Things I’m Loving Friday #520

Good morning! Ah! I am so, so, so excited about today and this weekend and everythinggg. My mom’s 70th birthday is tomorrow and she deserves all the celebrating and love and adoration in the world.

We’re doing our best to make her feel the love and will have eight of the women who love my mom most under one roof in our home this weekend. My mom’s major wish for her birthday was to have a lake weekend with her favorite girls and we’re making it happen! Woop!

My mom and sister arrived yesterday to kick off the weekend fun and have a little extra time with Ryan and the boys before they’re off to Jellystone for a boys’ weekend. We’ll miss them a lot but I know they’re going to have a blast. They’ve all asked me no less than three times a day, “How many days until Jellystone?” for the past week!

I am hoping to share a recap of our weekend on the blog at some point next week (possibly Wednesday since Monday morning may be a little ambitious) but until then, keep on scrolling if you’d like to check out this week’s roundup of favorites!

Things I’m Loving Friday #520

• 70th Birthday Koozies

I’m trying my best to hold off from sharing all the little surprises we have for my mom this weekend but I couldn’t resist sharing one. These fun koozies! When I saw this design on Etsy, I thought the koozies were adorable and ordered them last spring because I was so excited about them for my mom’s birthday weekend. And how perfect is the throwback photo of my mom on the phone? I thought it was all kinds of adorable and love the way the koozies turned out. Also, I’ve used the Carolina Can Coolers Etsy shop twice before for koozies (both for my friend Lauren’s birthday weekend in Savannah and my friend Ashley’s 40th in Milwaukee) and cannot recommend them enough. Their turnaround time is crazy fast and they do a fantastic job.

• Fake Plant Success

Okay, serious gardeners out there, I’m going to need you to shield your eyes from the horror I’m about to share. Keeping plants alive on our front porch has been a bit of a nightmare ever since we moved into our home. We cannot figure out the best way to help them thrive and have ended up with brown, crusty plants one too many times. Thankfully we’ve been able to replant some of our dying plants in our yard where they’ve thrived but our front porch is apparently a death trap. Enter: Fake plants. It had to happen. There was no other way.

I did my best to find fake plants that had the most realistic look online. And I’m honestly really happy with the results! I used floral foam blocks to keep the stems in place and then filled our pots with real soil to make them look a little more legit. I swear you’d never know they were fake unless you looked very closely and I’m banking on the fact that most people only give potted plants a passing glance.

Also, a quick note about our pots: I bought them at Lowe’s last year and then got a few more again this past spring because we love them so much. They truly look like cement but are made of high density resin. (I have zero clue what that is, but that’s what the website tells me and it apparently makes them more affordable and lighter but still durable enough for outdoor use.) We have the larger size on our front porch but the smaller size elsewhere outside and love them both.

• We have cucumbers!!!

Before all of the green thumb readers out there completely write me off for my fake plants, I have to share that our garden is still doing well and we officially have cucumbers!!! After our cucumber plants were a target for hungry animals, they’ve somehow laid off enough to let some cucumbers thrive. Oh happy day! We’ve harvested four cucumbers this week and will hopefully have more to enjoy soon. (Our peppers and spinach, however, remain a wildlife favorite.)

• World’s Best Box Cutter

Is this what being an adult is like? Freaking out over box cutters? I’ve always used a pair of scissors to break down our boxes but when I was at a friend’s house and she had a package arrive and quickly broke down her box with a crazy-looking tool, my interest was piqued. Since I felt like I was ruining some of our sharper, nicer scissors, I figured a legit box cutter might have a place in our home and ordered the same one my friend loved. Who knew I could love a simple household tool so much!? It glides like a dream and easily slips right through the toughest packing tape. Even Ryan commented on how it was a solid purchase and one we never knew we needed.

• Baker’s One Bowl Brownies

I’m honestly not sure how this recipe hasn’t come up on the blog until now because it’s been a family favorite in our house for years. Truth be told, I’ve ever been a huge brownie-lover. Give me cookies and ice cream over brownies any day. But these brownies? Oh man. There’s something different about these brownies that blow me away. I’m a sucker for a very slightly crispy thing crust on the top of brownies and the gooey-but-not- too-undercooked texture is so delicious with the crunch of pecans. They’re the best enjoyed with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, of course. If you’re craving something sweet this weekend, this recipe is a winner!

• Friday Flashbacks

Favorite Books for Four-Year-Olds (Sharing this one because I had an Instagram DM asking me for book recs for her 4-year-old. I’ve been meaning to share more book roundups for kids of various ages so stay tuned!)

60 Reasons Why You’re Loved (In the vein of celebrating milestone birthdays, here’s one way we celebrated my dad’s 60th!)

Question of the Day

What is one thing making you smile this week?