The Break Room No. 6


Back when I was working in a traditional office setting, the break room was where I’d eat lunch, chat about anything and everything with coworkers, and even catch up on my favorite blogs on my phone. I know a lot of you are working ladies and you read this blog on your commute to work or on your lunch hour. I figured “The Break Room” could be our spot to catch up about the past month…just as friends do!

The break room no. 1 May 2019

So pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee, get cozy, and let’s take a well-deserved break and catch up about October 2019.

My Recent Buys

    • I’ve always used this undereye concealer because it’s super moisturizing. But lately, I just feel like it wasn’t giving me enough coverage and I wanted to try something new. I opted for this concealer and holy smokes…it’s amazing! Like literally dark circles disappear instantly. A little goes a long way and I just use my beauty blender to blend it under my eyes and over my eyelids. Gamechanger, ladies!
      • On our recent trip to NYC, my sister turned me on to this scarf from Lululemon that can be worn 7 ways! She is a flight attendant and says this is a must-have for travel (it can be your blanket on the flight and then your go-to scarf for your entire trip). This item is definitely making our annual gift guide!My suede jacket
  • Finn and I much prefer steaming our clothes over ironing, so we recently upgraded to this steamer. It really came in handy when getting all of the wrinkles out of my new curtains!Post renovation video home tour
  • I found our living room rug on Amazon (!!) along with other really beautiful colors. I’m tempted to buy a few smaller ones for around the house because the prices are so good. (Oh, and I also just created an Amazon storefront if you want to see other items we’re always buying from Amazon).
  • We also ordered our holiday cards this month. I always like to get them ordered early so I can send them out on Black Friday without feeling panicked. Here are the ones we went with from Minted. They always have the best cards and I just upload the addresses (so no handwritten addresses for me!).

The Click List

Finn Family Updates – October 2019Sitting on the front porch during fall

October was a crazy month for me with three different trips thrown in the mix! First, my trip to NYC with my mom and sister. Visiting NYC for a girl's trip

I was invited to an event with Real Simple magazine in NYC and decided it might be fun to go for a weekend (New York in the fall is the best). My mom and sister were immediately on board when I brought it up to them. We had so much fun, mostly eating and drinking our way through the city. We’ve all been to NYC multiple times, so we didn’t feel like we had so many activities that we “had to do”. Here are a few highlights though…

  • Freestyle Love Supreme: This show was outstanding. It’s created by Lin-Manuel Miranda, so we knew it would be good! I would go again in a heartbeat.
  • Jazzy Brunch Cruise on the River: See the Brooklyn Bridge, Statue of Liberty, and the NYC skyline with a mimosa in hand. Yes, please.
  • Row Boats in Central Park: While we’ve all been to Central Park many times, we had never rented a rowboat. For $15 we had the best hour ever. It was hilarious (and actually kinda hard to row!).
  • Levain Bakery: Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite dessert so every time I visit this bakery for the best cookies ever. I dream about them…

If you want to see more of our shenanigans, I still have everything saved on Instagram stories under my “NYC Trip” highlight.Austin Texas brunch

Next up, Finn and I headed to Austin for a blogging conference with our ad network. We adore Austin and had so much fun eating and exploring in our downtime.

We spent a lot of time with fellow Chicago DIY bloggers, Kim & Scott from Yellow Brick Home. It was so nice to talk shop with other people in the industry who “get it”, not to mention we only live about twenty minutes away from one another back home. We all agreed that we need to hang more often and maybe even team up for some blog projects!

The conference itself was informative and we left with a giant to-do list of things to implement to improve the blog. But just getting out of town together was even better.

We had planned to fly home from Austin, but something exciting happened while we were in Texas. Finn’s sister, Kelly, had a baby boy! We changed up our plans and ended up driving the two and a half hours to Houston to meet the baby. Visiting Baby Teddy in the hospital

Baby Teddy is an absolute doll and we are completely smitten with our new nephew.

Then, earlier this week my brother, sister, and I visited my grandma in Kansas City for two days. It was really low-key and we loved spending quality time with her. We even went to an adult coloring class at her retirement home (where they serve wine!).

See, I told you October was a bit crazy (three trips, who am I?)! I’m hopeful that November slows down a bit, but we are hosting Thanksgiving, so that should keep things pretty busy around here…

P.S. Happy Halloween, friends! I’m sooooo excited to pass out candy this afternoon. I’ve got it all ready to go and my Halloween playlist ready for trick-or-treaters. If I have any leftover Halloween candy, I’m definitely making this recipe.

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.