Monday, January 10, 2021

Starting my day with my coffee, candle, and favorite blogs!

Today I’m linking up with both Hello Monday and Not Just a Mom link ups! This month, the topic for Not Just a Mom is favorite bloggers. I have done this blog topic before, but it was a long time ago and many have changed. I am also excited to do this topic because I got a blog comment recently asking me what blogs I read.

I.love.blogs!

I want my blog to be a blog I personally would want to read. My favorite topics to write and to read about are fashion, food, books, lifestyle, hacks and tips, and product recommendations.

I like a blog that posts on a regular schedule and that posts early. I read most of my regular blogs in the morning. I do sometimes come back to check out blogs in the evening but I mainly read in the morning, because it is my ME time before my day starts.

Moms of young kids, it took me a long time to get this ME time in the mornings, so don’t give up hope! I also decided when they were preschool age maybe that it made my day so much better if I got up before they did. I was just in a better mood and ready to be my best mom self. So, if your kids are your alarm clock and it’s making you feel like a frazzled mess, try to get up even 15 minutes before they do?

These are in no particular order…and I really hope I don’t leave any off my list!

Fashion:

Big Mama Blog – but only on Fridays. I also listen to her podcast with another lady called The Big Boo Cast. I am not interested in everything they talk about but I do like their fashion and product recommendations sometimes.

This Blonde’s Shopping Bag – Kellyann has become a big supporter and a friend. She is a sweetheart.

Susan After 60 – I do not know Susan, but I really admire her. She teaches women about dressing for their body type. She is truly a classy and elegant lady.

Home Decor, Recipes, Product Recs:

The House on Silverado – Nikki does not know who I am, but I really like her home decor, her product recommendations, and her recipes. Her blog is really pretty, too.

Everything:

Show Me and Sweet Tea – Jen is a fellow mom of twins. Twin moms unite! She writes mainly about her life as a mom but has great home style, great recommendations, recipes, and more. She is also a teacher.

My Glittery Heart – Heather provides our Hello Monday link-up and she has the most awesome bar carts!

Sunshine and Books – Sarah is so sweet and gives great book recommendations.

Carolina Charm – I think Christina’s post about blogging is what made me finally take the plunge. She has great style, great recipes, and I just enjoy the beautiful aesthetic of her blog.

Lindsay’s Sweet World – I only wish I could be as organized as Lindsay. She has great ideas!

Honey We’re Home – great recipes, great product and fashion recommendations, and more!

Bourbon, Lipstick, and Stillettos – a fellow Kentucky blogger. I really like her recommendations and her writing style is very professional.

Preppy Empter Nester – Katie is hilarious and is living a great empty nester life!

Designer Bags and Dirty Diapers – great style, great recipes, and some good product recommendations. She is on a champagne and caviar budget, though, and I am on a Boone’s Farm and pickle relish budget.

Momfessionals – Andrea has great recipes, style, and more. She provides the Friday Favorites link up.

Mix and Match Mama – recipes, trip information, and more.

Stuff, Things, Etc. – Kristin does not hold back and tells it like it is. She has given me some great recommendations on some products.

My Slices of LIfe – Joanne has great recipes, book reviews, and shows her nice life living on a lake and hiking in the woods.

I have left off the blogs that simply seem to be selling, selling, selling or that are so inconsistent that I just don’t even bother checking anymore. I follow some of them on Instagram, but I just don’t like Instastories as much as traditional blogs. There are some blogs that I used to love that I can barely read anymore. I am not saying this to be mean; it is just a fact. I know I’m not the only one that feels this way. Many think blogs have changed and many also think they are going to become obsolete. I understand that the money as an influencer might be too hard to pass up. I hate it when I feel duped and think a blog post is a true blog post but it becomes clear that it is an ad. Example: “My Tips for Organizing” is the title and then it starts with, “I know I’m not alone that keeping things organized is a constant struggle…I use this from Amazon, and this from Amazon, and this from Amazon. Click here!”

What blogs should I read? Leave them in the comments! I really do need some new ones!

My Weekend:

Let’s start with Thursday night! Will we have a snow day Friday? Yes! We found out around 7:30 p.m., which was really nice. While I waited I polished my nails with Essie Bahama Breeze which is very old.

It is so nice to know the night before. I stayed up about 30 minutes past my normal bedtime!

Look who else must have had a really tiring day!

Friday morning and no school! I lit up the living room to enjoy my morning quiet time!

I weigh on Friday mornings after coffee, but before eating any food. I really hope this is right. I weighed 4 times.

After not losing anything since before Thanksgiving, the scale showed a 6 pound loss! Now, I had gone up a bit temporarily and hadn’t weighed during the holidays so it wasn’t quite that dramatic! And, remember I lost 10 pounds before officially joining…So I have officially lost 50 pounds! Finally! I really wanted to lose 50 by 50, but it’s o.k.

I never really went off the rails during the holidays. I had the things I wanted on Eve, Day, and NYE, but I ate normally the rest of the time. I think the key for me was consistency and patience. I still can hardly believe that I have been able to do this. I’m also sad at myself that I let myself have 50 lbs. to lose, but that is not a productive way to think.

I feel like snow days call for soup, so I had been wanting to make this mushroom, onion, and kale soup with beef broth. I made chicken sausage to add to it the next day.

I had a Kroger pick up, but didn’t leave the house other than that. Our roads were really bad and it was soooo cold.

A better view of my snowman mantle:

For dinner, we had burrito bowls.

Saturday morning I made the chicken sausage and

my faux-tisserie chicken in the crockpot.

Ewww…apologies for this photo! I use chicken tenders, a bit of seasonings, and a bit of water, and a whole jug of chicken broth. It shreds beautifully for your recipes and tastes just as flavorful as a rotisserie chicken from the grocery; you don’t have to get all messy!

The snow remnants on Saturday morning:

I did a bit of reading in the morning. This is really good but it is serious…

So, I took a little break and started this…

It is so cute! It reminds me of Kim’s Convenience (the show). I highly recommend if you need a cute show that the whole family could watch.

I had a bit of cabin fever so I was ready to get out of the house late Saturday morning.

I went to the library because they had a hold ready for me.

I may not get to all of them, but I like to have back ups.

I stopped in at our little Walmart Neighborhood grocery. My Kroger order said there were no green peppers or zucchini available. Well, the produce shelves were bare there, too. Apparently the snow kept some trucks from delivery. Oh well.

These are 3 points each and really good. They are the French steak rolls from the bakery section.

I found a replacement for Thin Mints!

I went home and had a Boca chicken on one of the buns with some wedge fries I made and a little dipping sauce.

I was super lazy the rest of the day and read and watched tv. I needed to clean and organize but just wasn’t feeling it.

For dinner, I talked Tom into going out early.

I had a salad with roasted vegetables and a goat cheese fritter – yum! I also had some jerk chicken but didn’t get a photo. It was so nice to not cook after many, many consecutive nights of making dinner.

And, I am writing this on Sunday morning so I am going to leave it right here.

That was long!

What was the highlight of your weekend? Did you get snow?

Don’t forget to leave me blog recommendations in the comments!

Amy

30 thoughts on “Hello Monday & Favorite Bloggers”

  1. You are doing such a great job with your healthy eating!!! Keep it up. It’s inspiring and encouraging! Hope you have a great week!

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  2. I see a few blogs on your list I’m going to have to check out (though we have a lot of the same ones on our lists). Congrats on going down 6 lbs! That’s fabulous and congrats on reaching your goal!! That is huge. We got lots and lots of snow on Friday but thankfully found out Thursday night too that school would be canceled so I could sleep in and really enjoy it.

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    1. Hope you find a couple of new ones, too. I will have to explore the new ones on your list for me. I could hardly believe 6 pounds but I weighed 4 times! So, I guess I need to believe it. So nice to find out the night before!

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  3. Thank you for the shout out Amy – you are too kind! I want to check out all of the blogs you mentioned that I’m not familiar with- so many blogs have stopped posting or aren’t interesting to me any longer so I need some new ones.
    Congrats on the weight loss – you have done such a good job and made real lifestyle changes that you can maintain. I am so happy for you!
    No snow here, not even cool temperatures but I had a productive weekend and got so much done around my house. We saw the movie American Underdog and it was sooooooo good! I highly recommend!
    Have a great day!
    xo,
    Kellyann

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    1. Thank you, Holly! Love some soup! I need to bring back Soup Sundays. I haven’t read the 3 new ones yet, but they looked promising. I like to do a bit deeper one followed by more of a chick lit book. You too! Thank you for the link up!

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  5. Hi Amy, I was your reader who requested a blog list so I greatly appreciate the reqs! I read all of the ones you listed above and would add “Classic Annie” http://anniesadventures16.blogspot.com/ and “The Perks” http://katiesperk.blogspot.com/ to the list.
    Congrats on hitting 50 pounds lost! Have you read Carole Radziwell’s book “What Remains”? I just read it after a fellow Bravoholic recommended it and it was very thought provoking and made me see Carole in a new light. I also love Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson’s books. Have a great Monday!

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    1. Oh hi, Kate! Sorry I couldn’t remember! I will check those out and thank you! I know about that book but I thought it would be depressing? I don’t love her after the last season she was on. I have not read SH, but have read most of Melanie’s! You too!

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  7. Kudos to you on your continued weight loss. Of course, love the sweet picture of your Ernie. I got 10+ inches of snow and was without power for 3 days.

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  8. Thanks for linking up with us! You have so many great suggestions. My list is getting long 🙂
    You had some great days! I still have my skinny tree up because I’d hoped to sit by it with the glow of the tree + snow. I got my wish! I’m going to look for those mint protein drinks. They look delish. Congrats on another milestone. You are doing so awesome!

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  10. I spy my blog in the top picture! 😉 I love goat cheese fritters, so that last picture of the food made me really want one. That is absolutely amazing about hitting your goal of 50 pounds lost. I’m sure you have to pinch yourself to see if you’re living a dream! Thanks for the list of favorite blogs. I read many of these, and also agree about some blogs changing into one big affiliate link. (I hope I’m not one of those!) My favorite blog posts are just everyday life with a few product recommendations thrown in. Have a wonderful week!

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    1. I thought it was your blog and I left you off my list! I am so sorry! I will make it up to you!
      I have never met a goat cheese I didn’t love! Make it a fritter and it’s even better!
      You are not one of those at all!
      I love your blog recaps and you are such a positive and real blogger!

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  11. Happy Monday- Congrats on your weight loss goals! I am so happy and proud of you and just all the Feels. You know what I mean! I added some of the blogs you named to my reading list. For the most part I have gotten rid of so many I used to read because its a constant shilling process and I am really over that. I mean,. Instagram and stories and blogs click swipe up tap here. Just too much for me so I unfollowed. Or I mute. God bless everyone trying to make a living. I hold no ill will at that at all! I just dont care to always be forever bombarded with Target and Loft and Amazon clothes. No snow here. LOL but its cold and foggy and I love that weather. I am taking my mom to lunch tomorrow and then to see American Underdog. Tony went on Saturday and I wasn’t feeling well so I stayed home. He loved it too. Ok, off to friends to watch Alabama vs Georgia. Yawn fest but its with our friends and Taylor and we play money games and do all kinds of fun competitions every time they score. Ab crunches, leg lifts, wall sits, etc. Its fun!

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    1. Thank you to my sweet and supportive friend! I feel the same as you do and I just don’t want to go there even though I would like to make money, too. Looks like you had fun watching the game!

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  12. Hi friend! Wow, that weight loss, it’s absolutely crazy! You should be so p r o u d of yourself!
    Ernie! OMG! (no more comments)
    Books: I just started “The last thing he told me”, and I really like the tone in it. Isn’t that strange? Some authors just have it…!
    Blogs; I read you, and two Swedish ones, that’s what I have time for right now…

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      1. OK, here are the Swedish blogs
        https://sofifahrman.elle.se – a lot of beautiful pictures and not much text so you can absolutely enjoy it. I’ve followed her for ages, she used to be a young fashion reporter that spent a lot of time in New York. Now she has married a crazily rich Swedish guy and the are living The Vida Loca- luxury!
        https://www.englasshowroom.com – such a sweet fashionable working mum of three. She is typically Swedish I would say and her pictures are great.
        Enjoy!

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  13. Thank you for linking up with us today!! I can’t wait to come back and see what you think of the books after you’ve read them, some of those look like something I’d be interested in too!

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  14. Pingback: Friday Faves – Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

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