What's Up Wednesday: August 2023

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Hello friends and goodbye August!

This has been an interesting month filled with fun, reflection, sickness, travels, writing, and nurturing my pups. I have so much on my mind these days and not enough minutes in the day to sort through it all, but as AUTUMN sets in I am hopeful for a slower month ahead.

I am linking up to share my monthly recap of August.

What we're eating this week:

I have made a few simple meals this past month so I am proud to say I have officially broken in our kitchen. Well, the stove anyway. I made Bolognese one evening, a sausage and vegetable-ish meal another night (when the husband bought frozen Brussels sprouts instead of fresh and I didn’t get to make the meal I wanted to make 😂).

This pic cracks me up because if you look in the distance by the bottom of the back door you can see Loretta’s head. If you’re in the kitchen for any reason she is most definitely somewhere watching to see what you’re doing with very high hopes it involves a little something for her. 🤍

This simple meal went from me aiming to make my pesto pasta with Brussels sprouts and sausage recipe to sautéing the FROZEN Brussels sprouts knowing they were a lost cause and adding in the husband’s favorite instant potatoes and corn. He’s a simple man.

The Brussels sprouts were ultimately thrown in the trash. You just can’t salvage frozen Brussels sprouts unless you want them steamed and I am not a steamed veggie girl.

Yesterday I pulled out things we had in the freezer and made another easy meal. This is another of the husband’s style of meals and he even said, “This is my kind of dinner!” 😂 We had frozen “flame grilled” chicken strips he picked up a Costco a while back when he went to the store unsupervised (which is never a good idea), frozen broccoli, and I used some random bag of coconut ginger rice my mom brought over a while back. I added a poultry rub, garlic powder, and salt to the chicken and some garlic and salt to the broccoli. I used my Our Place oven pan over two burners to easily cook them at the same time. #winning

Husband commented about how easy it was to clean the oven pan. I really love my Our Place cookware. We have the Perfect Pot, the Always Pan, and the Ovenware set in “steam”.

Their products are ceramic - non stick: Made without PTFEs, PFOAs, other PFAS, as well as potentially toxic materials like lead and cadmium

I forgot to take a picture after cooking it all, but oh well. You get the point.

The remainder of this week and into next week I will aim to try a sheet pan chicken recipe a friend sent me and maybe some meatloaf. That being said though, it depends on what’s in our freezer and pantry because I really want to use what we have. I had to throw away a lot of expired food when we moved and I really hate to do that so that’s my focus.

I’d love to make some other larger quantity-serving dish that I can freeze servings of but I’m really trying not to add to our freezer situation until our new refrigerator comes in. Lord, please let that thing arrive earlier than January.

What I'm reminiscing about:

Past lives.

When I visited with my nieces recently I really started to reflect on where I was in life when they were born, how many years have passed, and all of the life things that have happened in those years. In June 2013, I toasted with my sister (who was in NYC at that time) over the phone when Olivia was born. In July 2014, I was at work waiting anxiously to hear that Vivienne was born. In August 2015, I went to Miami to help with Olivia and Vivienne who were 2 years old and 1 year old when my twin nieces, Savannah and Genevieve, were born. Where did the time go???? Why do they have to grow up?!?! 😭 I wish time would stop.

What I'm loving:

Y’all. This is a love hate situation. I love this vacuum for everything it provides. I hate this vacuum because I can see every darn particle of dust and dog hair on my floor. The laser beam feature is legit.

It is cordless and convenient. It has three settings of suction power and with each setting it tells you how much time you have in battery usage. It has a clear container so you can easily see how much you have successfully vacuumed. It has different attachments for various things. The Dyson app has instructional information and videos if you need it (I did).

Husband used it one day and said something along the lines of, “Oh, I hate this thing!” I laughed when I overheard it and asked if it’s because of what you can see with the laser. He said yes, because NOW he knows just how dirty the floor is that you can’t see with just your eyes.

***

  • Also, I’m loving all the fall things! I am so happy to start seeing fall memes, fall images in my feeds, and fall décor at the stores. The best time of the year has arrived! I meandered through Marshall’s after doing a return the other day and I just loved walking up and down the fall and Halloween aisles.

***

  • One more thing to add: I will share our new home décor later once we are officially finished with this house and I have drafted several blog posts to start this month with a home tour of our previous house we just sold.

But another win this month was pulling the trigger on some acrylic display risers I’d been eyeballing for months at Ballard Designs, uncertain if I would need them. Well, I finally decided they would work well in our formal sitting room. So I decided to Google them and found them on Amazon (of course) for half the price. These are heavy duty in weight as you would expect acrylic to be.

Amazon $33.99 for the 9” squared riser vs Ballard Design $99 for the same size (large)

Amazon $23.99 for the 7” squared riser vs Ballard Design $79 for the same size (medium)

Amazon $26.99 for a TWO pack of 5” squared riser vs Ballard Design $49 for ONE of the same size (small)

Crate&Barrel Emmett Antique Brass Taper Candle Holders

You can also find round acrylic risers at Ballard Design as well as on Amazon for significantly less.

If you missed my What’s Up Wednesday post for July, I also shared a similar experience of some beautiful candlesticks I wanted from Crate and Barrel but then I found them elsewhere for half the price. 😉

What we've been up to:

  • I dashed out to Hyatt Lost Pines for a friend’s 40th birthday weekend. I referenced my cover ups and swimwear in this post here in case you missed it!

  • Loretta had a pretty major surgery to remove a few lumps and bumps so I hunkered down to take care of her while also being sick for eleven days myself. UGH. I strongly dislike summer colds. But, I made the best of it and worked on blog posts most of those days.

  • Husband and I dashed out to California. He had a work thing, I wanted some vino, and we visited with my brother, sister-in-law, and four nieces.

  • We celebrated Luigi’s 4th birthday very late, but we celebrated!

  • In between all of that we dealt with the never ending home renovation to-do list remnants that will probably go on forever and ever and ever at this point! 🫠

What I'm dreading:

I do not like to dread ANYTHING - but I am still dreading the continued heat and our window installation. We postponed it from August to September and it is looming ahead of us!

What I'm working on:

  • Blog stuff! I have a list of things I want to write about and I have a list of things I’ve now drafted and scheduled to share.

  • Health and fitness. I have been ramping up my work outs and hoping to continue this stride so that I can maintain it.

  • Home renovation to-do’s such as but not limited to the three items I need to hang on the walls and just haven’t gotten the hammer and nails back out to do it. 😂 I’m so over this project and am struggling to get back into it to finish the lingering things I need to do. Husband has a long, long list of to-do’s still. SMH.

What I'm excited about:

I am excited for fall and decorating the house with pumpkins. I tend to do that on September 1st, but I will probably wait as we have window installation on the 5th for three days, then clean up, and still finalizing some home things so we shall see when I get it all out. SOON! 👀🍂

What I'm watching/reading:

Watching: I’ve got the usual on TV for background sound, but I am pretty excited for a list of things my friends have suggested. I started watching Virgin River in the evenings this week so that I can get my mind off of my to-do’s and disassociate from life a bit. It’s a goal to watch TV and read as a way to officially “end” my day.

Reading:

Y’all. I absolutely love this book Imagine Heaven. It has helped my heart with every chapter. I wish I had purchased it sooner. There are so many stories about Jesus and Heaven with these near death experiences that bring my heart a sense of peace and encouragement and thanksgiving that my dad and Marie get to be there right now. I am not handling this grief very well and have been avoiding it every chance I can stuff it away and just when I felt like breaking apart again I went ahead and ordered this book. I’m taking my time reading it so I can soak it all in so I’m only about halfway through it.

Thank you, Lord, for loving us and giving us the gift of knowledge and privilege to get to hear/read testimonies about Your love and about Heaven. Amen.

I used my Amazon digital credits last month to finally purchase Jennie Allen’s book Get Out of Your Head and really enjoyed and needed the messages she shared. I have been in a dark place for a while now (because life) and this served me in many ways. I really appreciated her reference to scripture but also her references to Andrew Murray’s book Humility that I read a decade ago and most definitely need to revisit as I feel far from who I need to be. I also didn’t realize when I bought the book that she is the one who wrote the book Anything: The Prayer that Unlocked my God and My Soul that really helped and inspired me in 2016 when I decided to start this blog!

I didn’t read as much this month because I was sick and traveling so much, but did manage to mix in this fun read on the treadmill. The story line was super cute and not the usual boy meets girl. It’s about a widow who moves back to her hometown with her sons. While she’s getting readjusted to her new life focused on her sons and immediate family that live there, she meets new friends and eventually love with the most unexpected person.

I don’t want to give more of it away…it is a cute read so I’d give it a thumbs up.

I learned that this author, Inés Saint, is from Puerto Rico and this book is an e-published book so perhaps that is why there were some issues with lack of editing I noticed throughout the book. However, I enjoyed the story enough that I may read more of her books later on.

I just started Emily Henry’s novel Book Lovers. My hold on the library app, Libby, popped up as available when I was finishing up the last few chapters of Charmed so I decided to snag it while I could. Emily Henry’s books have long hold times! I’m only a few chapters in on this one and am enjoying it. I really like Emily Henry’s writing style.

**I plan to look into the Virgin River book series next! A friend suggested the books!

You can click this link or scroll to the top of the page and click on “Books” to view all of the self-help books I’ve read if you are considering a topic.

What I'm listening to:

I listed to some of the podcast: Human Hope with Charles Whittaker. He did a four part series on mental health where he had discussions with his own therapist Al Andrews, Dan Allendar, Kobe Campbell, and Miles Adcox (I haven’t listened to that one yet). But, the episodes were very insightful and I plan to re-listen to them again when I can focus on them. These are episodes 111. 112, 113, and 114.

What I'm wearing:

On repeat - with our without any photos to share!

1) I wear these pants at least once a week still. And I found a similar pair of pants in a mustard and white print at Marshall’s too (can’t find a link to them anywhere on the web though!). I cannot emphasis enough how much I love them. I recently ordered a second pair in black so I always have a back up and I have ordered them in cherry merlot to see if they would look good with the cropped denim corset top I just got. I do think they look best on someone around my height (5’4”) versus someone much taller like the online models.

2) SKORTS on repeat.

I wore this high waisted mini skort twice this past month and again did not get any photos of my outfit so I recreated it for you.

3) I wore this adorable baby doll dress for the second time this summer. It is so comfortable and cute. It also comes in a bright green and a bright pink. I loved this pattern though. I forgot to take a photo when I wore it so I recreated this outfit for you too.

4) Any and all shorts imaginable. It is HOT outside y’all! My jean shorts are all from season's passed. I am wearing biking shorts and running shorts, and any other shorts I can! These cute chambray trouser shorts were love at first site and they have an elastic band in the back so that helps with the fit.

5) This soft jumpsuit has become a repeat offender in my house. I do not wear it in public, though I am sure some people would AND in fact I saw a lady wearing it in blue at the nail salon and with her jewelry and sandals she was looking SUPER CUTE!!

It is like wearing comfortable pajamas so I frequently throw it on in the mornings or after I shower. It is SO comfortable. It comes in 25 different color and pattern combinations. I wash and hang dry it. It has adjustable straps for length. When this one wears out I’ll likely buy it in charcoal or brown to wear around the house.

6) I am loving these breezy pull on pants (see #1 listed above!) and while I found these at Marshall’s and cannot locate the exact ones online. But, I did link up some fun prints in similar styles of you. This color and pattern is SO out of my normal style box but I think that’s why I like them so much. 😉

You can view most of these details on my LiketoKnow.It page OR email me. =)

What I'm doing this weekend:

At the time of writing this I have zero plans this weekend and am very excited about that!

What I'm looking forward to next month:

I am very excited to decorate for fall soon and to light up my fall scented candles.

What else is new:

That’s about it for now I think! I’ll be back soon. =)

How was your month of August? Did you take any last minute trips before your kiddos started school? Comment below!

XOXO

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What's Up Wednesday, My StyleRebecca BrittainMy Style, life lately, clothes, outfit, Summer StyleComment