This Memorial Day Weekend plans are going to be a little different for everyone but at least we can rely on some goods sales to keep us busy!
AERIE || 10 for $35 undies, BOGO bathing suit bottoms and tops, 20-60% off items AMERICAN EAGLE || 25-60% off everything ANN TAYLOR || 60% off everything ANTHROPOLOGIE || extra 50% off sale items EXPRESS || 40-50% off everything J. CREW || 60% off your purchase, 50% off sale items J.CREW FACTORY || 50-60% off everything LOFT || 50% off everything, 60% off for reward members OLD NAVY || 50% off tees, tanks, swim and shorts
I think this is the first week of quarantine that has really affected me in a deep way. Leading up to Memorial Day Weekend is tough because for my whole life it meant that the beaches were opening and it was summer time, my favorite time of the year. This MDW is going to be different but I am trying to enjoy it as much as I can. Earlier this week we spent a lot of time in the backyard weeding, planting and cleaning up the backyard. Our hard work has paid off because the flowers have started to bloom and the backyard is our little oasis in the city. On Thursday night we made pulled chicken barbecue sandwiches in the crockpot to have our own version of a barbecue dinner. I made homemade french fries and heated up some canned corn – it was delicious!
Philly is allowing carry out cocktails this weekend so maybe we will treat ourselves to a few. Luckily we live a few blocks away from a food store that has a big alcohol section so we have plenty of White Claw in our fridge. The weather forecast says plenty of rain but I’m not letting that ruin my long weekend.
This week I tried to balance watching tv and getting stuff done so I treated myself to an episode of The Great on Hulu at night after a productive day. I’m not sure if I should be embarrassed or proud but I watched the entire first season of Sweet Magnolias on Netflix. It was so good and as Jake called it, “It’s a Hallmark movie that never ends!’ Honestly, it the type of fun, light television we all need to watch right now. Jake and I were watching The Last Ship together the last few weeks and finished the show this week. The show had plenty of suspense and we liked how they ended the show perfectly. If you are looking for a show to watch with your significant other this is a good one.
In the backyard there is a little patio set where I like to have my morning coffee and get some reading done. This week I read the current issue of Vogue Magazine and I was very impressed by the creative direction they took. It explored how the fashion, art, retail and industries will be changed forever because of COVID. In a way, this pause in time will move these industries to the digital age and will make them change and adapt or be left behind pre-COVID. I highly suggest grabbing a copy of this issue because it does a good job looking at how everyone has been impacted by this.
One of my goals for quarantine is to use up all of the products I have in my cabinet because let’s be honest, it’s a lot! One thing I have plenty of is lotions so I’m really committed to applying lotion to my entire body after the shower and at night before sleep.
A lot of my recent purchases this week were at the grocery store honestly. With the extra time while staying safe at home, I’ve been having fun looking up new recipes to try. I’ll plan my meals out on Sunday for the week and I’ll do a grocery run to get the ingredients. Pre-quarantine I had all of the basics but now that we cook all of our meals from scratch, I’ve been needing some more spices and basics.
The Loft sale is still going so check out this previous post where I shared some of my recent haul.
We ran out of toilet paper and could not find it in stock anywhere! Luckily GoPuff was selling it so we stocked up on TP and snacks. I swear, this experience is going to make me hoard toilet paper for life! It makes my toilet paper holder come in handy because it keeps it neat and tidy!
I recently created a Facebook page for Ed since my phone is filled with pictures of him. His personality is adorable and he’s become more friendly since I’m home all day. If you need a good laugh please follow along!
We are currently in quarantine for weeks longer than we thought we would be when we first heard about COVID. In theory, we always loved the idea of a week at home in our pajamas, some peace and quiet and not having to leave the house. I’ve been wearing the same clothes every week not because they are designer or the most fashionable but because they are the most comfortable. This time in quarantine has taught me that I fill up my closet with clothes each season because I think I need to have them but when I am given the option to wear whatever I want, those are the clothes that go unworn. The last few weeks have been a learning curve for all of us and we are adjusting to our new normal. There are a lot of negatives like grocery stores not having everything and more serious economic concerns but I try to think of the positives that have come out of this quarantine.
I go to bed and tell myself each night that everyone is where they need to be. This past Mother’s Day was difficult because I couldn’t see my mom but I know she is healthy and safe at home in North Carolina. A few weeks ago, a few family members and I started a book club that we do over Zoom on Sunday evenings. We laugh at each other because usually only one of us got all of the reading done but it’s a nice excuse to shower and dress in real clothes to catch up with everyone. I see more of my cousins who live just 20 minutes away on the Zoom call than I have all year because life was always so busy. For Mother’s Day, we have a Zoom tea party and got dressed up in our finest clothes and baked our own treats. That two hour long Zoom call was honestly more fun than if we had just gone out to breakfast. We are creating new memories and spending time with one another in ways that we normally wouldn’t.
I’ve been calling my parents more often to tell them about random things throughout the day. I’ll call if I see a squirrel in the backyard or if we have nice weather to get the conversation going and before long we spend a good amount of time on the phone going deeper. Before the conversations were about how work was and what mundane thing we did that day. We complained to each other when I would call my mom after work because they were easy things to share with one another because it was all surface level. Now I am sharing more with my parents and having deeper, more meaningful conversations. Long distance friendships can be some of your strongest friendships because there is like an unspoken rule that no matter how much time goes on, you can always pick up right where you left off. My friends who don’t live near my are often my biggest cheerleaders. It doesn’t matter how much you spend time with a friend but how strong the foundation of that friendship is. I’ve been thinking about friendships a lot recently because living in a city makes it difficult to find friends even though you are surrounded by people. But I do know that I can rely on friends I have had the longest because it’s never a competition of who cares more or spends the most time with you. It’s the people who value any time spent together or talking on the phone who who often have the strongest friendships because it’s not a competition.
A few weeks ago, my college roommates and I did a surprise Zoom call for one of the girls because it was her birthday. We said surprise and then stayed on the call for a long time just chatting and catching up. Our group text is being used to talk about funny memes and sharing Netflix recommendations. Since we have more free time, we are talking more than we have in the past which makes me so happy. It’s also nice to talk about our daily struggles and look for encouragement when needed.
Every week I will pick a friend I haven’t talked to in ages and just say hi. It’s a nice way to check in and start up a conversation with an old friend. It doesn’t have to be a long conversation but we usually make a promise to stay in touch more and make plans to do lunch once the quarantine is over. Just because we can’t leave the house doesn’t mean that we can’t talk with friends. I’m using this extra free time to talk with friends who may not live near me anymore and keep in touch with friends.
Another weird thing I have been doing is engaging with the people I follow on social media who I have never met. There are a few people on Instagram who are real people that I follow for inspiration and I’ve been making more of an effort to write positive comments and reply to their stories. It’s weird making friends in this age of social media and since we are all stuck at home why not start a conversation with someone on Instagram? I grew up with the rule to never talk to strangers especially on the internet, but I think this is the new way to make friends with people who have similar interests as you!
Hi friends! I am so excited to write this post because I am outside enjoying the warm sunny weather drinking my coffee in our backyard. Earlier in the day I took a shower and washed my hair so I’m letting it air dry in the sun. I forgot how nice this feels! Jake is taking some time off next week so I ‘m excited to have time to work in the backyard. We are so lucky to have a big backyard but now we need to do some work to make it functional! I hope you are enjoying the nice weather we have been having. I’ve been safely with a mask and staying distant taking walks every day. I used to hate walking to do errands but this nice weather makes me want to carry groceries home 10 blocks! This weeks post was a lot of fun to write and has a ton of my favorite things that I hope you enjoy!
I just started to watch The Great on Hulu and I am in love with this show! It’s a great modern take on 18th century Russia royalty. Expect modern day humor and a playful look at gender roles in 18th century. Highly recommend this show!
I’m also almost done binge watching the Real Housewives of Beverly Hills series. Wondering which franchise I will binge next. Please send me your recommendations! It’s a great go to show to get lost in during these weird times because it’s petty drama and a nice break from the pandemic going on.
If you are looking for a show to watch with your significant other, I suggest watching The Last Ship on Hulu. It was a TNT drama that is about a pandemic that takes over the world. Okay, so it’s a bit relevant to our current times but the story line is amazing! Jake also likes it because he comes from a Navy family and the show is very accurate when it comes to procedures and story lines.
My family and I are doing a book club over Zoom which has been a lot of fun. My cousin picked the first book, The Charm Bracelet, and it was cutesy quick read to get us started. Now this time we are reading Alice in Wonderland because it’s a classic that is worth rereading. On my own free time I am reading Goodnight Nobody by Jennifer Weiner. After unpacking our guest room a few months ago I realized how many books I have that I haven’t had the chance to read it. Now with this warm sunny weather I’m excited to spend as much time as I can outdoors and read!
This staying home thing has encouraged me to only wash my hair once a week because I want to make my hair really healthy since we can’t get it cut anytime soon. I’ve been loving to use a a leave in conditioner every time I wash it because it leaves my hair frizz free and smooth so I’ll use less heat to straighten it.
If anyone has to Zoom for work and doesn’t want to make that much of an effort but doesn’t want to look like a mess on camera, I highly suggest this under eye concealer! All of us have under eye circles that are very obvious right now and this concealer does a great job at covering them. My aunt recently joked about trying to get better lighting in our Sunday Zoom call to hide them so I suggested this product for her. I got my mom one a few years ago and she’s been a fan for years now. It’s also a great blendable concealer for other imperfections you may want to hide!
I did some shopping recently and I’m excited to share my finds! I ordered this Taylor Swift Lover tee that keeps selling out so be sure to sign up for restock alerts! I got inspired by Pop of Pippi on Instagram and ordered the vase and flowers she shared. Still waiting on the vase and can’t wait to share the final look!
I also ordered a few things from Loft because the sales are so good right now. Most of the time I only shop for work clothes but I’m excited to treat myself to some new fun casual tops. I have my haul and some other favorites in my Loft finds blog post.
Earlier this week, I shared our new Keurig and finally after many years I finally learned how to make a pot of coffee. I guess I did learn how to do something new during this whole stay at home thing!
During one of my walks this week I went to Target to get some snacks since the little market near our house is out of most snacks. It was a bit of a hike but worth to get my steps in and I was able to get really cute cups that were in the dollar bin. I don’t encourage anyone to leave their home right now but it was nice to find them because it felt like a normal day again shopping at Target finding cute things.
I mentioned last week that Mother’s Day this year was going to look a little different because we were having a Bring Your Own Tea and Crumpets Tea Party with my mom, aunt and cousins. We were dressed in our best and had tea while we chatted and honestly it was so much fun!
One of the perks of being at home so much is that we no longer commute to and from work. This means that I’ve been having a lot of fun spending time in the kitchen making dinner almost every night. We still order in once or twice a week to support local businesses but on the other nights I’m making dinner. Since moving to Philly I have relied on Trader Joe’s frozen meals and right now it’s a very long walk to get there and back so we haven’t gone in a few months. I’ve been shopping at the local market or tiny Giant near my house every week to get ingredients to make dinner. It’s not that I couldn’t cook but I just never had it in me to cook a big dinner after a long day of work. Most nights I’ll start cooking at 5 and dinner will be ready to eat when Jake gets off of work or we can take advantage of him working from home and he’ll be in the kitchen with me while monitoring emails coming in. I swear we never ran our dishwasher this many times pre-quarantine!
I hope you all are staying busy, whatever that may look like, during this weird time for all of us and most importantly taking care of yourselves. I’ve loved to work on this weekly Friday Favorites post because it makes me reflect on the past week and find things I am grateful for. I’ll go through my recent pictures of the week and talk about the ones that brought me joy. You do not need to be busy constantly and use this time to accomplish a million things. Some people are using it to become better versions of themselves by picking up working out or finding new hobbies. Take one day at a time and do what brings you happy – not what works for others because everyone is different. Right now my goal is to walk more even if that is walking to the fridge more often to get snacks or down to the basement to catch up on laundry.
My Loft order came the other day so I wanted to share some great Loft finds because their sales have been really great the last few weeks. I tried on some great tops that I ordered because the prices were so good and I didn’t want to miss a good deal! Here are my recent purchases and a few other pieces I am loving that may make their way into my cart!
Our coffee maker broke last week and our Starbucks down the street is closed preventing me from getting my daily cup of coffee! It makes me wonder how many times is it acceptable to order Starbucks or Dunkin from Uber Eats??? Luckily I didn’t have to go without my coffee for that long because the day our Keurig died, Jake went on his phone and ordered a new one with next day delivery as a surprise for me. Of course we didn’t realize we were also out of K cups so we did a big order on Amazon of coffee supplies! We are officially one of those couples who share a pot of coffee together now and it’s great! Our K-Duo has the ability to make single cup coffee and a whole pot of coffee with one machine. Super easy to use and it’s going a lot cheaper than a daily coffee from Starbucks!
Blonde Rosie Blog 