Recently, a J. Crew Factory store opened up in my city! You'd think I'd be thrilled, but now everyone knows my 'secret' place to shop. If I had to guess, 92% of my wardrobe is J.C.F. and maybe rounded out with some Loft, Old Navy and then everything else being workout clothes.
I actually don't intend on shopping in store very often. Sure, I've gone in a handful of times to browse - but there is nothing like stacking coupons on their website when they do 70% off clearance! I did fall in love with this dress in person. The quality and colors were just excellent! It helped that my size was sold out in the store, so I just waited for a sale online before I ordered. So glad I did! This one is going to get a lot of wear from me as we go into the fall. I just love the color palette.
Scroll down to see a photo shoot crasher...
Shop This Outfit:
-Kristen
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I really wanted the Low Country Boil meal without the actual pot of boiling liquid. Instead, I sautéed some shrimp, griddled some corn, and cooked up a Aidell's chicken maple sausage. Not pictured are the roasting potatoes that took significantly longer to cook than the rest of the meal. This was very simple, and we just seasoned everything with Old Bay.
Stovetop Chili
Having this cook on the stovetop all day was almost torture! It smelled so good. I've been making this chili for years and don't really have a recipe to share. I did use ground turkey this time. Normally, I use light and dark kidney beans, pinto beans, ground beef or turkey, diced onion, diced green bell pepper, and then diced tomato and tomato sauce. For seasonings I use chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper, and then usually a dash of cinnamon.
Do you guys ever do breakfast for dinner? I love breakfast foods, so this is always a favorite. Plus, it's a good way to use up stuff. I had extra potatoes and extra sausages from previous meals I wanted to use. I roasted the potatoes for about 20 minutes, scrambled up some eggs and cooked the chicken apple sausages. We started buying those Aidell sausages when we did Whole30 last year and we still love them.
Cobb Salads with Grilled Chicken
We grilled steaks with my parents over the weekend, and I asked my dad if he would grill up some chicken for me to have for the week ahead. We make this cobb salad recipe all the time, but this time we used that grilled chicken and a Primal Kitchen dressing we had on hand. Just delicious!
Santa Fe Salads
We've been making this Defined Dish recipe for ages - at least in some variation. This time we used the last of our leftover grilled chicken. The dressing is just awesome!
Hopefully this gave you a few meal ideas for your week! At the very least, my future self will appreciate this post when I get into an inevitable rut. One tool I love to use when meal planning is Plan to Eat! It's an awesome way to store your recipes, curate your meal plan, and even generate grocery lists. It is a paid app, but I have a referral link for you to use for a free trial! It's a great time to start the trial because they always do an awesome sale for Black Friday. (That's when I renew!)
If you want more recipes ideas, you might enjoy the Recipes tag on the blog! I've got several meal planning posts, and lots of recipe ideas going way back.
-Kristen
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We are so excited to be attending a sweet friend's wedding at the end of the month. I have quite a few older dresses I thought about wearing - but none of them were really speaking to me. When I saw this velvet jumpsuit on Old Navy's website I bought it instantly! Old Navy can be hit or miss for me, but you guys, this is SO good. I purchased the Tall size and I'm really glad I did. I'm not super tall at 5'6'', but my inseam is quite long. The Tall ended up being perfect, and just right with heels.
Plus! It has pockets! It does require a strapless bra because of the cute back cut out. If I may, let me introduce you to the BEST ever strapless bra. It's extremely comfortable and doesn't budge. (I got the medium DD version as a 34D) Dare I say this might be my most comfortable wedding guest outfit ever!
Shop This Outfit:
-Kristen
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We had a weird couple of nights with Blake being on-call for work, and hadn't been sleeping the best. Because of that both of our energy levels haven't been great, so a walk just felt right this particular morning. Walking with my husband is one of my favorite things. We truly get to catch up and connect! This was a quick 30 minute walk first thing in the morning, and I felt like that set us up for success.
Thursday
Strength: Apple Fitness + | 30 Minute Upper Body | 133 Calories
I think the last time I did a workout diary we were happily using the Peloton app to work out at home. Earlier this year we got an Apple TV device and it came with an Apple Fitness + subscription trial so we gave it a go. It was so similar to Peloton that we canceled that membership and have been using AF+ ever since. Specifically it's great if you have an Apple Watch, because your watch is displayed on the TV. There are a couple of differences between the two platforms of course, but we are really enjoying AF+. (I do miss the Peloton Barre classes for sure though)
Kim is one of my favorite trainers, so I filtered her classes and chose a 30 minute upper body. Although my calorie burn wasn't huge, this was definitely tough and my arms were jelly after.
It was also downright CHILLY this particular morning and I happily opened up the living room windows for some fresh cool air.
Kickboxing: Apple Fitness + | 146 Calories | 30 Minutes
If I had to choose a favorite type of exercise, I think it'd be kickboxing. The mix of cardio and strength is very effective for me. Plus, punching is really satisfying sometimes, ha!
I like the 30 minute AF+ classes because it usually includes both a couple of punch/kick combos, but also some conditioning that mimics HIIT.
Outfit of the Day: Target Top (I don't think they do this cut anymore) | Old Navy Leggings | Brooks
Saturday
Run: Virtual 5k for The Donna Foundation | 44 Mins 16 Secs | 3.2 Miles | 330 Calories
On Saturday we did a Breast Cancer 5k in support of Blake's cousin's wife who just finished her last treatment! We would have loved to have done the race in person at TPC Sawgrass, but because we are going on a long trip soon we knew it'd be too much on our schedule. So we signed up for the virtual race. They send you the same race packets in the mail, and you submit your time through the app. We tried to start our race at 8:30, the same time all of our friends and family would be running in Ponte Vedra.
Our nephew was staying over and decided he wanted to run with us. He slowed us down a bit, but I still hit my goal of less than 45 minutes run/walking. We have another 5k booked for November and I hope to do much better.
Sunday
Rest Day!
We still had our nephews staying over, and we decided it was best to take it easy.
Monday
Whoops Day.
I fully intended to work out today, but the day took a turn. I am mildly allergic to cats, and I happened to go into two homes for work that had a whole lotta cats going on. Plus with all the goldenrod blooming, I was just in a fully allergic reaction by the end of the day. Popped a couple Benadryl, fell asleep, and woke up right as rain.
Tuesday
Stack of 10 minutes each: Pilates, Kickboxing and Strength | AF+ | 106 Calories
Not a huge calorie burn today, but it felt right. By the end of these classes, I felt really warmed up for the day ahead. Perfect considering deep cleaning the house is the number one thing on my to-do-list. I really love the stack option. Repeating moves over and over again is a sure fire way for me to hate a workout. Stacking 3 classes made this workout go by really quick and I never lost interest.
Outfit of the Day: Tank: Fabletics | Shorts: Target | Brooks
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-Kristen
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Because I've gotten so behind on book reviews this summer, I'm just going to share the best ones today. I've read a handful more - you can follow along on Goodreads. I'm well on my way to 100 books this year!
Three siblings come together to settle their parent's estate. While going through things, they stumble upon an old VHS that shows their dad covered in blood and appearing to be quite guilty.
I rated this 5 stars because it's just a solid thriller with a good ending! Couldn't put it down. Some language in this one. I actually liked that it was too twisty, and really enjoyed the 90's throw back.
Ethan Burke arrives in a little town called Wayward Pines to investigate the disappearance of some of his fellow Federal agents. He quickly realizes something is definitely wrong with this place.
Eeek, if you want a creepy, unputdownable sci-fi book - this is it. It was so good and I quickly devoured the next two books in the series. Language and violence in this one. Ate.It.Up.
Finlay Donovan is a struggling single mom trying to write a book. She meets with her Editor at a local Panera and tells her what her next book is about. Someone overhears the plot of the book and mistakes Finlay for a hit-woman. She then hires Finlay to kill her husband. Finlay is a disaster and accidentally takes the job.
This was just fun! It cracked me up for her to be riding around in her mini van trying to live a life of crime. Finlay and Vero's relationship is everything. I loved the first book, and thoroughly enjoyed the next few. I think there is even another book coming out? Anyway, just a fun mystery with great characters. Highly recommend the audio for this one.
How to describe this one? Our unnamed narrator works for The Ministry. There's a big experiment going of bringing people that lived in the past to the future and integrate them into society. She's assigned to Commander Graham Gore (a real person) from 1847 who was part of the expedition to the artic where everyone died. They live together for a year as she tries to help him adjust to the future.
There is obviously a lot of funny moments that come from that. Did you ever see the movie Blast From The Past? Kinda like that - he's pretty innocent and shocked by how the world works now.
So, I have to start by saying there is a lot of language and explicit scenes in this one. (I skip those pages.) But, I cannot stop thinking about this book. It's SUCH an epic story. After I finished it I immediately wanted to read it again to see what I missed. It's so complex. I read, and reread the last paragraph so many times. Ugh, so meaningful. Bonus points for an awesome cover!
This was my Book of the Month pick! If you want to try BOTM you can get your first hardcover for $5 and free shipping. If you don't like that month's selection you can choose from other titles available all the time, or just skip that box.
It's 1975 at a summer camp in the Adirondacks. One of the campers Barbara Van Laar is not in her bunk one morning. But, she's not just any 13 year old - her family owns the camp. On the very property her older brother disappeared from 14 years ago.
OOOooooo, this book! The sense of place in this story is so vivid, I could picture everything like it was a movie playing out. There are SO many characters. Usually that is not my favorite style of book (I'll get attached to one character over another), but I thoroughly enjoyed every point of view. They all added something to the story and it built up the drama. Also, there were a lot of great vocabulary words! I was glad to read it on my Kindle so I could have all the definitions at my fingertips.
Read With Me:
-Kristen
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Well, my 10 year blogging anniversary came and went - and I've barely been online all summer! I have loved blogging all of these years, and I fully intend to keep going. My guess is that this summer has just been so busy that I've forgotten to document it. For example, I got a great dress last month and it hit me that years ago the first thing I would have done is take outfit pictures with it...totally didn't think about doing that even though I've worn it three times already and fully could have taken some pictures. Just writing this down for accountability to get back to it!
Here's a couple of random things to share:
Grove Fall Collection
Do you ever enter giveaways? It's actually kind of crazy how many giveaways I've won online. I should count them up officially but I know it's over 10. I only enter though if I actually want to win the prize.
Here's a giveaway I just won over on Grove's FB group. Honestly, I have given them so much money over the past few years, I kind of deserved this one! 😂 I won a set of their fall scents collection and they are SO good! Verdict is still out on the laundry sheets. I don't know if I need my laundry to smell like harvest apples.
Have you ever won a giveaway? Let me know in the comments below!
I'm in love with this candle warmer! Basically, it's a tiny lamp with a powerful bulb that melts your candles slowly without a flame. Not only is it cozy, but you get a great scent going from your candle. Candles are usually too strong for me - but this lamp is a really nice way to keep it from being too powerful. You can adjust the light, and put it on a timer.
Hurricanes
We were really blessed here with Hurricane Helene - it shifted east at the last second and so we had very minimal effects here. It was extremely stressful. The day before it hit, I swear, I heard from every single person I know. Just responding to every text was overwhelming. I found it difficult to explain to people out of state our decision to ride it out. We live in a very safe, high and dry neighborhood with NO trees, we aren't coastal, and we live two streets over from my parent's who have a whole house generator. We were not in a mandatory evacuation zone. We, of course, weighed our options and thought it out thoroughly. We would never be reckless! After that experience, I made a promise to myself not to pressure anyone or make anyone feel guilty about their decisions regarding hurricanes in the future. It's just not that simple.
*editing this post to say: it was also completely overwhelming to feel the love and support of so many! We were floored and humbled with all the concern from our friends and family! We are so grateful.*
Holding our breath once again as we prepare for the next one. It's so hard to wish it would shift away from you, knowing that means other people are going to be affected if it hits somewhere else.
This was our little hurricane party. We packed up the pugs and stayed at my mom and dad's. Our house would have been fine, but it made us feel better to all be together. The weather got pretty bad around 2 am, and I had trouble sleeping. But, the next day things got back to normal fairly quickly. Our power was restored in the late afternoon - so we barely felt it.
Cooking...
I've been trying to mix it up with dinner lately! You know how easy it is to get into a rut. I tried this Instagram recipe recently, and I thought it turned out really nice! It definitely looked impressive anyway. Blake, on the other hand basically said it was okay if I didn't make it again. 😂 That's what I get for trying new things. We have tried a couple of other recipes lately that have been winners, so oh well on the short rib pasta.
Reading...
I haven't done any blog book reviews in monthsssss. Ugh, it's so daunting I don't even want to do it. I have still been reading though! I just finished book No. 76 of the year with a goal of 100. Maybe I'll do a post with just the 5 star reads from the past few weeks? What do you think?
Wearing...
Basically the worst picture of me I've ever taken, but I snapped it really quick to show my sister my new workout top. These tops are SUCH a good Lulu dupe. I've bought it in 4 colors! The CRZ brand seems really great - I also ordered a sports bra but I haven't received it yet. Blake and I just cleaned out our closet and so I got a good idea of what I needed. I'm in workout clothes 75% of the time these days so I can always use some solid pieces.
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-Kristen
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I've had this blue linen skirt for-ever, but have always struggled to find a good top to match. For some reason I never noticed this one works perfectly. Both pieces are old from J. Crew - but I can still link my sandals that I get compliments on every single time I wear them. All this to say, isn't it satisfying to shop your own closet?
Fresh Bedding
I wanted something new for our bed that would work for the upcoming fall/winter. This quilt from Amazon is SO good. Blake really does not care for feminine looking bedding - so I thought this was a great option that we would both like. I also grabbed some fresh sheets in a windowpane pattern. And, I swapped out the throw pillows I just bought for the living room and I really like the combo. In a perfect world I'd do a matching throw at the foot of the bed to complete the look, but the minimalist in me appreciates the simplicity of not having one.
Charcuterie Cups
I love making charcuterie! I think my friends have caught on because that tends to be what I'm asked to bring to various gatherings. This time, I decided to do individual charcuterie cups and it worked out great! There were none left at the end of the party - always a good sign.
Pickleball!
We have started playing Pickleball more often, and we totally get the craze. Recently, we had some friends over for pizza and we played Pickleball before and it was just such a good time. Now that I understand the rules better, I'd really like to play regularly. I also have my eye on this cute paddle.
Lionel Garden Flag
File this under the most fun purchase ever. I saw this Hello garden flag on Amazon and just had to hit order. It's so funny, and we see a lot of smiles when neighbors walk by.
It's probably just a millennial identity crisis but I've been shopping all year for different cuts of jeans. I got 2 pairs from Loft last month and they are both awesome! These in particular are very comfy. I didn't buy Tall like I usually have to, and I actually think I need to cut a few centimeters off the hem - but haven't committed to that yet. (This is the other cut I got)
Cutwater
I bought a variety pack of Cutwater margaritas and boy are they delicious! I feel late to the party. Another shout out to this throw blanket! Winston loves it as much as I do.
Book of the Month
I got The Wedding People as my book of the month in August. Such a beautiful cover, I just had to take a picture of it. Ultimately, I don't know how I feel about the story. It's very memorable, but also got super raunchy and I didn't love it.
Book of the Month is awesome though and I always look forward to seeing the selection. I didn't get anything in September because my to-be-read stack is hugeeee. If you want to give it a try, use my link for a $5 hard cover!
I'm BEYOND behind on book reviews. I won't lie, I have zero motivation to work on that post. I'm so behind I don't even remember half the books I read this summer. 😓
