Who wants to discuss the current state of life today?
EATING You might recall (since it’s the last thing I posted about) that I finished up Whole30 last month. I had grand plans for a second round starting last week, but I didn’t manage to pull myself together. I’m sipping a sweet tea in favor of my water bottle as we speak. Thankfully, I have every intention of starting again on Monday for anybody who is interested in joining in.
I’ve been pinning a few new recipes this week {some W30 approved and some not} and cannot wait for colder weather when soup and grilled cheese sandwiches are the norm. Who’s with me?
REMINISCING I’m working on some posts for next month and one of them is a letter to my sixteen year old self. I’ve seen that done in the blogosphere before, but never attempted it myself. The girls found a rubbermaid bin full of old photo albums and newspaper clippings a few weeks ago and we’ve all loved pouring through them late at night. If you didn’t know me growing up, would you ever think I wore combat boots and patchouli? I’m going to need to share some of these photos with you soon!
LOVING I’ve gotten up the last two mornings to temperatures in the mid-sixties. In Alabama. In August. I can’t begin to describe how amazing that feels after months of upper nineties and ridiculous humidity. I should be taking advantage of the cool and running miles before work, but instead I’ve been riding to work with my seat warmer on. Is it too early for that? Where are you fall? We’re ready.
UP TO I have worked crazy hard the last few weeks to play catch up in the world of design. I had chalkboards leaning up against the wall in my dining room that had been begging for letters since May. I had a box of Bibles on the craft cabinet that needed pretty names and colorful flowers. The list in my bullet journal was long and had far too many illegible notes. I’m only a half a day away from being flush with my to-do list and ready to tackle Christmas cards.
DREADING The only thing I’m dreading this month is the house selling process. Our house still isn’t on the market {because we’re procrastinators}, but we hope to remedy that soon. I had high hopes of spending the holidays in the new house, but that most likely isn’t going to happen. Either way, we’re tackling things on our to-do list and filling our Pinterest board full of inspiration for when we do move.
WORKING ON Not only do I have holiday cards on the brain, but I’ve been collaborating with the fabulous Lindsay over at Perfectly Scattered on some fun new projects. She is sharing a FREE daily planner for the working mom on her blog today and you do not want to miss out. Lindsay had some great ideas about how to stay organized and on top of things, but needed someone to put it all together and make it pretty. I have had so much fun working with her to get this planner designed and the best part is that we have something even bigger {and better} in store for you later this year!
EXCITED ABOUT Fall and football season and cozy sweaters. Admittedly, I haven’t always been a college football lover, but I decided a few years ago that I should just figure it out and have a good time with my husband. I never expected to do anything other than tolerate it, but if you’ve been here for long you’ll know that football season is one of our favorite things. I’m sure there will be plenty of home games both attended and watched at home under cozy blankets this year, but I’m most looking forward to my first away game on a college campus. Somehow, I always manage to attend neutral site games when we aren’t in Bryant Denny, so I’m excited about heading to Athens in October for a fun couples weekend. Does it surprise anybody that I’ve been working on my football wardrobe for weeks?
WATCHING I’m pretty eclectic when it comes to television. I don’t do sitcoms and I’m not a fan of anything too girly or sappy. Give me action and gore any day. I do have 5 episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and 2 episodes of Scandal still to be watched, so those are on my agenda for the next few weeks. I need to be all caught up before the fall season is in full swing. Here is what we’ve been watching recently:
- Halt & Catch Fire – does anyone love Cameron as much as I do?!
- Tyrant – Ya’ll, who knew a drama set in the tumultuous middle east would be my new favorite. I am so completely invested in this story line. Josh likes it well enough and always watches it with me, but he laughs at how completely entranced I am. Thought-to-be-hanged older brother still alive? Check. Secret son who falls in love with his brother’s wife? Check. Tangled romances and treacherous siblings? Check. What’s not to love?!
- Beach Flip – I’m not normally an HGTV girl outside of Fixer Upper, but given that this is set in Alabama on our favorite stretch of sandy beaches, my family can’t stay away from this one. Ella loves all renovation shows, so we usually let this one pile up on the DVR and have an occasional marathon.
- Comedians in Cars Having Coffee – In case I haven’t mentioned this before, Jerry Seinfeld may as well by my husband’s spirit animal. He can pretty much recite every episode, he will mop the floor with you in Seinfeld Trivial Pursuit and we’ve seen Jerry live countless times. His monologues may or may not work their way into our everyday conversations. A few weeks ago, we had nothing to watch and decided to tackle a few episodes of this on the web. While there are a few I don’t find funny at all, some of them are hilarious {Steve Harvey}. My favorite, so far, is a two part episode with Jimmy Fallon {he can be my spirit animal}. I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.
- True Detective – I adored the first season even though I despise Matthew McConaughey. He is so greasy, but he played his character perfectly. We pretty much devoured that entire season in a week. The second season was terrible. I love Rachel McAdams and Vince Vaughn, but Colin Farrell drove me nuts and everything about this season seemed over acted.
- The Knick – This is our newest obsession. It’s an HBO series, so there is some grit and language. I never expected to like period dramas, but this is the second one in as many months that I’ve been sucked into. Clive Owen is spellbinding and thinking about living {and surviving} in the early 1900’s is so fascinating. If you aren’t a fan of blood {this is a much more graphic hospital drama than Grey’s} I would avoid it or be armed with something to cover your eyes.
- Fear the Walking Dead – We’re only one episode in, so my real opinion remains to be seen. I’ve heard mixed reviews about the premiere this week, but I kind of loved it. It was slow enough to intrigue you, but it didn’t hold too much of the story line back. I’m hoping since viewers are clearly aware of the zombie situation, that the early story line will move a little quicker than WD. If not, we’ll just wait for the original, which is back on October!
READING Never ever in my life have I been the girl to read multiple books at once, but I find myself in that position right now. I started Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult while we were on our beach trip earlier this month, but then got distracted when we came home. I am loving the direction of the book so far, but I had to take a breather because, life. I plan to pick it back up next week!
I downloaded We Were Liars yesterday because I haven’t even started reading anything for Friday’s #collaboreads post. Cue a couple of late nights to get that done. This month’s theme is a book set in summer and I just haven’t found anything that spoke to me. Amber posted a link to this book a few days ago and I decided to just read the same one. I’ll be interested to see how our opinions compare!
I’m also up to my ears in the David study by Beth Moore and loving it. We take two weeks for each weekly lesson and only meet every other Monday. For this reason, I’m not reading in 1 Samuel every day, but I am loving working my way through David’s story. I have done a few Beth Moore studies in the past and this one definitely measures up.
LISTENING TO You guys know how much I love music, but I haven’t been listening to anything new these days. I’m going to have to tell Josh he needs to be scouting out some concerts for fall! Instead, I’ve joined Audible and I’ve been listening to books during my daily commute. As if reading two books at a time isn’t hard enough, I’m keeping up with another story line in the car as well. Currently, I’m listening to Pretty Baby by Mary Kubica. I’m less than an hour in and the story is just now developing, but it seems interesting. I love stories told from multiple perspectives and I especially appreciate that they use different readers for the voices in this one. It’s a psychological thriller, so I’m excited to see how twisty and turny it gets! Next up is Before I Go to Sleep by S.J. Watson. I’ve heard great things about this book {and not so great about her follow up}, so I’m looking forward to this one, too. Any other recommendations?
WEARING Thanks to Whole30 I had to buy a new pair of dress pants when we got home from the beach. LOFT came to the rescue and I grabbed some skinny navy pants which have been on heavy rotation. I’ve traded my sandals for TB flats, but I’m secretly dreaming about chunky socks and booties and can’t wait to be wearing layers and scarves and leather jackets. I have a Stitch Fix box AND a Trendsend box both coming on Friday, so I’m hoping to see some fun fall wears. I’ll be sharing an unboxing video next month, along with a comparison of the services so be sure and keep an eye open for that!
Have you heard about Rocksbox? Maybe you’re tired of hearing bloggers mention it, but it’s worth a look. You spend $19 a month for a jewelry rental service, but you can purchase any pieces that you fall in love with and use a monthly credit to defray the cost. If you can convince your girlfriends to give it a try, you get an additional $25 credit for each person that signs up using your referral code! You can get as many boxes a month as you want or you can wear the items for an extended time before returning them. Either way, you just pay $19 a month. I’m currently waiting on my third box, but the first two did not disappoint. I kept a white Kendra Scott necklace from the first box and a necklace and earrings from the second box. Are you interested? You can use the code TAZANDBELLYXOXO to sign up and get your first month free! If you play it right, you can borrow three boxes during that free month and sport some new-to-you jewels while you’re at it.
WEEKEND We’re celebrating Ella’s 9th birthday a few weeks early because she wanted a pool party this year. Saturday will be devoted to party food shopping and last minute DIYs and Sunday we’ll spend partying with our favorite friends. She wanted a jungle theme this year, but we settled on ice cream sundaes, leopard print and lots of soft sherbet colors. It is one of our less elaborate parties because she really just wants pizza and some time to swim with her girls. Either way, I’ll be sharing the details on the blog next month!
NEXT MONTH September is her actual birthday, so we’ll be welcoming her last single-digit birthday on the 11th. School will be in full swing and we’ll *hopefully* be settling into our new routine. Football will be on and I’ll be doing my best to blog every single day. What are you up to next month {and this one, too!}?
