but this was actually my first time getting a little something extra done to my nails at a local salon. I was invited to visit Freecoat, a non-toxic nail salon in our area, and their lead nail tech did such a great job! I found the inspiration for my nails on Pinterest (I just searched “Valentine’s Day Nails”) and love the subtle way the adorable red hearts pop against the light bubblegum pink polish. I haven’t had my nails done in close to a year and just looking at them makes me smile!

And for the extra-observant readers out there, no that is not my original wedding ring/band. My wedding ring rash is back after only a few months of reprieve. I had my band coated at a local jeweler and it only helped for a few months until the itching returned. Until I can figure out a more permanent solution, I’ll proudly sport the snazzy $14 eternity band I bought off Amazon.

• Scratch-Off Stickers (for over your own notes!)

A friend told me about these adorable scratch off stickers you can put on top of notes to your kids and I added them to my Amazon cart as fast as I could! How cute are they!? I think they’ll be so fun to use for little love notes leading up to Valentine’s Day and also for notes from the Tooth Fairy since Chase is losing teeth seemingly every other week. Since the Tooth Fairy isn’t my favorite (we always forget and then panic in the morning!), maybe these will help me remember and embrace my inner Tooth Fairy? I also used them on little notes for the boys to scratch off to read each day when we are away this weekend and hope they love them!

• Wordle

Wordle is taking over the world right now! Are you guys playing!? My friend Leah texted it to our college friend group text at the beginning of the week and I immediately got sucked in! I sent it to Ryan and now we have fun talking about the new word every day, how many tries it took us to get the word and various strategies. There is only ONE word every day which I love because you play once and then you’re done. And everyone in the world gets the same word every day!

A brief summary: There is one 5-letter word of the day that you try to figure out. Type in any 5-letter word to start. From there, if you see a green letter, that means you guessed a correct letter from the word of the day and it’s in the right spot! If the letter is yellow, it means that letter is in the word but not in the right spot. Gray letters are not in the word at all. Have fun!!!

• Samplize Peel-and-Stick Paint

This one is for any of you out there who may also be building a home or tackling home renovations or design projects. Samplize saved me when it came to selecting our cabinet colors! It was a one stop shop that allowed me to order large peel-and-stick paint samples of paint colors from various brands. I was shocked at what a huge difference this made for me when I received the larger samples. I ended up pivoting my selections in a few areas because the colors looked so different in person. I actually had some of the smaller sample cards of paints from paint stores and was still very glad I ordered larger samples because it definitely made a difference for me! I have a feeling I’ll be using the site again shortly for wall colors, exterior paint, shutters, etc.!

• Friday Flashbacks

My Go-To Mom Hacks (I’m all about embracing little ways to make motherhood easier!)

One Pot Chicken Cabbage Bowl with Sesame Ginger Broth (Always and forever one of my favorite blog recipes!)

Question of the Day

What is one thing making you smile this week?