FRIDAY FAVORITES

Welcome FRIDAY!! We just survived our first full week of the new school year so today feels extra good! Baseball is back, football is back, homework, bedtime and early mornings are back, and daily showers are definitely back. Sorry boys...jumping in the pool no longer counts as a shower. 😉

Chuck loves mornings and having all 4 of us in the living room first thing in the morning is his favorite time of day. (Except when Matthew comes home from school. Did you see the video I posted on my IG stories last night of Chuck waiting for Matthew to get off the bus? Be still my heart.)

He hates watching them walk away though.

Both boys are loving their new teachers and each one already has a couple of favorites. Mason has transitioned to middle school seamlessly which I never doubted for a minute. That kid has no fear or anxiety about anything. He's loving the bigger selection in the cafeteria especially. 😂

Matthew is a big dog on campus and as much as he pretends Mason is an annoying little brother, I know he secretly loves having him there. They catch the bus together before and after school and they have band together because Matthew is a "Band Aide" this year. I love that Mason is able to see him as a leader. I know it makes Mason proud but of course, he'll never admit that either.

But let's jump on into Friday Favorites, shall we?!

Ok. This week has also been crazy in our world. Everyone's world. I think we can all agree on that, right? I've been glued to the news all week long and praying for all the people who are trapped in Afghanistan right now. This is not political. People on both sides of the aisle are furious, frustrated, confused, sad and wondering why this happened the way it did. I personally find it insane that we chose to pull troops before we made sure everyone could get out safely. If a ship were going down, would the Coast Guard order the captain and crew off the boat first and THEN turn around to get as many of the passengers out of there before it sunk? Of course not! I don't know if that's the perfect analogy but it's close enough. You get it.

I've been praying for those people who are stuck there every time it crosses my mind. Like a constant prayer running through my head. The images of the kids...the video of the mom passing her baby to a soldier over the wall...ugh. It hits me straight in the heart. I have no idea if she followed over the wall or if she just said "Take my baby!!" knowing it was her best chance at keeping her safe even if she never saw her again. 

But what made it hit even harder was the movie that I watched on Netflix last week before any of this happened and it was even on my radar. Y'all know I've been on an action movie kick for awhile now so when I saw No Escape with Owen Wilson. I'd never heard of but I figured it'd be good. And it was! 

It is about an American family (mom, dad, two young girls) who have just moved to Southeast Asia because of Owen's character's job. One morning Dad goes downstairs in his hotel to look for a newspaper and finds himself in the middle of the street standing between a group of terrorists and a group of police in full body armor, shields, all of it. The terrorists quickly take over the city and are on a mission to kill every American. And somehow Owen has to figure out how to get his family out of the country alive while the terrorists are running the streets slaughtering every American they see.

It.is.crazy. It is intense. And it really gives you a huge sense of what some of these Americans are probably going through right this minute. I just thought it was crazy that I watched it right before this really started to happen. 

Anyway, you can find it on Netflix. It has a different picture than this on it but it's there. I pray that we can figure out how to get everyone out of there safely and quickly. I cannot even imagine the fear.

I think I post this every year but one of my favorite candles for fall is Mainstays Warm Apple Pie. I get it at Walmart, y'all. It's about $3 and it smells like heaven. I've linked it but you can usually find them in-store too. The Apple Pumpkin is also so so good. I haven't tried the others but I'm sure they are great too. So just FYI! Candles don't have to be expensive! (Not that I don't love a fun Bath & Body Works candle! Because I definitely love those too!)

Ok, so I've talked about this a lot this week because I'm just shocked that I've gone from drinking coffee once a month or so to wanting a cup every single day. It all started when I was killing some time in Bed, Bath & Beyond on Saturday while I was waiting for Mason to get out of a birthday party. I happened to walk past the coffee makers and on the end cap, they had these Apple Cider k-cups. And I wanted that Apple Cider, y'all! The only problem was--I didn't have a Keurig. 

So I wandered down the aisle of Keurigs and saw that the Mini Keurig was down from $100 to just $60. It was slim, sleek, and simple. Exactly what I needed. All I wanted it for was this apple cider. 😂 Craig loves coffee so I figured he'd use it more than me anyway and I was hoping maybe I could find a coffee k-cup I liked too. I had no idea of the enormous amount of options available out there!

(PS: I'm linking to Target b/c it's no longer on sale at BB&B but it is at Target.)

So I got it. The Keurig and the Apple Cider.

And then I found...Donut Shop Mocha Latte k-cups. It's like they were made with me in mind. They are so good and the fact that it is just ONE STEP makes me oh so happy. So yeah...I'm now officially obsessed. To ME, it tastes just as good as a Starbucks Mocha Latte.

My initial mug was a gift a few years ago. I think it was from Anthropologie. But I realized this week that if I was going to become a legit coffee/apple cider drinker, I needed more mugs. So I grabbed this one and this one with my initial on it too while they were on sale! I'll show them off when they arrive. :)

The other night I decided I wanted to try a Pinterest new recipe. I decided on this Hawaiian Pizza Chicken because I am one of those weirdos who doesn't mind a good Hawaiian pizza every now and then. I don't order it a lot but I never turn it down. Sweet and savory is my jam!

This was so good!! Even Craig, who is NOT a pineapple pizza fan, really liked it. I went light on the ham and pineapples but next time I'll go heavier because it was the best part!

And in other news, I went to lunch with some of the new girls on my team this week at Whiskey Cake. I'd never been before but it was delicious and the whole restaurant is so pretty. It's all farm to table and we were not disappointed!

And yes, we shared the Whiskey Cake at the end. Local girls, if you haven't been yet, put it on your list!

Last week I talked about flare jeans (my fave) and this week I'm sharing another new arrival from the boutique! These are Kancan flares (my favorite brand) and they are so cute! I pointed this out in my Deals Group on FB but wanted to make it clear here too. These have a 34" inseam. I don't know why the insist on making all flares so dang long but they do. Great for tall girls. Terrible for short girls. Average girls can make it work with big heels.

The model here is 5'6" and is wearing these heels I think which have a 3.5-4" heel. (So cute by the way.) 

I also posted this cozy cardigan find this week too. I ordered one but Amazon keeps telling me it's transit but arriving late so I'm guessing that means it's lost. 🙄 I'll reorder though because I really want this! It comes in a ton of colors too. I got the dusty green and there was a $2 off clickable with it too. Hope it's still there when I publish this!

Y'all may have seen these on my stories too but yesterday it was raining pretty steadily when it was time for the boys to catch the bus. I offered to drive them to the bus stop (at the end of our culdesac) and sit in the car with them until the bus came but they said no. So they took my umbrellas and marched off in the rain. Mason walked proudly with my leopard one. 😂

I was really pretty sure that this was the last I'd see of my umbrellas but BOTH came back at the end of the day! Trust me, I was shocked. Are they actually becoming more responsible?! #loveit

And finally, the Etsy shop is OPEN! I've reordered more of these mugs in both black and white because they are always a big seller during fall/Christmas.

And I'm playing around with some new things in my spare time too. Give me all the sparkles!!

Hopefully, I can get a prototype done for what I have in mind soon!

But until then, have the best weekend!! Thanks for joining me today!!

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