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Friday, August 4, 2017

Five on Friday - Favorites

*This post may contain affiliate links.

Oops, more unintentional crickets yesterday.  That just goes to show ya that I probably need to tone it down and start posting just four days a week until life gets caught up.  Oh wait, life will probably never be caught up, so maybe I just need to stick to a four-day blogging schedule permanently.  Hehe.

So I have a few faves for you on the blog today to kick off the weekend!  Here they are in no apparent order…

O N E – A Whole New Level of Cozy

I have been all about house staging since I was a little girl.  I like for everything to be tidy and warm and inviting and cozy.  I pretty much always have a candle burning, I always have some kind of old standards or cocktail jazz music playing, and I am a big believer in twinkle lights… I’m sure you probably know that from the pictures I’ve posted of the twinkle lights on our back porch.

Well, this week I found a way to make our little home even cozier.  I do not believe in overhead lighting in the living spaces.  I’m okay with it in the kitchen and the bathroom because you have to be able to see what you’re doing in both of those rooms, but when it comes to the living room and the bedrooms, overhead lighting is off limits and it’s all about the lamps.  We currently have two lamps and two strings of Christmas lights in our ficus tree in our living room, and we turn on the spotlight over the fireplace mantle.  That’s it.  I can’t even tell you when the last time was that the overhead light was turned on in there.

Well, this week I decided to take the lamps to a whole new level and I bought this lamp with this shade to place on the sideboard in our eat-in kitchen, and I bought this one to put back on the kitchen counter to the left of our fridge.  That counter kind of serves as part of the command center for our house, so I’m constantly reading mail, filling out last minute paperwork for the kids, and all sorts of other things back there, so I thought it would be nice to have a lamp so I can actually see what I’m doing.  ;o)  And please excuse the messy mess in that picture.  I thought about cleaning it up before taking the picture, but a) I didn't feel like it, and b) I thought I'd let you get a glimpse of real life - a pile of mail that needs to be sorted, all of our bags packed and ready to go for the next workday, a birthday gift all wrapped and read to head to its rightful owner, a Target bag that needed to be loaded into my car to do a couple of returns, and several other odds and ends that need to be put in place.  






Wood Two-Tier Tray here.

Anyway, the lamps have made the whole downstairs SO much cozier and it has also done wonders for my mood in the evening when I’m cooking.  Adding that ambient light just makes me so happy!  And that added coziness is really getting me in the mood for fall…

T-minus 28 days and it will finally be socially acceptable to decorate for my favorite season of the whole year!!!!  #AllTheFallLeaves

T W O – This Shirt, Tho <3

In Wednesday's post, I shared my favorite shirt from the Nordstrom sale via some photos of a little impromptu photo shoot I did this past weekend.  This shirt is so comfy, cute, and versatile that I basically had no choice but to put it on my list of faves for this week!  My favorite part about it, though, is that it’s just $17.90!  It comes in lots of different colors, too!  But hurry, the sale ends this Sunday and the price goes back up to $28.00 on Monday.  I would love to have a money tree so I could buy it in every color!



T H R E E – Christmas Shopping… In August…

Well, I officially started my Christmas shopping this week!  Remember how I mentioned a few items that I was thinking of getting for Olivia?  Well, I bought them!

She will be getting this Disney Princess Royal Dreams Castle (I actually bought mine at our local Toys R Us because it was on MAJOR clearance), this singing Moana doll (that I know I’m going to regret because OMG the songs… we’re so sick of them.  Haha.), this Trolls Princess Poppy dress-up dress, and this Trolls Princess Poppy Hair-Styling Station.  Whew, it feels so good to knock that out so early… and to save a lot of money on that princess house!

F O U R – A Flipping Awesome Piece of Technology

Did you catch my post on Tuesday?  I got extremely personal and discussed a new product that I’m using to monitor my fertility.  Why?  Well, you’ll have to click here to find out!  It’s probably not what you’re thinking.  And if you’re looking for something like this for yourself, the lovely people at Ava are offering a $20 discount code for all of my readers!  You can find the code at the end of the original post.



F I V E – I Have to Mention These Just One More Time…

I know I’ve about run these into the ground, but I can’t help it because they are truly one of my favorite things about this week!  After years of using old, smelly, rough towels, we finally splurged a little on new towels and it was the best decision we’ve made in a long time.  We have now been using them for a little over a week so I feel like I can give you an accurate review. 

Y’all. 

I feel like I’m wrapping myself in luxury every morning when I get out of the shower.  Sound corny?  It’s true.  

Remember this picture?


Yep, that is two of our new towels vs. two of our old towels.  The difference is laughable!

I’ve had several people ask me if they are absorbent and this is what I’ve found.  After one wash they still had that slick new towel feel, and Brian said that he felt like he was, and I quote, “shammying himself off.”  Lol.  I can’t make this stuff up.  The hilarious part?  He was right.  Haha.  However, after the second wash I noticed a huge difference in their absorbency.  They feel way more absorbent now that we’ve “broken them in.”  Does that make sense? 

Anyhoo, these come in a billion different colors and they are all on saaaale!  So if you’re in the market for new towels I highly recommend these and I would buy them all over again.  #NoRegrets.  But like the shirt above, the sale ends Sunday and they go back to regular pricing on Monday.  Get ‘em while the gettins’ good!

AND LONG LIVE THE WEEKEND!

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five on Friday, A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites,  September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre for Friday Favorites, and Cup of Tea for High Five for Friday.


24 comments:

  1. Yay you got your fluffy new towels! Love what Brian said about them, lol. I always have a candle burning too, nothing like a cozy home and the kids will always remember that!! Happy happy weekend beautiful babe!!

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    1. Haha. Yes, he's a mess, but he's so right! And yes, my Momma always made a cozy home for us growing up, so that's exactly what I intend to do with my babies! Happy weekend!

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  2. Gotta love new fluffy towels. It's always such a treat when we buy new ones. I like having things homey too, but it drives me nuts when I don't have at least some overhead lights. We have a room that has absolutely no lights whatsoever and i cant' stand it. There aren't enough lamps to make it bright. Ha ha!

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  3. This post just makes me happy. I'm sitting here next to a pretty lamp as I type this! :) Love the early Christmas shopping. I did the same and got my daughter a doll last month. Ha! It's never too early for fall, right? I can't wait.

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  4. I think that Ava could be so helpful. I used the digital ovulation sticks and they worked great too but the technology has come along way thankfully! I have been thinking about another lamp for our entry as I love a little light in there but don't want the big chandelier on all the time :) I just need to find what I want. The hunt is so much fun ;)! xoxo ERIN

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  5. Okay that picture with the towels is NUTS!! So crazy! We've been married almost seven years and have only gotten a couple new towels since, so we are probably due to do this "fold" test to and see how deflated our current towels are! Ha! I freaking love that you just posted Christmas gift ideas! Thank you!! I like shop early as well, so I appreciate your list for Olivia!

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    1. Haha. Girl, our towels were almost ten years old which is completely ridiculous! I just kept thinking since they don't have holes in them then there's no reason to throw them out. I definitely won't be using that philosophy next time. Haha. And you're welcome! I figured most people would think I was crazy for posting about Christmas gifts already, but in my opinion it's never too early to start! Happy weekend!

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  6. Look at your with your Christmas shopping already started! I need to start thinking of ideas myself! Hope you had a great weekend!

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  7. Your Christmas shopping makes me smile. I have been stashing the cash, but have yet to do any real shopping with it. I think if I started now I would finish and 1) overspend or 2) be sad I missed shopping at Christmas and buy more... equaling overspending again. HA! Have an amazing weekend friend.

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  8. Ha, I love your no overhead lights rule. You are the perfect hostess! I can totally feel the "warm, fuzzy" feeling about your house and I love that so much. Ben's Birthday is September 30 and I am starting to plan gifts for that, and I am also beginning to look for Christmas too!

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  9. Wow your house does look so cozy! And so do the towels! :) Also, I love that you do christmas shopping early! I really do it all year round! Target is another place I recently saw a ton of kids toys on major clearance!

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    1. Oh really?! We need to go check it out then! Thank you for the info! Happy weekend, Kasey!

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  10. Laughing at the towels because when we moved we got ourselves new towels just for our master bath and it really is such a difference having a nice towel to use!!

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  11. LOVE the new lamps! I am with you on the overhead lights! #nothankyou I only turn on lamps everyday!
    Girl, I wish I was like you and could Christmas Shop early!

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  12. Happy Friday! I don't know how you've been blogging every day but way to go girl! I'm still getting caught up on comments from earlier this week lol. I love that lamp you got. Nothing wrong with getting that shopping done early. When the deals are there you just need to take advantage of it. Have a great weekend! Beautifully Candid

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  13. I am all about lamp lighting! I was actually thinking about adding another lamp to our living room and replacing another lamp with something I saw at Kirkland's that I love. I think of Anchorman when I think about lamps..."I love lamp!" haha!
    Sarah at MeetTheShaneyfelts

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  14. I love the lighting ideas and there is nothing better than a soft, fluffy towel after a hot shower. Thanks for linking up at #BloggersPitStop

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  15. Love the new lamps- looks great! Ari started asking about adding things to her Santa list when we went to Target today, so I'm hoping to be right there with you soon, sister! Have a relaxing weekend- I hope things slow down soon!

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  16. I cannot believe the difference in those towels!! And girl I've already been Christmas shopping too, I'm so happy when I score awesome deals on things I can stash away!

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  17. I love those lamps! I also started my Christmas shopping and it feels so good to have a good start!

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  18. I like the idea of having small lamps in the house to make it feel cozy. I too hate overhead lighting but sometimes its a necessary evil.

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