I'M BACKKKKK---Spring and Summer favorite things

Let's talk about all things girly!! With a few updates. Favorite prints, drinks, cleaning schedules, baby shower, and more!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:01

Hi, I'm back. Um, I took an extended break. My intention for this podcast was always to do it kind of semester based, and I got really busy and chaotic, and um so I decided to take a pretty extended break. I think it was like almost three months, but I'm glad that I am back. And um, I've had a lot going on. So it's all the girl talk today, all the favorite things for the spring and the summer that I'm so excited to get into, but I kind of want to talk about my life a little bit first. So it's been crazy. I'm 34 weeks pregnant, so my baby girl is going to be coming soon. It's so weird to think like she could come today, right, and be completely fine. Or she could come in five weeks or six weeks even. Crazy and discouraging for me because I am so done being pregnant. If you have ever had a kid, you know that this last stretch, you're just so uncomfortable, and you don't really want to be like you want to be up doing her nursery, and I want to be doing all these things, but I can't really do them alone, you know. And then um, with my first pregnancy with my son, I could just lay around all day, but that is not an option now that I have a child, which my mom watches him a lot, which is such a blessing for me. But yeah, it's been definitely a different season than my first pregnancy with all of the same aches and pains, probably even more because I'm three years older, three and a half years older. So um it's been it's been kind of crazy. I've been doing all the things, drinking the raspberry leaf tea. I just uh my birthing ball just came in, so my husband's gonna blow that up tonight. It's like everything is in full motion. At the beginning of the pregnancy, everything goes so slow, and you're like just thinking about oh my gosh, and it feels like the baby's never gonna get here, and it's like so excited, but I'm waiting for the gender, and then I'm waiting for the baby shower, and it's like now everything's happened, except the nursery, I need to get that together, but now we're just waiting for the baby, and it's like, oh my goodness, I'm going to have a baby. I always forget, like, you actually have to have the baby, and like that's so scary because you don't know how it's gonna go. And I guess I just put it out of my mind until it's like the very last moment, and I have to think about it and I have to plan, but I know everything's gonna go good, and we're so excited to meet her, and so excited for Scout to meet her. That's gonna be definitely a new experience, is having a sibling meet the new baby, and I am beyond excited for all the sweetness and cuteness. Scout has been such a doll lately. He is three, he turned three in March. We had his birthday party, so that was one big thing that we did. And um, it was Spider-Man themed, Spidey and Friends, which, if you don't know, if you have a boy, I'm sure you know. But it is the cutest little show, and that's what he wanted. And I've always said my whole life, like, kids should get to choose their birthday parties. Now, for the first two years, mom got to choose because he wasn't um he he wasn't, you know, talking enough to choose and he didn't care. But those two years were amazing. But this third year he got to choose and he chose Spidey, and we made it as cute as humanly possible, and he had the best time, he had a pinata, he had a bounce house, and um he loved it, got way too many toys, of course. But that's what you're supposed to do with kids, right? Um, he had the best day, and I always I have this tradition, and I don't know when I'm gonna stop it, but I started it last year, so on his second birthday of having his little friends, so like his little stuffed animals, he has three particular stuffed animals, and then like some action figures and stuff that he really loves, and I put little uh hats on them and balloons, and they greet him in the morning, and he has his little breakfast. Um, eventually I'll stop that, of course, because that would be weird to do for a 15-year-old. But right now it's so cute, and we get really cute pictures, and he really, really likes it. So that's been our little tradition. Um I always write in my journal on either the day of his birthday or the week after, or something about him and all the things he's doing and accomplishing. He is talking so well, like uh there's nothing he can't say, and I'm you know, he does really well with pronouns, with ing, he does really well expressing himself and his opinions, and I'm so proud of him in all of those areas. Um, and I'm so proud of me and my husband for cultivating an environment where he feels comfortable. So it's really beautiful to see, you know, all that work that we've put in from the beginning finally um coming around, even just in uh boundaries and stuff like that. He's starting to learn those things. He is his behavior is like night and day from six months ago because his brain development is night and day from six months ago. You know, six months ago he couldn't talk as well. He wasn't comprehending things as well. Now that he's comprehending, you know, the boundaries are really starting to solidify in his mind, and he is just like it's been amazing. So all the moms in the trenches of the two-year-old, the 18-month-old, those are that's a very hard season because the babies really their brains are just not developed enough to obey. And uh that can be really hard on a mom because we know that they're not being defiant, but it's still it's still really hard. So just know that that ends, and he is uh doing so good, doing doing so many funny things, um, saying so many cute little one-liners. Uh when he wakes up in the morning, he literally talks from the moment he sits up in bed, the moment his eyes pop open, he is having a full-on conversation with you. And so I know that that won't always last either, and it's so cute. And he talks all the time about the weather and about houses. He loves like the colors of houses. So when we're going down the street, oh, I love that yellow house. Oh, I love that blue house. Do you like that blue house, mommy? You know, just super cute things that I never want to forget. And um, he's really excited about his little sister. I think he's finally starting to comprehend like the process. It takes a little bit because it's kind of foreign to think that a baby grows in a person. Uh, he asked me the other day if um they have to take a knife to get Daisy out. And I told him, I really hope not. But it was so funny because his little three-year-old brain was thinking about she's in your belly, but how does she get out, you know? So I thought that that was so so stinking cute. And um, he always tells me I'm gonna hug her and kiss her and love her. And we always talk about how girls are so special and we treat girls with reverence and we treat girls really gentle. We use kind hands because she's a girl with mommy. We use kind hands. We might wrestle with daddy sometimes, but we don't wrestle with mom and daisy. You know, we're already implementing that into his mind, and I know that it won't be perfect. I know they're gonna argue. I know, you know, those things are gonna happen, but um I do want him to know that, you know, girls are special and boys are special, of course. But girls are gentle, you know, we're gentle around girls. We treat them with respect and kindness, even when it's his sister. And I we're really passionate about that, but so excited about Daisy coming. I'm thinking trying to think of nicknames for her name. It's kind of a hard one. Her name's gonna be Daisy Arizona. So I don't know. I I love a good nickname, and I don't know which one to choose for her. So if you have any ideas, let me know about the nicknames, okay? Um, I had my baby shower, so the theme was kind of uh I don't really know what the theme was. It was like kind of Grecian, kind of antique y with a lot of like colorful flair. I did a bunch of different colored candles, I had a lot of Grecian busts there. I had a lot of antiques. I got this beautiful antique swan that I had there, um, a lot of thrifted vases that had just like the intricate flowers and stuff like that on them. A lot of fresh flowers on each table, a lot of like florals, um, very springy polka dots were incorporated. Of course, my dress was polka dot, and it turned out exactly how I wanted it. We had it in this super cute venue that had like kind of um rustic-ish-looking walls, I would say. It looked just like very worn, you know. You could have had like a barn, it almost looked like a barn, but we didn't decorate it like a barn, if that makes sense. So it was very, very cute. Exactly what I wanted. It was downpouring that day, like literally some of the worst rain I've seen in the last year. And I felt so bad for my dad and my husband. They were like unloading everything because I wanted everything glass and crystal and all these different things. So I'd brought it all from home. I had collected a bunch of vases, a bunch of busts, a bunch of different stuff, and so we had to take it all over there, and it was pouring rain. My dad had to change, my husband had to change, it was a whole thing. So, um yeah, but it was such a fun day, and my friends from college got to come, uh some other friends, some people from my parents' church, some people from our church, some family, got to see a lot of people, played some fun games. We played the game where you like try to think of how big the stomach is, like there's like a piece of twine or paper or whatever, and you cut it to how big you think the pregnant person's stomach is, and then the pregnant person measures and compares, and that's always a really fun one because some people get it like really big, and then some people get it like really small, so it's it's really fun and funny. And then we did a word scramble and just some different games, had some uh some prizes. I thrifted all my prizes. I got these cute little salt and pepper shakers, and then these uh trivets that are like hot pads kind of, uh, but they're metal. And this really cute key bowl that actually my friend won, and I was so glad she won it because it was so cute. It says my keys go here, or something cute like that. Um, but yeah, it's it was such a beautiful day, so much fun. It did not rain during the shower, so all the people who attended did not have to deal with the rain. It was just the beforehand stuff. And and yeah. Now I have all the stuff from the shower and all the gifts that we've gotten from our registry in her room. I have not done the nursery yet. I have my idea of what I'm doing. I'm doing like a French pastel theme. I don't know. There's one certain brand that I've loved always for girls. It's called Atler Show. It's um French, and I uh probably when I was 15 or 16 I found them, maybe a little older, but I've loved them. They have all these different prints, and I chose the hot air balloon and the carousel prints from them, if you know anything about them. But it's just so cute and sweet and baby-ish in quality materials, so that's the theme I'm going with, and then I'm gonna incorporate it with a bunch of stripes and antique um furniture and swans. The mobile that I ordered is a swan or that my parents ordered, it was on my registry. And yeah, so her uh I wanted to do wallpaper, but then I got a quote, so I wanted to do striped wallpaper, and I do not trust myself or anyone in my immediate family to not mess up the stripes because it's stripes, like so hard, right? We've seen like that scene in movies all the time where they're trying to put up wallpaper, and uh I got quoted for $1,600, and I was like, uh, that is not happening. I am not paying $1,600 to install wallpaper, plus you had to buy the wallpaper. So we're doing like this really cool trim thing, uh like a painted trim, almost like it'll look like the whole wall is a picture frame, and um, I think that it's gonna turn out really, really cute. We're using Scout's old crib, which I love. It's from Nestid, it's the Wave Crib. You can do it as a mini crib, a toddler bed, and a full-size crib. And I cannot say enough about that brand in general. Nestig is amazing. I got Scout's mobile from Nestig too. Uh yeah, it's an incredible, incredible company. Quality crib, safety-wise, everything is just really great, which is important to me. We're using the same mattress that Scout used because we paid a lot for it. It's a breathable mattress, uh, the one that I really wanted. So we were using a lot of Scout's things actually. Like even some of his clothes that I knew that I could make uh that were that I can make into a girl, like especially like his little red bubbles and things like that, that we can put some red shoes and stockings and a cute red bow, you know. Um, so I saved a lot of those things. I think boy things, I only saved a few things. It was really sad getting rid of all of his little boy stuff because I know that this will be our last baby. So, um, got rid of a lot of that stuff, and it was very, very heartbreaking. But I can't keep everything. Nobody's gonna want everything. Him in particular. Being a boy, probably will not want much of it. But I do know I treasure the things that my husband's mom kept of his, so hopefully he'll marry somebody that will treasure the beautiful things that I did keep of his. But let's see what else has been going on. Our church has been doing so well. We had Easter, which is always so much fun. A man from our church brought some baby goats, and Scout, of course, loved those. We have been. I uh I am taking an extended leave of absence from my job. Things just got very, very overwhelming. Um, during pregnancy, you know, hormones are going crazy, mental health's going crazy, and I was like, you know, this is probably the time. I want to stay home with my kids for a little bit, but I'm looking for another way to make some money. I'm thinking a lot of ideas. So I'm thinking like a children's boutique or something, a flower, I don't know. Something. Something stress-free, something fun, something that I enjoy, something that I'm passionate about. I might start like a thrifting site, I don't know. But um, thinking of all those things, but none of those things are gonna get accomplished until well after baby is born, of course. But uh yeah, so church is going well, home's going well. I've started like a new cleaning schedule. Being home is definitely an adjustment. I have so much respect for all of you stay-at-home moms. Um, I love it. It's so much fun, and I have so much bonding time with my son. But the first few weeks I feel like we just sat around and then I was like, no, we have to create some type of routine. So I have like a cleaning routine, we go out sometimes, you know, being this pregnant going out is an ordeal, but um, you know, we do fun things here at the house: chalk, painting, uh, coloring books, playing monster trucks. Like, it's so important to me to actually have like a routine during the day. Like, we get dressed, we take a shower, we do, we brush our teeth, we do all these things. We're not just gonna stay in PJs all day. I'm gonna start teaching him the alphabet. I want him to learn to read in a year. So we're gonna start with those uh type of things soon. Um, he is three, so this time next year we will be looking for preschools, which is crazy to me, but and heartbreaking, but I am very excited about that process too. But I think that's all the oh, I took my maternity pictures, so much fun. My friend Liv took them. She's incredible. If you go to my Instagram, I'm sure she's tagged a million times in those pictures. She did a great job. I'm wearing my mom's dress in that, a dress that she wore all the time when I was a kid, so in her like mid 30s and 40s, and um, I think it's an iconic outfit. It's like a cute sheath dress that's like this certain material, very 2000s, right? And then it has this jacket that matches the print exactly. It's divine. And I was looking for a dress, couldn't find anything, ordered one from Amazon. I looked like an actual elephant in it. It was terrible. And so I was like, well, I'll just I was my mom was showing me some things that she had found in in not in storage, but that had been packed away. And she was like, look, here's some things from when you were a baby, here's some different things, and she was like, and I found these clothes of mine from when I was younger, and she pulled this dress out, and I remember her wearing it so clearly, and so um I was like, Yeah, that's it. That's the color I want, that's the vibe I want. It was just perfect. It was probably the week before my maternity photo, so it worked out really well, and it's so special, you know. Um, also in those photos, my husband bought me a five-year um marriage ring, anniversary ring. There we go. Our fifth year, our five-year anniversary is in September, and so he bought me that. Uh, I designed it on Olive Avenue. If you have never, if you like like custom pieces, Olive Avenue is the way to go. Very affordable, very easy to work with. So many different beautiful options, so many, and they'll work with you like no response was more than 24 hours. Like it was an absolutely flawless process. So I designed it and then I sent it, and then they were like, and I was like, but my husband's gonna buy it on his time, like he wants to have that, like he wants to give it to me, you know, in his time and stuff. And so they just gave me like this reference number, and he just gave the person the reference number, and they pulled up exactly what my design was, and it was amazing. I took one of their designs, changed the gemstone, changed the setting, um, and it turned out so beautiful. It's like a um an emerald cut diamond on the bottom, and then it's a um an actual emerald, a circle emerald, a round emerald on the top, and it's dainty and tiny, and it's exactly what I wanted. Um, but yeah, it's yeah, it's pretty amazing. And I can't believe we've been married five years, which is just absolutely insane. But but yeah, so I think those are most of my life updates. Um baby's doing well, she's growing well. Uh every ultrasound, she is getting bigger and bigger. No worries, nothing that has triggered any type of anything. Um, I'm feeling good as far as like nausea and stuff goes. It's just hard to get around, you know. Um, but yeah, we're we're in the final stretch here, which I'm so excited about. But let's get into a few of my favorite things spring and summer. Because I saw this on one of my favorite podcasts, and I thought it was really fun. And I have a lot of these, so some of them I might rush through, but some of them I'm definitely gonna explain. Um the first one I have on here is polka dots, particularly black and white polka dots. Also love pink and white, red and white, blue and white, but polka dots are all the rage right now, and it used to be little polka dots, and I always thought like bigger polka dots were kind of cringy, but not anymore, sisters. The big polka dots have made a return. Nothing I like more than a black and white polka dot with a red shoe, red watch. Nothing I like more than an all-black ensemble with embossed polka dots and a red glasses, you know, like just that look that's so cute, so iconic, a little bit Italian. Um, love a tiered polka dot dress, skirt. I've even seen the tier skirts where each tier is a different color polka dot. So stinking cute. Loving mixing polka dots and stripes. Stripes are all the rage, all the rage, the thick stripes, which I love. I know it's trendy and I do not care. I love it. I love it. I love it on kids, I love it in decor. I love it on me. I just, you know, the thick stripes are it just is what it is. It's amazing. But yeah, polka dots and stripes and checkered stuff, like think embosh checkered, like almost seersucker. Um cute little like Scout has a pair of pants that are like kind of bubble pants and they're checkered, red and white. So cute. The color red is another one of my favorite things this year. Always has been, really. I love the bright red. I love candy red, and it's making a huge comeback, especially when paired with like blue and white, like red, white, and blue uh stripes, things like that that are just timeless and so cute. Anything beaded. So if you follow my beaded bag hunts, um I like anything beaded. I've always liked anything beaded. I've always loved my wedding dress, it was beaded. Um, I've had so many beaded ensembles, it feels very 80s or 90s, but the beaded bags in particular from TJ Maxx and Marshall's, they are very kind of a modern twist on an 80s trend. I'm loving the shape of the bags, the cute, a lot of them are like food themed or like beach themed, animal themed, just so stinking cute. I'm looking for the rare ones, so I'm looking for like certain ones, but they're just so cute and they elevate an outfit. I get so many colors. I only have two because I'm being so picky. I have one that I bought six months ago without even knowing about any of this, and apparently it was the hottest one last year, so I'm like proud of myself for that. But it was it's completely white, beaded, like with striped beads. I don't because the beads can go either way, but these ones are like up and down. What is that? Vertical. I always have to think about vertical and horizontal, but it's white, and then it has the cutest red lobsters all over it, so it's red and white, again, back to the red that I'm just obsessed with. Um, and then the one that I just bought, I'm looking at it right now on my desk. It's green and white striped, and it has like an oyster can uh with sardines, and it says sardines and oysters, has a cute green handle. I like the beaded handles best. I don't really like the metal handles on them. Oh, I also love the bamboo handles on them, but there's so many options. You need to go look at them, okay? And I know it might be a splurge, but for a birthday or for a Christmas present, like you can splurge. And there's so many cute ones. I one particular one I love is the white veggie one. So that might be my next purchase. I haven't seen it in person yet, though, but it is so cute. Okay. Another one of my favorite things, again, a continuation of last spring and summer is matcha. Whenever spring and summer comes, when the sun comes out, I like a matcha, an iced matcha. It's so good. If you're if you still think matcha tastes like grass, you need to get better matcha. It's so good. Put it with some oatmeal. Milk, add a little bit of strawberry cold foam, blueberry cold foam, regular cold foam. I don't even add cold foam to it anymore. I don't even like them that sweet. It's like a progression. It's like how coffee is. You like it sweet at first when you first start drinking it, and then eventually you like it just black, okay? So um, I love a matcha. I even like a Starbucks matcha, I don't even care. They're so good. I'm a Starbucks fan till I die. I do not care. I love Starbucks, and it might just be the nostalgia of it. But at Starbucks right now, another favorite is the strawberry asaii refresher. An icon. She's an icon. I got her when I was 13, and I will continue to get her. I like it with water. My husband loves it with lemonade. People like it all kinds of ways, but I just like it with water. It's so good and so refreshing. It actually has quite a bit of caffeine in it. Okay, another favorite thing. We have fresh flowers. I have fresh flowers all over my house right now. Buy some rose bushes and plant them in your backyard. Like get the flowers around you in the spring. Lean into each season. That's what I always say. Lean into cozy season during fall and winter. Lean into, you know, fresh flowers, sunlight, walks, all those things in spring and summer. And each one is a little bit different. Like summer, you're gonna go more beachy. It's gonna be more water sports, like these type of things. Spring is more flowers and upbeat, and you can stay outside longer because it's not as hot here in Texas. Winter's gonna be, you know, snow, super cozy, super stay in, super whatever. Fall's gonna be like, you know, you can still take some walks, but you need a light jacket, you need cardigans. Lean into the seasons and all the things to do in the seasons. Like, I really think that our bodies, our minds, and everything are meant to go along with the season. Okay. I really think that that sounds so like weird. But God made seasons, so why is that weird? And he made our minds and he made our bodies. So fresh flowers. Thrifting as always. This is gonna, if I ever do a favorites episode, it's gonna have thrifting on it. Because I went thrifting today. This is the first time I've gone in a few months. And first of all, why because I live in the metro? Is thrifting like so expensive here? It's so annoying. When I lived in East Texas, Lufkin Nacadoches, thrifting was like at its prime because you could buy things for $2, bro. $2, $3, $4. You saw super cute things, handkerchiefs, 50 cents, whatever. Not here, not here. I saw this little set of like cocker spin rolls was decor, and they were polka dot and they were so stinking cute. $200. I get it, it's vintage. Like I get it. But $200, bro, is gonna keep sitting there. Ain't nobody gonna buy it. So why are you charging that for it, you know? But I did find some cute things. I passed a lot of cute things too. I passed a lot of cute baby girl clothes because it was just so expensive. $50 and $60 for an outfit, I just couldn't do it. But then this precious little hand-embroided outfit with little rosebuds that was pink and it had like blue embroidery, $12, so cute. And then I bought my mom a little Mother's Day gift in there as well. But I'm always like, thrifting is such a spring thing to do. I don't know, I don't know what it is. Okay, decluttering. I've been on my decluttering journey and getting ready for not just the baby, but even before that, like I woke up one day and I was like, I just have too much stuff that I don't use that isn't like toys that Scout has outgrown, clothes that I don't like anymore, which I need to go through my clothes again, probably because my closet is getting very full, but just like a lot of things, so I've been on my decluttering and now my house does not look cluttered. Um, and I think that's also because of this is my next one, my new cleaning schedule. So I've been really intentional about keeping every ounce of this house clean. And every ounce, every inch. That was my pregnancy brain. I'm sorry about that. But every inch of this house is clean. I've been cleaning the bathrooms, I've been cleaning every countertop, no cobwebs, and it just makes my life a lot easier. I usually spend about an hour in the morning, that's all it takes. Um, now with a kid, you can't expect there not to be toys everywhere, and I don't stress myself out about that. I clean up the toys when he goes to bed. And the toys are the thing that I let stress me the least. If I just throw them in his room sometimes, then I just throw them in his room. I'll clean his room about once a week and get it really good, but I'm not gonna stress about that because if I cleaned up after him, I would clean up after him 10 times a day with his monster trucks. Like I'm not kidding. Because we're in that monster truck little era of life. And I want to take him to Monster Jam so bad, but it doesn't come into town until January. And I'm literally praying that he uh is still into monster trucks at that point. But um the cleaning schedule has really helped me. Um doing sheets once a week, doing, you know, and when it's just really freed up a lot of my time to be able to do these things, um, like I want to do them. It's not, it doesn't feel like survival. It feels like, you know, I'm starting to enjoy it. The only thing I don't enjoy is putting up laundry. I hate putting up laundry. I put it off to the last second, which is not good. I know, but I do. Okay. Okay, something else that I love seaside vibes. So think lobsters, crabs, seashells, red with a blue and with blue and white stripes, all that almost like Maine, uh, East Coast, um, Rhode Island type look. That's what I love. I love an embroidered lobster on a blue sweater. It's so specific. I love like I don't know, it's just this certain vibe that's so cute with like a cute printed skirt and like some flats, like just that vibe with soft curled hair. I don't know how to explain it, but it's like seaside but classy, it's so cute, and um, I'm obsessed. Uh TJ Maxx and places like that are having a lot of different shirts that are this style that have like your cute seaside looks on them that are just divine and so cute. Okay, striped umbrellas, of course, getting into spring and summer. Um, I love a black and white, I love a yellow and white, red and white, blue and white, green and white, pink and white. Love a striped umbrella. Um, unique vases. You can find them for relatively cheap at thrift stores, anything that's gonna elevate the look in your house that's not just clear. I love a clear vase, but um things with weird shapes, things that are a little bit messed up, that are handmade, maybe some hand-blown glass that has some imperfections in it, that has like the striping on it, um, just something different, something that you're not gonna see on Amazon. That's what I'm looking for in vases, and then putting fresh flowers in them. So cute. Roman bus. I've been into Roman Bus now for three years. I have the viral uh anthropology one before it was viral, and um I've I found another beautiful one right before Daisy's shower, and it has angel wings. It's like a cherub, a cherub? Cherub? Is that what it's called? Cherubum, I don't know. Like it's kind of like the baby angel, but it's just a bust and it's so cute. And then I have two um other busts, and then I just found a vase bust that's black. So I have busts all around my house. I love them. They're getting expensive because they're getting popular, but I was on this trend many many moons ago. I just want to tell y'all that. But um, all the Roman influences are just so cute and pretty, and I and I love drop waists. I can't pull them off because I'm 34 weeks pregnant, but they are very cute, very, very cute. 80s vibes, like I said, are coming back, especially with the smock top and the drop waist. I think um, and I do love it. I do, but I just don't think I can pull it off in this season of life. Maybe this time next year we'll see. Big bold glasses. Kaelin Strawn, my mother, has always worn big bold glasses. And they I've always loved them, but now they're making a huge, a huge comeback. Um, they don't have to be real glasses, it can be blue light, it can be even just fake. But I like a huge rim that's um a different color, something that matches what you're wearing, a stripe, a polka dot, something super cute. Black and white polka dot ones would be so cute because you could wear them with so much. A loafer that is a cute color, particularly like a Kelly Green. I'm loving Kelly Green, loving all the bright colors all together. Um, kind of giving like a 70s vibe, but elevated. Um, you know the 70s vibe where it was like the blues and the oranges and the yellows, but elevated, like, because we're gonna add purple, we're gonna add pink, we're gonna add all these different things. Um, so cute. Uh, dewy face look, so hydration always. Like, find the moisturizer that works for you. Use uh use a little Vaseline, use something to get that dewy face look with the slick back. Like, there's nothing chicer or cuter with the blazer, like it just there just isn't use toner, use something at night, use an eye cream. That's one of the hardest parts about pregnancy is you can't use retinol, and there's like a lot of different skincare items that you can't use, so that's always a bummer. Slippers in the house, get cute slippers, uh, cleaning schedule already did that one. Chocolate. Oh, I've been on such a chocolate kick. Uh, like chocolate fudge, chocolate dipped apples, um, all the different things. Physical books, I'm always on that. I like to hold a physical book. A candle is not the same to me. Wavy patterns. So, like wavy patterns for picture frames, wavy patterns for uh mirror frames, cute, unique mirrors, things like that. Anything that's gonna catch somebody's eye and say, Oh, that's different. You know, that's kind of what I'm into right now. Streppy Hills and Sandals always for the spring and summer. Always, always, always. I have this pair from Target that has like a flower on the front, and I will always love them. Always. They're just divine. Divine. I said stripes and prints galore. Think the Grand Hotel in Mackinac Island. Look it up. Prince on Prince on Prince, Cheetah on stripes on polka dots. I do not care. Give me the maximalist style, like the most that you can do. Give me tin brooches, give me a headband. I don't care. You know, like put it all together, it's gonna be cute, okay? Give me feathers, give me textures, give me I just love it. I just love it all. Give me a unique shoe. Why are we still buying boring shoes? We don't need to be, okay? Uh, the porch goose. I do not have one. I have asked for a porch goose as a push present. We will see what happens. If you don't know what a porch goose is, it's a cute little ceramic goose of different types. There's many different types of them, and you dress them up for different seasons, occasions. I don't, it's so cute to me. So I want a porch goose trinket. I'm a trinket girly. I like a cute salt and pepper shaker, I like a cute gold something or another on a shelf. And I can you can go overboard with this. We all know that trinket cabinet, like at your grandma's, you know, so don't go overboard. But if something really catches your eye, you can find a place for it. Just like don't let something catch your eye every time you go into a thrift store. You know what I mean? Like, prioritize your purchases. That's what I've been doing. And it's hard because I like a lot of things, but prioritize them just because it's on sale, don't get it. Like, do you really like it? Are you gonna think about it when you get home? That's kind of my measure for like clothes and thrifting and everything. It's like, well, am I gonna think about that when I get home? You know, am I gonna regret not buying it? That's kind of what I judge it by, you know? And sometimes it happens. Sometimes I'll go home and I'll be thinking about it and then I'll go back and buy it. And sometimes it's gone, but or I'll see something on Amazon and then I'll keep thinking about it, you know, like kind of let that be your kind of let that be your judge. Gold. I'm a gold over silver girl all day long. All day long. Love gold. Love gold. I think that's kind of the Roman. I love Roman decor, so I think that's kind of where that comes from, okay? Dopamine mornings, upbeat music, sunlight, turning all the lights on, making sure all the windows, like there's no um curtains in front of the windows, making your morning so much better, cooking a cute breakfast, doing all the things, okay? Matching PJ sets. There was a time when I did not care. I definitely care now. I want them to be comfortable and I want them to be cute, okay? They don't have to be expensive. Tons of places have great sales on cute PJs. I saw the cutest Ralph Lauren PJs the other day. They were like, I'm sorry, I'm like breathing so heavy, I like cannot breathe. But they were pink and white striped, and then they had like one green stripe every three stripes. Had the big Ralph Lauren uh logo on them. They were only $30. They're at TJ Maxx. They were so cute. I almost bought them, but I already have four pairs of uh pink and white striped PJs, so I did not, but coconut water, particularly body armor, the fruit punch. Have you tasted that? It's so good. It's so good and it's so hydrating. It's amazing. Sunshine every single day. This is a non-negotiable. If it's not raining, I'm getting some sunshine. I'm going out in my backyard, I'm taking a walk, I'm doing something because it makes my day better. It's fun if you have kids, they can run around outside. You can read a book, you know. Get out in the sun. Get out in the sun. I'm gonna repeat it. If you are having mental health issues, get out in the sun. I'm talking to myself here. Get out in the sun. Okay. Themes for rooms. Like your whole house doesn't just have to be gray. My kitchen is apple themed, which I've never posted one thing about my kitchen. Maybe I'll do that soon. But it I found this one cute thing that says an apple a day keeps the doctor away, and then I themed the whole kitchen around it. It's so cute. It's so cute. And um yeah, have themes for rooms. We need to bring that back. Everything doesn't have to just be open and no theme, okay? Uh Ralph Lauren always. Clean cars. Preaching to myself in this one. My car is currently clean. It is not always clean, but I feel so much better when it is clean. So I'm gonna try like so hard to keep it clean, okay? Easy exercises, doing some yoga on the floor, doing some stretches, things like that to just keep your body limber. I'm speaking to myself here, especially being pregnant. Okay, Ralph Lauren, did I already see that one? Always, yeah. Coach slouch bags right now. I'm not willing to pay the price, but I will once they go on clearance or go to the outlet stores. They're so cute, especially the suede ones. I'm thinking by the time it's fall, when I'll want a suede one, they're gonna be going to the outlet stores. So maybe I'm gonna ask for that for Christmas. They're so cute. Updos and slick backs. Let's say that again. Updos and slick backs. So chic with a middle part. So cute. Do some curls to frame your face with an updo. Do that almost like floppy bun and then pin your curls up around it. So stinking cute. Straw sun hats. Particularly printed straw sun hats. Think Audrey Hepburn. Um, I think Marilyn Monroe. That type of look. So cute. Multiple brooches, neck scarves, purse scarves, all the things. I'm loving scarves, whether tied around the waist. I've always been a scarf girl, but tied around the neck, tied around the waist, tied around the purse. Tied around. I've even seen where they take a crossbody and you take the um chain off or the strap off and you put a scarf in there and knot it on each side and use that as your cross, the cross strap. So cute. So cute. And you could even make certain purses that were crossbodies into not crossbodies, like into shoulder bags, doing that trick. It's so cute.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Okay. Um tool layer for everyone, but even a table, decor-wise, in general.

SPEAKER_02 38:20

Like Cowgirl hats.

SPEAKER_01 38:33

Just got a custom one. Obsessed. Obsessed with all the cowgirl aesthetic. The glitz, the glamour, the tassels, the embroidery, the leather. Obsessed, obsessed, obsessed. Okay. Uh veggie and fruit prints, whether on purses or clothes or decor, pillows, um, so cute. Homemade everything. Homemade bread, homemade desserts, homemade pasta, homemade everything, homemade uh gifts for Mother's Day for your mom, from your kids, homemade, just everything. Just make it homemade. Just do it. It's gonna be more unique. It's gonna be cuter. If you fail, you fail. Then you know you don't know how to make that. Who cares? But if you don't fail, then you have this super cute piece that you made with your kids or that you know that you made from your own, you know, head. Um, grandma activities such as mahjong, needlepoint.

SPEAKER_00 39:27

Do I do either of these things? No, I want to go back.

SPEAKER_01 39:33

Activity, um, like crocheting, all these different grandma themed things. They are good for the brain. Repetitive motions are good for the brain, even if it's just coloring, anything like that. Upbeat music in the mornings, when you're having a bad day. Turn on some brighter day by Kirk Franklin, you know, it's gonna make your day better. Baby Cats, my mom's cat had kittens. They're so cute, so lovey, make my day better. Small town vibes. I don't know what it is. Go to a thrift store, a coffee shop, in a small town, a flower shop, your day's gonna get better. In the metro, it's hard to find that same vibe. I know there's so much, there's so many options, but you just don't get the same vibe as like a small town diner with a milkshake. You know what I mean? Um, and then family time, of course. Spring and summer is the best time for family time. And plan your vacations. It does not have to be big, you don't even have to go anywhere. Just do a staycation where y'all do some fun things, be a tourist in your own city, go somewhere that's like an adjacent city, like uh figure out something, okay? In the summer activities, all the things, okay? Um, so those are some of my favorite things. I hope you enjoyed. Tell me if you agree with any of them. And so it's been 40 minutes. Didn't intend to go this long, but we're out, bro.