Happy Hour No. 2


What’s Happy Hour?

To us, Happy Hour is a time to sit back, relax, and catch up with friends. It’s a time to chat about everything and anything, and that’s exactly what we want to bring to DIY Playbook’s monthly Happy Hour.

happy-hour-graphicWe wantย these monthlyย posts to be aย chance to catch up with friends and bring just a little extra happy to your day. So grab your coffee (or champagne) and let’s catch up on our September 2016!

travel-carmel-pebble-beach-wine

September 2016

Casey

  • The older I get, the more I find myself looking into affordable face & eye creams (why are they all sooooo expensive?!). I recently purchased this one and I’m loving it so far. Plus at $26, it isn’t too pricey (a little bit goes a long way). I’ve noticed that the skin around my eyes and lips is definitely softer, but we’ll see if it helps with those darn wrinkles…casey-dining-table-reveal
  • Another beauty product I find myself buying over and over again is this eyebrow pencil. You’ll remember my love/hate relationship with my brows from this post, and I seem to look best when my eyebrows are a little more defined. This eyebrow pencil matches perfectly (I have the taupe color) and I love that the other end has a brush so you can groom your brows for the day too.target-marble-candle
  • I absolutely adore the fall and all of the smells that come with it! I just got this candle and it smells amazing. Not overwhelming, but powerful enough to fill your entire home with a fall aroma. I’ve heard good things about this candle too.
  • I’m loving the new Nate Berkus line at Target. He can do no wrong in my book!

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  • I’ve never met a peter pan collar I didn’t love. I recently bought this shirt and this shirt (both peter pan collars) and I love both of them. And most importantly, I LOVED the $9 and $16 price tags they came with.bridget_fall_fiddle_leaf_family_room_light_plan
  • My Fiddle Leaf is STILL ALIVE, which is surprising because you won’t believe what happened. When I went to California for 4 days, I left Matt instructions to water the fiddle leaf with one cup of water on the Friday I left (Fiddle Leaf Friday). He misinterpreted those instructions into thinking he needed to water the fiddle leaf EVERYDAY while I was gone. I even texted him while I was gone asking, “Did you water the fiddle leaf?!”. He proudly responded — “YES!”. I didn’t find out until I got home that his proud YES! meant… YES! every single day.ย I’ll keep you guys updated. #yikes
  • I had the absolute honor of being asked to be my nephew’s godmother and we celebrated his baptism this past month. After lots of brainstorming, I ended up getting him a monogrammed tie clip (for his future sacraments) but my runner-up idea was an engraved compassย with a quote about letting hisย faith guide him.ย I decided against the compass at the last minute, but loved the symbolism!

Link Love

  • Did you see this DIY bathroom? We have some serious heart eyes going on! Go Sarah!!
  • Another amazing bathroom makeover…. we’re loving the tile!
  • This modern trellis will definitely be on our outdoor to-do list next spring.
  • Mandi isn’t just fearless when it comes to DIY. She also showed such courage writing this post.
  • We are both pretty AWFUL when it comes to music so excuse the fact that we’re just FINALLY hearing this song.ย <— Humble & Kind. Our world needs more of these inspirational and positive messages, especially lately.ย 
  • Our messy wonderful house” …Wise words from one of our favorites.
  • Definitely got the giggles watching this video
  • Now this is a statement coffee table! And I can hardly believe it’s a DIY project #mindblown

Q3 Date Night

Chicago_Odyssey_Travel-20As you guys already know, we try to get together every quarter and have a double date night with our better halves. Last quarter we took an amazing sunset dinner cruise and didn’t think we could ever top that perfect night together.

chicago-cubs-wrigley-field-3But believe it or not,ย this month’s date nightย gave that evening on the water a run for its money!

chicago-cubs-wrigley-field-2chicago-cubs-wrigley-fieldWe got front row seats at the Cubs game (Thanks Finn!!) and had an absolute BLAST togetherย at the game. The Cubs won, the weather that night was a perfect 10, and it was great to spend time all together. Even though we talk all the time, we are always grateful that we have the boys who push us to take the night off from blogging and just have FUN together as best friends. We aren’t together as a foursome nearly enough, so when we do finally carve out time for a double date … we make the most of it!

Casey Updates

September is one of my favorite months of the year (gotta love the fall), and I’m a little sad the month is already behind us. But I certainly had a wonderful September. I feel like a big chunk of my month was spent in California for our Michaels trip.

travel-carmel-bridget-casey-rookies-fashion-dressI was gone from a Friday to the next Thursday…so quite a long time to be away from home and my everyday routine. Getting out of town with Bridget was a welcomed retreat, but I definitely missed that husband of mine.

3-finn-fantasy-football-trophySpeaking of him, Finn is in hardcore football mode and I actually kinda love it (except for that large fantasy football trophy of his…which is still around until the end of the season). Our Sundays are so nice and relaxing. We typically go to the grocery store in the morning, then I’ll head to a workout class while he starts watching games at noon.

cookies-marble-table-candlesIn the afternoon I’ll work on the blog, while he watches games and cooks our weekday lunches (& sometimes some extra treats like his famous chocolate chip cookies!). We’ll then join back together for a nice Sunday dinner, drinks on the patio, and a few shows on Netflix.ย He recently whipped up this curry chicken recipe in the crock pot and it was glorious!

chicago-fireworks-night-time-cruise-photographyOver the summer I produced a new pilot for WGN here in Chicago. Here’s a link to the segments if you want to check them out. I personally loved visiting Vintage Garage the best. Such a cool flea market here in Chicago.

Bridget Updates

garage-floor-before-2September was INSANELY busy for me… like legit crazy. School is back in full force and every weekend throughout the month was completely booked solid (in the best way possible!). Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining at all because although my days were insanely busy, the month was awesome. California was obviously amazing and spending the whole weekend together is always a blast. Casey also came over to add epoxy to my garage floor (more details coming soon!). And outside of the blog, I was able to spend some quality time with my favorite people in the world — my family.

oconnor-family-christmas-card-photoWe rented a house on the lake we grew up on for my mom’s belated birthday gift and it was absolutely GLORIOUS. Of course, it’s always nice to be together for an extended period of timeย but throw in there that it was our first “vacay” with baby Owen AND we got to do some of our favorite fall activities (like pick apples) and it was the best weekend ever. I feel so fortunate to be surrounded by such amazing people and feel beyond grateful to call them my family. How did I get so lucky?!owen_baptism-2

And speaking of family, I was honored with the privilege of being Baby Owen’s Godmother at his baptism this month. I was nervous for my duty, but I think I did all right. ๐Ÿ˜‰

Lowes_Fall_Makeover_BEFORE_April_Mike_Bedroom-10And last but very not least, planning for the Lowe’s makeover has kept both of us VERY busy this month! We can’t believe that the weekend is FINALLY here!!!!!! We will be at April and Mike’s tonight getting ready for the madness that starts tomorrow morning! Be sure to tune in to Instagram, Facebook, Insta-story or Snapchat (@diyplaybook) forย behind-the-scenes updates.ย We’re nervous, excited, and ready to finally get this show on the road.

Bridget&Casey


The Year of Casey

Hey there!

Iโ€™m Casey Finn, the voice behind The DIY Playbook. I’m a Chicago gal teaching you how to design, DIY, and maintain your home…by yourself! Learn more about me right here.