Five on Friday

I'm linking up with the girls again for Five on Friday! It's been awhile!

{ONE} 

My very favorite holiday candy is back! When I saw these at Kroger a few weeks ago, all my bitterness at Christmas coming too early flew out the window and I was filled with joy. I say these are my favorite holiday candy, but they just might be my favorite candy... period. They're the perfect blend of white chocolate and peppermint. They taste like a larger version of the smooth and melty mint candies that you sometimes see at weddings. You know what I'm talking about...

Take my advice and grab a bag of these the next time you see them. So, so delicious!

{TWO}

Our family has acquired a pet of sorts. Meet Kitty.

I am anything but a cat person. I chalk this up to the fact that I'm terribly allergic. I just don't love cats. I actually don't love dogs anymore either, but that's another topic for another day. 

Griffin has become obsessed with this cat. I'm thankful she's stuffed. Earlier this week, he was carrying around a blanket wrapped up in a ball calling it his Kitty. He wouldn't let me see it which was kind of hilarious. After a day of this, I took pity on him and picked up this tiny cat at Target. I honestly think I could've bought this for him for Christmas and nothing else and he would've been thrilled. You call it cheap, I call it smart. Tomato, tomahto.

Anyway, Kitty has been with us every second of every day since Tuesday. She eats with us (always the same bowl of Cheerios that you see above), she sleeps with Griffin, and she goes everywhere he goes. It is so precious. She is only unswaddled while she eats and if you ask Griffin what her name is, he'll tell you it's "my Kitty". He brought her to serve at church last night and kept telling her all the way there, "Let's go to church, Kitty! Let's go serve together!" I can't even handle it! Such a sweet boy. 

We'll see how Kitty continues to fare around here. Griffin tends to go in stages with certain comfort objects, but this has been my favorite. 

{THREE}

It's finally chili weather in Ohio! I have a few chili recipes I use, and although my friend Angie's husband's chili is the best homemade chili I have ever had, it takes a bit of work and isn't always practical for us on a weeknight. But as a side note, try it. It's incredible.

Erin recommended this 2 Alarm Chili kit. I saw it at Kroger and knew it would be a good chili "recipe" to try on a weeknight. It was delicious! I added a can of drained pinto beans, a can of undrained petite diced tomatoes, and a chopped onion and some garlic while the beef was browning. I left out the red pepper packet but used everything else, including the masa flour.

We really enjoyed this and I will be making it again soon. I used this recipe for cornbread (it's sweet; just how we like it!). It was quick, easy, and baked up in 20 minutes (she doesn't specify in the recipe, but I did melt the butter before I mixed it into the batter). I'm always so glad to find a tasty and filling weeknight meal. This one was a winner!

{FOUR}

I kind of slacked off and didn't finish my 31 days series. I enjoyed doing it, but I ended up getting sick at the end of the month and everything, including my blog, just went to pot. Does that happen to anyone else? Getting sick completely throws me off and everything tends to fall by the wayside for awhile. It's always hard for me to get back into the swing of things. 

All that to say, I am really glad I started thinking about and doing some things more intentionally. It really caused me to reevaluate my days and think about what needs to be accomplished vs. what I want to be accomplished. Often they're one in the same. My big project over the weekend is to tackle my overflowing closet. Tyler and I have to combine closets since Griffin is taking over the office/ guest bedroom with his big boy room. I've enjoyed having a closet virtually to myself the past four years, but times are a-changing!

{FIVE} 

Tyler We've decided not to do a whole new nursery for Bubbles. The nursery is a beautiful aqua blue and really can be gender neutral if I tweak and add a few things. Truly, I'm fine with this. We're hoping to move in the late spring/ early summer, so it just doesn't make sense to repaint the room and move everything around.

I am adding a few girly touches to the room. I've been looking for a mirror to put above her dresser and I found this gorgeous one from Pottery Barn Kids. It would definitely be the most expensive addition to her room, but doesn't every beautiful little girl need a pretty mirror? I'm hoping to find a coupon code or something of the like around Cyber Monday so I can snag this for Little Miss Bubbles. 

Have a wonderful weekend!

Five for Friday

1. I've neglected the old blog for the last few weeks, but I'm back! I spent the last week in Michigan with Tyler, Griffin, and my family and it was glorious. We were able to be in town for one of my best friend's bridal shower and for part of my cousin's visit from Colorado. Uncle Gah (Jack) even came into town for a night! We had a great week, full of friends, family, park play dates, and an evening boat ride. I'm planning on blogging about our visit next week, but it was a perfect start to summer!

2. When we left Michigan yesterday, I just had to stop and grab some of my favorite pop. Yes, I'm from Michigan and I call it pop because that's what it is. Rock and Rye is my favorite pop of all time. It's a weird mix between cherry coke and Dr. Pepper, but it kind of has a creme soda quality to it. It's so hard to explain, but I don't know anyone from Michigan who doesn't like it. So, so good! If you're ever in Michigan, you've got to grab some! I can't wait to break open my new stash today.

3. I think I've found my favorite summer nail polish shade. I grabbed a bottle of Essie's Mint Candy Apple during a trip to Target recently, and I can't get enough. It looks great on my fingernails and on my toes. It's the prettiest shade of mint; it's really almost a pale, pale blue. I love nail polish and have quite the stash, so for me to declare a shade a possible favorite is a big deal. But it's so pretty, feminine, and summery! 

4. I've had this insulated mason jar tumbler from WalMart for a few months now and I love it! I use it all the time and I think it's so cute. I like that it doesn't have the little handle I've seen on so many, but I do wish I'd had some options for a cuter straw. I know, not a real problem Rachel. It's wonderful that it's insulated because I can tote it around the house with me and I don't have to worry about it leaving a ring when I set it down. I think this will be my go-to beverage holder while I lay by the pool this summer! As you can see, I've had to share it with a certain toddler. What I really need to do is go back and get him one of his own! 

5. I just finished a few books and need to do a blog post about what I've read lately. I always love seeing what other people are reading. My library has really added to their digital library and there are so many books available for checkout on e-readers! I love reading so much and find that I do more of it in the summer. These are a few of the titles I've finished in the last month or so. I would recommend all of them! 

I hope you all have a great weekend with your people! 

Five for Friday

I'm back with Five for Friday! I loved doing it last week and I have five more little happies to share this week.

1. I love these notebooks from Target. I have the pink polka dot one and the gold striped one, but I'm sure I can find a reason to go grab the other two colors. Am I the only one out there who is obsessed with school supplies? It was one of my favorite parts about teaching. I also love this striped folder and it has three pockets! Like I said, I have an office supply problem. Staples is my happy place.

2. I have fallen in love with the fabric hair ties, along with every other girl I know. I snagged some at Nordstrom a few months ago, but they were so expensive and I lost hair ties constantly. It's hard to pay $13 for 5 hair ties only to lose them all in a few months. So naturally, I was thrilled when I snagged these at Old Navy recently. These were up by the register. I love all the fun colors! 

3. Griffin got a Seeds of Praise Family Worship CD for his birthday and we both love listening to it! It's scripture set to songs and I've found that it's a great way for me to memorize scripture. We listen to it at home and in the car. They're catchy songs and I find myself singing to them when I'm alone. If you have kids, you've got to grab one of these CD's! They send you two, so you can keep one and give one to a friend. This is the one that we have and I plan to add to our collection soon. 

4. I didn't cook much this week because of yet another crazy week, but I did make Kate's chicken with mustard cream sauce on Monday and oh. My. Word. If you like mustard, you have to make this. It was easy and absolutely incredible. I used dijon mustard, but next time I make this (read: next week, seriously), I will use TJ's whole grain mustard. I served it with mashed potatoes and roasted brussel sprouts. Yum, yum. Thanks for an incredibly delicious weeknight meal, Kate! 

5. Look at these little beauties! They are my first "harvest" of the season, but seeing as though I only got three, I use the word harvest loosely. In the interest of full disclosure, I planted two strawberry plants in our garden about 2-3 years ago and they yielded a big fat nothing. I'd forgotten about them until I went out to weed the garden to prep it for the year and found about 11 full grown, thriving strawberry plants! Those things hide for a few years and then they multiply like rabbits! I was so excited. These strawberries were so good! There's nothing like homegrown fruits and veggies, even if they're accidental. 

We have lots of fun things planned for our long weekend! I hope you enjoy your extra day off with your family! 

Five for Friday

My friend Rachel (who I sometimes link up with for Menu Monday) does a fun little thing called Five for Friday. It's just five short little blurbs about five things she's loving. I thought I would join her today to let you know about five things I've been enjoying lately!

1. These Gilligan & O'Malley nightgowns from Target. I picked up one of these before our trip to Florida and after sleeping in it for a few nights, I had to grab a few more. Now that it's summer time, I am living in these. They're comfortable, soft, and cute! I do love a full coverage nightgown; they're surprisingly hard to find!

2. Seche Vite Fast Dry Top Coat. I'd been hearing about this for a long time, but I really liked my generic Sally Hansen top coat. It didn't dry fast, which was a huge pain, but it was a good top coat. On a whim, I decided to grab the Seche Vite and my nail painting has been forever changed. This stuff dries SO incredibly fast! I can do my nails everyday because it takes hardly any time. If you do your own manicures, I would highly recommend this. I've seen it at Target and at Sally's. 

3. Griffin and I had lunch at Chick-fil-A yesterday and I wanted to try one of their new salads. I couldn't decide so I did what I do when I can't choose-- I ask Twitter. Ha! I ended up taking my friend Jenn's suggestion and trying the Cobb salad with the avocado lime ranch with a little bit of buffalo sauce. It was SO good! I love a good Cobb salad and since I wasn't a fan of any of CFA's old salads, I'm happy with the change. I'm extremely bitter that they didn't bring back their banana pudding milkshake, but that's another rant for another time. Here's a picture of my darling lunch date. Aren't you jealous??

4. Chobani Flips. Rachel talked about these too, but I just can't help myself. I don't fancy myself a yogurt lover. I don't hate it, but I don't love it. And random pieces of fruit and other things floating around in my yogurt? Absolutely not. But I can't explain it... I love these! They are delicious and the flavors are perfect. They were $1 at Kroger this week, so as you can see, I stocked up. I've been limiting myself to one a day but I could easily put down 2 or 3. Even if you don't like yogurt (even Greek yogurt-- GAG), try these. I bet you'll be surprised.

5. I pinned this awhile ago, but I still think it's the funniest thing I've ever seen on Pinterest and I've seen a lot of funny things there. Ryan Seacrest... bless your heart. This is totally something I would do. 

Have a lovely weekend!