Five on Friday - Favorites

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Oops, more unintentional crickets yesterday.  That just goes to show ya that I probably need to tone it down and start posting just four days a week until life gets caught up.  Oh wait, life will probably never be caught up, so maybe I just need to stick to a four-day blogging schedule permanently.  Hehe.

So I have a few faves for you on the blog today to kick off the weekend!  Here they are in no apparent order…

O N E – A Whole New Level of Cozy

I have been all about house staging since I was a little girl.  I like for everything to be tidy and warm and inviting and cozy.  I pretty much always have a candle burning, I always have some kind of old standards or cocktail jazz music playing, and I am a big believer in twinkle lights… I’m sure you probably know that from the pictures I’ve posted of the twinkle lights on our back porch.

Well, this week I found a way to make our little home even cozier.  I do not believe in overhead lighting in the living spaces.  I’m okay with it in the kitchen and the bathroom because you have to be able to see what you’re doing in both of those rooms, but when it comes to the living room and the bedrooms, overhead lighting is off limits and it’s all about the lamps.  We currently have two lamps and two strings of Christmas lights in our ficus tree in our living room, and we turn on the spotlight over the fireplace mantle.  That’s it.  I can’t even tell you when the last time was that the overhead light was turned on in there.

Well, this week I decided to take the lamps to a whole new level and I bought this lamp with this shade to place on the sideboard in our eat-in kitchen, and I bought this one to put back on the kitchen counter to the left of our fridge.  That counter kind of serves as part of the command center for our house, so I’m constantly reading mail, filling out last minute paperwork for the kids, and all sorts of other things back there, so I thought it would be nice to have a lamp so I can actually see what I’m doing.  ;o)  And please excuse the messy mess in that picture.  I thought about cleaning it up before taking the picture, but a) I didn't feel like it, and b) I thought I'd let you get a glimpse of real life - a pile of mail that needs to be sorted, all of our bags packed and ready to go for the next workday, a birthday gift all wrapped and read to head to its rightful owner, a Target bag that needed to be loaded into my car to do a couple of returns, and several other odds and ends that need to be put in place.  

Wood Two-Tier Tray here.

Anyway, the lamps have made the whole downstairs SO much cozier and it has also done wonders for my mood in the evening when I’m cooking.  Adding that ambient light just makes me so happy!  And that added coziness is really getting me in the mood for fall…

T-minus 28 days and it will finally be socially acceptable to decorate for my favorite season of the whole year!!!!  #AllTheFallLeaves

T W O – This Shirt, Tho <3

In Wednesday's post, I shared my favorite shirt from the Nordstrom sale via some photos of a little impromptu photo shoot I did this past weekend.  This shirt is so comfy, cute, and versatile that I basically had no choice but to put it on my list of faves for this week!  My favorite part about it, though, is that it’s just $17.90!  It comes in lots of different colors, too!  But hurry, the sale ends this Sunday and the price goes back up to $28.00 on Monday.  I would love to have a money tree so I could buy it in every color!

T H R E E – Christmas Shopping… In August…

Well, I officially started my Christmas shopping this week!  Remember how I mentioned a few items that I was thinking of getting for Olivia?  Well, I bought them!

She will be getting this Disney Princess Royal Dreams Castle (I actually bought mine at our local Toys R Us because it was on MAJOR clearance), this singing Moana doll (that I know I’m going to regret because OMG the songs… we’re so sick of them.  Haha.), this Trolls Princess Poppy dress-up dress, and this Trolls Princess Poppy Hair-Styling Station.  Whew, it feels so good to knock that out so early… and to save a lot of money on that princess house!

F O U R – A Flipping Awesome Piece of Technology

Did you catch my post on Tuesday?  I got extremely personal and discussed a new product that I’m using to monitor my fertility.  Why?  Well, you’ll have to click here to find out!  It’s probably not what you’re thinking.  And if you’re looking for something like this for yourself, the lovely people at Ava are offering a $20 discount code for all of my readers!  You can find the code at the end of the original post.

F I V E – I Have to Mention These Just One More Time…

I know I’ve about run these into the ground, but I can’t help it because they are truly one of my favorite things about this week!  After years of using old, smelly, rough towels, we finally splurged a little on new towels and it was the best decision we’ve made in a long time.  We have now been using them for a little over a week so I feel like I can give you an accurate review. 

Y’all. 

I feel like I’m wrapping myself in luxury every morning when I get out of the shower.  Sound corny?  It’s true.  

Remember this picture?

Yep, that is two of our new towels vs. two of our old towels.  The difference is laughable!

I’ve had several people ask me if they are absorbent and this is what I’ve found.  After one wash they still had that slick new towel feel, and Brian said that he felt like he was, and I quote, “shammying himself off.”  Lol.  I can’t make this stuff up.  The hilarious part?  He was right.  Haha.  However, after the second wash I noticed a huge difference in their absorbency.  They feel way more absorbent now that we’ve “broken them in.”  Does that make sense? 

Anyhoo, these come in a billion different colors and they are all on saaaale!  So if you’re in the market for new towels I highly recommend these and I would buy them all over again.  #NoRegrets.  But like the shirt above, the sale ends Sunday and they go back to regular pricing on Monday.  Get ‘em while the gettins’ good!

AND LONG LIVE THE WEEKEND!

*Linking up with A Liz Adventures and Carolina Charm for Five on Friday, A Little Bit of Everything for Friday Favorites,  September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday, Meet @ the Barre for Friday Favorites, and Cup of Tea for High Five for Friday.