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Nadine

Friday Favorites

To say I am glad that the weekend is upon us is an understatement. This week was exhausting and I am pretty much ready to ditch all work and thoughts of work for the next two days! I don’t even know what we have planned for this weekend, but I know that some cleaning needs to be involved. Goodness, I don’t think anything other than dishes and laundry has been done in like two weeks. Oops. Also, thanks to all the rain and the random spring days….the grass is going to be needing attention soon. Adulting, am I right?

Favorite Moments: We have been enjoying a lot of healthy dinners this week. I really enjoyed egg roll in a bowl and turkey burgers with my maple roasted brussels! Another one we have nearly every week is my baked pork chops recipe.

Chris and I had a lunch date at IKKO on Tuesday. We both ordered sushi and I also enjoyed an egg roll. It was delicious! It is nice to get to spend some time together, just the two of us.

I haven’t had lunch with Laura the last two weeks and it makes me sad. We are going to have to make up with something awesome next week!

Favorite Recipe: It is no secret around these parts that I love a cheeseburger. I found this keto friendly recipe that I cant wait to try!

Favorite Lusts: I am in desperate need of a wardrobe refresh, mainly spring/summer clothes. I also need one or two more pair of sandals to replace some that have been retired. I am in love with these bow flip flops from LC at Kohls. Right now they are on mega sale and I want to scoop up both colors!

I also like these knotted ones, same brand.

Has anyone tried these Articles of Society jeans at Nordstrom? They are on sale, making them under $40, and they have decent reviews. I have never tried a pair on to know. My current jeans are looking frumpy and baggy. Thank goodness.

I need to grab one or two of the Old Navy Swing Dresses while they are on sale. I have one from last year that I wore the crap out of. My only issues is, the arm holes are too big in the size I usually grab. I have this issue at a lot of stores with sleeveless tops and dresses. Is it just me???

Because of said arm hole issues, I live in my jean jacket over my dresses. The one I have is about 7 years old and on its last leg. It is from Old Navy and I really dont care for the fit of it to be honest. I think I need something a little higher quality to look better. I like the look of this one, but we dont have a Nordstrom for me to try it on. What is your favorite?? Spam me with them please!

Favorite Funnies:

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

March 23, 2018 by Nadine

recipe

Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Last week I had lunch with a friend at one of my favorite local places, SoHo Social. I almost always order the sweet potato fries with gorgonzola dip as an appetizer, so I don’t want more fries with my meal….you know? I decided to try the brussels they had listed and OMG!!! They were the best I have ever had! I knew I had to recreate them at home immediately. Enter this super simple concoction!

What You Need

1 package shaved brussels or around a pound of regular brussels halved

olive oil

salt

black pepper

2-3 tablespoons real maple syrup

What You Do

–Preheat oven to 400 degrees

–Place brussels in a bowl and drizzle with olive oil, salt and black pepper to taste. Be sure to mix it around real good!

–Line a pan with tin foil and spread out in a single layer.

–Bake for 15 minutes. Toss them around and put them back in for about 8-10 minutes.

–Drizzle 2-3 tablespoons of maple syrup on them, mix them around real good and good for about 8-10 more minutes.

Enjoy the deliciousness!!!!!!!!!!!!

March 21, 2018 by Nadine

about me

Lately

Lately it has been crazy. Zoe came home from daycare Monday with a fever and I spent the rest of the week working from home trying to get her healthy for surgery and keep my head above water for work. Every time I look at my list of jobs I need to complete, it has grown. Good for business, but ummm yeah. A little overwhelming, you know? Plus, the cold that Zoe caught was so graciously passed on to me as well and I felt like death for about 2 and 1/2 days. I literally used an entire box of Kleenex in one day.

Zoe’s surgery went well on Friday. They sort of downplayed how she was going to be when she came back from the operating room. I may or may not have cried twice. Once when they took her back there, and once after the nurses left us alone with her and she was just sitting there crying and looking both pissed and terrified. She was pretty much back to her normal self later in the day though. Kids are so damn resilient.

Other than that, not much really to report. We stayed in this past weekend to keep Zoe healthy and resting. Chris’s parents came to visit her Friday afternoon, and my sister and oldest nephew came to visit Saturday for a few hours. Zoe loved all the attention and get well presents they came with. I didn’t hate all the snuggles and kisses Zoe was dishing out this past week. SO SWEET.

In other news, I got my hair cut and colored this weekend. LOVE.

I enjoyed some spicy shrimp sushi from Whole Foods after my derm appointment on Monday. It had been awhile since I had an all over skin check. I was worried about one mole in particular. Super happy to report everything looked good. I don’t know why I put things like this off, you know? I am trying to be better about that.

And in other exciting things, I won Cara’s giveaway and received the items last week!!! Cara is one of my favorite beauty gurus to follow because she shares a lot of affordable options and is super sweet.

What have you all been up to? Linking up with Biana. Hope you have a wonderful week!

March 19, 2018 by Nadine

recipe

Simple Banana Bread

So, I got a call from daycare on Monday afternoon that Zoe was running a high fever. Her teacher had joked with me that morning that her only goal for the week was to keep Zoe healthy for surgery Friday. Sigh. We were working on a three week streak, but all good things come to an end. One of the best things about working from home though, is I can make a delicious breakfast in the mornings! We had some squishy bananas left over from last week. Once a banana has a brown spot on the outside, I am like….yeah, no. Wont eat it. I figured I had to have most of the items on hand for a banana bread so I got to it!

What You Need

3 very ripe bananas

1/3 cup melted butter

Pinch of salt

1 tsp baking soda

1 large egg

3/4 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 and 1/2 cups flour

What You Do

–Preheat oven to 350 and line a bread pan with parchment paper (less clean up!)

–Mash bananas with a fork and stir in the butter.

–Mix in baking soda and salt.

–Stir in sugar, egg and vanilla extract.

–Mix in flour.

–Pour batter into pan and bake at 350 degrees between 50 minutes to an hour. It took mine right at 55 minutes.

March 14, 2018 by Nadine

book review, books

Books

Does anyone start their next book post the same day the current one goes live? I do! Just about every month I have already started another book that I go ahead and get the Goodreads link for it and picture of the cover so I can keep up with my post as I read the books. If I didn’t do this, I would probably forget of half of what I read. Truth. Linking up with all the cool kids, Steph, and Jana.

The First Wife by Erica Spindler

An idealistic young woman marries a man she barely knows only to discover his first wife disappeared under mysterious circumstances.

So I don’t even know where to begin with this one. First of all, some of the names (Raine, Roane, True) sort of bothered me. I dont know why. What kind of name is True? Anyways. I wanted to smack Bailey a few times. She kept second guessing her husband and she would think he did all the things people accused him of but then she would be like no, he is my husband, I have to trust him. Girlfriend knew her husband all of two minutes before she married him. She didn’t know him at all. And he kept lying to her and hiding things from her. Hello! Red flag! Honestly, I found myself not trusting hardly any of the characters. Any of them could have been the one who killed these girls. And I went back and forth on who I thought it was several times.

Bottom Line: This was a decent who done it. There were things about the book that annoyed me, but I was also hooked and had to know!!!

When We Were Worthy by Marybeth Mayhew Whalen

In a small Georgia town, three cheerleaders die in a car crash. At the center of the whirlwind are four women, each grappling with loss, regret, shame, and lies: Marglyn, a grieving mother; Darcy, whose son had been behind the wheel; Ava, a substitute teacher with a scandalous secret; and Leah, a cheerleader who should have been in the car with her friends, but wasn’t.

So this book took me forever to read. I am not quite sure why? It was definitely a heavy subject and I found myself asking what I would do if I were these characters. The book sort of reads like Beartown in that it takes place in a small, gossip filled town and you get a lot of character development of many situations. This one passed the time just fine. I think I wanted it to be a little more of something, just not sure what? The premise of the book was really good.

Bottom Line: If you like to read small town drama, you would probably enjoy this one just fine.

**I received a copy of When We Were Worthy from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

Eleven by Sandra Cisneros

Eleven

This is just one short story. Dani shared a link on it on her blog and I really liked what she said about it. The fact that the author says when you are eleven, you are still ten, nine, eight, etc is how I feel about a birthday. I always say that I don’t actually feel like I am a grown up most of the time. And the anxiety that Rachel feels about not speaking up was totally me when I was younger, and still is today in some cases.

Bottom Line: This story literally only takes a few minutes to read and I feel would be enjoyed by anyone.

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

I still have yet to read the original Pride and Prejudice, but I seem to enjoy retellings of it. This book was so so cute! I found myself thinking about it when I wasn’t reading it, a sign of a good book. You get to know every last character in the book pretty well. Some of them you love, others you want to slap. It made all the side stories much more enjoyable. This book also touches on homophobia, racism, sexism, eating disorders, sperm donation. I wasn’t expecting the depth that it had! I didn’t even realize this was the forth in a series, it is very much a read alone book. The chapters in the book were very short, so it was easy for me to find breaks and good stopping places.

Bottom Line: Read it! I found this book witty and charming, and the characters are developed so well! Such a cute read!

Currently Reading

The Sunshine Sisters by Jane Green

March 13, 2018 by Nadine

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