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Friday Favorites

March 27, 2020 No Comments

Week 2 of social distancing is coming to a close. We got news yesterday that the boys will have to do online schooling for the remainder of the year, and so I spent a majority of today trying to wrap my brain around the idea that we’ll be homeschooling for the rest of the school year. And I’m also teaching online for the rest of the year, so coordinating schedules is going to be interesting. The boys’ favorites at home learning this week have been Khan Academy: Intro to JavaScript, Mo Willems Lunch Doodles, The Cincinnati Zoo’s live animal experience, story time with their teachers on YouTube, Typing Club, and their new books:

And finally here are some of my favorites of the week:

Social distancing examples from David Rose.

My hairstyle of the week, with a messy bun at the back.

Dessert for the weekend.

J every time he sees a wasp outside right now.

How to stop overthinking, because that’s all I’ve been doing right now.

List of reading ideas.

Finally, the ultimate comfort dinner.

Paper Doll, Seriously. Fashion. Love.

Five minute make-up

March 25, 2020 No Comments

Since I’m not going into work right now, I have paired down my daily morning make-up routine to five minutes. And not five minutes where I’m going as fast as possible to say it’s five minutes. This is literally five minutes. Here are the products I’m using:

I start out by wiping my face with a wet washcloth. I do not wash my face in the morning because it dries out my skin too much. After I pat my face dry I apply Glossier Superglow on my cheeks and forehead and let that dry for a minute.

Then I apply ultra repair cream over my while face and let that dry for a minute, while it’s drying I curl my eye lashes, apply Diorshow mascara, and Glossier boy brow pomade on my eyebrows (not pictured).

Then I apply Becca skin love brighten and blur primer all over my face and Becca anti-fatigue under eye primer under my eyes. I let that dry while I brush my teeth, and then sweep NARS blush on my cheeks and finish with Tarte lip rescue balm in nude.

And that’s it! The only extra I add in is sunblock before the primer if we are going to be outside. I like to have a little bit of make-up on just to keep a routine, and occasionally I’ll add in eyeliner or shadow if I feel like it, but this is pretty much my everyday!

Learning with A & J

Benjamin Franklin Study

March 24, 2020 No Comments

So if you remember way back to last summer, I talked about doing a Benjamin Franklin learning plan with two new Magic Treehouse books that came out last July. While we did get the books, we did not get around to completing the plan, and this past week seemed like a good opportunity to do it. The boys swapped books during their reading times during the week and then took Accelerated Reading quizzes on both (they can do AR at home right now).

Then I had them complete two worksheets, one a simple word search, and the other an invention idea:

We flew kites and talked about why the kite is associated with Benjamin Franklin:

And I had the boys look up Benjamin Franklin in A’s American History Smithsonian book and read the passage aloud and send me a picture of the passage from their iPad (there was no reason for this besides they thought it was cool):

And made some inventions of our own with LEGOs:

This was not something we did in one day. I created the plan and we just worked on it throughout the week. With the amount of online learning they are doing and will most likely continue to do, I’m trying to mix in things that take them outside of that a bit.

Favorite Recipes, Weekly Meal Plan

Week of Meals

March 23, 2020 No Comments

Happy Monday! We are beginning week 2 of this weird new normal, but what is completely normal is the boys asking “what’s for dinner”, all day long. Since we are cooking at home a lot right now, B and I have been trading off meal prep, and trying out recipes. Here is what we made this week!

Marinated flank steak and twice baked potatoes.

Homemade pizzas.

Slow cooker Indian butter chicken and fresh naan.

Beef enchiladas.

Sheet pan chicken and vegetables.

Friday Favorites

March 20, 2020 No Comments

Week 1 of social distancing is at an end. I’m modifying our daily schedule a bit for next week after seeing how this week went. The boys’ favorites of at home learning this week have be Mo Willems Lunch Time Doodles, The Cincinnati Zoo’s live Animal Experience, Khan Academy math, and Khan Academy Imagineering in a Box, and story time with all their school teachers on Facebook. Oh and timed fact sheets. In between running a home school, teleworking, and just trying to keep from going completely stir crazy over the next three weeks, we are ready for the weekend. To do what I don’t know. Maybe we’ll camp in the backyard! Here are some of our favorites of the week and I’m linking up with the blogs listed above!

Best new books for Spring.

Chocolate piper mint steamer to make with my new teas.

Comfortable working from home clothes.

Virtual museum tours. We will be taking one of these this weekend.

The power of positivity.

Texas chicken chowder is on our dinner list.

Training your brain to avoid distraction.

Sculptures of cascading rainbow numbers.

Online art clubs.

A prayer for the weekend.

Watching Joanna Gaines make cookies while updating my online course.

Yoga practice to do with boys.

Home Decor, Local Eats, Seriously. Fashion. Love.

Shopping small business online

March 18, 2020 No Comments

One of the benefits of homeschooling? You can run outside to do P.E. in between rain showers. We are on Day 3 of online learning and it’s had ups and downs, but we are slowly getting into what will be a new normal for awhile. Since we aren’t really going anywhere, I’ve been doing some online shopping at small businesses that have it available and wanted to share some of my favorites!

First, up I restocked my Piper and Leaf teas:

Then I picked up this gorgeous canvas for our new home from Vine + Branches (picture is from their Instagram):

Glossier to stock up on brow pomade, and to test out a cleanser:

All of my Social Threads picks from yesterday are small business:

Happy small business shopping online!

Paper Doll, Seriously. Fashion. Love.

Spring capsule wardrobe

March 17, 2020 No Comments

From last Fall to now, I’ve had to toss (and I mean literally toss out), several shoes and clothing items because I’ve had them for 15-20 years (yup, you read that correctly), and they fell apart. I was walking in a pair of shoes to teach and they came apart on the bottom of my foot. So, I’ve shopped online stores to start a Spring wardrobe capsule of replacement items.

I put in a Nordstrom order for a new pair of everyday slides, booties, and a black midi skirt:

At Madewell online I picked up these wide flair pants and a tie-dye top:

At Social Threads online I bought three new tops and two stretchy bracelets to stack:

And here are four ways to mix and match it all:

Happy online shopping, friends!!

Learning with A & J

Online learning with kids

March 16, 2020 No Comments

And here we go. We are officially out of school, teleworking, and “social distancing” for at least three weeks. As I’m thinking you may also be in the same boat as we are, I wanted to share our schedule, plan, and some of our favorite online learning resources to keep the boys engaged and us on our work schedules for the next several weeks.

First up here is our daily schedule:

And their academic and creative idea plan:

Here are some great resources to see if your school has access:

And check out some of our favorite summer learning ideas (including Pixar in a Box, and dos computer games):

And for art appreciation days check out some of our classics:

And check out for online live posts at different places across the United States:

The Cincinnati Zoo on Facebook Live at 3:00 p.m. EST every weekday.

The National Gallery of Art has virtual tours of different exhibits in the museum.

The Louvre has virtual tours of different exhibits in the museum.

Check out the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s animals live at times listed on their website.

And finally, our library is going to be doing story time on You Tube while they are closed! The boys are too old for this, but story time was the cornerstone of our week from when they were babies to kindergarten.

Friday Favorites

March 13, 2020 No Comments

Wow. We started the week with J having an ear infection and ended the week with learning that I’m going to online only classes. Three months into 2020 and here we are. Very thankful right now that we are all healthy and working really hard to stay that way. Here are some of my favorites of the week!

The perfect garage makeover.

Books around the world.

Kitchen and breakfast room inspiration.

Creamsicle gummy bears.

Loving Madewell’s new collaboration.

Even more kitchen inspiration.

Stovetop macaroni and cheese for meatless Monday.

Midi length pleated skirts.

Seriously. Fashion. Love.

Hair by The Collaborative Hair Artist

March 10, 2020 No Comments

One of the best self-care practices for me is getting my hair cut and colored every eight weeks. This has made a huge difference in me not only taking care of my hair, so I wanted to share some of the tools and products that my stylist uses and what I use at home to tame my rather unruly brows. You can find more from my hair stylist at her Instagram profile here.

The items she uses for me:

1. This is B and I’s all time favorite does it all styling creme.

2. They use several different shampoos and conditioners, but these are two of my favorites that I switch out between with my VERB shampoo and conditioner.

3. My favorite hair spray that I stock up on.

4. Kerastase leave in spray. I wouldn’t use this everyday, but I’m seriously considering investing in it for the summer when my hair gets super dry. And speaking of investments….

5. The soft curl curling iron is definitely an investment, but it may be a replacement after my hot tools one dies completely.

And one of my other self care rituals is having my brows waxed every 5-8 weeks:

I seriously over plucked my brows in the late 90’s and early 2000’s. It has taken me years, YEARS to get them back to a normal state, and now, much like coloring my hair, I try to only do basic maintenance between getting them waxed to avoid going too far, ha!

1. The Hourglass is a bit of a pomade/pencil mix that works well for fill-ins.

2. Anastasia brow powder, my favorite for filling in the sparse areas at the front of my brows.

3. Sonia Kashuk brush, perfectly angled for the brow powder.

4. Anastasia brow gel for holding all brows in place.

5. And my favorite weekend brow gel, Benefit Gimme Brow.