🏠 Lately...Self-Isolation Edition

Happy Friday and thanks for stopping by! I hope everyone is being healthy and safe, what a strange and uncertain time we're living in lately. We're currently on day 14 of self-isolation and we've been having fun keeping busy around the house. Today I thought I'd share some of what we've been up to lately:

1) Farm-Fresh Eggs-
David's co-worker lives in the next town over, raises chickens, and kindly left 2 dozen eggs in his mailbox for us. They are both beautiful and delicious! We've been having fun making all sorts of egg dishes and I swear they taste creamier than store bought. David made croque madames for lunch one day using the eggs and they didn't disappoint! In just one bite I was instantly transported back to Paris. He used this New York Times recipe.

2) Cinnamon Rolls-
David also treated us to homemade cinnamon rolls as a surprise last Sunday morning using our bread machine. They were so yummy, not too sweet, and had the perfect amount of cinnamon and vanilla. If you have a bread machine and about 3 hours to kill, I highly recommend! Here's the recipe.

3) Whipped Coffee-
We jumped on the bandwagon with the rest of the world this week and gave whipped coffee a try and oh. my. goodness. It is by far one of the tastiest coffee drinks we've ever tried, and so much better than the calorie-filled ones at Starbucks (We estimated each one to be just under 150 calories)! We used our hand mixer which allowed us to whip some up super quick and we had ours over ice. I'd love to try it with some hot frothed milk next. 

I promise we haven't only been eating well, haha. We've been enjoying lots of walks around our walking trail, exercise videos on YouTube, self-care galore with face masks, at home mani-pedis, extra dog cuddles, and we even had a game night! We played Uno and Stinky Pig and haven't laughed that hard in a while.

This weekend I'm looking forward to watching the movie Emma, I missed it in theaters and am so happy it's available to rent!

PS- If you're into British history and need a good show to watch, I highly recommend the CNN 6-part series on the Windsors. It's been so fascinating to see the succession of the throne and all the drama that went on behind closed doors, all while trying to run a country. 

What have you been doing to pass the time? Any fun ideas? Let me know down below, I love hearing from you! 

Thanks for reading, have a fabulous weekend. :)

🧡 October 2019 Favorites

Hi there and thanks for stopping by! Fall is one of my favorite seasons, and aside from the cooler weather, pumpkin-flavored everything, and my favorite holiday, Halloween, here's a few of my other favorites I've been enjoying this October:

Deborah Lippmann Natural Mystic Nail Polish Set-$29.95
Just in time for Halloween, this autumnal nail polish set includes 6 to-die-for shades that are right up my alley. Plums, blues, and purple shimmers all come packaged in an adorable spooky limited edition boxed set. Deborah Lippmann's formula is chip resistant and 7-Free as well! If you're interested make sure to download the HSN app, they're offering $10 off your 1st $20 purchase, making this set around $20, 45% off retail.

Chili's "Fang-Tastic" Margarita-$5.00
For the month of October, Chili's is serving up a blood orange margarita, complete with plastic fangs for only $5! David and I tried them out when we were there for dinner the other night (their Margarita Chicken on the 2 for $25 menu is delish and low calorie), and we really enjoyed them! Not too sweet and so much fun. 

31 Nights of Halloween on Freeform-
I'm so happy they're doing 31 instead of 13 night of Halloween movies this year. All my faves, Hocus Pocus, Addams Family Values, and my very favorite movie of all time The Nightmare Before Christmas! Click the link for the full schedule, I'll be watching every night after dinner! ;-)

Madame-
I never saw any advertisements or trailers for this film, but it was on demand the other night on Fios and I was glued to the screen. If you like Downton Abbey you'll love this! A wealthy American couple is hosting a dinner party for the who's who of Europe at their Parisian chateau and only 13 people RSVP'd. To even out the table to an acceptable 14, they enlist their housekeeper to dress up and play the part of a wealthy Spanish heiress. It's full of sharp humor, gorgeous French scenery, and a drool-worthy wardrobe (the Van Cleef necklace stole my heart). Toni Collette, Harvey Keitel, and Rossy de Palma are all fabulous.

Halloween Decorations-
I love putting out some festive decorations for Halloween, and 2 new additions this year are these fun LED ghost lights that David picked up at Home Depot and Nightmare Before Christmas Snow Globe that I found at Walgreens in memory of my dog Zero. I have the lights strung along my headboard and I love that they're battery operated. The snow globe is on the dresser in our room and it makes me smile when I see it (it also lights up and plays "This is Halloween" too. How fun is that?).

What are some of your October Favorites? Let me know down below, I love hearing from you!

Thanks for reading, have a fabulous day. :)

TGIF

TGIF, cheers!

Here’s a few things I’ve been loving this week:

one~ I had some overripe bananas laying around and I can’t stand wasting food. I turned them into a yummy banana bread, perfect for a quick breakfast. This is the recipe I used, but I subbed 1/2 c raw sugar and also added a teaspoon of cinnamon. So good!

                                     

two~ A dear friend from Kansas City sent me a Christmas care package yesterday. It’s so fun to open unexpected surprises. He sends me a Santa ornament every year and this one is absolutely stunning! I'm getting close to having an entire Santa tree. So grateful to have him in my life. 

                                   

three~ I love making mini arrangements when flowers are on their last leg. It gives me a few more days to enjoy them. My Dad brought me purple tulips (my favorite color) home last week and I trimmed them down into a shot glass to put on my nightstand.                                 

                                

four~ Looking at the dry, sad state of my hands, winter is definitely here. My mom treated me to this Chanel hand cream last week and it has helped immensely. I love pulling it out of my purse with its chic futuristic egg shape and it’s delightful smell. 

                                                 

five~ I found this documentary fascinating. It’s all about the incredible discretion and attention to detail that you will find at the Carlyle Hotel in NYC. It is told by celebrities as well as the staff and I found all the stories so interesting. Like when Prince William and Kate came to town the staff couldn’t even tell their spouses! And did you know they monogram the initials of every guest on their pillowcase? An amazing peek into how the other half lives.

       

Thanks for reading, hope you have a fabulous weekend.