Category: friday favorites

This week has flown by so fast that I blinked and all of a sudden it was Friday. I’m still adjusting to working and balancing other responsibilities but I am sure I’ll adjust… soon! I’m looking forward to a relaxing and fun weekend. This weather is a little odd because it feels like summer but I reallly want to start wearing my fall sweaters. Not much going on for me this week besides work but I have really enjoyed working again. Spending time in the classroom has become the highlight of my day!

I stayed up past my usual bedtime to watch this weeks Real Housewives of Beverly Hills Reunion live and while texting my friends because the drama is going to get good. Don’t have much time for tv lately but I am rewatching Bones for some white noise while I unwind at night. On Sunday, we saw the new James Bond movie and it was a really good way to end the Daniel Craig chapter. No spoilers – but you will not be ready for the ending!

I recently finished my far of Botanics Simply Calm with cannabis sativa seed oil Hydrating Overnight Mask this week. It’s a really thick moisturizer that a little goes a long way and lasts forever. I use it once a week during my pm skincare routine to keep my face hydrated and feeling soft. For now, I’m using my Olay Regenerist Retinol 24 night cream but need to use it every other day because my skin is sensitive. I love love love my Trader Joe’s Ultra Hydrating Gel Moisturizer.

Spontaneous decision to get lunch at a pop up at Love Park on Saturday
The Harvest Festival in Dilworth Park was the best way to get into the fall spirit
Walking around the art show in Rittenhouse Park on Sunday
Our mums and pumpkins on our front stoop
Seeing a movie and getting popcorn on Sunday made me believe we are going back to normal
Our tomato plant is still giving us delicious tomatoes
I want to complain but I am secretly loving this warm weather lately
Working on fun projects at school with my kiddos
Decorating my classroom has been a challenge but it’s looking so much better
These pajamas I bought over the summer are so soft and perfect for lounging after a long day
Caffeine. Lots of caffeine this week!

I’m ending this week on such a high note. It was my second week at my new job and first week in the classroom. I thought I would feel exhausted with this career change, new job, new routine, etc. but I have such an adrenaline rush. It is so nice to be in a job that I love this much. I’m excited to get out of bed in the morning and the day goes by so quickly because of all of the fun I’m having. This weekend we are headed to a fall festival in the city and I’m excited to celebrate fall… if only the weather would get cooler!

There has been very little time for tv this week but I have been able to catch up on Real Housewives and watch the first episode of the new Grey’s Anatomy season. While getting ready for work, I’ve been rewatching one of my favorites, Bones. We are doing a quick binge watch of the James Bond movies before we see the new Bond movie, No Time To Die, this weekend.

Wearing makeup everyday again means I’ve been using micellar water at night to get my makeup off after I wash my face with my face cleanser.

Halfway done with Outlander book #4, Drums of Autumn.

Not including all of the classroom supplies I picked up this week, I was able to pick up a few fall themed goodies at Trader Joe’s. Last weekend we picked up mums and pumpkins for our front steps. The mums are slowlyyy starting to blossom and I’m eager to see what color they will actually be since we couldn’t really tell when we bought them. We also went to Homegoods to browse and found a lot of really cute pieces that we totally would have purchased if we had a bigger house ha!

Getting dressed for work.
Slow mornings reading the newspaper while I drink my coffee.
Ed has been so cuddly lately since J and I are back in the office full-time.
Our tomato plant is still blooming so we’ve been enjoying them with every meal that we can to enjoy them.
I shared what steps I’m taking to keep my skin healthy while we transition into fall.

Happy Fall y’all! I’m cozied up in warm pajamas as I write today’s blog post. Last week, I started a new job and forgot how much work it is to balance work and life. I was going to bed before 9pm because my body was not used to waking up early and working all day. It was a long week but I had a lot of fun getting to know everyone and I’m looking forward to getting back to work. On Friday, we celebrated by going out to dinner at Thai Square and then I went to bed early. Is this what my thirties are going to look like?? It was so nice to sleep late on Saturday with no alarm. I threw on some comfy leggings and hung out with a friend I haven’t seen in over a year because of the pandemic. I feel like I blinked and we went from living in quarantine and the next minute things are kinda like back to normal? Sunday morning we were up early to take a train to New York City. Jake had to work out of the New York City office so I went with him for a few days. I shared what we did, where we stayed and a delicious restaurant recommendation in this blog post . I’m looking forward to a slow weekend at home. Hope you get out and enjoy this nice fall weather!

• Only Murders in the Building on Hulu has me laughing out loud and the casting is genius!
• Real Housewives of Salt Lake City is back and I’ve been texting my friends to talk about it while I watch. The drama this season is goood!
• LuLa Rich on Netflix is a documentary show about the rise and fall of Lularoe. I started to watch it and then restarted it when Jake walked by because I knew he would love the drama.

Since I got back from our cruise, my hair has felt dry and brittle so I’ve been going longer between hair wash days and using Redken shampoo and conditioner to get my softer hair back.
But going back to work means that I have to style my hair every morning. For an easy blow out, I’ve been using my Conair hair dryer brush. It takes less than 5 minutes in the morning to turn my bedhead into a salon blowout.
I am constantly rotating my mascaras and this week I’ve been using Too Faced Better Than Sex mascara.
Last week my Tarte Sex Kitten Eyeliner ran out so I picked up L’Oreal Paradise Eyeliner. It’s easy to use and love love love it!

Loving this new line of OPI nail polish called Nature Strong. It lasts a lot longer than my other nail polish and it’s vegan.

I stayed up way too late last night to read my book because I am almost finished reading it. When I was reading the first two books of the Outlander series, I read them within days and now that I’m back home from vacation I’m enjoying my time and making them last a while. I have less than 100 pages left of Voyager so I went to Barnes and Noble and bought the rest of the books in the series so I wouldn’t have to wait for them to arrive by mail anymore.

Finally did the thing and bought the Lululemon belt bag.
Bought way tooo much at the Harry Potter store in New York. Browse for yourself here.
Since I’m reading the Outlander series so fast, I picked up the rest of the books at Barnes and Noble.
I got a PR box of Pete’s Coffee Creme Brulee k-cups and they are the perfect afternoon sweet treat.

Finally got around to sharing pictures and what we did on our cruise last month on the blog.

Early mornings to myself.

Looking forward to a weekend at home.

This past week in New York was such a nice treat! I talked more about what we did in this blog post.

Starting to decorate our house for fall. All of our fall decor sat collecting dust on our dining room table for a few weeks but now pumpkins are being put around the house to get into the fall mood.

Still looking at pictures I took at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter and planning our next trip back!

Almost finished with my book, Voyager – the third book in the Outlander series, and I’m eager to get started on the next one in the series.

This morning, I had an appointment in New Jersey and was not expecting that chilly breeze while walking to the car. Brr!!! Fall is officially on its way and it’s time to bring out all of the layers. This week, I started to clean our house and make room for the pumpkins and other fall decor. Even though we have plenty of pumpkins and fall decor already, I’m hoping we can go to Homegoods this weekend to see what else we can find!

• Sabrina the Teenage Witch is my go-to show to watch at night while I get ready for bed. With only 30 minute episodes, it’s full of laughs and typical 90s sitcom jokes.
• Impeachment is going to be our new date night show I think and the first episode left us wanting more!
• Outlander was on hold for a bit because I am reading the books while we do a rewatch.

Trying to recover from summer vacation hair aka dry dead ends with It’s A 10 leave-in product.

OPI came out with a new vegan line of nail polishes, Nature Strong. I’m going on week two of my manicure with very few chips and no top coat.

If you don’t have a dry brush already, be sure to pick one up for yourself. I don’t use it as often as I should, but after a bath I love to use it all over my body to get all of the dead skin off. My legs have never felt softer after I use it.

Wearing lipstick a lot this week while I run errands and I’ve been grabbing these lip glosses each time.

Does a really big grocery run after being out of the country and state for two weeks count? Well that is where I did the most shopping this week ha!

Also picked up these cute cups for $2 at Target because I fell in love with them right away.

Bought myself a new toy (a mop) to give the floors a deep clean before fall. Even though it’s simple and under $10, I was very impressed as I cleaned all of the floors in our house yesterday.

Picked up two of these $8 tanks and I’ll be going back to get more because they are so comfy and will look cute under layers for fall.

This week, Jake made tacos for dinner which were delicious! We got take out sushi on Wednesday which we like to do each week if we can for a hump day treat! Last night, I made pulled pork sandwiches with roasted potatoes and broccoli. Trying to be healthy and eat salads when I can for lunch!

Follow along to see what books I’m reading on my GoodReads account! Halfway done with the third Outlander book, Voyager and need to get the next one asap! I’ve found myself getting into bed around 8pm so I have more time to read.

Fall candles are burning in our house making it smell like fall!

Picked up a bunch of the pumpkins in the dollar bin at Target because they were only a dollar. I may have a pumpkin problem because I have so many around the house….

Ed the cat has been super clingy lately and I’m loving every second of it!

This article about a dinner party straight out of a Nancy Meyers movie gave me the motivation to start planning a dinner party myself!

This morning I skipped the K Cups and went straight to the coffee beans to make a big pot of coffee. It’s going to be that kind of day! I was quiet on the blog and Instagram the last month because we spent the entire month of August on vacation. It was an amazing trip but we are exhausted!! Spent a week at sea on a cruise to celebrate our three year anniversary. We docked in the Bahamas and Jamaica – everything was such an amazing experience. Then we spent a week in Florida visiting Jake’s family and had some bonus days because of the hurricane cancelling planes. Before I knew it, September was here and with it brings little and big life changes. I love the feeling of a new season. It gives me the motivation to try new things, feel refreshed and ready to live life.

I’ve been having fun sharing in real time what I’m watching on the Blonde Rosie Facebook page.

• Flack on Amazon Prime was a show I found by accident and binged the entire thing in one weekend.
• Virgin River is my go-to when I’m taking my weekly Sunday baths.
• Outer Banks is one of my favorites! We did a rewatch and binged season 2 in one weekend.
• Turner and Hooch on Disney+ is a show we are watching when we only have time to watch one episode together.
• Good Girls on NBC and Netflix is another show I stumbled upon and I’m so sad I didn’t find it earlier! It’s better going in blind so just trust me, watch this one asap!
• Outlander on Starz and Netflix quickly became our favorite show when we caught up in 2019. I’m reading the books right now so we are doing a rewatch while I quickly read the books.
• Monsters at Work on Disney+ is a show with the Monsters Inc characters that is funny for alll ages.

The entire month of August I basically only used the same makeup and skincare products that fit in my travel bag. Before the trip, I put together a small cosmetic bag of trail sized beauty items so I didn’t have to pack and unpack a ton of items while we were traveling. It was a game changer and I only want to travel this way moving forward!

I talked about this Lancome foundation on the blog and it’s been great at staying put during the summer heat. The design of the foundation is also genius because it comes with a built on sponge to make applying easy with no fuss.

For the no fuss, easy makeup days, I’ve been enjoying using these affordable and high quality products. I’m excited that this brand is coming out with more items because I have been loving everything so far.

Finished this face mask this week and it was much needed to get my skin back to normal after eating a lot of food, traveling and having fun in the sun.

On the higher end, I used this face mask a lot before our trip. My face honestly feels like I had it professionally exfoliated, moisturized and pampered!

Ummm haven’t done much shopping in August because we made some big purchases like flights, a cruise, and had to pay for basics like food while traveling all month. I’m sure American Express thinks I’ve been kidnapped because my balance is going to be very different!

As much as I enjoyed fine dining and trying new restaurants the last month, I am so excited to get back into the kitchen! I didn’t realize how much I loved cooking until I didn’t have a kitchen to use.

Love love love this healthy rosemary chicken and veggies recipe.
Jake immediately asked me to make my penne vodka when we got home.
We are making tacos tonight for dinner with our Giordano’s taco box delivery.
If you are looking for a healthy and easy lunch idea, I love to make a salad and then microwave a few pieces of popcorn shrimp to get some tasty protein in. It’s probably not the healthiest thing to do but I love adding some texture and zest to my boring salads.

Started to read Freed, the Fifty Shades book before leaving for vacation and it’s bad, but a nice way to revisit the series.
Months ago I bought Outlander to read on vacation because it was 500 pages so I thought it would be a great book to bring on a long vacation. The only problem is that I finished it in 4 days and had to Prime the second one when we landed in Florida. The third one is already on it’s way and I had to limit the page limit I read each day to make it last even though it was 800 pages.

• I rarely drink and definitely indulged on the cocktails on the cruise!
• Everything about our trip.
• A relaxing week at Jake’s parents house.
• Rounded up my favorite snacks here.
• Snuggles with Ed! He’s been very clingy since we got back home.
• My bed.
• Looking forward to a quiet, relaxing weekend!

I love to sit down and write up my Friday Favorite posts because it reminds me of what I loved about the week. My weekends lately have been getting busier and busier and I don’t see them slowing down anytime soon. On Friday, I went to browse shoes at Nordstrom Rack and came home with my hands full! Last weekend was supposed to be a slow weekend and then one errand turned into a long day of errands on Saturday. We went to Costco to get three things and walked out with a VERY full cart. This weekend I have my bag packed and I’m heading to visit my parents in North Carolina for a quick trip. In todays post I am sharing a new makeup product that I am loving, a good deal on shoes, and an easy yummy dinner idea. Hope everyone has a good weekend!

Lately, I have been sharing what I’ve been watching on my Instagram stories and my Blonde Rosie Facebook page. This week I binge watched Bethenny Frankel’s HBO Maxshow The Big Shot which is like a way better version the The Apprentice in my opinion. For some reason it took me so long to watch Jenna Lyons, head of J Crew for 27 years, Stylish show also on HBO Max.

With a busier schedule I’m wearing makeup more often. I have been loving the of the Lancome Teint Idôle Ultra Wear Foundation Stick. It lasts all day and works best with oily skin which is what I’m struggling with now with of the heat, bonus points because is easy to apply.

With the deals so good at Nordstrom Rack I got the Steve Madden slides that everyone seems to have and a pair of gold Steve Madden slides that will be a nice neutral for any outfit. But I am most excited about finding these block heels that are SO comfortable!

So happy I ordered a few bright dresses from Target for our cruise next month. My suitcase is packed and I’m so ready to spend a week on a beach with a drink in my hand. Target has so many great pieces for $25 right now that it’s hard not to buy everything!

Ordered a new phone case and I am o b s e s s e d! Fell in love with it when I watched Emily in Paris and finally got around to ordering it.

Since I’m out of town this weekend I didn’t go to the grocery store this week so I’ve been making a lot of Trader Joes meals since they are so easy. Can’t go wrong with the orange chicken and the soup dumplings are so easy to make for a quick dinner. I did make pasta with a homemade sauce that did turn out really good! So good there were no leftovers!

Easy Sauce

• tomato paste
• diced tomates
• chopped onion
• garlic
• fresh basil and oregano
• spinach
• splash of heavy cream
• Parmesan cheese

• I think it’s because I missed my dad last week but I subscribed to a newspaper and I love waking up every morning and picking it up from the doorstep.
• I love working on a crossword puzzle from the newspaper in pen. Never finish them but it’s so much fun to do every day.
• Trying to be healthy by having hot water with lemon every morning before I have my coffee. It helps me start drinking water in the day and then I continue to fill up my mug throughout the day.
• Clean sheets this week felt even better with a new Berkshire blanket I picked up at Costco last weekend. I found this brand at Homegoods years ago and now I need to buy one in every single pattern because they are the softest blankets and hold up so well wash after wash.