A Few of my Favorite Things

It’s been awhile since I’ve shared some of my favorite things on here. Wait. Scratch that. I don’t know if I’ve officially ever done that, but I love it when other bloggers share things they love, so I figured why not jump on that bandwagon.

And now, without further ado, here are (more than) a few of my favorite things:

+ The Waterlogue App. There was a lot of talk about this app a year ago or so, and while I loved it back then, I really love it now. The picture above is one I took from Italy*, and while it looks awesome in its own, natural form, it looks pretty darn cool as a watercolor! So cool that I’m incorporating it and another picture I took from Burano, Italy, in our laundry room*.

*Guess what! I’m finally going to start blogging about our travels again. I have way too many pictures and trips that I really want to share with you, so I’m going to make it happen. Come back on Monday and you’ll see more pictures from the most magical city in Italy 🙂

**I’m also sharing our remodeled laundry room/pantry reveal next week, too. Basically, next week is going to rock!

+ Hotel Discounts. Gotta love a place that gives a military discount and is looking out for traveling families, which is why Homewood Suites and Home2Suites is making this list. Between now and August 13, active duty and retired military can save 15% when booking at one of the two hotels! When we can, we prefer to stay in a room that’s a suite. Having a door that closes to the bedroom means we can put the girls in the “living” area so we can all get some shut-eye. We learned the hard way that Julia does not sleep well if she’s in the same room with us. I also love it when a room has a mini kitchen, because I like to take snacks and prefer to sometimes make meals while we’re away to save some money.

+ Avocado Toast. This is truly a breakfast of champions (or at least a breakfast for busy moms who need something fast, filling, and delicious to eat in the morning). I adore it and get extremely sad when I don’t have any avocados around. Like…so sad that I walk around aimlessly in my kitchen, because I have no idea what I want to eat. Making it is super easy: toast a piece of bread (I’m obsessed with Kroger’s flax and fiber bread), mash half of an avocado and spread it on the toast. Put a spoonful or two of your favorite salsa on the avocado (make your own here), then add a sliced hard-boiled egg on top. It’s just as delicious with a runny egg, but I eat this while holding the baby and helping my toddler with her breakfast, so I need something not as messy as egg yolk running everywhere. Seriously so good.

+ Coffee in bed. Madilyn’s sleeping habits are all over the place lately. Some nights are great (hello, 6+ hours of sleep), and some nights just downright stink (I’d like more than 2-hour cat naps, please). Needless to say, but waking up in the morning is pretty difficult. I sleep through my husband’s alarm, but lately he’s been walking me up by bringing me a cup of coffee. He’s a keeper.

+ Weight Watchers. I know I’ve been on this train before, but I really want this weight off. Yes, it took almost 10 months for me to put it on (plus 25 years, of course), but I don’t even recognize my body now. Not to mention that NONE of my pre-pregnancy pants fit me anymore. The good news is that the pounds are slowly starting to drop. I really needed some structure back in my life with food, and WW is giving that to me. I’ve lost 10+ pounds right now, and I hope to keep it up…or off, rather.

+ The Mini Frap. I know, I know. I just talked about losing weight and here I am talking about a frappuccino. I scoffed at the mini size when I first saw them (I mean, it’s SO tiny!), but it’s actually quite perfect. After I weigh-in each week I drive straight to Starbucks and get an itty-bitty S’mores frap, and I savor the heck out of it. Lately I’ve been asking for non-fat milk and they always ask me if I want the whipped cream. Heck yes, I do! I just want to save a few calories; I don’t want to do anything crazy like miss out on the marshmallow whipped cream with graham cracker bits.  Yum. I already can’t wait for next Thursday so I can indulge again! (By the way, I’m a whole-milk type of girl, but in a frappuccino when it’s all mixed up, I don’t mind the watered-down type.)

+ A Happy Baby. I mean, look at that face! How can she not grace this list?

+ Teething Necklaces. I talked about this in my last post, but I’m digging teething necklaces right now. I just got a new one from Mama & Little that I really like wearing. By the way, don’t forget to enter to win a gift certificate to The Vintage Honey Shop! (CLICK HERE TO ENTER)

+ This Pizza Sauce. We make pizza from scratch fairly often over here—at least every other week. Last weekend we grilled it for the first time (oh-em-gee, why have we never done that before??!!), and I didn’t feel like making my pizza sauce like I usually do. I picked this up on a whim and it was DELICIOUS. So good that I may have finished the entire jar in less than a week, because I kept putting it on things…and possibly eating it out of the jar with a spoon. I can only imagine how good their other pastas sauces taste.

There are other things I’m loving right now, like the weekend starting tomorrow, and when both of my girls take a three-hour nap at the same time, but I’ll save some other goodies for another day. Tell me what you’re loving lately!