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It’s book day! Linking up with Steph and Jana. I have read books from some of my favorite authors this month! So much goodness sprinkled in just a few weeks!

In a Holidaze by Christina Lauren

So this book is basically Groundhogs Day, Christmas style. While I am not sure I completely loved that part of the plot line in the beginning, the book definitely rallied for me. I really loved the chosen framily and getting together every year in the same place for Christmas. Getting to see the different relationships in the group and the nostalgia of their traditions gave me all the feels. Once we get into Mae and Andrew’s story, it definitely picked up for me. I found myself smiling a lot. I really loved the ending. Christina Lauren is definitely a favorite of mine. I am going to say that this one and their last one are not my absolute favorite reads from them. But they are still enjoyable!!

Bottom Line: Cute read!

**I received a copy of In a Holidaze from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

When No One Is Watching by Alyssa Cole

You guys, this book!!!! So this is a social thriller, with a little romantic subplot thrown in. I loved both Sydney and Theo, and you really get a lot of build up in the beginning about who they are, and their neighborhood. I am going to be honest and say that the pacing of the book is a little off. I feel like not much happened in the beginning, other than you are getting to know the characters, the people of the neighborhood, the neighborhood app where some side stuff is going down. Then stuff starts coming together some, and then everything happens right at the end and you are like OMG OMG! And then it is over.

Like any good thriller, the plot of the story really has you thinking about how this can and does really happen! And that is quite scary. Gentrification of a neighborhood isn’t always a good thing. This book shows you to follow the money to uncover the power. It also talks a lot about injustices that some black communities endure.

Bottom Line: Everyone needs to read this. It was hard to put down and left me thinking a lot.

**I received a copy of When No One Is Watching from Netgalley in exchange for my honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

Twisted Twenty-Six by Janet Evanovich

I do love Stephanie Plum! Of course we have all the crazy shenanigans, a good who done it story line to follow, and we get lots of Grandma Mazur in this one. Who is suddenly very wise. Stephanie finally admits that the bond agent life might not be for her. There isn’t as much about the triangle with Morelli and Ranger as there usually is. Overall, another solid, enjoyable read!

Bottom Line: I love this series, the characters are some of my favorite. There are so many books, you have to be committed! Definitely recommend.

The Trouble with Quarterbacks by RS Grey

I absolutely loved Candace and Logan! Logan might be one of my new favorite book crushes. Seriously though, this is definitely what I have come to expect from RS Grey. I laughed and had all the warm fuzzies while reading this book. I love the British preschool teacher vs professional football player plot. It sort of reminds me of royal love stories where you have the drama of living in the spot light. I also enjoyed the banter between Candace and her two roommates. Squad goals!!! This was such a fun read and just what I needed.

Bottom Line: Read it!

**I received a copy of The Trouble with Quarterbacks from RS Grey in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are of my own.**

Currently Reading

Layla by Colleen Hoover

Linking up with Kristen for another currently post. Not a whole lot going on over here. Just working while trying to keep up with house work, fitness, and keep the kid entertained and keep my sanity. You know, the usual. We haven’t been spending quite as much time outside the last week, because it has just been so hot and humid. I am so ready for some fall weather.

I saw that the SEC is keeping their football games in conference this year. Should be interesting. It will be nice to have some football to focus on soon! Though, who knows how the season will play out once it gets started. I feel like everything is up in the air these days, you cant count on much. The holidays are quickly approaching, and who knows what they are going to look like. I had to stop watching the news. It was consuming me.

Reading – I am about to start Layla by Colleen Hoover. (I got an ARC from Netgalley.) I love Colleen Hoover, so I can’t wait! Last night I finished When No One is Watching by Alyssa Cole. It comes out on September 1st and I highly suggest getting it! It was so good!

Watching – Zoe is obsessed with Tangled lately. So I constantly have the “Mother Knows Best” song stuck in my head. Other than How I Met Your Mother reruns in the evenings that we watch before bed, I really haven’t watched anything. Chris watches a lot of movies on Sundays, I rarely get the chance to sit down and watch any of it. And Zoe likes Sofia the First when she isn’t watching Tangled. Exciting life over here.

Speaking of Tangled. Zoe asked me where Rapunzel lived and when I googled it, I stumbled upon this article and knowledge. Ummm what???

Purchased – I grabbed these Melissa & Doug re-usable sticker sets for Zoe, since she really loves changing outfits on herself and her dolls. I had gotten her a sticker book a little while ago that she loves, but I have to move the stickers for her because they are harder for her to do without ripping. These are puff stickers which are much easier for her to use. Zoe isn’t careful with them at all, and they are managing to survive. She has had it for a week now, and has seriously played with it for hours. I only gave her one of them, so when it starts to get old to her…I have more I can whip out and be all excited about again. They make them in more boy friendly scenes too.

Planning – I hate that quarantine happened just as we were settling into this house. We haven’t really decorated any rooms yet, besides Zoe’s. It is hard to shop for home decor online. I need to see things in person. I need a HomeGoods trip bad!!!! One thing I have ordered that I am really excited about is this Thomas Kincade Beauty and the Beast canvas. The hearth room off the kitchen where Zoe spends a lot of time has a blue-ish colored couch, and I just think that the colors in this picture are lovely with it. This room is the “fun” room. We have a tv in there for her, her easel, little white table, a toy basket and some games. Chris and I used to visit the Thomas Kincade gallery every time we went to Gatlinburg and always said we wanted to incorporate a Disney print somewhere in our home. Now we have it! With the size of the wall, and the size of the print, I am trying to decide what I want to do. I feel like we may need one more print to hang up there, and then maybe a sconce or something too. But right now, I love staring at this one!

I really love this Cinderella one too.

Working Out – Loved this strength workout with Heather Robertson this week. I have been taking a walk around the neighborhood each day after I complete my youtube workout to add some more steps in. I don’t hate getting to watch the sun rise too!

Eating -To say I am over meal planning and cooking and doing dishes right now is an understatement. Yet, I keep chugging along. I try to incorporate one new recipe each week, just to change it up. Often times, that new recipe becomes part of the every rotating regulars. It is just so exhausting doing it for 6-7 days a week instead of just 4-5, you know? One of my favorite additions lately has been this spicy thai chicken. It is so easy to come together, and I love to pair it with my thai peanut cauliflower rice. Delicious!

Stressing – Still trying to decide the best route for Zoe and school this year. Pull her completely, change her daycare to a half day or a few days a week 3K program…it is all too much. I never thought I would live in a time where I had to decide if sending my child to daycare was safe because of a pandemic. Schools here keep changing their plans just a week or two before start. I cant imagine how some parents are feeling that decided to do in person, and just yesterday some announced they are going to virtual the first 9 weeks and they start soon. What are those parents supposed to do?? It is kind of last minute to change plans again. Strange times we are leaving in friends, strange times. I am more than grateful for my employer and the fact that I have options.

Laughing –

I do one of these every year. While I wish I could put things like end COVID and unite our country on here for birthday wishes, we know it isn’t that simple…so let’s have some fun!

Victoria Emerson Bracelet – I think that Victoria Emerson has some gorgeous pieces. I really love how she has different stacked looks as one piece. It makes dressing any outfit super easy. This one is so pretty!

This one with the houndstooth is so fun too! It would be great to dress up game day outfits.

Chris and I have watched this live show of Nirvana like 100 times. How cool would it be to have the tshirt??

This black lace cami would be perfect alone, or under sweaters/jackets in the winter! You know, when we start going places again.

Some local girls have a jewelry line that I think is absolutely stunning! Love their necklaces, like The Sherri and the layering collection.

I love this Too Faced Nude Naturals lipstick in Birthday Suit. It is my natural lip color, slightly enhanced. And the Lip Injections to go over top!

I have heard great things about Herbivore body oils. My skin is always so dry, I think that a lux body oil would work better than my every day lotions.

I have a collection of antique character glasses. Some are from when I was little, many are from my weekends antiquing with my parents when I was in my early 20’s. I love the glasses so much, and I have never really had anywhere to display them. Currently, they are packed away in our attic. I think a curio cabinet like this would be perfect for storing them all!

I have my eye on several things for the Nsale, with insider access that just happens to fall right around my birthday! I don’t plan to go crazy, since we probably wont be out and about much this fall. I have always wanted a barefoot dreams cardigan, and when I saw that they have a leopard print one this year?! I have to have it! I will probably live in it all fall/winter. I also need a new pair of zella leggings (wore the crap out of mine the last two years), some Adidas shoes, a few basic tshirts, and some skin and hair care items. A little happy birthday to me! Are you shopping the sale? What are you looking at?

I have found a few really good things on Amazon recently that I wanted to share! Linking up with Tanya for Prime Purchases.

Our pantry drives me crazy sometimes. These stack-able bins are perfect and EXACTLY what we needed. They are a great size for snacks (for whatever reason most places I found them, they were tiny!!!!) And for the set of four, a great deal!

Speaking of organizing, the master bathroom needed to be tackled. At our old house, I had bought a pretty 3-tiered metal tray to house our everyday items. But in reality, several things didn’t fit on it, and after over a year of use…its started to not look that great. I searched high and low for something to put my skincare on, (because of all the amazing storage areas in this house, the master bath is the only place lacking) and I think I finally found the perfect thing! I love the look of this one, and it is quite sturdy and easy to clean. My tall hair treatment spray bottles fit on the bottom shelf with room to move.

I am an oil person now. Nothing crazy, but I have become a huge fan of diffusing some while I work! I absolutely love this pineapple diffuser. It is big enough to last the day while I work, and it lights up! Who doesn’t love a pineapple? I grabbed a few oils to start with. I knew I wanted peppermint for headaches, and lavender for relaxing. I pinned a bunch of scents to mix and try. I will report back on those after thorough testing.

I have been working on a lot of sensory bins and other fun activities for Zoe. I ordered these non-toxic water beads that come with scoop, tweezers and spoon for play and working on hand eye coordination and other motor skills. As an adult, I find this super calming to run my hands through.

I also got this magnetic wand (it comes in several colors) and these bingo chips to work on some lessons with magnetism. And Zoe just thinks this is plain fun! We are talking over a solid of hour of play in one day between the two sessions she used them. (I dumped shell noodles in the container, but you can use anything!)

Thanks to this Instagram account, I made some paint out of little pieces of sidewalk chalk that were really too small to draw with. These paint brushes work perfect for rougher services (drive way) since they are bigger and super comfortable to hold on to with the shape of the handles.

These dot stickers come with so many colors, and a nice reusable zip pouch to store them in. These are perfect for toddler activities, planners, garage sales, labeling electronic wires, so many uses.

For a simple letter activity, I wrote capital letters on a paper towel roll, and did lower case letters on the dot stickers. Zoe matched them by placing the dot stickers over the capital letters. It was a lot more fun than just staring at index cards to match, and she played with the paper towel roll after.

Happy Monday! Cant believe it is the last one for the month. August is birthday month for me! It is crazy, because at the beginning of quarantine, I never dreamed we would still be home for Chris’s birthday in May. And now here we are cruising into mine and we still haven’t been anywhere.

Friday morning, I surprised Zoe with this Cry Babies Doll/House and she loved it. We are talking about hours of play since she has had it. And the little cry baby doll it comes with sleeps on her nightstand next to her bed now. She has the full size Pegasus cry baby that she has been carrying around for the last month, so I figured it was a safe bet.

Saturday morning we had some play time, and then Tomorrowland 2020 started! Every year we look forward to streaming the festival on our projector and listening to the music all day. This year it was a little different, as the festival was virtual. They did an amazing job with all the effects and I was really impressed with how seamless it all was. I still like the real thing though, as the crowd really gives it a different vibe. Hopefully it will be back to normal next year! Zoe is always down for a dance party and cried when it was over.

We also put together a lot of puzzles, painted lots of pictures, played in the sand, changed outfits about ten times, and stayed up way too late.

We ordered Cracker Barrel breakfast Sunday morning, a new tradition we are making a thing. It is always sooooo good. We hung around the house and played Sunday morning. Then ordered chinese for lunch, which Zoe wasn’t a fan of…but I was!

And then we had an ice cream party! Zoe and I made brownies, and I had gotten a lot of fun sprinkles, toppings and hot fudge syrup to go on top. Zoe was such a fan that we did it twice in one day!

After our first ice cream party, Zoe and I took a ride around town and then Facetimed with one of our friends we haven’t seen in way too long!!! We spent a lot of the afternoon in our backyard hanging out. It was in the low 80s and a little overcast, so I didn’t feel like I was going to melt. Zoe had so much fun in the sprinkler and with her water table.

Neither one of us wanted to come inside for dinner, it was just so nice out there. But reality called and the weekend ended. Back to the grind today!!

I spent a lot of time this weekend looking up interactive lesson ideas and sensory play for Zoe. I have been slacking majorly in that department over the last month or two. I mean, it is summer. But we both function better with structure. I want to really invest the time to make it an enjoyable experience though since it looks like we are in this for the long haul right now. I may put together a post of our successful activities.

Have you previewed the Nordstrom Sale yet?? I do get excited for it every year. I never go crazy, but I love picking up a few staple pieces. This year, I am looking at the Barefoot Dreams cardigan, lounge wear and skincare/hair care items. Since I plan to stay at home for who knows how long, I want to be comfy!

I hope you all have a wonderful week!