The Giant Book Review Roundup.

Hiya, friends!  I will be taking next week off from blogging while we (finally!) make our way to the beach so this week is all about beach prep!  Right now, I'm struggling over outfits for beach pictures.  My kids and husband loathe beach pictures and get all cranky.  (Like it's hard to stand there and smile?  C'mon people!)  So I'm debating on whether or not I want to put myself through all the grumbling.  Please tell me I'm not alone in this.  Bribes work though.  So I've got that in my back pocket.  ;)

We also have our in-laws and sweetie-pie niece, Scarlet, at our house this week which is fun!  The boys ADORE their cousin and they have been looking forward to this.  So between beach prep, houseguests and finishing up all my Etsy orders before we leave, this week is going to be busy!

But I did want to drop in a reminder about the Book Review Link-Up that will be happening TOMORROW!

This will be my second month doing this.  Last month, I technically had a link-up but I literally thought to do it AFTER I'd published the post and everyone who was going to read it, read it.  Haha.  So I thought I'd give a little more warning this time around.

So all you fellow bloggers and bookworms:  If you've got any good book review posts, feel free to link up!  More than one is totally fine and it doesn't have to be from this week or even this month.  I just want to see what all y'all have been reading!  :)  I don't know if I'll make every month a link-up yet but I am tomorrow.

For my July Book Review, I've got the 5 books I listened to this month (God bless audiobooks, y'all) including one that came from my new Kindle Unlimited membership.  I'm going to give my thoughts on Kindle Unlimited as well!

In the meantime, you can check out all my past reviews below.

JUNE 2018 BOOK REVIEW

MAY 2018 BOOK REVIEW

APRIL 2018 BOOK REVIEW

MARCH 2018 BOOK REVIEW

FEBRUARY 2018 BOOK REVIEW

MID-SUMMER BOOK REVIEW 2017

END-OF-SUMMER BOOK REVIEW 2017

And find a huge list of favorite books in my Amazon Store and in my Book Club album in my Facebook group.

See you tomorrow, friends!

Friday Favorites #67.

Happy Friday, y'all!!  It is the last Friday of July and I'm seriously scratching my head wondering where the summer went!  I feel like I was just typing "only 3 days left of school before SUMMER BREAK!!".  And now somehow, we're only 3 short weeks away from it starting all over again.

But I can't worry about right now.  Today is Friday Favorites with my girls Andrea, Narci, and Erika so I'm just going to focus on that.

Let's get started!

Instant Pot First Timer.

So this Instant Pot craze, y'all.  I was a holdout.  I didn't think I needed it.  I didn't think I'd use it.  I had a crockpot.  What was the big deal about the Instant Pot?  I didn't get it.

When it popped up for 50% off during the Amazon Prime Day sale, I thought about it.  But then it sold out before I could grab it so I was all "Oh well.  No biggie.".  

And then it came back.  

And the more I thought about it and the more Pinteresting I did for Instant Pot recipes, the more I decided I should just go for it while it was half off.  And if I hated it or never used it, I'd just give it to my mom or mother-in-law or whoever may want it.  

Yesterday, I asked for some of your favorite Instant Pot recipes in my FB Group and one of my best girlfriends ended up texting me a giant list of her favorites.  #thankyouDani  

I also learned that a lot of you have Instant Pots that you've either never taken out of the box or you've used it once and haven't bothered since.  ;)  Maybe this will give you the inspiration to bust it out again!

Texarkana Trip & Lake Day Fun

What a weekend, y'all!!  Seriously, this past weekend was a total whirlwind.  But so much fun!  I have so many pictures I want to share because these are memories I want to remember forever.  So this is your warning!

On Friday morning, we packed up and headed to Texarkana, where I was born and raised and where my parents still live.  Texarkana is located in the very Northeast corner of Texas and falls directly on the Texas/Arkansas state line.  So there is a Texarkana, TX and a Texarkana, AR.  I'm a Texas-side girl and super proud of it.

Craig stayed behind because he had to work (a little) and golf (a lot).  ;)  

My mom is off on Friday's so she always goes over to my granddad's house (her dad) and cooks lunch for him and whoever else wants to join.  My dad, my cousin, Kaci, and her kids usually join them and my mom makes some sort of delicious farm-to-table type meal.  Think cornbread, roast, purple hull peas and corn-on-the-cob straight from the garden, iced tea, etc.  Yummmm.

Unfortunately, my mom ended up getting a stomach bug this weekend and had to just send my dad with pizza.  I know it killed her that she couldn't make it!  And I'm not gonna lie.  I was disappointed to not have my mom cook for me!  But we totally understood.  

My mom is definitely our "cruise director" when we come into town and plans all the fun and all the entertainment.  So sitting anything out is super hard on her.  :(  She felt so bad that she had to keep her distance but since both my kids had just had a stomach bug, we knew what she was going through and it was rough.

Our drive to Texarkana isn't bad.  It takes about 2.5 hours to get there from Mckinney.  At a red light on the way there, I peeked into the backseat and saw Matthew like this.

Friday Favorites #66.

Today starts a fun weekend for us!  Our summer has been pretty lame tame so far but all of our fun is all crammed into the next few weeks.

This morning we're leaving for Texarkana to visit my parents and I also get to see one of my childhood besties and her new baby boy!  We've also got fun with cousins, swimming, and bowling on the docket but then we're leaving Saturday afternoon to head back to Mckinney.  It's going to be a quick trip because on Sunday morning we are heading to the lake with friends!  It is going to be a jam-packed weekend.

But before we do all of that, I wanted to share some of my favorites from lately and y'all...there are so many!!  Between the NSale and Amazon Prime day, I am up to my elbows in favorites.  I'll save some for later but here are a few that I just love!

And as always, I'm linking up with Erika, Narci, and Andrea!

Catching Up.

My phone keeps telling me it is out of storage.  And I find that incredibly annoying.  ;)  So I was going through pictures from this month and realized there are so many I've been meaning to post or talk about and time has just gotten away from me.  So today is another photo dump while I play catch up.  

This is one of the memes that I saved the other day.  Yes yes yes on all of this but thankfully, this is still how our 'hood rolls.  It's exactly how all our neighborhood boys know where the crew is!

I HEART GREAT DEALS. {IT'S AMAZON PRIME DAY, Y'ALL!}

Ok.  I'll admit that I am a bit of a Prime Addict.  But I know there are so many of you who are too!  #solidaritysisters

So I know I'm not alone in this admission.  And I don't hide it because finding good deals, especially on things I actually NEED, can only be good for you, right?  And finding good deals on stuff I may not need but just really really want is fun too.  ;)

Amazon Prime is definitely one of the best tools for finding great prices and better yet--fast and free shipping!  I big puffy heart love fast shipping.  Why am I so impatient?  

I should work on that.

Anyway, I hope this whole post doesn't come off sounding infomercial-y but today is...

AMAZON PRIME DAY!!

Technically it kicks off at 3pm ET (which is 2pm CT for me) and will run for 36 hours.  So I have no idea what these deals are going to be yet (unless you're reading this after the sale has started) but I'm going to be updating my Facebook group page frequently with deals I think you may love PLUS I'll be adding my favorites deals to the Prime Day list in my Amazon Store.  I'll also be posting in my Instagram Stories as well and there is a link to my Amazon Store in my profile there.
UPDATE:  Amazon told me that only official sale items have the capability to be added to my Amazon store, so for all Deal of the Day and pre-sale items, be sure to check the album in my FB group!

LINKS:

FACEBOOK GROUP 

AMAZON STORE 

INSTAGRAM

If you aren't a Prime Member, then you won't have access to these deals. But have no fear!  You can sign up for a 30-day free trial and have full access to everything and even cancel afterwards if you want.  (But seriously, it's so worth it!)

I'm adding this pretty clickable banner because I love the colors.  And it'll take you straight to the page where you can get yourself signed up and ready to shop.

Amazon Prime gives you access to so much.  They'll tell you way more than I could in the link above but I personally love the prices, the free and fast shipping and Prime Video the best.  Prime Video is basically like Netflix.  You can watch a ton of shows for free with your membership and watch on the Prime Video app or your computer, TV, etc.  For the record, Sex and the City (the entire series) is free on Prime and I always find myself watching random episodes when I need some light entertainment.

So now that you're all signed up, be sure and join the FB group if you haven't already.  And if you don't want to miss anything (deals will sell out, I've been told!), be sure to fix your notifications on the group page to "All Posts" so they'll show up in your newsfeed.

They have been releasing a few great deals and promotions leading up to the sale though so I wanted to share my favorites.

THE AUDIBLE TRIAL DEAL

My absolute favorite (y'all won't be surprised) is the Audible deal!
You guys know how much I adore Audible and audiobooks in general.  They are so great to turn on when you're alone in the car, while you're doing dishes/laundry/cleaning, while you're getting dressed, brushing your teeth, doing your hair/makeup...  I mean. I listen all.the.time.



With this deal, you get 3 months of Audible for $4.95/month.  (New customers only.  Regularly $14.95/month.)  This will get you 1 credit a month which means you can choose ANY book in Audible to purchase with your credit.  So basically, you get an audiobook for $4.95.  You also get the member discount for any other books you may want to purchase.  And these are your books to keep forever, even if you cancel after the trial.

Another perk I love is that if you hate a book, you can return or exchange it.  It's a simple process too!  I've only used it twice I think in the 9 years I've been a member. (For the record, this is not sponsored.  But it totally should be!  haha  Audible...CALL ME.)

For more on why I'm an Audible Junkie, you can see my post here.  And if you need some book recs, I'm your girl!  Check out my review posts below.

JUNE 2018 BOOK REVIEW

MAY 2018 BOOK REVIEW

APRIL 2018 BOOK REVIEW

MARCH 2018 BOOK REVIEW

FEBRUARY 2018 BOOK REVIEW

JANUARY 2018 BOOK REVIEW

END-OF-SUMMER BOOK REVIEW 2017

MID-SUMMER BOOK REVIEW 2017

THE KINDLE UNLIMITED DEAL

If you're more of a Kindle girl, then you're also in luck.  For starters, you can find the Kindle Paperwhite for just $69.99 right now as a pre-sale item!  This is the one I have and I love it.

And then be sure to check out this Kindle Unlimited deal for .99 cents!

You get 3 months of unlimited reading on thousands of books plus audiobooks!  I grabbed this deal because WHY NOT!?!  It's .99 cents yall!!

FREE TIME DEAL (For Kids!)

I was scrolling through all the deals (there are too many to list here) but this one caught my eye.  I never knew about it so I wanted to include it in case you haven't either!  It looks kind of awesome!

This deal is for both Prime and Non-Prime members.  You can sign up for a free 30-day trial and you'll have access to over 16,00 kids books, apps and video plus parental controls to help you tailor it to your child.  And if you decide to keep it, it starts at just $2.99/month.  It says it can be used on Android and Fire devices too.

Do you have this??  I think I may have to try this trial too.

To see ALL the promotions and shop the sale, go HERE.

And Amazon has done one more thing to entice you to shop...  They are giving you $10 when you sign-in to the Amazon app for the first time!  (Details HERE.)

I hope you find some great deals, friends!  Remember that most of these deals will be over on July 17th so grab them fast!

And if you see a good deal, be sure to comment with it here or on my Facebook page! I don't want to miss anything good either!  :)  And if you're on the lookout for something in particular, let me know as well and I'll be sure to post it if I find something!

Hope to see you over on FB and Instagram and don't forget that all my favorite finds will be added to my Prime Day Faves album HERE in my Amazon store as I find them!

And before I go, don't forget that the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale is still going on!  It's still Early Access (cardmembers only) and things are finally starting to come back in stock but man, they come back quick and are gone just as fast.  Find my post on my favorites from Friday HERE and there is also a whole album full of NSale goodies in the FB group as well.

HAPPY SHOPPING!

This post contains affiliate links.  Thank you for supporting my blog, friends!!  I hope it's helpful!!

Friday Favorites #65 {Nordstrom Picks}

Hello Friday!!  One more week of our summer is gone, y'all!  And it's just so sad.

But you know what else is sad?  Spending 2.5 hours hitting "place order" on your Nordstrom Anniversary Sale cart.  Yeah.  I did that.  The site had all kinds of issues yesterday morning and my order (and everyone else's) would just not go through.  It's like Nordstrom just didn't want my money or something.  ;)

Thankfully, I was finally able to check out. So now we wait and see what I didn't really get because it is actually sold out.  They'll send an email.  I'm nervous.

Since today is Friday Favorites, I'm going to share my personal favorites from the sale (along with every other blogger in Blog Land...haha).  I think it's fun to see what everyone else chooses though.  Sure, there are plenty of popular things that everyone will be talking about but there are also random things that get overlooked a lot.  So keep scrolling to see mine!

I'm no fashion blogger, friends.  I feel super awkward taking outfit pictures (which is why you rarely see them) and because I run a full-time Etsy shop, I'm typically in tees and soft shorts that are covered in paint, sawdust, and glitter.

But I do love a cute outfit when it's time to clean myself up and I LOVE a good deal.

So let's jump on into those Favorites!!

Linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea.

JUNE BOOK REVIEW.

Well, it took me a hot minute before I could get my June Book Review posted but today's the day!  Better late than never, right?

This month's book selection made me so happy!  I read (yes, READ...as in my one actual book of the month) an Elin Hilderbrand novel which has now entered my top 5 favorite Elin books.  And then I listened to 4 others because...Audible junkie.  ;)  Have I mentioned lately how amazing audiobooks are?   Because they are.  Without them, I'd be lucky to read one book a month.  If you can check out audiobooks from your library, do it!  I can't figure out how to do this with mine but it would probably help to renew my library card (who has time to go down to the library just for that?!).  So I am a proud Audible member and freaking LOVE it.  I also love that I can "re-listen" to my books whenever I want because I do this a lot.

(UPDATE:  If you have been wanting to try Audible, NOW is the time!  This link will take you straight to an amazing deal...through July 17th!  Get a 3-month trial for just $4.95/month!  This means you'll get 1 "credit" each month where you can choose ANY book on Audible.  It's yours forever, even if you cancel.  You also have access to giant discounts on all the other books with your membership. I am a die-hard Audible fan and this is a great deal.  If you hate a book, you can even exchange it for a new one or get your credit back!  

Start your trial now!

So I'm going to start with one that I re-listened to this month because it was in my top 3 books for 2017.  And in all honesty, its one of my favorite books ever. 

Rec Request: Frozen Dinners.

Hey friends!  I'm coming to you quickly today because I'm actually in the middle of writing my June Book Review (finally) but needed some suggestions on something.

I know frozen dinners are not crazy healthy.  Preservatives, sodium, chemicals, blah blah blah.  I get it.  And I do care.  But then sometimes I don't.  ;)  Sometimes I just want to eat light, eat quick and eat easy.

Friday Favorites #64.

Happy Friday!

Hope everyone had an amazing 4th!  Ours was good...not great. Definitely not what we had planned. If you follow me on Instagram, you may have seen that Mason started the week off with swimmers ear and then on top of that, came down with a stomach bug.  So yeah...not the way we had planned on celebrating.  I'll have more on our 4th next week.

But today is Favorites day and like always, I'm linking up with Narci, Erika, and Andrea!

My Favorite Vlog | Embrace & Grace

Hello Monday!!  

We are dealing with Case #3 of swimmers ear over here (Matthew twice and now Mason) so I went with "Hello" instead of "Happy" Monday.  Anytime swimmers ear is involved, no one is happy, let me tell you.