Friday Favorites

Friday Favorites!!!

Friday, May 13, 2016

TGIF! I started thinking about it this morning and realized I have only one more Friday standing between me and summer freedom! The last day for teachers is Thursday, May 26, so next Friday is our last one! This school year is flying by and I hope that this summer crawls by 🙂

I’ve got a few FAVORITES that I’ll be sharing today!

ONE

This is my latest smoothie recipe and it’s a FAVORITE because it tastes so good. The pictures quality isn’t great because this was taken so early in the morning, but you can still see the ingredients I use.

L to R: Vanilla Protein Powder that I use (I only use one scoop so it’s only 55 calories), frozen berries, vanilla bean Greek yogurt (I use 1/4 cup), and spinach. Then I add in water before I blend….yum! The key is to use the berries because I tried using the pineapple and mango mixture and it didn’t mask the spinach taste.

TWO

The Crown Selection Series by Kiera Cass

I’m almost halfway through The Crown, and this series is such a FAVORITE for me that I’m loving this book so much. I’ve written about this series before, but if you like The Bachelor and the Royal family, you’ll love this book. Sadly, I think this book might be the last one of the series (hope not!), and if so, I hope to find something like it. My girls love reading this series and it’s a wholesome series for them to read–nothing inappropriate about it at all.

THREE

I wrote about this dress in a Sense of Sarah post on Tuesday, but it’s a FAVORITE. I love how light the fabric is, how flowy it is, and how bright the pattern is. We have a wedding to attend next Saturday and you better believe I’ll be wearing this!

FOUR

The off the shoulder tops this spring/summer are my new FAVORITE look and my goal is to get at least one to wear this summer.

I am in love with this pink Lilly top. After I bought my new dress last weekend, I was flipping through the catalog and showed Dustin this top. This will look great with the new white jeans I just bought.

This JCrew top is a little cheaper than above and I love the simplicity of the fabric. I would wear this with blue jeans or pull off a white on white look with my white jeans. AND it’s 25% off! Okay, I’ve talked myself into getting this!

P.S If you’re a teacher, they give a 15% off discount and it sometimes works on special sale promotions!

FIVE

Dustin and I get to babysit tonight! My friend has a school banquet to attend, so we are watching her 3 month old! Keeping Elizabeth will always be a FAVORITE! My mom and Dustin watched her last Thursday while I was out of town at The Avett Brothers concert, so I’m glad I’ll actually be home to babysit this time ha!

HAPPY FRIDAY Y’ALL!

Friday Favorites: DONE WITH GRAD SCHOOL FOREVER Edition!!!

Friday, April 29, 2016

As you can tell from today’s title, I’m ~~a little~~ a million times excited about finishing grad school!! Last night, I took my last final ever! The term technically isn’t over until May 5th, but I’m done with everything I have to do! Oh yeah! It feels so good!

It’s so crazy to think that I started graduate school for my master’s in Library Media Specialist on March 17, 2015. And now I’m finished on April 29, 2016. Y’all, I finished a two year degree in THIRTEEN months! That was no easy feat–lots of tears, major stress, and having to sacrifice exercise and spending time with friends in order to do homework or study. I’m SO glad to have my life back! Graduation is May 7th, and I’ll receive my degree in the mail shortly after!!!

This is my #1 FAVORITE today!

This is right after I took my final last night! We have to use a computer with a camera on it because they film us the whole time to make sure we aren’t looking at notes or no one is helping us. I took my final with zero make up and wet hair because…#dontcare 😉

Tuesday, I shared a recipe for Birthday Cake Bars. I’m making them again today to take to a Secret Church simulcast at my church tonight. They are so good and a FAVORITE dessert right now that I can’t allow myself to eat haha! I had them at school Wednesday for the club I sponsor and then my friend, Hailey, texted me a picture that night after she had baked a batch. They. Are. So. Good.

Since I have a life now and so much extra free time, I’m getting back into shape. Before I started grad school, my usual workout after school would be an easy 3 mile run. Notice I said easy because right now, 2 miles is all I can handle–especially since I’m not used to running in the heat. I knew I needed to swap out a day of running with a day of cross-training. This workout designed by Jenna Wolfe from The Today Show is one I used to do before grad school started (notice a pattern?). It’s a FAVORITE because it’s tough and requires zero equipment. And it doesn’t feel like you’re working out very long. I had to modify two of the exercises on Wednesday night because I couldn’t do that many reps of them. But I know I’ll build up to it in no time.

I am so in love with this chambray dress I picked up last week that it’s my FAVORITE dress for school right now. I wore it to school Monday and was so comfortable the whole day. This is going to be such a great dress to slip on this summer when I’m running errands and it’s too hot for anything else because the fabric on this is so thin!

My church is broadcasting a Secret Church simulcast tonight and I AM SO EXCITED!! Why the name Secret Church? Christians in other countries who are openly persecuted because of their faith are sometimes required to hold “secret” churches. Since the government cannot know about this, sometimes their church “services” they last for hours at a time because meeting time is so irregular. Tonight’s broadcast is 6 hours and David Platt will be preaching on world religions and how we, as Christians, can know exactly how to share the Gospel with someone of a different religion because we will know exactly what they believe. I know 6 hours seems like a long time, but last year it went by so fast that I couldn’t believe it was over! He’s an amazing pastor who gives out so much information that there’s barely any time to digest it before moving on to the next point.

Linking up with Andrea

Friday Favorites!

Friday, April 22, 2016

IT’S FRIDAY AND I’M OUT OF SCHOOL TODAY!!! YIPPEE!!

Today is an unused weather day in my school system so we are out of school and I am going to thoroughly enjoy my long weekend!

ONE

When we were building our house last spring, I opted not to get a backsplash for the kitchen for a few reasons. One–I am not a fan of the typical backsplash…it just doesn’t fit my style. And Two–white subway tile wouldn’t work with the cream cabinets I picked out.

Thanks to Pinterest, I found this brick backsplash and now I’m obsessed. So as of right now, this is what I want for our kitchen.

TWO

I’ve raved so many times before about how I love the She Reads Truth app on my phone. I just recently started a study on Hosea, a book in the Old Testament, and this graphic was on either day 2 or 3. I saved it to remind myself how unfaithful I am to the Lord every day–I idolize material things, my marriage and husband, my body image and weight….so many things. I highly recommend the study on the book of Hosea. It’s ugly and uncomfortable and that’s because our sin is ugly and uncomfortable.