Pour yourself a fresh cup of coffee, get cozy, and let’s take a well-deserved break and catch up about July 2022.

My Recent Buys

Comfy Dress // My Fave Pajamas

• I actually did quite a bit of shopping this month, so I have lots to share. First up, is the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale. While there weren’t any groundbreaking new additions this year, I did shop in-store with my mom and Ellis and picked up a few goodies.

• I especially love the pink sweater I scooped up. It’s very outside the box for me, but I have a feeling I’ll be reaching for it a lot when it gets cooler out.

Jeans // Blue Cardigan // Cami // Suede Jacket

• I’m constantly wearing athleisure on my “mom days”, so I got some new shorts and a tank for a song!

• On Instagram stories, I did a little showcase of my love of athletic dresses. I just got one from Old Navy (sadly, looks like they’re not selling it anymore) and it’s so easy to throw on. It has built-in shorts and a built-in bra! The only downside is going to the bathroom because you’re practically naked. Oh well! If you’re looking for your own athletic dress, a few readers suggested this one!
• One more goodie to share is this Vitamin C serum. I got it at the beginning of the month and I’ve been using it morning and night. It’s so hydrating and makes my skin glow!

Finn Family Faves

Finn

• Finn is on an organizing mission around here and he recently stocked up on lots of clear bins. We got a few of these large bins and then these storage bins with dividers. Then, he even opted for a few of these medium-sized ones. I’ll be sure to share more as he whips every cabinet and closet into shape around here.

Rory

Flower Dress // Pink Shoes // Birdie Dress // Red Wagon

• My mother-in-law loves buying cute dresses for Rory and she sent so many adorable Boden dresses our way this month. My favorite is this blue and pink dress with flowers. It’s so incredibly sweet. Rory adores this “birdie dress“. I love the blue color on her! She’s not a big fan of wearing sandals, so we got these pink espadrilles to wear with dresses and they’re the sweetest.
• We also whipped out this radio flyer wagon for our neighborhood block party. My sister-in-law gifted it to us over two years ago at my baby shower. Wow, why didn’t we get this thing set up sooner? Now that Ellis is older, it’s great for both kids to ride in here and it has a removable top shade cover!

Ellis

• While Rory has very sensitive light skin. Ellis, on the other hand, is outside for five minutes and gets a tan! I put this sunscreen on his face and this spray on his body. He then wears this bucket hat whenever we’re outside. It’s nice because it is adjustable for his large noggin!

The Click List

• An awesome read about sharing the load as a couple.
• How to fix the news media.
• I was on the Steve Cochran radio show last week for their “Around The House” segment. We talked about everything from when it’s time to DIY to some of my favorite projects. You can listen here.
• I had teachers in the Playbook community add their Amazon wishlists to this document. It’s been so wonderful to see lots of school supplies get purchased to help these teachers. If you want to help, you can peruse their wishlists here. Even a box of crayons is incredibly helpful!

Finn Family Updates – July 2022

If you subscribe to my newsletter, then you already know that COVID hit our household over the Fourth of July holiday weekend. We had big plans to go to my sister-in-law’s farm for six days but we ended up unable to make it. Finn came home from a bachelor party in NYC and immediately felt sick. I tested positive the next day. Luckily, the kids never tested positive and didn’t get sick! That was the only silver lining of it all.

We ended up sending Rory to the farm with my mom and the rest of my family. She had a ball swimming, playing with her cousins, and staying up late! This was helpful because she was safe, away from us, while we recovered. Finn felt crummy for a handful of days, but I got incredibly ill on day five. I had almost two days of a 103-degree fever and I couldn’t leave our room. It was horrible. I ended up getting the new COVID prescription (Paxlovid) that helped with my recovery. I was so grateful that Finn was well enough to take care of Ellis while I recovered.

All this to say, our holiday weekend didn’t go as planned. However, I’m incredibly grateful to be vaccinated and boosted and that our family is on the mend! And the kids just had their first round of vaccines last week. Thank goodness!!

By mid-month, I was feeling back to normal, just in time for our block party! Growing up, we had block parties in our neighborhood each summer and I remember them fondly. It was fun to bring my own kids to such a fun neighborhood event. We had a bounce house, live music, a waterslide, food, a cocktail contest, and more. Rory had the best time of her life and woke up the next day raring to go to the party again. Sadly, I had to break the news to her that it was a one-day thing.

It felt wonderful to connect with neighbors and our community. There are actually a lot of other moms on the street with young kids and I’m excited to get all of our kids together for play dates.

I hosted many of those moms for book club this month too. We read the book Lessons in Chemistry and we all absolutely loved it. Book club got a bit rowdy and didn’t end until 1 am! Let’s just say I was struggling the next morning. Those ladies sure know how to have fun!

Next month, we are hosting a few summer get-togethers at our house – a dinner party for my family to celebrate some summer birthdays and a play date with friends. I love that we can now host in our backyard. Fingers crossed for this nice weather to continue.