Friday Favorites #1

Happy Friday! It's been a very quiet week over here with Shane in the field all week. It's just me, Cash and Caylor, as it is most of the time. I've gotten a LOT of work done though without my distracting husband around, but I’m in need of some human time.

Anyways, I’m joining the bandwagon of my favorite blogs with a Friday Favorites! A few months ago, I combined What's Up Wednesday and Friday Favorites into a monthly post, but that just became into too long of a post, and I LOVE Friday Favorites and seeing everyone's favorite random items, things they’re into, etc. so I'm excited to officially have my first Friday Favorites! A lot of these favorites will be, like I said, random items or miniscule things that don't always naturally come up in conversation with friends, but I love to hear what other people are enjoying or what's making their life easier or just a tad bit brighter.

I'll have 5-10 favorites each week or maybe every few weeks. No rules and all fun over here at JenerallyLemonade, so we’ll see!

First, I thought this image was fitting for some Friday Favorites that might be popping up this time of year. You pick 3? I would have to choose cozy blanket, favorite slippers (those two are all day, everyday, year-round for me!), and probably candlelight… although I am appreciating all these colorful leaves around us in NOVA too. 

Back to the real reason why we’re here, I suppose! Here we go, in no particular order...

This stuff is incredible. I randomly bought it at our grocery store because… being in stores on the regular again has me eyeing and grabbing even the most random of things. 

I always have a fresh coat of nail polish on. I do my nails every single week, so my nails are really damaged, peeling, and yellowed from that. To make matters worse, I’m always a nail biter. I kid you not, I haven’t actually used nail clippers or anything to cut my nails (on my hands) since I was 5 years old. I have phases every 5 years or so where I commit to growing them out for a bit, but they always start to get dirty underneath and bother me…and they’re just too tempting for me to bite. Ugh. 

Anyways, I’ve been putting this on before painting my nails and the growth, strength, natural color of my nails, and lack of peeling from it is insane. Within 2 days of using it, I notice a huge huge difference in how long they suddenly are. It’s mindblowing how quickly it works. It does make it peel/chip much more quickly though, so I’m definitely having to do my nails more often. For now, that’s a trade off I’m willing to make for the sake of healthier nails.

All that to say, it’s good stuff! Especially for those of you who actually treat your nails with some TLC all the time.

How how cute! Newsflash: we’re still in our apartment with the bare necessities, so we sadly don’t have all our adorable fall decorations this year…wahh. I had to get us at least one seasonal item from Marshalls that we’re loving at night when we have the tv on and the lights off!

Link- https://tjmaxx.tjx.com/store/jump/product/Led--Haunted-House/1000732597?colorId=NS1003495&pos=1:3&Ntt=haunted%20house%20decor&bsp=1

Umm, if I was ranking these favorites in order of...well, favorites...this one would be at the top. I rarely watch TV. I don't really have a go-to show anymore, but I started watching Selling Sunset back in North Carolina, paused for awhile with the move and all that, but now I'm ALL. IN. again. Like...to the point where I was up watching until midnight this past weekend! That never happens to me. I'm Googling info. about the "stars" and I'm just so invested. Shane also gets sucked into this show more than he'd like to admit. 

I can't remember if I've said this in another post, but I'm a big fan of Mary, Heather, Chrishell, and Maya...and of course, Jason. Christine cracks me up and is gold for pure entertainment and in a hate to love/love to hate way. Emma still needs to prove herself, I’m hit or miss with Davina and Amanza, and I’m pretty much no-go with Vanessa. I'm just starting season 5, and then I'll have to wait for seasons 6 and 7 to be released. I might have to hop over to the new Selling the OC in the meantime, but those agents look so young! This also makes me think I might need to finally make my way over to The Real Housewives franchise too. I know I know, I'm very late to the game, per usual. Thoughts?

Back in August when I was looking for a new coffee cup/travel mug for our temporary lifestyle in the apartment, this one caught my eye at Walmart. I'm a huge fan! It's perfect for sipping on at home (I lean towards cups with lids to keep C&C away from sneaking a lick, although the lid is removable and it works as a "normal" cup too) and for travel. It's sturdy and a ceramic material, but it has this fun silicone gel material as the cushion on the outside. It's comfy...in so far as a coffee cup can be comfy. I'm just loving this one! And yes, I know we evidently need to clean this end table.

Andddd now I just Googled to see that they have bigger sizes and lots of other variations sooooo SOS. Christmas list, here I come.

Link- https://www.walmart.com/search?q=ello+coffe+mug&facet=fulfillment_method%3AShipping

Amazon is always easier, so here's the Amazon link I just found too- https://www.amazon.com/s?k=ello+coffee+mug+ceramic&crid=FXLNJ5CVIAMN&sprefix=ello+coffee+mug+ceramic%2Caps%2C70&ref=nb_sb_noss_1

I have never been a Walmart girl, but we have one right by our apartment, so I find myself stopping there for a few things from time to time lately. I recently saw this little bag to put bras in when washing them in the washing machine so the straps don't get stretched out, tangled, or to prevent overall damage. (Side note- If you were at my Blanchardette bachelorette, I just naturally found myself typing this object name as washing machine, lol.) I think it was like $3? It was cute and this past summer, I bought all new bras to replace the ones I had for years and years, so I thought it was a good time to get this.

Well, I guess we were spoiled with our NC dog park. There was an automatic water dispenser for the dogs, but at our new dog park in Virginia, we have to supply our own water. This dog park is much, much bigger- so when I'm not in the mood to socialize with randoms, I can spread out on a farther bench and knock out some phone calls or read my book. That being said, I found myself needing a backpack or easy bag where I could cart the dogs' water, my book, and my other essentials. I wanted a backpack so it wasn't in the way or falling off my shoulder when I'm bent over putting their leashes on/off and handling two overly excited big dogs when entering into the dog park gates and everything. I also wanted to keep my stuff away from other dogs because, believe it or not, I’m still very much NOT an “other” dog person.

I got this cute backpack for this purpose, which I like, but it really is too small. It showed up smaller than I expected.

Link- https://www.marshalls.com/us/store/jump/product/Nylon-Mini-Quilted-Backpack/4000129012?colorId=NS4155756&pos=1:2&Ntt=cynthia%20rowley%20backpack&bsp=1

So, I also got this backpack from Target as my "dog park backpack" (SOS again)  and it's working perfectly.

Back when we first got into our apartment and we bought necessities or cheap replacements of what we already had (I know I’m sounding like a broken record with that), I saw these oven mitts that are the same brand as the beige gingham ones I originally have, and I just had to get them. I can't ever resist a cute fruit decor item. I'm loving them! They make me so happy to look at and use.

 I've said on here how I didn't get my hair done since our wedding, so...I'm talking January of 2022...10 months ago. I have never waited that long to get my hair freshened up! I actually cut it myself back in April as a post-miscarriage just needing it gone change, but it was in major, major need of more blonde! 

I found a military wife who does it out of her house on base (so convenient) and she did a good job! It's not as light as usual, and I'm wishing it was a tad blonder, but otherwise I'm so happy with how it turned out. Yay for finding a new hairstylist in our new town! I definitely have to consider that a favorite.

My husband doesn't even know who I am because I think I'm adding another TV show to this list this week- Abbott Elementary! Who am I?! I think my borderline zero social life in Virginia so far has me needing some socialization via TV. This is another show that I actually watch watch (like Selling Sunset) and I don't just have on in the background to get bits and pieces of when I work. I'm only partway through episode 3, but I am loving this one already!

Some bloggers/podcasters were raving about it. Since I'm in education and I'm trying to get into more shows, I figured this one was right up my alley...and it so is. Of course, not everything is completely accurate, but SO MUCH of it is! It makes me laugh so much. If you're not an educator, this one might not be as funny to you (Shane fell asleep during it one weekend night), but it’s so spot on with its characterization, teacher problems, and just the general world of education. I worked in a low income school and then also a high income school- my first school district was 96% Hispanic and my second school campus was probably 60% African American/40% White with both students and staff, so I feel like I can (respectfully) relate to some aspects.

(Bonus for my The Parent Trap friends, ahem The Riddick Family Blog- Chessie from The Parent Trap is in it!)

Again, we're still without 98% of our overall items. So, I saw these cute, non-expensive blankets at Target (so many other options too! I was deciding between them for awhile!) and just had to grab them to spice up our apartment with a little more Halloween. I can't wait until we have kids and I can celebrate the holidays even more with little tacky items like this, haha.

I ALWAYS have a blanket on me when I'm inside our house, like even if it's 95 degrees outside, so why wouldn't I appreciate or need another blanket?! Especially since I currently just have 1 blanket in the apt. that I was previously carting from room to room (not that there’s that many of those) with me...enter these fun fall blankets to help out with that!

Well, that’s it from me…

As I've said time and time again, It's the details of other people's lives that are so interesting to me! It's always fun to get inspired with some new ideas and to connect over things we have in common, that might not always come up in day to day conversation. So there you have it, our first Friday Favorites. What are your favorites of this past week?!

Hope you have a restful and fun October weekend.