Friday, October 7, 2022
Did someone say Friday? It’s time to link up with the ladies to share what made us smile this week. It’s always such a happy post and I get so many good ideas!
I finished this and despite the ghost in the story, it was probably one of my favorites of hers. Also, in the back of the book, Elin includes her recommendations for a visit to Nantucket. I thought that was a nice touch.
And, then I started this. I think I picked it up on a whim at my library and I am really enjoying it! I loved having time to read outside over my fall break and after school with our wonderful weather. Real question: what am I gonna do when I can’t read outside anymore? I am looking for an armchair for my bedroom but have not had any luck. I really want to use it and not just throw clothes on it or have a place for Tom to put his hideous Tour de Tom biking costume.
I didn’t get a great picture of the beautiful bride and her groom from last weekend, so I stole this one to show you.
Monday I was able to meet my friends for brunch at our new First Watch near my house.
It was really nice and a fun thing to do on my last day of break.
I got back to meal prep and am enjoying breakfast burritos this week. I use a La Banderita brand low carb tortilla, some scrambled eggs, some shredded cheese, one Amylu chicken sausage breakfast link, and a few pieces of microwaved and diced potato. I wrap them up and put them in the freezer and pull one out each morning to take to school.
I had a spontaneous happy hour Tuesday after school to hear about Erica’s fall break trip upstate New York where she visited family and toured lakes and wineries.
I hadn’t eaten much for lunch that day and was starving. We had their homemade potato chips with dips and…
pretzel sticks and beer cheese.
on a cute patio. Ok Amy, time to get back to normal!
My face has been so dry and painful. I finally slathered this on one night before bed and saw immediate results and relief the next day. I have never had such a dry face so I am trying to figure it out. Any recommendations?
Over break, I used my Bath and Body coupons (usually I can’t make this work – I forget them or they have expired!)
I got this for free:
And, the 3 wick candles were on sale for $13.50 and I had a 20% off.
I got this:
And cinnamon pumpkin. I’m enjoying burning one inside and one outside. I am not into “saving” things. I want to use them now and enjoy them.
One of our lunches this week made by me was this Doritos taco salad. We each only use 5 Doritos and it has iceberg lettuce, tomatoes, a tiny bit of cheese, fat free sour cream, and taco sauce, along with taco meat made with Laura’s lean ground beef.
Super simple and super delicious!
So, what were your faves this week?
Amy
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 
The food all looks so good! I have been struggling to find a good book that captures my interest lately. I have started and stopped so many of them… and I honestly think it’s me and not the books!
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I know – that is why I have to get back on track and back to basics! It’s funny how just one week off makes it so hard! If you haven’t read Nora Goes Off Script, I really enjoyed it. I go through stages like that, too, though!
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I did read Nora Goes off Script and thought that was so cute! I know what you mean about getting back on track… just those few days up in Maine and I’ve been struggling not to eat sugary junk this week as I am literally craving anything with sugar! Oddly I seemed to have gotten my fill of fried foods and carbs so I’m happy to eat fruit and salad again but I want ice cream and chocolate and all sorts of dessert type things now. I know I just need to resist for a week or so and the cravings will stop but it’s so hard.
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Me too! I do think it’s the sugar! I do great until after lunch and then the wheels kinda fall off. I need to make sure I have enough protein and that I eat enough at lunch. I think that can be my downfall. The cravings do go away after a couple of days. Maybe make a cake with Greek yogurt or something like that to have on hand? Or freeze some grapes? I am back on the one Dum Dum sucker after dinner kick! It helps me!
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Thanks for the rec on the book – I just requested it from my library. I badly want to visit Nantucket so I’d love to see her recommendations.
I have not been into Bath & Body works in a while but need to grab some Fall scents and use my coupons too – always such a good deal.
A spontaneous HH during the week sounds like fun!
Have a great weekend Amy!
xo,
Kellyann
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I think you will like it! I want to, as well. We are toying with the idea of a Boston trip with Nantucket on the end?
I was happy that I finally made the coupons work for me. I didn’t want to spend $60!
It was fun and I think this really helps my mental state to get to do a few fun things during the week!
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For your face I can really recommend a cream that is very hyped right now (tiktok you know): La Roche-Posay Toleriane Sensitive Crème. I bought it for my daughter but started using it myself instead…
Favorite this week: the beautiful fall! I had a crazy week with teacher proficiency (is that the word), Monday, museum Tuesday and orienteering Wednesday. It was wonderful to be outside the whole day Wednesday, I slept like a baby!
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Oh – I will have to look into that one. It sounds expensive. We are really seeing our trees start to turn here – so pretty! We call it professional development if that is the same thing? I bet being outside was so nice! I am really benefiting from at least an hour or two every day with our beautiful sunny early fall weather around here.
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It’s a cheap cream, like 10 dollars!
Professional development, I get it.
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I looked on Amazon and the one I found was about $30, but I would still pay that. They last forever. I do not need to be developed any further at this point. How about you?
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Professional development is of course necessary and a great idea, but… it feels like I have more to learn from my closest colleagues than from someone from a company that hasn’t worked as a teacher for decades… you know!? Right now we’re doing a course in Cooperative Learning, have you heard about it? It gives you some good ideas, but you can’t help to ask yourself: why?
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It’s great in theory, but it needs to be from our colleagues who are actually in the trenches with us! I went to the worst of my life this summer. 6 hours of us just being lectured to. I got nothing out of it. We call it collaborative learning and we are “supposed” to pair up with someone from a different subject to do projects. Is that what yours is about?
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I actually don’t think it’s the exact same thing… Cooperative learning is very systematic and the are 5 criteria that has to be fulfilled… My problem is that this kind of group work is fun and a nice way to learn, but I can’t evaluate it and a big part of my job is to grade the students… We don’t have enough time! (And right now I’m in the process of writing comments about every single student in every single subject before the parents-students-teachers meetings (what do you call those!?)
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Oh – don’t know about this then!
Parent – teacher conferences.
That sounds so time consuming!
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parent – teacher conferences, noted! (but I will probably forget it and ask you again :-D)
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That’s ok. I’m patient. I’m a teacher. I repeat myself at least 100 times a day! Ha!
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I actually wrote it down! I just have to find my notes… #tired teacher 😀
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Such yummy meals!! Wish I could smell that candle through my computer screen 😉 Have a great weekend!
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Thank you! It’s good! I am really liking the White Pumpkin and I’m obsessed with white pumpkins, too. I have to like the design on the outside of the candle and the smell and it’s harder than one thinks! Ha!
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I’ll say it again- you have the coolest restaurants in your town! We just don’t have that many and I much prefer a local place, so we frequent the same three. One is American food called Huey’s where they have a bar and trivia on Monday nights, our favorite La Perla Tapatia for Mexican and Jim’s where we went for our anniversary, which is pricey but worth the money. Those potato chip things looked amazing, but so did the pretzels and beer cheese. I LOVE beer cheese!! I went to check on that book and didn’t find it in the Libby app, so I’m going to check on them both now with Kindle. Thanks for those recs!
I have VERY dry skin, so my hack for this is good and cheap- I use coconut oil to wash my face every night. It melts the makeup right off, much like we see the Colleen Rothschild cleanser do and it moisturizes and softens your skin while you rub it in. I rub it all over and it never burns or tastes bad, because I also rub it over my mouth. After I do that, I moisturize again with Cerave. Have you tried that? You may like it more than Aquaphor. I use it again every morning and then I even add some drops of oil into my foundation before rubbing it in. All of that helps and I think it has kept me free from breakouts for more than three years now- I never get them anymore! You should try it, because it’s so inexpensive. If you don’t like the oil, you can just transfer it down to your kitchen and use it there instead.
Happy weekend, friend!
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Aquaphor is great for smaller areas in my opinion and Cerave is my favorite moisturizer! I love your comment about the coconut oil that it can transfer to the kitchen instead! Have a great weekend to you both!
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I just ordered a tub of Cerave! I tried coconut oil before and felt greasy, so maybe it was the brand I used? You too!
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We do – we really do! It can be a bad thing when one is trying to eat at home! The book I am reading now has some very spicy scenes if that bothers you. I didn’t know it until I got about halfway through. Tom loves beer cheese with Frito’s Scoops and has to have that to watch his sports games! lol! I need to try a better brand of coconut oil or something more natural from Whole Foods? I ordered a tub of Cerave so I will try your method. My face is already getting better! But, if it got this bad in September, I need to get ahead of it for winter. You know your stuff! Thank you!
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Haven’t smelled the sweater weather fragrance mist, will have to next time I’m in the store!
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I like it, but I use it sparingly. It can be a bit strong.
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Your Bath and Body Works pictures are making me want to place an order. I haven’t been to the store in quite awhile! Jennifer is right – you have the coolest restaurants in your area. We have lots to choose from in Houston, but not so many out here in the suburbs. My midlife skin has been having horrible breakouts…no fun at all. Have a wonderful weekend.
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I have a hard time ordering because I am so picky about smells. I have to go in the store and almost get a headache trying everything! We have too many tempting places here. We are actually known as a city with great local restaurants – a very foodie city. I rarely go to chains unless they are local chains. I can’t believe I haven’t broken out with the amount of Aquaphor I have used!
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I loved The Hotel Nantucket, too! It looks like you had a great fall break!! Have a great weekend!!
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It was really good! Did you like the ghost? I did – I feel so happy to have had that time off.
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I loved the ghost! It looks like you made the most of your break!
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I didn’t mind this ghost that much but as a general rule – no to ghosts in books! I did!
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The bride and groom are stunning! You had a great break. I wish we had room in our bedroom for a sitting area. That would be a dream. I think I will make that Dorito salad for lunch this week. Sounds delish. Have a great weekend.
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Aren’t they? We did. I wish I had a sunroom like you have! The Dorito salad is great with Andrea’s Southwest bowl sauce/ dressing, too. Or, the Chuy’s copycat jalapeno dip thinned out with water. Erica said I did that the first time I made the salad and I think she was sad that I forgot it this time! I think your kids would love this salad and they can customize it. The taco sauce makes it, so don’t skip that!
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I’ve packed this for lunch today. I have a southwest ranch that I brought…chuy’s copycat would be amazing!
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Wonderful! I need to do a Big Mac salad! Craving it!
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Something I discovered when looking for a chair for our master bedroom. We got a Home Depot mailer and I had no idea that they carried furniture since there is none displayed in the stores. BUT online yes and at least half the price of the same styles I was looking for at furniture stores. And for an ottoman, I highly recommend the “puff” on Amazon. Loads cheaper that regular ottomans but we love it so much more. Once you see them, you’ll see why they are better.
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Thank you so much for the tip! They have a lot! I need to have Tom look because he is is picky. He also understands the dimensions more than I do. I want a mismatched puff/pouf so that is a great tip, too! I will keep you posted on what I find.
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