Friday Favorites ~ I Have A High School Freshman

Today is DEFINITELY a Friday Favorite kinda day because I'm taking a Mental Health Day from work (and our busy week!). Health Day for sure because I'm headed to have my annual mammogram first thing this morning. Be sure to get those ta-ta's checked out, Friends! But after that, it's all fun with hair, massage, and nail appointments, plus lunch with one of my best friends. I hope your day is just as FUN with whatever is on your agenda. Let's get this weekend started!

What in the world has happened to my sweet Baby Girl, who just YESTERDAY was wearing the cutest red and blue gingham jumper to Pre-K3? This picture showed up on Wayne's timeline earlier this week and it was one that I had totally forgot I had taken. Of course, alot has happened in eleven years, but this still seems like yesterday! 

Y'all have been waiting all week for me to say it, haven't you?! I HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL FRESHMAN! Baby Girl seemed to be pretty nervous about her first day of high school and for the life of me, I couldn't understand why? She's gone to school with the same kids for ten years, although she never actually cried, she said she wanted to (I think it was just the hormones talking!). I, on the other hand, made it until I got to the office and then I shedded a few tears. I'm happy and sad all at the same time. Does that even make sense? The one thing I've been telling Alise for the last few weeks is to enjoy the next four years. My own high school years are some of my best memories and I only hope the same for her. 

It began raining the morning of the first day of school, so I didn't get to take our traditional first day of school picture outside. 

     

I may not know much about tennis, but I do know that the situation with tennis star Serena Williams earlier this week made me want to hope in humanity again. So much so that I've made the executive mom decision that Alise's motto this year is, "Stay humble and be kind." Apparently, Serena had to resign from the match for medical reasons and instead of basking in the glory of being declared the winner against one of the biggest names in the sport, her opponent, Bianca Andreeescu, gave her a hug and told her that she had always been a fan. Made my heart smile so big!   

I finally got to meet Baby B this week and he is THE sweetest thing! His Mama, and our dear friend (and basketball star!), gave birth about three weeks ago and I've been dying to see him.  I decided to take the new family a homemade meal on Sunday afternoon so that I could meet him and get some baby love. I ended up staying longer than I intended, but D and I had a great visit. 

Technically, I'm old enough to be this kid's grandmother, but that was just a fleeting thought and something that I don't EVEN want to think about until many, many years from now! 

I shared last week all about Rocksbox and how much I'm loving their jewelry subscription service. I received another box this week and the pieces were beautiful. I decided not to wear or keep any of those pieces, so I sent them back and I'm eagerly waiting on my next box to arrive.  I'm finding new brands that I really, really like (other than Kendra Scott!) and it has been so much fun swapping out and trying on new designer jewelry.  If you're interested in trying it for your first month FREE, you can, by using my code LAURAHBFF136. I think I've answered most of the questions I've gotten about Rocksbox so far, but if I didn't answer yours, please email it to me again. 

That's all I've got today, Friends! I'm headed out the door with lots to do!  Have a great weekend! 

A Day In The Life ~ Saturday

It's been a VERY long time since I've written a day in the life post. I mean, Alise had to have been three years old the last time I posted one. Since we had a pretty busy Saturday planned, I decided to do one again. I try not to cram a whole bunch of activities into our Saturdays, but it was the weekend before school starts and I wanted to spend some quality time with my freshman. That still hasn't sunk in yet, y'all. We'll see how I feel on Wednesday when it becomes reality. 

7:30 || This time came early Saturday morning, but we had a very busy day planned, so we had to get up and get going. For the first time all summer, Alise was actually up before we were and like always, the music in the bathroom was loud and there was a shortage of hot water! 

8:00 || I had to get Chrissy's birthday package ready for mailing. My sweet friend celebrated her birthday yesterday and I was SO disappointed in myself, because I've had her gift since early this summer and I let LIFE get the best of me and I was late with mailing it. 

8:15 || This was my outfit of the day. I love this Free People tee, but it has gotten a little too big. I guess that's a good thing?

8:45 || We had a family back-to-school brunch at our favorite local coffee bistro. Their cinnamon rolls are simply scrumptious! 

So many of you have asked me if Alise's hair is natural curly, too, and I would have to say, yes. In the picture with Wayne, she had washed her hair and blowed it dry. Those curls make this Mama oh-so happy, but (of course!) she hates them. By the way, I love that picture of Wayne and Alise.  Those two will always have my heart!

9:30 || I mailed Chrissy's package. I was so fortunate that the post office wasn't slammed. Does anyone recognize a fore-gone relic in this pic?

10:00 || Speaking of Alise's hair, she had an appointment for a cut with her favorite stylist. Trust me!  We have followed this chic to every salon in Monroe, but Alise loves her and doesn't want anyone else to cut her hair. The curls are definitely gone and replaced with lots of texture. 

11:00 || We took two garbage bags FULL of gently used clothes to Plato's closet. I mentioned last week that this store is Alise's newest rage. She's in to "thrifting" now (WHY?? I guess I shouldn't complain, though, because it IS saving me money!). She did surprisingly well on her haul and has a stash to add to her bank account. 

2:00 || Alise and I went to see the movie, The Art of Racing In The Rain, based on a popular book that - believe it or not! - I did not read. I wasn't wild about reading a book from a dog's point of view when it came out, but the movie is WONDERFUL!  Be sure to bring lots of kleenex!  It's one of the best movies I've seen in a while. 

4:30 || On our way home, I had to stop at the grocery store for things I needed for supper. This is the special ingredient for my baked beans that is sometimes hard to find. 

5:00 || I didn't STOP Saturday evening when I got home! I made the baked beans and a loaded potato casserole for dinner to go with the ribs Wayne was smoking. I joined him at the cook shack to brown some PW's meatballs for a dear friend that had just had a baby. I took a meal to her yesterday and finally got to meet Baby Briggs. Wayne and I caught up on Yellowstone. Supper was delicious. 

This is not my plate, by the way.  I don't eat ribs. I asked Wayne to grill me some chicken breasts instead.

9:00 || I was exhausted! I spent only a few minutes reading Beatriz William's new novel and then it was lights out! 

I'm trying my best to resume somewhat of a regular blogging schedule, but it may be September before that actually happens. I assume that it will take a few weeks to regain our regular school year routine. Right now, I'm beating my freshman over the head with To Kill A Mockingbird! Can you believe I've never read that book, either? I've never been into the classics and obviously my kid isn't either. Right now, I'm just praying for strength to make it through honors English. 

My First Rocksbox

Thanks to my friend, Lisa, I decided to take the plunge and subscribe to Rocksbox, which is a jewelry subscription service. For $21 a month, you can customize your very own jewelry box by choosing any three pieces of designer jewelry, have it shipped to your house to try on in the comfort of your own home. You can keep the pieces for a month, wear them as many times as you want, or swap pieces as many times as you would like. The $21 monthly fee is used as a credit toward your monthly purchase. You can stop at any time and your first month is FREE!

What I like most about Rocksbox is that I can swap designer pieces as many times as I want. For instance, I actually received my second box on Monday, returned it on Tuesday and chose three new pieces that will be here by the end of the week.  It's quick and I don't have to pay to ship the box back. I also like the fact that you can customize your selections before they ship. I love working with my personal stylist and their wish list feature is so easy to just tag pieces that you would like to try in the future. 

So here are the first three items I chose in my very first Rocksbox!

Sophie Harper "Love" Pave Necklace || I loved this necklace. I loved the fact that it was more of a choker style (which is one of my favorite styles to wear) that was adjustable at different lengths. And it was dainty and feminine. What I didn't like was the chain because it wanted to kink in several places. However, I reordered the necklace to wear again because I enjoyed it so much

Kendra Scott Didi Filigree Earrings || I have had my eye on these earrings since they first came out so I was tickled to death to try them. And I really liked them, but they were just a little too heavy on my ears and early in the afternoon, I had to take them off. It probably didn't help that I had to answer the phone so much that day at the office, but I think I'm just use to lighter earrings. 

Wilde Lucia Drops ||  I liked these earrings, but the color wasn't perfect. I think I thought I getting black when I ordered them, but they ended up being a deep plum, even darker than they are below, which would be perfect for fall. I also didn't like that they were not beaded on both sides, although they were very light-weight. I'm up for trying another pair in another color later on. 

And YOU, my beautiful friends, can receive your FIRST month of Rocksbox FREE by using this code LAURAHBFF136. What do you have to lose? If you decide to stop the subscription after the first month, you can. No obligations or strings attached. So what are you waiting for? If you're on the fence (like I was forever!), just go out to the website and look at the designer jewelry pieces. If you have any questions, I would love to answer them for you!

Have a great Wednesday! I'm off to get ready for our Beverly Hills 90210 reboot watch party tonight!  Will you be watching? 

Currently: Prime Purchases ~ July 2019

What did we do before Amazon Prime and Prime Day? Seriously. I'll just tell ya. I was the last one to jump on the Amazon Prime wagon simply because I didn't know if it would be worth it. I absolutely hate to return things, so I'm more of a "store shopper" than an online shopper, but I will say that since we've become Prime members, our online purchasing has increased. The convenience of ordering things from your computer or phone just can't be beat (as long as I don't have to return it!)!

Today I'm combining two of my favorite monthly linkups: Tanya's Prime Purchases and Anne's Currently. Be sure to stop by their blogs to see what everyone is CURRENTLY PURCHASING! Truth: I did not buy a single thing from the Nordstrom sale in July. All my money went to Amazon this month.

ordering || Here are just a few things I ordered this month and was very pleased with: Thanks to my friend, Kellyann, I ordered this blouse and I absolutely love it! Royal blue is one of my favorite colors to wear and I recently wore it with white jeans to an author book signing in Birmingham. This was my very first Christmas gift that I ordered. Someone will be needing these in a few short weeks for school. I ordered these sheets for Alise and they are very soft. I recently began receiving a jewelry subscription service called, Rocksbox. Maybe you've heard of it? I just received my second mailing for the month and I'm loving it! More about that tomorrow.

watching || Alise and I have been anticipating all summer the reboot for Beverly Hills 90210 and it's happening tomorrow night! We're hosting a watch party for some of our friends and we are SO excited about it! 

cooking || For the last two weekends, I've been making freezer meals to start off the new school year. Everyone's different but my back-to-school love language is having pre-made meals in the freezer for long days at the office, a kid who's starving when she gets home from school, or when I simply don't want to think about what to fix for supper. I've made breakfast burritos, baked ziti, lasagna, cheesy chicken spaghetti, Amy Hannon's chicken enchiladas, gumbo, taco meat, and Pioneer Woman's southern comfort meatballs. Now I think I'm ready for school to start. 

wondering || How in the world do I have a freshman in high school? I'm still in denial, I think, and I'll have to give myself some grace next week when reality sets in. I've enjoyed the teen years (for the most part), but there are days when I miss the cute pink backpacks and walking my Baby Girl in to school to meet her teacher. 

savoring || The last few days of summer! Our first day of school is next Wednesday, so I'm taking some days off from work to enjoy my pool raft and meet up with friends. 

I hope you are enjoying these last few days of summer, Friends! What are YOU currently up to?

The Longest Post I've Written In A Really Long Time

So I'm going to back up our weekend to Thursday night. Y'all all know that #Sharkweek was last week, right? I invited some friends to the house after work on Thursday for some Ocean Water toddies and leftover 5 Layer Dip (that story coming up!), but I didn't have the gummy sharks for the "shark appeal" I was looking for so Wayne actually had to make a "shark run" to our closest convenience store to find gummy sharks and since they didn't have any, he had to go to two other stores. My question is, ARE THAT MANY PEOPLE BUYING GUMMY SHARKS???

After my friends said good-bye, I had literally TONS of sharks left (because seriously! Who eats those things?) and the fam decided (for some crazy reason?) that they wanted cupcakes at 7:30 at night! So what does this proud, shark loving mama do? MAKE CUPCAKES!! And I topped them with those stupid sharks! 

And then I remembered the sweet janitor at the coliseum where I walk, who has greeted me with a friendly, "Good morning!" or "Hello!" every day this summer and I decided to surprise him with two shark cupcakes. Y'all. Friday morning, you would have thought I had given him the moon! I have no idea what his name is, or he, mine, but he was so proud to have those two simple cupcakes. It truly is a blessing to be kind and it put me in the best mood all day.

Until Wayne called me on the phone and said the red he was painting in the kitchen wasn't the same red that we had used before. WHAT? How can you mess up Alabama Crimson Red when he handed you the same exact color mix directions from the EXACT SAME CAN from ten years ago? Or has my beloved Alabama changed their crimson red? Anyway, I decided to "roll" (pun intended!) with it and now I'm in a mad dash to get the kitchen and dining room area shower ready for a little soiree at the end of the month.

Whew!

Actually this was the first weekend that we had absolutely NOTHING planned and it was glorious (a little too much Beatriz Williams reading). Except for our murky pool, WHICH I still got in on Saturday (on my raft, of course) because it's August and it's HOT, and I wanted to finish a book that I've been trying to finish for two weeks. Ask me if I finished the book.

I mentioned that Friday was National Ice Cream Sandwich Day, so of course I made ice cream sandwiches on Friday. I told you that one option was to use store bought cookies from the bakery, which is a genius idea, but my two didn't like the sandwiches using those store bought cookies. Of course, they would prefer the ones that actually mean I have to turn the oven ON. 

Friday night was family movie night. We made personal pizzas on English muffins, and, yes, I had to turn the oven ON. 

On Saturday, I read on my raft most of the day while Wayne vacuumed bees. I think I mentioned that the hubs has become the ultimate bee buster and I should probably write a post about it, but we'll see. I hardly saw Alise all day until she decided at 3:30 that she wanted to go "thrifting." Sister is watching entirely too much You Tube about west coasters. So at 4:30 Saturday afternoon, I found myself BACK at Plato's Closet (which I swore I'd never do again) with about half of our city sans bra and makeup because those were the TWO things I told myself I wasn't wearing that day. And I survived without seeing anyone I knew, which seriously is a first. So now Baby Girl thinks she's going to make a fortune from Plato's Closet by selling all her clothes, but what our little adventure DID DO was get her to clean out her drawers and closet, which is something I've been trying to get her to do all summer. Insert praise hands! We grilled burgers for a late supper and I think it was the first Saturday that I didn't make some type of dip, which brings me to the story of why I made 5 Layer Dip earlier in the week and not 7 Layer Dip. Long story short, it's actually 7 Layer Dip without the guacamole and black olive layers. Wayne doesn't like guac and I couldn't find the black olives in the grocery store. So that's the dip story. 

Yesterday, we went to church, then lunch with friends. We took naps and I picked up groceries from Walmart, WHICH if you aren't doing, you're totally missing out on the dream. I made PW's meatballs and lasagna to freeze because a freezer full of frozen meals are my back-to-school love language. 

And that pretty much sums up our weekend. Of course, it went by entirely too fast!