What You Need to Buy in July

Just like last week when I was telling you about all the things I love right now we are keeping the thread going. Face Mask Fashion A Social Moms post about face mask fashion and finding a DIY hair mask that is right for your hair.  Slip Dresses, Maxi Skirts, & More I have a few days a week where all I want is to feel totally free in my clothes without any constrictions. Thanks, Coronavirus.  You totally have me wearing skirts and dresses again.  Gone are my cute shorts and tops from summers long gone by.  I want dresses in light fabrics, things with wide pockets, and no waistlines.  I want easy to throw on stuff that feels good against my body but also keeps me looking put together. Muscle Burns Fat (#mbf) I'm REALLY excited about the start of #mbf.  It's a fat-burning … [Read more...]

What I Love This Week

I'm on a mission to find fun, engaging, sustainable, and easy ways to make our life more enjoyable, as well as those that give back.  It's summer and it's Covid Summer #Quarantinelife still (did we really think this would still be a thing?!) so our world is different.  I'm looking for new businesses to support and ways to help my community because we are all suffering, growing (PLEASE!), and finding ways to learn. Social Moms, Social Stuff I write for the website Social Moms on the regular.  Here's the latest from me. 10 Black-Owned Beauty Brands You Need to Discover and How to Soothe Irritated Skin (I'm looking at you, face mask). Feeling anxious?  How about eating your way to being anxiety-free?   Shocking No One My Teen is Bored Looking for some fun DIY beauty ideas to … [Read more...]

12 Days of Things I Love

Happy December! This month I'm doing 12 Days of Things I Love.  Each week I will share a few more items until we hit that magic number 12. I've done three items this week so far.  Let's get started, shall we? I featured this item to kick off the event.  It's a darker take on holiday nails and since Essie is one of my favorite nail polish brands I had to share it. You take Essie Wicked and apply it over your base coat.  Then layer on Essie Bordeaux and finish it off with a top coat.  It's a deeper burgundy that glows with depth.  I love it this holiday season and through the new year. Next, my can't go a day without my cozy shearling-lined slippers from Lands End.  I have a Josie Blue pair from last year and they held up well all year long.  This year you can monogram … [Read more...]

What’s In Your Gym Bag?

Do you want to know what is in my gym bag?  I'll tell you what is in my gym bag. NOTHING. Nada. ZILCH. I work out from home, but I think you know that by now.  I would love to say that I carry around this very cute Adidas bag by Stella McCartney but that would be a lie.  Instead, I'll let you in on a few of my favorite, can't live without workout essentials.   In the last year, I have come to rely on these Epsom salt baths to detox from Lyme disease but also to relieve the soreness I get from my daily workouts.  They are a must and I do them a few times a week.  The blender with a cup is for the daily post-workout shakes that I LOVE.  It's the perfect pick me up after a strenuous training session and the best way I know to curb my cravings and forget about … [Read more...]

The Best of The J.Crew Factory Clear Out

I have been a fan of J.Crew since I first laid eyes on the catalog back in the early 90s.  I confess to wearing the hell out of a bright orange windbreaker throughout both high school and college so much that my Dad threatened to burn it if I didn't retire it. You know what?  I still had it after I got married.  That's when H stepped in and asked that it be thrown out for the love of all that is holy.  When J.Crew Factory came on the scene online and near my house years back?  I near lost my mind with the sales. It gets better.  Right now J.Crew Factory is hosting their CLEAR OUT sale and it is so good.  That means you can take an additional 50% OFF already reduced prices. Just a few of my favorites to help get you started. Use the code CLEAROUT to get your savings of up to … [Read more...]

My Summer Favorites for Summer Fun

Summer officially makes its debut this week! That means more time by the pool, more time in the sun and sand and more time with the kiddos playing games outside and hanging out with friends and family.  From backyard BBQs to weekend getaways and beach weeks there is always something to do and some fun to be had by all.  Why not be prepared with a few favorites of mine? Let's Get Away! For that next weekender or trip to the pool stow your stuff in one of these lovelies. Fun for the Kids When school ends each year I welcome the kids home with a few gifts to kick off the summer season.  This year the haul included TWO Water Warriors by Buzz Bee Toys.  One was a Steady Stream X and the other an Outlaw (42 feet of blasting water!).  I sprayed the girls with them when they got … [Read more...]

The Comeback

The line, "Don't call it a comeback..." from 'Mama Said Knock You Out' by LL Cool J has been playing over and over again in my mind the last few weeks. It has a double meaning for me. Yes, I've been here for years. Here in this space but mainly in this realm of not being well. My life as I knew it was forever altered last year by Lyme disease and I've been beating myself up over it and my lack of abilities ever since. It suddenly became very real to me that I needed to forgive myself and fast. It seems so simple, right? Just say, "Ok, self. You've been unwell. You have had to make changes to your personal life as well as your family life in order to get well. Do what you need to do." My diet had to change. That doesn't mean I'm changed. My ability to work and identify myself as … [Read more...]

Simple Summer Jewelry with AUrate New York

I'm a no muss, no fuss kind of girl when it comes to my daily jewelry.  Simple summer jewelry is where it is at for me. Once I got sick this past year I just didn't even want to think about bracelets, rings, or necklaces. I didn't want to feel anything dangling, hanging off me or even touching me.  Then I found AUrate New York and that all changed. AUrate New York is all about gorgeous collections of pieces that stand behind their claims of selling fine jewelry without concessions. What does that mean? It means something really incredible for you mean and everyone.  It means real gold, at a fair price, that is also ethically sourced, made right in NYC, and the company gives back to kids in need.  The pieces are simple but beautiful. I didn't expect to like the product as much as … [Read more...]

Lyme Awareness & Getting Out

May, my birth month, is also Lyme Disease Awareness month. Funny, that's exactly the month that I have been bitten and contracted Lyme twice now. I always do like being timely. These days I find I'm able to make it outside more.  I'm attempting to run instead of walking and yoga.  I've been able to add strength training back into my days.  I'm seeing friends and doing things with my family that months ago I would have had to forgo.  A month ago going out for coffee would have been my only activity for the day.  Just this weekend we hit up the Cirque De Soliel show, Luzia and took in a baseball game.  A NIGHT game.  I wasn't asleep or crumpled in pain and needing a detox bath.  This is HUGE.  It is life-giving. Just look! And I got dressed in something besides leggings and … [Read more...]

Twenty Years

You know when you meet someone and just know that you two are meant to be?  That it is love at first sight? This is not that. When these two twenty-somethings met on May 2, 1998. TWENTY YEARS AGO today *insert "land sakes" or a "gracious me" in there* It was a not a storybook romance.  There was no meet cute. Just an "Oh, it's you." at the start of our blind date.  I might have hissed at my friend that I could not see spending a whole evening in my cute LBD with this guy as my date.  He may have insulted me because my attitude wasn't sweet but came with a bite. Sigma Kappa Spring Formal, May 2, 1998 Fast forward through that lovely movie montage of us getting married in Vegas, making a few moves around the country as we get a dog, have three kids, realize we need marriage … [Read more...]