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Nadine

weekend shenanigans

Weekend Shenanigans

It was a gorgeous GORGEOUS weekend here in the south! Low humidity, mild temperatures, lots of sunshine. We don’t get many weekends like that before it becomes ungodly hot and humid, so you have to take full advantage!

I kicked Friday off with lunch at Zoe’s with my old Friday Lunch Club (minus the one who moved.) It was fabulous catching up and eating a delicious Greek salad. I even scooted out of the office 15 minutes early to get Zoe. I was shocked that the traffic was horrific. I guess everyone left the office early on Friday to enjoy the weather. I know mine was empty and I was one of the last out.

Saturday morning I  had the house cleaned before 7am. After Zoe woke up, we hung around and played some while Chris cut the front and back yard. When Zoe went down for her nap, I cut the side yard. Our self propeller isn’t working in the lawn mower at all, and it took me forever to push that thing around the side hill! What should have taken about an hour took closer to two. My shoulders hurt so bad when I was done! Plus, our sunscreen was expired from last year, and I got burnt on my back and a weird random spot on my arm. I burned 974 calories according to my watch though, so score!!!!

When Zoe got up from her nap, we headed over to my sister’s house. My BIL’s birthday is today, and they had a cookout and bonfire this weekend to celebrate. We ate delicious burgers and my sister made a peanut butter pie that was to die for!!! Zoe loved getting to hang out with all her cousins, and the freedom of running around in the country suited her well. Our yard is hilly and sucks so bad, so she took full advantage of my sisters!

Sunday morning we had a big breakfast, knocked out the grocery shopping early and got Zoe down for a decent nap. I made burritos for lunch and Gorgonzola gnocchi for dinner. We got to hang outside a little in the afternoon and let Zoe blow bubbles and have a little walk. Though, it was cut short because my piece of shit neighbors cant keep their dogs contained in their own yard. You guys, I am SO SICK of my neighbors!!!! Between all the crap they leave out in their yards, their dogs roaming the streets and chasing after cars, and how ridiculous they act in our neighborhood facebook group…we cant move fast enough. Chris said he saw one of their dogs trying to dig a whole under OUR fence. I love dogs you guys, but not when uncontrolled ones ruin our enjoyment of our own home. You know??

Anyways, after Zoe went down to bed…Chris and I caught up on a few shows and called it a night.

I hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Linking up with Biana. Let’s slay Monday!

favorites, friday favorites

Friday Favorites

Hey there! Friday couldn’t seem to get here fast enough, am I right? The rain has moved out and it is supposed to be a gorgeous weekend down here in the south! I am not sure what the plans are this weekend, but I know for certain I am going to soak up some nice weather.

Favorite Moments: Laura and I met up  for an on the fly lunch at Avondale CommonHouse to celebrate some good news for her. We both tried the Buffalo Cauliflower Po’Boy and shared the Bruleed Banana Pudding. Cream Brulee and banana pudding are my top two favorite desserts ever. So when you combine them??? Magic you guys. Pure magic.

Yesterday Chris texted me asking if I had ever been to Brat Brot. It is a new Biergarten and sausage house that just opened literally RIGHT behind my office building. He had sent me a few pictures of the inside of the place, so I went and grabbed two of my co-workers and decided to crash his party. I ordered a radler which was made with a delicious pilsner and blood orange sparkling water. OMG It was so good!!! This has to be the coolest place ever!! I cant believe I can just walk to it anytime I please from the office. Definitely going to go back to try out the food. Laura, wanna do lunch there next week???

Favorite New Beauty Products: I have always been a big time fan of Lancome. I switch between their foundation and Estee Lauder as my two holy grails. Influenster sent me a VoxBox of a bunch of new products from Lancome and I squealed in delight when I opened them!!! You guys!!! I am so excited to share some of these with you.  I have been using all of them for two weeks now and these are definitely something you are going to want to check out!!!

The Skin Feels Good tinted glow moisturizer is amazing!!!! It reminds me of IT CC Cream only about a million times better. The IT CC Cream never settles in to my skin so I can’t really make it work for me. This stuff is a light weight SPF tinted moisturizer that really provides a light/medium coverage. It has a good smell to it and it stays allllll day long on me. I am going to LIVE in this stuff for the spring summer! The color they sent me (01C Cool Porcelain) was perfect!

The Lancome – Advanced Genifique Sensitive Antioxidant Serum has been a game changer as far as makeup application goes. I never wear a primer because they never do anything for my skin. I put this stuff on under all my other face treatments in the morning and notice a huge difference in how my makeup looks when I am finished. MUCH smoother appearance!!! A little drop of this stuff goes a long way, so I see the bottle lasting a really long time.

Next up was the Lancôme – Renergie Lift Multi-Action Ultra Firming and Dark Spot Correcting Moisturizer SPF 30 which is another amazing product! Super light weight, but also very moisturizing. I love my Clinique moisturizer, but it has zero SPF and will not work for me in the summer. I think an SPF 30 moisturizer that is working to combat my dark spots is a wonderful switch up. I am loving this stuff and have had no adverse effects since starting it and you all know I have sensitive, finicky skin.

Last but not least is the lipgloss!!!! The Lancome – Prismatic Plump Lip Gloss is sooooooo stinking cool!!!! They sent me the shade Effervescent, which is like a lavender/pink holographic color that looks so neat by itself, or over any of your favorite colors. I am seriously so impressed with this stuff and plan to purchase a few more. Though, I have to say the color I got is my favorite. It feels so good and nourishing on my lips and it really gives a multidimensional effect!

Favorite Read: I am majorly lacking in passion and creativity lately. Of course, I have a huge passion for my husband and daughter. I love being a  mom more than anything I have ever done. But when I am at work, or after Zoe goes to bed…I just exist. I am doing the bare minimum to get by. I have zero light burning inside of me. I feel unbalanced and unmotivated. I read this post on how to find what you are passionate about as an adult, and it really resonated with me. If you are feeling this way, please tell me I am not alone. Or if you have been there, what did you do to make it better?

Favorite Recipe: How yummy and easy does this look for a snack??

Pepperoni and Cream Cheese Pizza Rolls - Gluten Free, Low Carb from knowgluten.me

Food For Thought:

#featured #featured #fun #vintage

Favorite Funnies:

Me: Please don't do that My toddler: Does it harder, whilst looking me in the eye and smiling #parenting #momlife #mumlife #memes #parentingmemes #funny #lol #mom #toddlers

Meh... same thing, right?

It’s a very rare condition.

Afternoon Funny Picture Dump 37 Pics

75 Funny Quotes And Sayings Short funny Words 10

Linking up with Amanda. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!

recipe

Stupid Simple Mexican Brown Rice

I love rice. There. I said it. I don’t care if it is a grain, a form of a carb, it is delicious! One of our go to weeknight meals is a taco bowl. We opt to skip out on taco shells, but I like to have at least rice with it!  Lately it has just been extra lean ground turkey, black beans, a little cheese, taco bell sauce, jalapenos…all over some rice. I don’t like buying the 99 cent rice packets at stores. You know which ones I am talking about, the Knors or the Rice a Roni boxes. Sure, they are delicious. But do we even know what is in them? I mean, besides ridiculous amounts of salt.

I prefer to make my own rice, and have found a super cheap and easy way to do so. Without losing any flavor, of course! You probably have most all of these ingredients sitting in your pantry right now, so let’s get started.

What You Need

1 cup brown rice

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cups low sodium chicken broth

1 can (8 ounces) tomato sauce

2 teaspoons of  minced garlic

1 teaspoon chili powder

What You Do

–Heat olive oil over medium-high heat, then stir rice around for a few minutes until it starts to get a golden color

–Pour in the chicken broth and stir. (Careful, the pan will be hot and the sauce will sizzle and bubble when you first dump it in. Often I turn the heat down until I add all my ingredients, then turn it back up.)

–Add in the tomato sauce, garlic and chili powder and stir. Bring to a boil.

–Cover and reduce heat, allowing the rice to cook until all the liquid is gone. This usually takes 20-30 minutes.

Enjoy!!!

 

weekend shenanigans

Weekend Shenanigans

We didn’t have anything planned for this weekend with the exception of our nephew’s birthday party. We decided to get our grocery shopping knocked out on Saturday since it was supposed to rain Sunday. We actually did a lot of adulting on Saturday. Chris had some work done on his car, we grocery shopped, we worked out in the yard during Zoe’s nap. Knocked some stuff off the to do list.

We snacked on lots of things Saturday. I made spinach and artichoke dip, bacon jalapeno dip and some BBQ wieners.

Zoe had fun riding around on her car and coloring in her Sofia the First book.

Sunday we hung around the house in the morning and got Zoe down for her nap early. I got the floors cleaned, the house dusted and the kitchen cleaned. I caught up on the rest of the 15 loads of laundry we do every week. (it’s really only like 5…but still) We woke Zoe up early from her nap so that we could go to our nephews birthday party. It was rainy and gross all day yesterday so when we got back, we just hung around the house and played until Zoe’s bath and bedtime. We had some delicious spaghetti for dinner. I made it with chickpea noodles. Have you tried them? A lot more protein and fiber and a lot less carbs than regular noodles. They actually had a lot of flavor and I liked the texture. We will definitely be making them again!

Linking up with Biana. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

favorites, friday favorites

Friday Favorites

Friday, it is about time! I am so ready for a weekend right now. Just a few more hours and we are freeee! For two days, anyways. It is supposed to be rainy and gross Sunday through mid-week so I am going to have to take advantage of today and tomorrow!

Favorite Moments:I received a super sweet package in the mail from Lindsay this week! I cant even begin to tell you how thankful I am that blogging has lead me to wonderful friends like her. I cant wait to enjoy the amazing smelling bath bomb that is inside that box!!!

I had a rough day Tuesday and I decided that I was going to stop letting shit get to me and focus on the positive. I stopped by Saigon and grabbed a Thai tea and headed back to the office with a positive attitude. Sometimes you just need a little something to push you through.

We had some delicious meals this week! We had sloppy joes over baked potatoes, taco bowls, and peanut butter chicken with thai quinoa slaw this week. Just look at those gorgeous colors in that slaw!! I will get the recipe up soon.

Favorite Recipe: How delicious do these Greek quinoa bowls look??? Thinking they need to happen for lunch next week.

Favorite Sephora Picks: The Sephora sale starts today!!! I have actually replaced a lot of things recently, and don’t really need anything right now. Doesn’t mean I am not cruising the site today to have a little looksie. Recently I splurged and got the Brazilian Bum Bum cream that I have been wanting forever. This stuff smells soooooooo amazing and makes my skin so soft!!! I highly recommend this little bit of luxury in the mornings. Totally worth it.

Some of my ride or die favorites are the Urban Decay Eye Shadow Primer Potion, the Bobbi Brown Cream Shadow Stick in Sand Dune is an amazing every day color, the cult favorite NARS Orgasm Blush, full coverage Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation that lasts all day long even in the south’s awful humidity, the Elizabeth and James Bourbon Rollerball is my absolute favorite every day fragrance that is perfect for the office,  and the best liquid lipstick I have ever found….Kat Von D in Lovesick. What are some of your favorites??

Favorite Lust: I am in need of some sandals, bad! I also am in need of a serious pedicure, that is neither here nor there. What are you favorite at home fixes for awful looking feet? I feel like nothing I have works anymore. Anyways, Michael Kors is one of my favorite shoe designers. They are relatively affordable for designer brand, and every pair I have ever owned are seriously comfortable and last a long time. I have my eye on these black/gold plated sandals...

And the Penelope Wedge that is on sale at Belk and Nordstroms right now. They come in a gold color, as well as black. I really like the black. I have dressier black wedges and I need a more casual pair like this.

Image result for michael kors penelope wedge

Also, how amazing are these Carlos wedges????? They have rose gold and gold. I am leaning towards rose gold. They are such an amazing price at Nordstrom Rack! I love knowing that if I order them and they aren’t comfy, I can take them back to my local store no problems.

 

Favorite Funnies:

OMG- hysterical @Angie Miller - my advise to the boys and IN PARTICULAR Addy!

Whoop, whoop!

ernie

58 Of Today’s Freshest Pics And Memes

Funny Quotes QUOTATION – Image : Quotes Of the day – Description 30 Funny Quotes for Your Social Shares #funnyquotes #snappyquotes #wittyquotes #hilariousquotes #funnysayings Sharing is Caring – Don’t forget to share this quote ! - #Funny https://quotesdaily.net/funny/most-funny-quotes-30-funny-quotes-for-your-social-shares-funnyquotes-snappyquotes-wittyquotes-13/

Linking up with Amanda. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!