So, after much deliberation and tons of Instagram ads, I finally bought a small set of Merit Beauty products. After using them for a couple of weeks, I think I like Seint better. But I was looking for minimal products that might be easier to travel with. Seint is also quite minimal and consists of all solids, too, so it doesn’t take up your liquid allowance on carryon.
This is basically what I got, but the flush balm (blush) is the rouge color, and it was free. I only had to buy the brush, the complexion stick, the bronzer, and the highlight. I think it came in right at $100 for these products.
Disclaimer: Maybe I didn’t get the exact right colors for my skin and maybe I would be a bit more excited if I did? Also, I struggled with how to match my skin tone if I am using Isle of Paradise tanning drops.
I love the packaging of the products above.
The makeup bag they came in is weird – I would never use it. It’s corduroy and you tie it. In fact, Tom said, “Did you get a new hat?”
Nice packaging:
I have been wearing less makeup this year because I ran out and I’ve been trying to give my skin a break.
Pardon the weird mouth, but here is me with my new Merit Beauty:
Do I regret buying it? No! But, I am excited to order Seint again. I think I have been using it since 2019? I have enjoyed following Kim Light Up Your Face on IG. Seint is more like contouring for dummies and I honestly don’t think my makeup has ever been better with anything else. Merit is maybe a bit more minimal? I also understand that maybe I need more practice with my new products.
It’s Monday and time to link up with Sarah and Holly to talk about our weekends.
I had a busy end of the week last week. I said “yes” to everything that was on offer! So, by the time Friday night hit, I was ready to be home for the weekend!
You heard about my Wednesday in Friday Favorites, but I went to the holiday pop up bar:
Thursday night, the besties wanted to get together so we met at Mojito:
I wore “Sweater Weather”:
Their food and drink never disappoint!
Friday at school I made it festive:
And, it was time for another class to have their food day:
It was so much fun!
Friday after school, we had our holiday party for staff:
The turn out was scary low, but I met a couple of new teachers and Erica and I made it fun and shut it down! It ended at 5:45, so don’t get any ideas.
Also, they had tons of food left so I got to take a to go box home for Jack and he was thrilled! Tom had his own leftovers from one of his lunches and I had my fill at the party. They had pretzel nuggets and beer cheese, homemade chips and pico, popcorn chicken, and pizza.
So, I was out Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday – but only till a bit after 7:00 each night! Ha!
Saturday morning was meal prep for Ernie!
And, it was also hair day for Amy!
A new boutique opened next to my hair place and it’s cute!
I worked on cleaning the house and trip stuff and then I had a genius (I think!) idea – Tom and I split the salmon spinach salad from Malone’s and Jack got their sushi. Jack and I picked it up curbside. Winning!
I started this and it was mild enough I could sit outside for bit!
I’m loving it so far! I had to return my last book The Christmas Wager – because I was too slow. The library was sending me aggressive emails. Oh well. I pretty much know what’s going to happen.
The sun came out yesterday and I actually felt hot!
Ernie got a bath in his dog shower!
I got sprayed down, too, but with tan! It had been a really long time! Erica swears that getting a spray tan helps her seasonal affective disorder. She really, really hates winter and being cold. As much as I love summer, I enjoy cooler weather, too. I would rather be cold than hot!
Ok, blog business…I have two more posts coming your way this week and then I will be signing off for 2023!
Happy Friday! It’s time to link up with Andrea and Erika to share our favorites from the week…
Let’s start with Sunday Funday…
I am a morning blogger – I am no good for blogging in the evening. So, I usually wrap up my Hello Monday no later than noon and save anything else for Fridays.
Sunday Funday is always a favorite and when you can go to an Irish pub with a Yule Market (a few tables of wares) and live music, it’s even better!
The lighting is weird,but our friends Heather and Eric met us around 4:30 and we chatted and had an early dinner and it was so nice. We were still home by 6:30 or so! Heather and Eric have also had a son studying abroad in England this semester, but closer to London in Richmond. Their college daughter goes to Barcelona next semester. How cool is that?
I did another holiday press on mani and it is a favorite! If you are new around here, I am using Impress press ons in the short length. I can usually make them last about 8 days or so.
I am loving Dawn dishsoap for stain removal in my laundry. I use a bit of Oxiclean, too, but I feel like most of my stains are grease related – cooking related and I really think this is working for me! Have you tried it? I also read you can add a small capful of Dawn to every load.
I don’t have a real tree, so I like to have a balsam fir candle for the season. I picked this Opal House version up at Target and really like it!
Any Real Housewives of Beverly Hills fans out there? My city just got a franchise of The Agency – the real estate office owned by Kyle Richard’s husband Mauricio. It’s right next to a favorite breakfast place called Con Huevos which is Cuban/Mexican and it’s really close to my house. Mauricio is Mexican and speaks Spanish! Do you think I will have a Mauricio sighting? Note to self: Go to Con Huevos frequently!
This is the back view, by the way. I was getting an oil change which is in the same shopping center area.
Recent communication with my kid:
He’s been cooking with Spam which was a surprise, and I was telling him how it’s part of Hawaiian culture because they didn’t have access to fresh meat.
I miss him so much and I think he really has missed us, too! He is wrapping up him semester and has to pack everything that he brought and figure out what to do with anything he purchased over there that he doesn’t want to take. That may be a daunting task for him!
I have been trying to enjoy the season with things I have time for. I don’t want to say that I missed that wonderful things available to me in my city, right?
Erica and I went to Miracle on Market which is a Christmas pop up bar after school on Wednesday:
It’s a big space with really nostalgic and kitchsy decor. They have classics playing on the big screen and Christmas themed drinks. My drink was so good!
Erica got a drink in Santa’s pants that she let me hold for a photo:
I changed into Prosecc Ho Ho Ho in the teacher bathroom before I left school and Erica wore her Hannukah “Let’s get Lit” sweater.
We walked around and popped into a few shops and then settled at Bar Vetti for prosecco for me and an Aperol Spritz for her and had dinner. And, the school day was catching up to me – look how tired I look!
We had the most delicious foccacia and cheese dip and shared a mushroom and kale pizza that we couldn’t eat much of.
It was a fun Wednesday and I was still home by 7:00 or so.
So, those were some of my favorites this week! I hope you also had many! Share something good in the comments!
It’s Thursday and time for Fashion Files again! I am linking up with Kellyann and Jill to share what I have worn over the last week.
Thursday for school:
I was testing out the sneakers and recently cut off Wit and Wisdom Itty Bitty bootcuts together and it had gotten milder weather-wise so I wore this light blouse with a light knit cardigan over it. Meh – nothing to write home about.
Friday I was testing out my new Nikes! I have been wanting some for at least two years. Originally, I was going to get the white on white/cream on cream Nike Daybreaks after seeing them on Cup of Jo, but I decided to go with the Nike Waffle Debut after seeing them on Kellyann in Greece. I also wore my Amazon star cardigan that I love from Amazon. It’s very lightweight.
Saturday errand day and I’m in my Prosecc Ho Ho Ho, leggings, and new Nikes!
This was a trip test:
I tried on my Aldi (yes, I said Aldi) turtleneck sweater dress that I got for $15 with my Spanx faux leather leggings and my Chelsea boots.
I ended up wearing the same on the bottom, but my black silk Chico’s blouse and a very old fringey TJ Maxx vest.
Sunday I wore my new green Walmart pullover (copied off of Jen!) for some errands.
Then, I did my hair and changed my clogs for Sunday Funday. I will tell you what I did tomorrow! This pullover is everything! It’s such good quality and so soft. I wore it with nothing underneath. I was cozy and not too hot indoors. I can’t believe it is less than $18! I have a Walmart post coming next week…
Monday for school was my final test for packing – I think! I wore my Wit and Wisdom dress pants, an old Old Navy plaid, and my new Nikes.
I added the fringey sweater vest from TJ Maxx and liked how that came together better.
So many teachers are now wearing sneakers on the daily at my school. Even some of our female counselors and administrators are wearing them. They are wearing dress clothes but wearing sneakers with them.
On Tuesday, I wore my Wit and Wisdom, black Tieks, black sleeveless blouse and my faux Amazon Gucci cardigan.
So…I ordered 3 pairs of Walmart Joyspun holiday pajamas and it caused me to kinda go down a rabbit hole! I blame Jen! I mean, I thank her! Furthermore, this little shopping spree was prompted by trying to make sure I pack well for my upcoming trip. I hate buying a bunch of new things for a trip instead of spending that money on the trip, but also, maybe this will allow me to pack less if I really like what I am taking?
I really don’t even know who I am. Target used to be my happy place and I am ashamed by how many clothing items jumped in my cart and then most (not all) managed to be donated because I was shopping without intention. I was there, I was bored, it was cute, the price was right. I don’t even think I can say the price is right anymore. Some of Target’s stuff is pricey for what it is and for what the quality is.
First of all, for under $18, Jen is absolutely right about this pullover. I just can’t even believe the quality. It would be great to add a monogram, too. This is not oversized, in my opinion. It very much runs try to size so you may want to size up if you want a roomier fit.
I would say all the sweaters run true to size or maybe slightly big and you could size down one if you aren’t dealing with a large chest region.
They sent me the green pullover in the wrong size and I did an online exchange – they sent me a new one and I just had to drop the wrong one off in original packaging at my nearest Fed Ex store. I found this to be a super easy process.
Maybe this seems like a lot, but might I remind you and myself that I have not shopped much since school started and even for my birthday, I only bought one dress. I have been wearing my fall and winter clothes and weeding things out, so I feel pretty okay.
The most impractical and probably least flattering is the “sweater weather” sweater. The other thing is that I really can’t handle this type of sweater for school! Too hot!
I wanted to share what I got on my recent Aldi trip and talk about some of the pros and cons. I also snapped photos of some of the many seasonal items.
I arrived right after they opened at 9:00 on Saturday. That is kind of a late opening for a grocery store, but it works for me. It’s about a 10 minute drive and I’ve decided it’s just a lot to try to do after school due to the traffic by the time I can leave. Plus, my baby Ernie is waiting on me!
I would love to quit Kroger, but Kroger is like 1/4 of a mile from my home and there are just some things that Aldi doesn’t have that my family wants. Maybe one day I can get a schedule down where I go to one store one week and the other the other week?
I was talking to my friend Victoria and asked if she has tried it. She said she hasn’t, but her college daughter loves it (love to hear these stories about college kids being frugal!) Victoria said one reason she hasn’t gone is that she is particular about her meat and prefers organic, but the meat at Aldi seems pretty good to me and they even have organic meat, too! I believe they also have a pledge about not carrying certain ingredients in their stores that aren’t so healthy for us.
Here is the ground beef I buy:
I believe this is $5.99 so quite a good savings compared to Laura’s Lean ground beef that I buy from Kroger. I believe that the last time I checked Laura wanted $8-9 dollars for the same size!
This time I bought rice cakes to try this snack and I love it! You add a Laughing Cow wedge and everything but the bagel seasoning. I have enjoyed taking this for my morning snack over the last week.
There are name brand items at Aldi like you would see at your regular store. They carry Kevin’s products, Pillsbury pie crusts, Pillsbury Christmas tree cookies among other things. Also, look at the cute holiday shaped cheeses. I didn’t buy any of these things, but I snapped photos for you to see.
I thought these plates and napkins were adorable! They also carry Pantene shampoo and conditional and Olay body wash. They have Tampax brand and Crest brand in their very tiny toiletry aisle.
People call this the “aisle of shame” and I thought this chalkboard candle was so very cute! It comes with a piece of chalk and you could even write a message for the recipient before giving it to them. How cute is that?
Ok – look at how many everything but the bagel seasoning flavors they had! They had regular, too, and one of them was asiago cheese flavored! So many of their products will definitely remind you of Trader Joe’s!
How cute are these cake bites?
They had an ugly sweater cookie decorating kit and these Rice Krispies treats kits, too.
And, they also had these:
I brought home a box of the vanilla Christmas tree ice cream bars:
I tried one and it wasn’t that good – so this would be a skip for me next time.
I love checking myself out there, whereas I don’t really like doing it myself at Kroger. At Aldi no one is assigned to watch over me like I’m a criminal and it just seems easier, for some reason. The automated voice on the self-checkout isn’t as aggressive as at Kroger.
Must haves:
The produce is a bit hard – you can’t buy just one of something; it is bagged or packaged. Now, usually that is not an issue. I can buy a pack of mushrooms, a bag of onions, a bag of little or regular potatoes, a couple of heads of broccoli packaged together, etc. It’s not really a problem for me.
The cheeses – they have Boursin, Laughing Cow, and I buy their cheese slices (a really nice selection of different types) and their shredded cheeses (a really nice selection of different types including a gruyere/swiss blend that I have not seen elsewhere).
Chips – my family is a family of chip snobs but they do have Sun Chips, Scoops, and Doritos. What I’m saying is that I can’t get away with dupes for most brand name chips. They have pretzel sticks that I have been buying to pair with their dip.
Creamer – They don’t have much sugar free selection if any but they do have some seasonal creamers.
We really like their french onion dip to go with pretzel sticks or cut up vegetables.
Milk – Tom says he doesn’t like their skim milk so I get that from Kroger or Tom picks it up
Meat – I have bought salmon, ground beef, chicken, bacon, and chicken or turkey sausage and have been very pleased.
German products – Because they are German/were German they have some German sausages, German candy/chocolate, and German seasonal treats that I buy sometimes because Tom is from Germany.
How was your weekend? Mine was full, productive, and relaxing! I guess that’s always the goal? Maybe? I am happy to link up with Sarah and Holly today to share what we were up to.
Let’s start with Thursday night…
We rarely do anything on a weeknight, but Jack had his college holiday concert on Thursday night at 7:00! 7:00? That’s practically bedtime for Tom and Amy!
But we dug deep and got in the car just as Tom got home from work. I was treated to a gorgeous sunset while Tom drove:
We ate dinner at Kaelin’s 80/20 across the street from the church where the concert was held. I loved their quaint decor.
Another lovely church:
We have seen so many churches due to where Jack has gotten to sing! The concert only lasted around an hour, so it was all good. We survived a weeknight outing!
Friday at school, I had one of my classes bring in food for their “Cultural Experience”. Everyone has to prepare and bring in an authentic food to share for a grade. If they are unable to cook, they can write a report in Spanish. No one really wants to do that! I have another class doing theirs this Friday.
They are so proud of their food – we had arroz con pollo, chilaquiles, tres leches cake, churros with chocolate, sopapilla bars, piña colada cake, Mexican wedding cookies, little drunk bars from Cuba (no alcohol, but that is what they are called because they are quite wet!), 7 layer dip, buffalo chicken dip (I allowed it!), quesadillas, and I think that was it. They had no trouble eating this at 9:45!
I try a tiny taste of most things because they really want you to! So, I had no additional lunch – this was my lunch!
For dinner, I made a really good salad after stopping by The Fresh Market and spending more than I had planned because it just all looks so good! I highly recommend both this salad mix and the dressing.
Tom had leftovers and some salad, too.
I took a bath Friday night and it was so relaxing!
Saturday morning I was able to sit outside because it was so mild because rain was coming…
I don’t have any pictures, but I ran some errands during the rain but got home before it got too bad. We had some thunder and lightning, too! I did a return, a library trip, and a Kroger pick up.
Jack has been so, so busy this semester, so even though he is living at home, we don’t see a whole lot of him. He is in two singing groups, takes guitar lessons, and has two small jobs on top of a full load of classes.
He wanted to go out to eat with us at a new to him place and then go to hear his guitar teacher play a classical guitar concert – with us!
I wore this – Chelsea boots (to test out in the rain!). faux leather leggings, black silk shirt, fringy vest:
I had just washed my hair so I left it straight again.
We went to Joy Luck and had hot and sour soup, crab Rangoon, and shared some Kung Pao and General Tso’s.
I seriously think it was the best Chinese food I have ever had! Jack, Tom, and Mason all are really good at using chop sticks and always use them. I prefer a traditional fork because I can’t use chopsticks to save my life. Maybe I will go on a chopstick diet. I will give up and not eat anything and the diet will be quite effective.
The concert was at the college chapel again, but this is a different view:
We had to park on the other side of campus and walk up a big hill, but it looked so pretty!
And, his guitar teacher is sooooo talented. We loved it!
Jack went out after but we enjoyed our time with him!
Yesterday I slept in, but it was house cleaning and time to be productive – some meal prep, some trip stuff, some adulting stuff, but also some reading and Hallmark Christmas movie time – recommend some to me – I like to use the search feature on my Amazon Fire stick because there are just so many now! Ha!
What was the highlight of your weekend? Did you do anything holiday related?
It’s Friday! I am linking up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites!
I write my Hello Monday blog posts fairly early in the day and then I save anything that I do afterwards for Friday (if it indeed was a favorite). Sunday afternoon around 4:30, Tom and I went to dinner. He came out wearing a nice pants, shirt, and nice zipper sweater and I say, “well, I guess I must improve my look, too” and wore this:
I had a plan for us; I wanted to visit Holy Grale. You have heard me talk about the biergarten and Grale Haus before. Grale Haus is a breakfast place with some bed and breakfast rooms on the top floor and out back is a biergarten that leads to Holy Grale, which I believe used to be a church?
It is tiny and quaint and they serve German inspired food.
I had a wine from the tap! They have wine on tap!
Tom and I split the pork schnitzel and frites with dipping sauces:
It was so good!
I just really love the amazing places our city has to offer! We are so lucky!
Then, we headed to campus for the beautiful lessons and carols service.
Here is a sneaky steal of an Instagram photo from the college with Jack singing from the loft:
I have been on a bit of an ordering kick with beauty, skin, and hair products. After almost a year of using up old beauty products and makeup, an Ipsy subscription and then cancelling said Ipsy subscription, it was time. I really have been making do for a long time.
I ordered these to put with my daily face lotion and I think a little color allows me to use less makeup.
I ordered a new detangler. I have a lot of fine hair that gets tangled easily so I really like a detangler. I have no curl in my hair so maybe I got the wrong formula, but it’s working for me.
I have been using a new to me hairspray that really holds (at least in the winter):
Did you read my Dry Skin post? There are some great suggestions in the comments and I ordered this and love it for my nighttime cream.
I have so been missing this! My family uses pods, but I use All or Tide liquid (I hate the smell of the pods and I feel like sometimes they don’t fully dissolve in cold water which is what I exclusively use with my clothing) and I love to add a tiny capful of this. I had run out months ago, but remember I have had a low spend year and I was doing without. You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone!
It was cold and rainy Monday and I had this going all day long – the kids thought it was funny. I turned the crackling sound up at the start of class and then turned it down to teach.
You want an easy meal? Take a boneless skinless chicken breast (I like to cut mine in half horizontally so they aren’t so thick), spread any flavor of Boursin cheese and then wrap in one to two pieces of bacon. Bake at 350 for 20 minutes or so and then broil to crisp the bacon at the end. It’s impressive and super yummy and easy enough to make on a Monday night!
I bought compression packing cubes and I have been “practicing”. I really can be such a nerd.
I love lists like this – holiday episodes of The Office!
I started class with this photo one day this week and we talked about the car coffee culture here versus the coffee culture in most other countries. I challenged them to sit at a coffee shop this winter and drink out of a real mug and not a disposable wasteful cup! One girl pulls a ceramic mug out of her backpack and says, “I’m already one step ahead, Sra.!” Kids are so funny!
My Christmas tree jewels fell off on the middle fingers so I replaced with plain nails that were left in the set:
Self-care! My toes looked so bad so I took myself out on Wednesday around 5:00 and then also picked up McAllister’s take out on the way home. It felt like a real treat!
And, I will leave you with my favorite part of my Christmas decor:
All of our Christmas cards through the years!
What were your faves this week? I hope you had many!
Well, here we are on a Thursday for Fashion Files with Kellyann and Jill! I skipped last week but included some outfits in Friday Favorites so you may see some repeats here.
After Thanksgiving, I pushed aside all manner of olive, mustard, burnt sienna, and other fall colors and I started wearing my plaids, reds, greens, blacks, and what I consider to be more December colors.
I am also “auditioning” which pieces need to go with me in my carry-on only (eek!) upcoming trip to England and Scotland. I feel that an 8-hour teacher day is a fairly good test!
I love my new Target.com (I say this when I don’t shop in store, which is really a thing of the past for me now) Christmas tree sweater. The sweater came with an extra Christmas tree button. This sweater is going with me on the trip. I like it best with it buttoned and I added a white tank underneath after trying it on below:
I got mine on sale for only $21!
Saturday errand outfit – I don’t know why I think this shirt is so funny. It say’s “Prosecc Ho Ho Ho” – like Santa, not like another type, ok?
Saturday lunch and shopping outfit – my Wit and Wisdom Itty Bitty bootcuts were too long and I finally made the decision to cut them so I can wear them with flatter shoes and sneakers.
This is why I don’t wear my hair straight – eek! I wore my Kut from the Kloth jeans and my new Walmart sweater ($10!) to run some errands Sunday and then…
changed into my black pleather pants and Hush Puppies pumps to go to dinner and the church service.
Monday school outfit and also a very strong travel outfit contender – TJ Maxx top and American Eagle velvet leggings with my new Chelsea boots from Nordstrom.
With my new Columbia rain jacket –
Tuesday school outfit – I got so many comments on this outfit from my students and one girl said she is going to wear the same outfit today. I bet she doesn’t have moo shoes, though!
So, I have been attempting sweaters at school and I am a bit hot, but it’s all in the name of research.
Let’s talk about Walmart. Ok, this is typical Amy. I ordered not one, but three pairs of the Joyspun holiday pajamas and then was further influenced to buy a pullover which sent me looking for more things for the trip. I had more than enough bottoms, but my tops were not cutting it, in my opinion.
I ordered the white sweater above, the green pullover that Jen recommended, and this green side button sweater. I am really impressed with the two items I have already received and the Walmart shipping and delivery rivals Amazon for me. They are also very communicative and precise about when your order will arrive.
Anyway, I pray I don’t have to go into a store for returns because that is not my vibe. Walmart.com is impressing me you guys! No one is more shocked than I am!
Happy Hump Day and Happy Currently day where we link up with Jennifer and others to share some things that are currently happening in our lives!
Loving
the fact that my library is open on Sundays because I just can’t always get all the errands done on Saturdays – and that I just got to pick up these requests:
Do you ever check out cookbooks? I do! I love to see if it’s something I would want to buy.
And, this:
and my holiday nails…
I felt like the tree jewels were going to come off, so I polished a clear topcoat over that nail.
Gifting
um, nothing right now, but I have two student aides and Erica has one and we decided to order them lunch one day next week as our gift. We plan to tell them soon and let them pick their orders.
Wrapping
up the weeks before break! Since I’m not gifting, I’m not wrapping. I am rapping sometimes in class as a teaching method, though.
Here is my little Spanish one class who also got to play Go Fish last Friday. I think they had a lot of fun. I hope they are falling in love with the language because that is so important in level one, so that they continue studying it.
I really don’t feel badly about not gifting or wrapping. We have gotten pretty minimal anyway over the years.
Hoping
for smooth travel and some good family time. It’s been a while, you all, since we were a group of four.
Attending
a beautiful chapel service to start the advent season at our kids’ college. This is their little chapel as the sun was setting:
It was weird being on campus without Mason being there and it was also weird because I haven’t been on campus much lately. I had all the feels at the start of the season and because of the love and care I feel this university has given my kids.
This is our last year there and I think I was extra emotional about that and about missing Mason. Jack and his singing group sang several songs from the loft of the chapel.
So, while I am not gifting or wrapping, I am enjoying the stuff like this that is the true meaning of the season!
Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa 