Category: friday favorites

Happy Friday! Is it Friday? Fridays are always a celebration that the week is over and we can start the weekend. A little difficult when you start your Friday in pajamas with no reason to get out of them. Since the quarantine has been going on for a few weeks I’ve started to find my new normal. I have been really committed to creating a routine and staying busy with productivity and fun. I thought it would be a good time to do a round up of my favorite things recently. I’m not buying much and if I do, it has to bring me joy or be a once in a lifetime sale! Now is the time to lay on the couch catching up on emails or watching a show all day. Try to do something fun today to celebrate that another week is over and we did it!

What I’m Watching

Since we have a lot of free time on our hands, I’ve been browsing all of the streaming services we have and catching up on shows that I either started or just never got around to watching. I like to have background noise while I write or get stuff done around the house so I’ve been finally watching the Real Housewives franchise. I’m finally starting to understand the hype and especially the memes. Also recommend: The Mindy Project, Friday Night Lights, Parks and Rec, and New Girl.

What I’m Listening To

I have been avoiding the news because it’s not healthy to be monitoring everything going on so closely. In the morning while I empty the dishwasher I’ll listen to the New York Times daily so I get a good briefing of the news quickly without any fluff. A few months ago I created a note on my phone with a long list of songs I like that I discovered watching a movie or tv show or heard while listening to someones Instagram story. This week I went through the list and added them to a playlist on Spotify so I can listen to them now. Highly recommend listening to the music they use on the tv show, The Bold Type. So good!

What I’m Loving

Happy Hand Lettering : If you are looking for a hobby during this quarantine I would recommend this hand handwriting book! I’ve been an Instagram follower ( @allshewrotenotes) for a few years now and thought now was a great time to buy her book to practice my handwriting. Also a great way to support a small business!

Matching Pajama Sets : Something I have been doing is really making an effort to wear a matching pajama set to bed at night. Even if I am wearing leggings all day with a comfy shirt, I change so I can put on matching pajamas before I go to bed. It helps remind me that it’s time for bed and helps my mental health just to change clothes during the day. I’d recommend not waiting to buy anything because they are selling out very quickly!

Watering Can Basket : I just ordered this for my mom and had it sent to her house as a Mother’s Day present because they are selling out quickly! I signed up to have them notify me when it comes back in stock so I scooped it up right away when I got the notification. So cute! I’m waiting for it to come back in stock so I can order one for myself.

Unsubscribe & Delete : Okay, so this actually brought me so much joy this week. I successfully went through my entire inbox and deleted junk and hit unsubscribe to about every single nonessential email I had in there. (See what I did there?) If there were any blogs or content I wanted to keep up with, I made sure I was following them on Instagram and then followed them on Bloglovin. Bloglovin is a great way to follow blogs in one place without a crowded inbox.

New Shoes : Of course they are sitting in my closet untouched right now, but I am excited for when I can go outside and wear them. DSW is having amazing sales right now so definitely take advantage of the low prices to stock up on work shoes or summer sandals.

Grove Collaborative Box : Now is when I am thanking myself for signing up for a cleaning supply subscription service! I go in more detail about the service and my cleaning practices in this new blog post so you should definitely check it out.

I started off this week with a relaxing weekend with a good amount of cleaning and organizing. It’s amazing what a good nights rest on Sunday can do for your whole week! It’s been a busy few months with work and getting settled in the new house. Jake and I decided to make a dinner reservation on Monday night to start our week off right. It’s not something we normally do and while we were on our date we realized we haven’t been on an actual date since our anniversary trip in August. Geez, it’s been a crazy few months!

I’ve been making an effort to do more after work so my week doesn’t feel like a blur. We organized the basement, did our laundry and I worked on tidying up each room every day. These tasks may seem like the last thing I would want to do after work but it is so nice to come home to a clean house and not that much housework to do during the weekend. At work I am constantly on the go and can sometimes be a little too tempted to sit on the couch after work and not move for the night. I don’t talk about my job here on the job but each day is different and I’m always juggling multiple things at one time. Someone asked a few of my coworkers from my previous team what I did now and both of them were silent for a minute and then replied “everything” at the same time! It’s nice when the people around you see how much effort you put into a job. At times, it can feel like only the things we do wrong are seen by others and not the things we do right. This week I had a few different people thank me or say that they notice how much I do and it meant so much!

I’ve been watching The Crown this week and I’ll watch one episode at night before bed. I’ll straighten my hair at my vanity or flip through a magazine in bed while drinking tea. These new habits at night are definitely helping me unwind at night and more importantly get to bed at a more reasonable hour! At night I will get everything done quickly so I can crawl into bed and treat myself to an episode.

On Thursday, Jake got us tickets to see Frozen II and seeing a movie during the week is something we rarely do. At first I was dreading it because I knew it would be a long night but I am so happy that we went! Frozen II was SO good and I want to say that it may be better than the first one. It was a late night but so worth it because it was fun to make plans during the week. It can get difficult to do things in the winter because of how dark and cold it is when I get out of work.

I definitely treated myself to a coffee on my way into work on Friday. I knew it was going to be a long day and I needed all of the caffeine I could get. Even though we have a nice long weekend coming up because of Thanksgiving, it just means that I have an entire week’s worth of work to get done in a few short days. I worked on charts, emails, confirmed details for next week’s meetings and organized my calendar. After work I rushed home to shower and put on cozy pajamas so Jake and I could order dinner and watch The Mandalorian together. I’m looking forward to a productive weekend with lots of coffee and sleeping late.

A while ago, I binge watched all 4 seasons of Outlander and immediately became obsessed after the first episode. The first two seasons are on Netflix and when I got through them in one weekend, we added Starz to our Hulu account so we could keep watching the show. I was really torn what to do with my life after we finished the show so I needed something good to watch. Luckily The Crown just released another season so it’s been my nightly treat this week. Has anyone else been watching all of the movies on Disney+? I keep saying I will just watch one movie and then I keep finding another classic to watch.

I talked about my new night cream and a new eyeshadow palette I’ve been loving recently! If you didn’t read my blog post about natural deodorant I highly encourage that you do because it’s an easy product to swap out for a cleaner version. I just made another Target order which I’m excited to share but for now, you can see what I recently purchased for fall. Every time I wear one of the pieces to work I get so many compliments and I get so excited to say “thanks, I got it at Target!”

These weeks are just flying by lately! With the sun being out longer and the warmer temperatures, I am filling my days with things to do. Suddenly, the temperatures are above 50 degrees and everyone is wanting to make plans again! I admit that I turn into a bit of a hermit during the winter because of the cold and dark weather. But now I am waking up early on the weekends so I can enjoy my days off again.

Two weeks ago, Jake’s mom came to Philly to visit. It was her first time here so we spent the weekend walking around Philly being tour guides. I love when people come to visit or I make plans with friends in the city because it gives you an excuse to try something new or just enjoy the city that I forget to take advantage of.

While we walked around the entire city Jake and I kept making a list of things we wanted to do and see in Philly. What is it when the warmer weather hits we all get inspired to do everything and see everything. We are looking forward to lots of outdoor dining, trips to museums and finding every rooftop bar we can find in the city. I keep joking that one of the nicest parts about having a boyfriend is having a friend to do things with and I got lucky because Jake is always happy to go on an adventure. I’m doing my research now and finding out what events are going on this summer to add to my planner because I am so ready to take advantage of these warmer months in the city!

I haven’t shared this with many people, but I recently got promoted at work. A job opening came up and I applied and interviewed but didn’t get my hopes up. It was the same week we had a death in the family so I wasn’t in the best mental state but interviewed anyway as a distraction. A few weeks later, I got the call that they were happy to have me join the team. This new role is a lot more work and more responsibility, but I am soo excited to start this new chapter. Did I mention the best part? I will no longer be working the evening shift and will have a normal 9-5 job. Work has been busy because I am working on finishing some of my reports and wrapping things up so the next person. With a lot going on, I decided to treat myself to a mental health day in the middle of the week. The last time I took a day off was for the day after Christmas so I could use it as a travel day so this girl really needed a day off!

My weekends have been super busy lately but I have been able to dedicate a few hours here and there to the blog. Lots of new content is coming out each week so I hope you are able to enjoy the steady flow of new posts. With the warmer weather, I like waking up early and having a slow morning before I do my weekly errands. Trader Joe’s is a bit of a walk so I haven’t been in a while but last Saturday was so nice out that we didn’t mind the walk.

I wish my weekdays were more exciting than the same old routine each week. Now onto my favorite things this week…

What I’m Loving

A friend of a friend’s wedding was featured in Vogue magazine recently. Her dress is beyond beautiful and it was cool to get texts of photos that didn’t make it into the article. I’m already trying to find where I can a veil like her’s!

Taylor Swift was seen wearing new merch around New York City and I am loving the new look!

Lots of gingham is on sale at this retailer.

I recently did a round up of my favorite things at Old Navy and J. Crew Factory.

Hopefully you have been enjoying my skincare series on the blog. I took a bit of a break but started to love reviewing products again on Sundays. Check out my review on a Sunday Riley product here.

Speaking of product reviews, I am sharing this Sephora post from the archives if you want some inspiration while shopping the Sephora sale. In the post I explain what products I purchase at Target and the ones I splurge on. Not all mascaras are made the same! Remember to check out my beauty tab for dozens of makeup and hair product reviews!

What I’m Watching

I’ve been watching Blindspot and The Black List at the same time the last few weeks. And of course I am watching Game of Thrones every week. Let me know what shows you are watching so I can add it to my list!

Oh my goodness, it has been a very busy few weeks! I’m not even sure how to sum up my April so far because so much has been going on in my personal life. Because of privacy reasons, I want to keep the details off the blog but just know that I dread when my phone rings now because this girl cannot take any more bad news! With all of this going on, Jake had a vacation scheduled for 7 days that was booked and paid for more than a year ago so he was out of town. Work was busy, lots of meetings and a lot going on in my personal life so most nights I was eating chips for dinner and going to bed early. Over the weekend, I made an effort to spend as much time as I could outdoors to enjoy the summer-like weather we were having. On Saturday, I grabbed coffee with a coworker and we walked around the city where I’m looking at apartments on Zillow right now. I’m really excited to be moving closer to the downtown area to take advantage of the restaurants and parks but I will miss my little apartment in Fairmount! On Sunday, I had plans to go to the Manayunk Street Food festival but the weather sucked and my friend overslept so we ended up not going. Luckily I was still home when my friend invited me to go on a coffee run and catch up on life. With a lot of Starbs in my body, I was ready to deep clean my apartment and get myself ready for the upcoming week. As much as I hate waking up early on weekends, I love how productive I can be!

This past week, I have been getting back to my usual schedule but still taking it slow. After busy days at work, I need to remind myself that I can take it easy and don’t have to do a million things. I’m looking forward to this weekend because Jake’s mom is visiting for the weekend so I love any excuse to be a tourist in my own city! Also, does anyone have any advice on how to meet your significant others mom for the first time? Is a fruit basket too extra?! LMK!

What I’m Watching

I’ve been watching a few shows the last few weeks on top of my usual weekly tv shows. On Thursdays, I usually catch up on This Is Us, Grey’s, Very Cavallari and others. At night while eating dinner or doing stuff around the apartment, I have been watching Blindspot and The Blacklist from the beginning. Of course, Game of Thrones is back on to mess up our sleep schedules the next few weeks so that is something to look forward to on Sundays now.

What I’m Wearing

I recently bought new pants for Spring because my office is sooo cold with the AC blasting and I can only wear tights with dresses for a few more weeks. I have been meaning to take more outfit photos lately but life is getting in the way. Oops.

Highly recommend these pink gingham pants, I sized up so they fit me better.

These black gingham pants were a last minute impulse buy while in the store and I am so happy I bought them. They are on clearance right now so scoop them up while you can!

I love the color lavender right now so I needed to have these pants with an adorable bow.

What I’m Loving

While watching Insta Stories this week, I stumbled upon Kim Kardashian giving a tour of her house. What was really fascinating was the explanation of her bathroom sinks work because there is no bowl part to the sink, just a faucet. I think I watched the Insta Story a dozen times because somehow the sink is designed to have all of the water drain in a tiny hole that just doesn’t seem practical. Check out the article on it here.

Baby watch!! Meghan and Harry decided that they will keep the birth of their child out of the news. Some predictions are saying that she may give birth this weekend so all of the Royal Fan Instagrams are on baby watch! This is one of my favorites for all things royal.

These shorts sell out before summer every year so buy them now while they are on sale!

The Gal Meets Glam collection is part of Nordstrom’s spring sale so be sure to pick up one of the dresses included in the sale while you can.