Dramatic title, right? Today I just want to focus on the positive things that are making me feel good, happy, productive, you know?
The Sun!
I always say that the few warm winter days help me make it through the winter. Honestly, our winter isn’t that bad. We did have a pretty cold start to January and I don’t hate it. I like a bit of snow each winter. I also don’t mind the rain we had in January. But, after about 13 days with zero sun whatsoever, I really loved seeing the sun and then enjoying it in the afternoon when I could sit outside.
I sat outside Saturday and Sunday in my happy place in my happy anti-gravity chair. My family first experienced this chair at a lake house in Michigan over 15 years ago. Since then, we have had at least one and usually two at my house, given them for gifts to both Grandpas, and talked non-stop about them. I keep mine folded up but available all year long. You need one!
I sat in the sun Sunday and Friday, too!
Yes, I will try to drop everything to enjoy a sunny day until spring comes.
Meal prep and thinking of my future self!
I spend time on the weekend to make the week go more smoothly. I heard this concept of “your future self” from Gretchen Rubin, I think. This can just mean your future self of 5 days from now! What can I do on a Saturday or Sunday to help myself be on autopilot when I get busier? Meal planning, ordering or shopping for the groceries, and a bit of meal prep. As I run out of something, I add it to my grocery app on my phone and use that as my list.
I start the week with 5 breakfasts and one lunch for Erica and I. Here is my breakfast pizza:
I deal with mail and emails right away; there are lots of things I could let linger, but I try to think of my future self not having to deal with those things later.
I also try to do my laundry on a weekday for two reasons – I know my college kids and Tom need to do theirs on weekends so I try to leave it free for them – but also, I don’t have to spend my weekend doing mine because I did it during the week.
Coconut Oil!
I put this amount on my hand and rub it all over my face before I get in the shower:
My face has never been softer and it just melts the makeup off if I have been wearing it. I have not had dry skin this winter.
Room Temperature Water!
I find I drink more when I have just this Tervis Tumbler with no lid, no straw, no nothing and if the water is room temp. I used to think I needed my water full of ice but I actually think this is better for me. When I am home on the weekends I try to fill this as many times as I can.
So, what say you? What is saving your life right now?
I’m linking up with Sarah and Holly to tell you about mine today!
I started off my weekend on Friday morning with my Egg McMuffin – hold the butter, add an extra egg. Why is this so good?
It was hard to believe it was already Groundhog Day, but I always put whatever holiday it is in Spanish on my slideshow to start class. It was super sunny, and it was easy to believe an early spring would come this year! But all the teachers and students want just a couple more snow days strategically placed this month! Can I get an Amen?
Phil has seen his shadow since 2020 and we all know about March 13, 2020 – the day the world shut down. That is the last day we went to school until April 2021. Sorry!
I let AP play Bananagrams in Spanish after our quiz, and I think they had fun with it!
After school, I asked Erica if she wanted to go somewhere for happy hour and we knew no one would have a patio open for us to enjoy the full sun and almost 60-degree weather, so like the rednecks we are, we made my skinny margaritas and sat in folding chairs in my driveway where we would get the best sun.
Yeah, Ernie thought we were a couple of crazy ladies!
It felt so good!
My skinny margarita recipe – if you need it – is below! I can hardly stand a restaurant margarita anymore. They are too sweet and too artificial at most places.
Here you go:
One to one and a half shot of white tequila, half a stick of Crystal Light lemonade, a good squirt of lime juice (I use the stuff in the bottle), stir up really well or shake in your shaker, add ice, fill to top with Fresca. Add a lime wedge.
Tom came home and in true semi-empty nester fashion we had random dinner. He wanted something light and had tuna salad and I made a Spanish omelet for myself. I thought we would get takeout, but we were both happy to have this for dinner.
My college kids had play practice and then came home around 9 and I watched some New Girl with them.
I slept in until the sun was out Saturday which is super rare for me!
I will say that it felt nice to have my grocery shopping taken care of (and meal planning for most of the week done). I went on Wednesday last week and while it was painful to shop at dinner time and then come home and try to figure out dinner, maybe that is what I need to do?
For so long, this has been top priority on Saturday morning, and it has dominated me doing anything else. Man, I am so boring. Why do I talk about this so much?
Plan for the week:
Sunday – white chicken chili
Monday – spaghetti
Tuesday – apple gouda sausage with roasted vegetables
I drank my coffee, responded to blog comments, cleaned the house, piddled around, and finally got out of the house:
I got a much needed car wash!
I did a few more errands but none of them were the grocery!
One of them was the library and then I got to experience the sun!
We had plans to go to a brewery and have pizza with our friends Beth and Bob. There is a little take out only pizza place next door and the brewery lets you bring it in.
I had a flight of beer (the glasses are much smaller than they look in the photo) and loved them all! One was a cider.
We had a really nice evening and it had been a long time since we had seen them.
Sunday I slept in again and it was a busy morning. I did a bunch of cleaning and meal prep. I got outside in the sun again, too! Ahhhh!
Welcome to the first faves of Feb! Yay! I am linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some happies from the week.
Well, I can’t say I did much other than go to school, come home, go to school, come home, but one day I went to the grocery and Jack came with me! I tried a mid-week shop and I tried Walmart Neighborhood grocery this week. Not to be dramatic, but it stunk. It was fun to be with Jack but it was very close to 5:00 and super crowded.
Let’s talk about food favorites from the week first.
I told you all about Slender Kitchen on Tuesday and this is one of her recipes – the Beef Kofta Bowl. It’s like a Greek bowl but with beef. I had a brown rice and quinoa blend to put under this. We all loved it!
Also, Sarah told me about Clean Food Crush and let’s just say I have a new crush! Thanks, Sarah!
Erica made a cilantro shrimp bowl over brown rice for one of our school lunches and it was really yummy! I guess I’ve never really thought about shrimp as a food you can re-heat, but it did just fine.
I am making each of my recipes for dinner one night and for two lunches the next day for Erica and I. If Jack eats with us, that is only 4 servings so sometimes I bow out and eat leftovers or something else because I know I’m going to have it for lunch the next day. It’s working out just fine to do it this way!
My oven is a favorite again. My air fryer (giant Caphalon sitting on the counter and taking up all kinds of space) is 2 years old (I think) and it started giving me an error message. Tom and I both Googled and tried to fix it and then I said,” you know what?” I’m gonna reclaim this counter space and use my oven. I am happy to report that the air fryer setting works like a charm.
Mason loves the taste of coffee, but it started bothering his stomach so he switched to tea long before England. We aren’t sure why it bothered him so send me your suggestions if you have a coffee that might be ok. I ordered his favorite tea from Amazon and he is so excited! He lived in Ormskirk which is in Lancashire, but Yorkshire was pretty close.
I’m also excited to drink more tea!
I made a total impulse purchase at the grocery this week – Mean Girls pink frosting flavored creamer. I love it!
My classroom got a little glow up! Many of our teachers have been ordering these light cover panels and you can get clouds, beach, stars, etc. We have an Amazon allowance we can spend each year now. I picked this forest canopy design.
I also had my aides put heart window clings on my windows and they did this door design:
High school kids appreciate this stuff more than you would think! I need to add an accent mark to the word day – oops- they forgot it!
And, at home I did my very minimal but special to me V Day decor.
Why didn’t I put them in red? They were 5 months old in this photo for their first V Day!
I’ve been trying to use the candles I have and I found this one and at least it’s red!
My mom’s gift from England was these beautiful placemats that have a cork back on them. My mom found them on Amazon and ordered even more. She has a really long table and it’s beautiful. Don’t they look so nice the way she arranged them here? Here they are on Amazon if you are interested.
I did a white mani (Impress press ons) for the beginning of February and then the next one I will do has heart designs. Yup, still impressed with Impress press ons! I am having the best luck when I remove the old set one day and then the next night I do a new set. I press them on, wait a bit, then I cut and file. I go to bed and do not put my hands in water until the next day.
I really enjoy my second piercing and need to get more little earrings! Any suggestions send them my way! I really like the sets from Loft but haven’t been there in a long time!
Did you all know that Subway has footlong chocolate chip cookies, pretzels, and churros? I have a student who works there and the topic came up. This would be a fun V Day gift!
This weekend, I want to try Tanya’s scones. I happen to have all of the ingredients, including the heavy cream, right now. I had a really good scone with clotted cream and jam in Scotland.
So, yeah, I am tempted by many foods right now! And, those little devils are going to start selling their wares in front of my Kroger soon – I just know it! Girl Scouts!
You better believe I’m wearing my red and pink today to celebrate the first day of February! It’s Thursday and time to link up with Kellyann and Jill for Fashion Files. I’m pretty happy with my January wardrobe goals – I wanted to wear my non-Christmasy winter stuff and avoid my reds and pinks. So, I wore black, wine, and the new things I purchased in January. Did you see my post yesterday about my Fashion Purchases for 2024 so far?
Also, the weather was the coldest of the cold and the warmest of the warm in January! We seriously had negative temps all the way up to 60 degrees. And, my classroom temps – don’t even get me started.
These outfits are out of order, but let’s go with it.
Here is what I wore to school Monday:
I wore my TJ Maxx deer blouse, a fur vest, Matilda Jane pants, and Danskos – meh. I don’t really like this.
Sunday I wore my Marshall’s bird shirt, my new to me vest with silver zipper detail on the sides, jeans, and my new silver clogs.
Saturday I wore my new Walmart sweater, jeans, and gold clogs.
Saturday day I wore this to the grocery – new pink Old Navy button up, jeans, silver clogs.
Friday to school I wore my hot pink cougar blouse, black vest, jeans, and Nikes.
Thursday to school (it was very warm outside) I wore jeans, gold clogs, and my new Walmart Free Assembly sweater.
And, Tuesday of this week I wore my new Old Navy blue and white stripe button up, black pants, and silver clogs. I did change into my New Balances after a couple of periods. The silver clogs are comfy, but I was moving around a lot and am trying to baby my feet on our hard cement floors.
I also had a black sweater over it to start the day:
And, lastly – meh. I wore my pearl headband, a white Lucky sweater from Costco, jeans, and Nikes.
Did you catch my earrings post? Here is my double up for silver accessories. I did my silver cubic zirconia in the second hole and a big pearl stud in the first hole.
It’s hard to get a good pic of your ear!
And, that’s a wrap on my last week of January outfits!
What have you been wearing?
Are you excited to wear anything new or different this month?
Today is the last day of January and I thought I would recap my fashion purchases for the month.
Well, I really didn’t plan to shop this month – oops! My plan was to be content with and wear all of my winter wardrobe! But I think you will agree that I got some great deals and I shopped with a purpose – maybe? Ha – let’s see…
Can we blame it on the fact that January has 573 days? Can we blame it on the fact that I really didn’t shop much from August until December except for trip stuff? Nah, that probably doesn’t hold water!
I mentioned in my winter closet cleanout that I see my closet as a fluid entity. I don’t hang on to things that are not serving me – I like space and margin to add as my tastes change. Also, fashion is a hobby of mine and I really enjoy putting outfits together. Some hobbies are very expensive, and my hobbies are pretty cheap if you think about it on the grand scale of things. See how good I am at justifying things?
Early in the month, I made a trip to my favorite little consignment shop Sassy Fox. They had everything 25-75% off and it had been a while. I had a $20 credit and found these things:
black sweater vest with silver zipper detail – have worn three times and plan to wear more with silver accessories and shoes – feeling a bit more silver these days. Also, my mom gave me some new to me silver jewelry when I was at her house.
black Jag pull on jeans – a little too skinny for my tastes currently. I may re-sell these – probably a mistake.
navy/red cognac handbag – used once already – think it will be a much used bag in the spring!
black tan tote – I have used every day for my school tote!
$30 for all 4 above – even though the pull on jeans were not a great purchase I would have paid $30 for the other three items! So, I did ok!
Next up was…
This Lilly Pulitzer Going Cruisin crossbody – free with Tom’s work gift card – the tag said the price was $148! Tom’s work gives them a gift card to this online website and they can pick what they want. They gave him one for Christmas and one for a work anniversary and he couldn’t find anything he wanted with one of them and gave it to me. I have already used it twice and I love it!
Then, during the closet clean out, I wanted new leggings…
Bright blue Hey Nuts pocket leggings Amazon $27 – already worn them every weekend! I cleaned out my massive leggings collection. I decided to not keep many that didn’t have pockets because why? I wasn’t reaching for them anymore. I have enjoyed this bright color that looks great with my many black tops.
Then, I was influenced…
Kristin has talked about this brand for quite some time and I’ve been curious –
Carly Jean Los Angeles white kimono (more like a light long sleeved sweater) $20 – I saw this on super sale and that is what drew me in to this company and website – I always need a topper in the spring and summer and had let go of my older white things. The material is mostly rayon and modal.
And I also chose this:
Carly Jean Los Angeles white and black striped boyfriend tee. This is pretty oversized so I could have gone down in size but it was on sale for about $14. This is the same rayon and modal material. It looks black in the picture, but it is navy.
I am really wanting to add some stripes to my closet because I didn’t have any stripes anymore!
And, I placed a Walmart order and again, I am so impressed!
I ordered Joyspun undies and they are great.
I ordered this Pumpkin Spice sweater on clearance for $14 – it is the exact same as my “Sweater Weather” sweater. Obviously, I will not wear this now! Ha!
I ordered this $20 Free Assembly feminine spring sweater:
And, I ordered this $17 sweater:
Yes, the buttons should also be pink!
I have already worn everything except Pumpkin Spice so that is really the test for me – if I don’t want to wear it right away, it needs to be returned.
And, finally I placed a Gap and Old Navy order at the same time. Did you know you can do that? It combined what I had sitting in my Old Navy cart when I went to purchase a Gap item and I qualified for free shipping.
I have been seeing silver shoes everywhere. I have also been wearing my clogs – I have red and gold. I love clogs so much. They work great with the jeans styles that are popular right now, too.
I couldn’t believe these were on sale for $12 from Gap!
I’ve worn them twice over the weekend and they are also comfy!
And forgive this photo – wet hair – and the shirt needs to be washed and dried to shrink just a bit, but I ordered two button up shirts from Old Navy – pink and white stripe and blue and white stripe. These were $27 each – wow, Old Navy! $54
And that brings my grand total to $208. Now, do I wish I were the type of person to just buy one thing for $208? Yes, sometimes. But I also think I had a great month when you see everything I got.
Also, guess what? I already have my spring consignment appointment set up for two weeks from now. I have started going through my spring stuff to see what still serves me and what doesn’t. It’s hard to believe, but they are taking spring clothing now, so now is the time to start taking inventory and starting a list of what holes are in your closet.
I love spring clothes! You should see how colorful my spring stuff is compared to my winter stuff. I am really feeling green and pink!
Did you make it through your Monday? I think many of us are just getting back on track after the holidays and so many weather-related days. It’s really hard to eat healthy when I am on vacation mode! Are you like that, too? Also, when I have a snow day, I feel like baking! Anyway, I started eating healthier again on January 8th and I have definitely had some treats, too.
Before I tell you about my favorite website and its new feature, I have a recipe to share with you that knocked my socks off!
Breakfast Pizza!
First of all, I must tell you that I am not willing to eat something I hate or that tastes gross or artificial because there are so many foods that I love out there.
I have a favorite brand of low carb flour tortilla and I would not eat it if I hated it. Period.
La Banderita is the brand. Call me, La Banderita! I even speak Spanish and know your name means “little flag”!
So, preheat your oven to 375. Place a tortilla in the bottom of a 9 inch cake pan or pie plate. I used a glass pie plate. Mix together 3 eggs (I used some liquid egg whites, too), any veg you have around – I did mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, and add whatever spices you like. I did cajun, pepper, and garlic powder. The mushrooms and onions were already cooked, by the way.
Put everything on top of the tortilla and bake for 10 minutes. Take out of oven and sprinkle with 1/4 cup of cheese. I used reduced fat Mexican shredded cheese. Cook for 5 more minutes. This whole pizza was 4 WW points for me. So, you can divide it up and have some for a few days or share with family!
Most of the dishes you see me make for Erica and I for lunch and for my fam at dinner (usually just Tom and I) come from this website:
Slender Kitchen – Click the red font and it will take you there.
Erica found it so I have to give her credit. Tom does not know the meals are healthy if I don’t tell him. Jack and Mason have also enjoyed many of the recipes and I don’t say anything to them, either.
She has every type of cuisine imaginable or you can search by “chicken” or whatever ingredient you want to use.
I tend to do a Mexican meal one night, an Asian inspired meal one night, and try to use the types of cuisines.
Not to be dramatic, but I think I have also become a better cook because of Kristen, the author. She does not know who I am, but I have messaged her to thank her!
Here are some of my faves – just click on the red type:
Blackening seasoning – so good for fish tacos. I feel like a boss making my own seasoning blend!
Mango salsa – never knew how easy this was. This is great on the fish tacos with the blackening seasoning! I also feel pretty cool dropping this in conversation: ”Sorry, I have to go make some mango salsa to go with my dinner”.
I left for school a bit early Friday morning so I could get an Egg McMuffin – no butter, extra egg for my breakfast. It was so good! You all know that I make and pack my own breakfast, snack, lunch (except when it’s Erica’s turn), and then make dinner at home most nights, so this felt like a treat!
Friday was a good day at school, and it felt good to accomplish a 5-day week after the chaotic school start to January due to the weather. Seriously. I was back in the routine and the kids and I benefitted from it.
But, after school, it was time to celebrate. I rush home every day to take Ernie on a walk except Fridays and the ocassional rare day that Jack is home. On Friday, he has no classes and can do it for me. He then leaves for work around 4:00 on Fridays. He had picked up Mason earlier in the day from campus, so Mason was home and ready to be my Friday Happy Hour companion! Yes, I will capitalize Happy Hour!
He worked at a fancy Italian restaurant this summer and enjoyed schooling me in the proper way to hold ones’ wine glass:
We ordered arancini and a baguette with fancy butter and talked for almost two hours.
I’m sure you can tell how this quality time filled my cup! We went home to Tom and rustled up leftovers and odds and ends for dinner for the 3 of us. Jack was off to dinner and a college activity after work so we didn’t see him.
One of the things Mason told me over happy hour…
I had left the Kroger credit card out for Jack and told him to get food he wanted and some snacks. He also is taking a chemistry of cooking class for a graduation requirement and had to bake a cake this weekend, so he needed those supplies. After he went and picked Mason up they did Kroger together. I chuckled at some of Mason’s recounting of it, “I’m glad I was there because Jack was pretty clueless” and “Jack didn’t believe we had baking powder at home”, “It was a good thing I made cookies with you last weekend because I knew what we had”.
Saturday morning, I slept in until about 7 after getting up only one time to use the restroom. Ernie wants to be let out every time Tom or I get up in the night now. I am thankful for the French doors in our bedroom that lead to our patio and stairs to get down to the yard. Tom was smart to design it that way when we started the project in 2018 and Ernie was only 5 years old.
I made coffee, read my devotional, and started responding to blog comments. Oh man, I get so behind these days on responding. I do apologize!
I found out one of my nieces was Homecoming princess Friday night!
Saturday morning, I had to go to Kroger. I debated Aldi, but I knew I would also have to go to Kroger, and I just didn’t have more than one grocery store in me. It took forever and I really didn’t enjoy it. That’s what I get for not planning ahead I guess. I did my meal planning and shopping all Saturday morning.
I got home, unloaded, made breakfast for myself, and did laundry, dishes, all the things. We also discovered that our garbage disposal was broken so Tom went to Home Depot to get a new switch and changed it out. We are lucky that is all it was. He said the switch cost 85 cents! I can handle that kind of repair!
Then, I started cooking a meal for this week…
I tried a new soup and it’s a keeper! Go to her blog here for the recipe! I will double it next time. It was interesting using a box mix of scalloped potatoes. I calculated this as 8 WW points per serving if you get 8 servings from one recipe. I decreased the Velveeta by a bit, too. And, I did not use the crockpot. I just made it on the stove and put all the things in at once.
Nacho Potato Soup:
It was grey and rainy as it was every.single.day. this week, but it was milder and I read outside for a bit with a candle and a tea. I heard Big Boo Cast talk about this book and I loved The Bear. A character in The Bear is reading this in one of the episodes.
It is about the restaurant industry, but the author says and I agree, that it can extend to many different industries.
I have always remembered and loved the quote below:
I broke out my new Valentine sweater to wear to dinner. Jack and Mason went to a play on campus and Tom and I tried a new restaurant. This sweater is part of my Walmart order that I made recently. Don’t worry, I have a January purchases post coming soon. I know you were so worried!
Anyway, I think it runs true to size and I think it’s pretty decent quality for less than $17! I wish they had done pink heart shaped buttons, but I love the pink trim!
It was kind of bittersweet because the new restaurant is in our old favorite German restaurant’s location – it went out of business last year. So sad. It is now “All Thai’d Up” and that also makes me sad because our favorite Thai restaurant – Thai Cafe, which was in our Kroger shopping center – also closed. This restaurant didn’t come close. Tom liked it, but I was not too excited.
Tom wanted the sampler platter and I just had a nibble of a spring roll and a wonton.
We split chicken pad thai:
Tom has discovered a new clothing brand that I will share just in case you need something for your man or you. He is wearing a new sweater from them in the photo above. Paka is the brand and he says it is the softest thing ever and loves it already.
Ernie turned 11 this weekend and I did a rare Facebook post because it was worthy of one!
And, when Jack came home from singing in his church choir, the whole fam including Ernie loaded up to go visit my mom.
We visited and had some really good pizza at a cute little mom and pop place with only 7 tables!
Happy Saturday! Coming to you an extra time this week and much later to link up with Jennifer!
ONE:
I think one way to “hang on” to a special trip is to adopt some of their habits and try some of their recipes! Do you do that? Tom and I have a cookbook from our honeymoon in Aruba and I think it’s a great souvenir.
I just ordered Mason’s favorite tea and I plan to join also try it. We have an electric kettle out on the kitchen counter now!
Tom and I were the only ones home for dinner Thursday night and I made breakfast for dinner which included “Bubble and Squeak”. It was really good!
TWO:
Outside!
I was able to sit outside a couple of days this week after walking Ernie and it was wonderful! I am hoping to be outside this weekend, too, with this more mild temps.
THREE:
Ernie doesn’t want me to put the Christmas rug away. I think it’s softer than the one I replaced it with. I will be switching it back this weekend and who cares!
FOUR:
Have you seen the bow trend? I ordered this 2 pack off of Amazon and the bow has a hairclip on the back.
It’s hard to get a photo, but I kind of liked it!
What’s something you would share on this Saturday?
We needed a 5-day week! The heart wanted more time at home, but the brain knew we needed the routine. Boy, the kids were whining about having to go to school for five consecutive days, too!
If you are new around here, I am a high school Spanish teacher by day and a blogger by early morn’ – ha!
I am really being hard on myself this week and doing what I am asking of the students. I am entering grades daily so they can see the impact of getting back on track (or not getting back on track). It’s a lot of work, but I think it’s so important as we start a new semester. The semester actually started on January 16, but last week was not normal for many of us in the blog world with all the winter weather we experienced.
I’m tired, y’all!
But, despite being tired, I also had some favorites this week, so let’s get started…
One of friends is Victoria who I met at my current job. In fact, I met her on the day I interviewed. She was on her planning period and I got a tour of the school and she was available to meet me!
Victoria and I in October on our Fall Break when it was 80 degrees and we got a day pass to a boutique hotel pool:
She left (transferred to another school) after we taught together for 17 years but of course, we remained very close friends! Victoria’s mom was teaching at an American school in Paris when she met Victoria’s dad who was a doctor at the American Hospital in Paris. I hope I got that correct! Victoria’s dad is Greek, and they proceeded to move to Greece where Victoria was raised until college. Her mom was from Kentucky which brought the whole family back to Kentucky when Victoria started college. Her mom is an amazing cook and cooks southern food, Greek food, French food, among other cuisines.
Her mom published her very own cookbook of 700 pages! How cool is that accomplishment! I ordered my copy and I’m enjoying going through it.
She loves cooking with lemons and thus the name of the cookbook.
Vic told me to try New York Chicken and that is what you saw last weekend, so here it is:
Here is what ours looked like. We halved the recipe, but got lucky because I had made too many frozen biscuits and put them in the freezer so we had that taken care of. I had never heard of using biscuit as your breading.
We also made hasselback potatoes, which are Swedish! How cool! They were really not hard to make at all. Mason did the precise cutting and I was impressed. We put sage leaves in some of the slices and topped with a garlic butter during the cooking process.
I also had a cooking project with Tom last weekend! We made homemade hummus! It turned out pretty well, but I forgot to take a photo.
I did a fun bright blue mani this week!
I stumbled upon Love is Blind – Sweden and I’ve watched a couple of episodes. I like it! The premise of Love is Blind is that they kind of speed date without being able to see what the other person looks like. They pick favorites and continue to “date” behind a wall and have to get to know the person without the distraction of physical appearance.
Ernie has seemed to enjoy the grass that is now visible again! I was happy with the weather this week. I come home, walk Ernie, and then do a couple of chores before I make dinner. I walk him in snow, rain, whatever, but it makes it more pleasant when it’s not so cold!
One day, I even sat outside for a bit!
I abandoned this book. I just couldn’t make myself keep reading and it was due back. I have not started 2024 in a good reading way.
I can’t believe I forgot some of my faves! I had these in my more summerish earrings. I wore the black this week and thought I should show you. Did you catch my earrings post this week?
Mason made sourdough French toast while he was home last weekend, too. He said brioche is better for this!
Erica did tuna poke bowls for one of our school lunches this week. I was a little scared of the “raw” tuna but I really liked it and how fancy is this for lunch? It had like 35 grams of protein when you put the edamame and the tuna together.
I have upped my brow game and the senior girls have noticed. I am using the white Elf pencil first, then brushing with the spooly, then I end with the elf brow mascara. Be careful not to be too heavy handed. Brows really make a difference and neither of these products breaks the bank.
I hate having a week that is just go to work, come home, go to work, come home. It’s what has happened more often than not during this school year. Last year I was really good about doing something for myself during the week, but this year I just can’t seem to make it happen.
On Wednesday, though, Jack was home with Ernie in the afternoon, so I didn’t feel like I needed to rush home. I went to happy hour on a Wednesday with Erica on the spur of the moment. I had a really good sangria and…
some chips and queso. Keeping it real that I am still enjoying life but eating healthier 90% of the time!
I went home and had salad, salmon, and half a baked potato for dinner, and a Dum Dum for dessert! Balance!
My favorite outfit I wore this week didn’t make it to Fashion Files on time.
This is clog week! I have been wearing rain boots and then changing because we have had rain every day! I am wearing my TJ Maxx colorful blouse from fall, a fringey black vest also from there maybe 10 years ago, Target jeans, and my red Bjork clogs.
It’s Thursday and that means it’s Fashion day! I’m linking up with Kellyann and Jill for Fashion Files.
Did you clean out your winter wardrobe?
Are you wearing all of your winter things or they must go? I am focusing on my non-red and pink things because I am gearing up for red and pink month! Ha!
I haven’t put on real clothes much lately because of our extreme winter weather and being stuck at home most of the time!
I finally wore my Target Rowing Blazers collab sweater to school and I didn’t overheat. It was our only day to attend school last week (on Thursday) and it was quite cold outside, so that helped. I wore my 20-year-old Uggs and then changed at school. These are my red Matilda Janes.
Saturday I finally went to Marshall’s because Jennifer talks about her good luck and it’s been on my list for some time. My Marshall’s is not good. My TJ Maxx is much better. I saw “my” because I only go to the stores closest to me. Tom makes fun of my little bubble I stay in around town! I ran errands and I wore my short rain boots, fleece drawstring pants from Walmart I got back in November and probably forgot to show you. They came in a 2 pack and I gave one to Erica. They are super warm. I wore my TJ Maxx striped polo style top and my black vest. I did find one thing and I will show you what I got later in the post!
For school Monday, I wore brown Matilda Janes and my Amazon Essentials black puff sleeve sweater and I also didn’t overheat.
On Tuesday I debuted my Marshall’s top with a bunch of little black birds sitting on wires. It is super soft and was $8! I wore it with my black pants and my black MIA clogs until I had to change into low black Dansko clogs. So, even though I don’t love my Marshall’s, I am really happy with my new top.
One of my classes told me I should have worn white pants to signify the amount of bird poop this amount of birds would produce. And, that, folks is what teaching high school is like. There is no filter and they say whatever pops into their not fully devoloped brain!
I got new undergarments and I have to share that they are Walmart Joyspun. I was on the Walmart website and I saw them and thought they must be good if they are Joyspun because we (the blogging community) love the jammies so much. And they are! They are very stretchy, and I love the material. They come in a 6 pack for $10.96.
I hate “wasting” money on undergarments and I always wait too long to replace them, but it really makes a difference.
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 