Wednesday, January 31, 2018

What's Up Wednesday. {1.31.18}


Oh hey there, Hump Day!  Today I've got the monthly What's Up Wednesday post brought to you by Mel, Sheaffer and Shay!

Here are some of the questions I'll be answering today.


Since this is kind of a long post, I'm just going to dive right in!

WHAT WE'RE EATING THIS WEEK:

This is a casual week for us because Craig's been gone on a little guys ski trip and Matthew doesn't eat anything normal.  So it's just me and Mason if I cook which means we are keeping it super low key.  

(For the record, I really really want to lie here and tell you all the awesome meals I've been whipping up since Craig has been gone but...no.  Haha.)

We've been eating tacos (Mason's favorite), tortellini alfredo, chicken caesar salads, waffles and chicken nuggets.  Those last two are what Matthew's been eating.  Oh.  And strawberries and Ranch Style Beans.  He can put away a can of ranch style beans.  #random



WHAT I'M REMINISCING ABOUT:

This popped up in my Facebook memories yesterday.  My sweet sweet baby Mason.  Gah, he was the cutest thing ever!!!


How?  HOW?!


I looked away for 2 seconds and when I turned around he had somehow managed to stick that little pen thing straight through that Ritz cracker--without breaking it!  Seriously.  Try it.  It's impossible.


He then proceeded with this drawing.  ;)

#littlegenius or #littlemagician

WHAT I'M LOVING:

The other day someone sent me a DM on Instagram and asked me what my favorite makeup product was.  I immediately knew it was between two different ones.

My first one is something that I will use for as long as they make it.  I use it every. single. day.  It is the Becca Under-Eye Brightening Corrector.  And it WORKS.


I get pretty dark circles under my eyes no matter if I'm well-rested or not.  I did not hit the genetic lottery with this, that's for sure.  So this is like my little magic corrector.  I dab a little on before I do my concealer and my eyes are instantly brighter and the circles look 10 times better.

You just need a tiny dab on your finger to do each eye so this stuff lasts FOREVER.  I've had this little tub for almost a year and I will probably be able to use it for at least one more and then some.  It is just sticky enough that it will stick but still creamy enough to spread.

I always apply a concealer over it because it looks a little too light if I don't but I know there are some people who can wear it alone.

Find it at Ulta, Sephora or Amazon (prime shipping plus it's a little cheaper!  Sorry!  It went back up again!  But still, quick and free shipping for you Primers).

And I'm assuming I have the "light to medium" color?  I don't remember being able to choose when I bought it last year but it looks like they have some color choices now.


My 2nd favorite is my current mascara.  It's the Lancome Monsieur Big Mascara.  It gives you major "Whoa!" lashes with just one coat.  But for even more drama, go with two!  ;)  I love love love love trying new mascaras and usually switch it up when it's time for a new one but it will be hard for me to do that this time!!  It is soooo good!!

WHAT WE'VE BEEN UP TO:

Basketball is our only official commitment right this second but spring baseball is starting to fire up too.  Mason had an unofficial practice last night and Matthew has one next week.


Craig is living it up on a guys ski trip right now so he's doing a whole lot of this...


...while I'm doing a whole lot of this... (ok some, not a lot). 


 It IS nice to have the house to myself though once the kids go to school.  Craig is usually home most of the day so I'm not alone much.  No offense to him, but I love the quiet mornings alone!

And Abby does too.  ;)


WHAT I'M DREADING:

Folding all the clothes in my laundry room.

WHAT I'M WORKING ON:

Right now, I'm working on Matthew's little room makeover.  It's slow going because I can't really work on it until the weekends.  

In my shop though, I've added some fun new stuff as well as oldies but goodies!  Find my shop HERE.







LOVE these little 3.5x10" "Word of the Year" signs!  (Year can be added or left off and any word goes!)


So cute for a guest room!



All are available now!!

WHAT I'M EXCITED ABOUT:

We are planning a Thanksgiving trip to Disney World this year for the first time and I feel like I'm already behind!  I'm excited to dive in to all of that!  (Although, at the same time, I'm also dreading it a little?  It sounds overwhelming!!)

WHAT I'M WATCHING/READING:

Eeeek!!  I've read some amazing books lately that I can't wait to share next week!!  It's been way too long since I've done an official book review.  I'm already on book #10 for the year which sounds like a lot but remember, I'm an Audible girl, so I can get through them quickly!  

Two thrillers that I want to mention because you NEED TO READ THEM (#bossypants) are The Last Mrs. Parris and The Wife Between Us.  I read The Last Mrs. Parrish first and was blown away by the twist!!  It was so good.  And then I read The Wife Between Us next and OH MY GOSH!!  I had to practically pick my jaw up off the floor when they hit you with the twist.  I was speechless.  And after that the twists just kept on coming!!  I was listening alone in my workroom and was talking to myself saying "What?! What?!  WHAT?!".  I know I sounded crazy.



And for chick lit favorites, you need to read the new Kristan Higgins book!  I randomly stumbled onto her books last year and have read a lot from her since then.  My favorites are If You Only Knew, On Second Thought and this new release, Now That You Mention It.


I keep my Goodreads account updated, so if you want to follow along, find me here.  :)

As for what I'm watching...same ole, same ole.  Bravo.  Of course.  I love that Summer House started up again!  It's a total trainwreck but it makes me happy.  Real Housewives.  Vanderpump Rules. And I'm pumped for the new Bethenny and Frederick show!

Non-trashy shows include This Is Us.  Because OH. EM. GEE.  Other shows I love are Kevin Can Wait, Modern Family, Man With A Plan, Chicago Fire, Grey's Anatomy, Scandal...  Basically, my DVR is always full.

WHAT I'M LISTENING TO:

Y'all, I finally went to see The Greatest Showman yesterday and it was absolutely AMAZING.  I was completely captivated from the second it started until the moment it was over.  Talk about #allthefeels.  It was all that and then some.

So of course, like everyone else, I immediately started listening to the soundtrack on repeat!  


I just knew this would be nominated for all kinds of Academy Awards but NO!  I was SHOCKED when I found out that it had only been nominated in one category!  This Is Me was nominated for Best Original Song which is great but I mean...that's it?! I feel so outraged for them!!  This is definitely one of my favorite movies of all time if not THE favorite.  At the moment, I can't even think of a better one.

WHAT I'M WEARING:

I got this hoodie the other day and have been LIVING in it nonstop.  If it came in 12 different colors, I would buy it in all of them.  It is SO soft.  So cozy.  And SO cute!  It also looks great with jeans or yoga pants.


I ordered it in a small and love the fit. If they had the light blue color that is also available in a small, I would have absolutely gotten that one as well. And right now it is on sale for 40% off!    

That's it for today, y'all!  I'll be back Friday with my Friday Favorites!  If you love Friday Favorites, be sure to check out my Facebook group.  I post cool stuff I find randomly throughout the week over there and am always need recommendations on other stuff I have going on.

You can also find me on Instagram @amandanall.


Also linking up with Lindsay for Welcome Wednesday!







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Tuesday, January 30, 2018

Our Weekend.

I meant to post this yesterday but I got all kinds of distracted after googling GIFs from Real Housewives for this post.  Some of them are just too funny.

So here's how we spent our weekend.

Mason had a basketball game on Saturday.


At one point during the game, he fell and slammed his head into the ground and also hurt his elbow pretty bad.  All I could think of was "Great! First concussion!".  Thankfully, it wasn't that bad though and once he got an ice pack on his elbow he rallied quickly.


After the game, he was all smiles.


It was our best game yet!  We almost won!!  (We have yet to win this season.)


I also got to sit next to this cutie pie and share my bracelets with her.  ;)


After the game, we decided it was time for some new shoes.  These two are SO hard on their shoes.  Mason can't keep his laces tied to save his life and Matthew's stink to high heaven. #boymomlife

The first place we went was a fail.  No luck.


So we hit up Academy and after a couple of mini-meltdowns by Mason, because I vetoed his outrageous choices, we finally found shoes that everyone was happy with.


I'm not sure what this face is...


We decided to eat an early dinner at Chilis since it was so close.  We figured it would be quick but our waitress wasn't having a great day so our quick dinner ended up taking almost 2 hours...

We didn't mind too much though and Matthew and I dominated at the trivia game.



The boys need haircuts again.  They just started taking their vitamins regularly after a couple of months and I swear it's making their hair grow faster.



By the time we left, we were getting tired.  We brought Craig a to go order since he wasn't able to meet up with us to eat.  Matthew climbed into bed beside me while we watched TV and eventually fell asleep.  


At around 10:30, I woke him up to see if he wanted to sleep with me or if he wanted to go back to his own bed.  I told him Dad could sleep with Mason if he wanted to stay downstairs.  He told me he wanted to go upstairs but also said, "When you woke me up, I was dreaming that I was in the wild!".  He didn't elaborate past that but he was pretty happy about his dream and was grinning from ear to ear.  Love this boy.

Sunday morning we sent Craig off on a little guy's ski trip and then played hooky from church.  

I made a cup of my "magic" coffee so I could do #allthethings and like always, it worked.  (Magic Coffee Review here if you haven't read it yet.  Samples are less than 5 bucks so if you still haven't tried it yet, do it!)

I am not a real coffee drinker so my favorite way to drink it is this...

Froth my milk in my latte maker...


....add a scoop of my coffee and 3 scoops of my hot chocolate and wah-lah!!


YUM!!  If you aren't a coffee drinker either, do it this way!!  (If you don't have a latte maker, just heat your milk in the microwave for a minute or so.)

When I was cleaning up the kitchen, our doorbell rang and it was our neighbor, Roman.  He joined Matthew on the couch for some Minecraft time.


It was a gorgeous day (63 and sunny!) so a bunch of the neighborhood kids got a little culdesac game together.  I had to stop them from using real baseballs though.  (Can you imagine?!)  I snapped this picture as I was taking out the trash.


A little later, they made their way into our backyard to do some tree climbing.  There is only one girl in our neighborhood crew and she has learned to hold her own with these boys.  Sweet girl!  The boys are all so good with her too and treat her like a little sister.

(Updated to add that I've had a few emails and DMs about this roller coaster.  We got this one YEARS ago when the boys were toddlers and we LOVE LOVE LOVE it.  The boys still play on it and in the summer they'll ride down it into the pool.  I looked it up on Amazon and this exact one in these colors has doubled in price since we bought it. (Check it out here.) But I'm pretty sure that THIS ONE is the exact same thing only cheaper and in a different color scheme.)

Clearly, my kids also use it to help them climb trees now as well.  ;)


While they played, I went upstairs to Matthew's room and finished painting the doors and casings in his room.  I started on the baseboards but the carpet got in my way and I quit.  I think we'll probably end up hiring someone to come in and do those and paint the walls.

For dinner, Mason requested tacos.  He put away 4 before he tapped out.  #growthspurt 


I managed to get everyone in the shower and in the bed by 8:30 without threatening to take away coins (from their Vivofit Jrs).  #winning!

So that was our weekend!  The weather made me CRAVE spring!!  Thankfully, it comes quickly here in Texas so I'm just anxiously waiting.  Bring. It. On.  (By the way, it's cold again now.  But it's supposed to be up to 70 on Wednesday!  And then right back down to the 50s the next day.)

Have a great day, friends!!  See you back here tomorrow for What's Up Wednesday!!









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Monday, January 29, 2018

Monday Musings. {Celebrity BB & My Dream Reality Show}

Happy Monday, y'all! 

Last night they finally revealed the cast for Celebrity Big Brother!  I heard they did it during the Grammys?  I don't know.  I didn't watch the Grammys.  Did you?  I feel like I don't have a clue who half of the artists are any more/I don't like their music/it gets too political/etc etc etc.  I think it just all boils down to me being a bit of a fuddy duddy when it comes to all that.  I am not cool anymore.  #bottomline

 Anyway!  Here's the Celebrity Big Brother cast.  I must say I was slightly underwhelmed.

Brandi Glanville (always entertaining)
Omarosa
Mark McGrath (From Sugar Ray)
Shannon Elizabeth
Keshia Knight Pulliam (Rudy from the Cosby Show)
Metta World Peace (Former NBA player...no comment on that name he gave himself...)
Chuck Liddell (heavyweight champ)
James Maslow (actor)
Marissa Winokur (another actor apparently)
Ross Matthews (TV personality)
Ariadna Gutierrez (Miss Colombia)

See what I mean by underwhelming? I read a TV Guide article online that said, "to accommodate the stars' busy schedules, the season won't be a full three months".  

It'll only be 2.5 weeks.  Because these "stars" are just so darn busy. ;)

Shannon Elizabeth DOES seem to be in high demand lately...oh wait...

The season starts February 7th.  I'll be watching.  :)

And if any producers are listening, here's what I'd like to see.  I'd love to see a Real Housewives all-star cast living in a giant beach house for the summer.  


No one gets voted out.  We just get to see all that crazy drama all summer long while we wonder how women twice our age look 10 times hotter than we do in a bikini.


Off the top of my head, this cast would include:

Vicki
Nene
Bethenney
Ramona
Brandi
Sonja
Dorinda
Erika Jane
Lisa Vanderpump
Teresa
Melissa
Kim Zolciak
Luann
Kyle
and....Caroline Manzo.


Can you even imagine?!  Come on Andy Cohen!  Make this happen!! (And yes, I purposely left out of the Dallas girls.  I just couldn't think of any that I would care to see all summer.)


What do you think?  Great idea??  Trainwreck waiting to happen?  #ithinkyes

And I had plans to recap our weekend today too but honestly, I sat here looking through a million hilarious gifs and got super sidetracked.  Shame on me!  So I'll recap it tomorrow.

And I wanted to say thank you so much for all the kind words about my grandmother on Friday.  She was a very special lady.  My one year blogging anniversary is coming up in February and I feel like I've made so many new "friends" through this.  So thank you thank you thank you for reading my little piece of the Internet, for commenting, for your business in my Etsy shop, for sending me recommendations and giving me advice!  I'm truly thankful.  xoxo



Linking up with the Hello Monday girls!






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