I’m going to miss Ryan and the boys a looot but know they’ll have a great weekend together while I’m gone. I’m hoping to snap enough pictures to be able to a recap of some sort on the blog with you guys next week but also know I’m admittedly not the best of documenting everything when I visit friends and family. Still, I’d like to take some photos for memory’s sake so we’ll see!
I hope you all have a great weekend and I hope to see ya back here next week! Keep on scrolling for this week’s roundup of Friday favorites!
Things I’m Loving Friday
This is the hanging toiletry bag I ordered after I saw my friends Danielle and Jess both had it hanging in the bathroom we shared during our girls’ weekend in the mountains earlier this summer. It appeared to hold a lot but wasn’t a complete monstrosity when rolled up and zipped together. I ordered the black version in large (it comes in a bunch of colors and patterns) and it’s been a favorite of mine ever since. I figured I should highlight it here since I’m using it on back-to-back travel weekends and thoroughly enjoying the way it makes keeping toiletries and hair accessories organized a little easier. I’m also keeping this one in mind for holiday gift-giving!
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Alone Time in My Own House
This may sound a little strange but I have a feeling some of you out there may feel me on this one. As a mom with young kids, finding time by myself in our house felt hard to come by for years. If I booked childcare for the boys because I needed to work or Ryan and I had plans, a babysitter would obviously come to our house to watch them. Preschool mornings for Rhett last year were only two days a week and I often filled this time with house-related meetings, appointments, etc. Can I just say what an absolute gift it feels like this year to have a few mornings by myself in our home after school drop-offs? Please hear me when I say I love nothing more than a bustling house filled with kids and family craziness but oh my gosh there’s something lovely and rejuvenating about walking into a quiet house all by yourself. It’s a small thing I never even thought would be something I’d crave but after years of almost nonexistent alone time in my own home to work, tackle some chores or house projects and just basically do all the things that feel impossible to do with kids in the mix, it’s something I’m embracing. Admittedly, this time is often a hot mess of checking off to-dos at home but still… I have the house to myself for a bit and that feels like a small exhale. This also serves to make me feel all the more excited to fill our house up with kids, noise and chaos again at lunchtime every day.
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Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
My rating: B-
Talk about a book that instantly roped me in! From the very beginning of the book (we’re talking the “author’s note”), Daisy Darker was a page-turner. It’s a mystery with a sprinkle of suspense and intrigue and while I loved 3/4 of the book, I wasn’t enamored with the “big reveal” or the ending. I like my mysteries to feel at least somewhat realistic and this one did not at all. It was an entertaining read but not a book I can say I loved due to the frustrating conclusion. It’s certainly a page-turner that evokes a lot of questions about who is responsible for a series of murders taking place within one family under one roof but once the murderer is revealed, my feelings were less, “Oh my gosh” and more, “Ugh, are you serious?” If you’re new to Alice Feeney novels, start with Rock Paper Scissors. Now THAT is a twisty book I thoroughly enjoyed!
From Amazon:
Daisy Darker was born with a broken heart. Now after years of avoiding each other, Daisy Darker’s entire family is assembling for Nana’s 80th birthday party in her crumbling gothic house on a tiny tidal island. The family arrives, each of them harboring secrets. When the tide comes in, they will be cut off from the rest of the world for eight hours.
But at the stroke of midnight, as a storm rages, Nana is found dead. And an hour later, the next family member follows… Trapped on an island where someone is killing them one by one, the Darkers must reckon with their present mystery as well as their past secrets, before the tide goes out and all is revealed.
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The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman
My rating: B+
The Rules of Magic is one of the more unique books I’ve read this year. It’s creative and interesting and explores sibling relationships with magic sprinkled in throughout the novel. The book is filled with emotion — sadness, longing and love — and the feelings that come along with complicated relationships, both within the family dynamic and within romantic relationships. The book was a nice change of pace from the the typical novels I read but lacked a little of the page-turning intrigue that makes me want to fly through a novel.
From Amazon:
For the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.
Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.
From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Yet, the children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the memorable aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.
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September 2023 Top 10
A while back I began sharing a top 10 list at the end of every month as a way to give you guys a glimpse back into some of the blog posts you may have missed or some of my favorite finds you may have had on your radar that got lost in blogging and social media mayhem. See below for September’s top 10!
Blog Posts
- Currently: September 2023
- Amazon Haul #6
- Wednesday in Numbers
- Easy Orange Juice Chicken Marinade
- Thoughts on Four
- Favorite Podcasts for Kids
- Oatmeal Apple Crisp
- Augusta 70.3 Half Ironman
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
- Cinnamon Ice Cream
Your Top 10 Favorites
- Stone Dish Drying Mat (aka the drying mat that looks like marble on your kitchen countertops!)
- Julep Eyeshadow Stick (The eyeshadow I run overtop of my eyeliner to give it a smudgy, less severe look. I have the taupe shimmer!)
- Cane Storage Cabinet (This Walmart find continues to be a favorite and I’m so glad so many of you love it as much as we do!)
- Colorful Beaded Necklace (The happy little necklace I’ve been wearing non-stop)
- Munchkin Color Buddies Bath Tablets + Color Lab Mixing Toy (10/10 bath toy recommendation. Our boys are obsessed.)
- Custom Name Bracelet (An Etsy find I had made with the boys’ names)
- REUZEL Hair Cream (What we use to style our boys’ hair)
- Belt Bag (The lululemon lookalike)
- Owl Diaries (The latest chapter book series our big kids love)
- Target Jeans (My first time trying Target jeans and I love this pair! Size down.)
Question of the Day
What is one thing you’re loving this week?
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NH girl here, I can’t wait to hear where you go and if you loved it! Have the best time!
Hey! Do you worry about the drying mat breaking or breaking a dish? I’m a couple weeks away from closing on a new house so I have an ever-growing Amazon list of things to buy, The drying mat joined the list but am looking for feedback on the “breakability” factor.