And for those of you who stopped by this blog for this week’s collection of favorites, keep on scrolling to see a roundup of a few small things that made me smile this week. Happy Friday, friends!
Things I’m Loving Friday
It felt like fall officially arrived in North Carolina this week. I was all about comfy layered looks, crockpot dinners and long walks with Pepper in the cool, crisp air. And I absolutely loved lighting up some of my favorite fall candles in our home this week! During the autumn months, I love scents that remind me of crackling campfires, cozy nights at home snuggled up under a blanket and little sprinkles of pumpkin and cinnamon.
I have a few go-to candles I love for different reasons and burning them in our home all week long felt like such a treat. I used to “save” candles but now I light them and enjoy them because they truly are such a small thing that relaxes me and brings me so much joy. Here are few of my clean-scented favorites:
ILLUME Woodfire Candle: I first discovered this candle at Whole Foods and it blew me away. That sounds dramatic, I know, but it smelled so wonderfully unique. With warm, woodsy notes that reminded me of a crackling fire, I was instantly obsessed. It became a go-to Christmas gift for me to give last year (even my dad loves it to burn in his office!) and it’s the kind of scent that seems to appeal to both men and women. Ryan loves it, I love it and it’s become a fall/winter favorite in our house. Ugh, it’s just so good. (Note: The ILLUME 3-pack of winter candles are all absolutely amazing. 10/10 recommendation from me!)
Skylar Fall Cashmere: Ryan gifted me my first Skylar candle for Christmas a couple of years ago and I fell in love with the clean candle brand at the first whiff of their vanilla sky scent. The candles are a splurge but they burn so well and their scents fill a room in the most subtly amazing way. They don’t overtake your space but are present enough to add coziness to the room, especially when the scent is their fall cashmere scent. The candle is a blend of cinnamon bark (but it’s not an overwhelming cinnamon!), spiced almond and ginger and it’s bright but still comforting and cozy. I’m not sure if this one has been discontinued becuase I don’t see it on their site anymore, but if you come across it somewhere, scoop it up immediately!
Dhev Spiced Woods: Confession: I was a sucker and signed myself up for a FabFitFun subscription last year. I’ve got to be honest, I’ve absolutely loved it and had so much fun selecting new-to-me finds and some of my favorite items to ship with each quarterly box. (One thing I didn’t anticipate loving was the discounts on items always available which has come in very handy for gifting to others as well. We’re talking items from brands like Living Proof, Beyond Yoga, Sweaty Betty and Voluspa!) Anyway, one of my most recent FabFitFun deliveries included a candle I selected to try for the first time from Dhev. This spiced woods scent is the perfect fall-to-winter scent as it incorporates the comforting scents of cedarwood, vanilla and warm spices. (Note: I found one new candle resale on Poshmark in case it’s of interest!)
Aka a product to help prevent marital disputes in our house! When we built our home, we installed towel hooks in our bathroom and a towel rod outside of our shower, all of which have proved to be very useful. Our 2 towel hooks are taken over by robes and the boys’ towels (they shower and bathe in our bathroom) and our towel rod holds Ryan and my towels. After Ryan’s workouts, he likes to air-dry his sweaty clothes before putting them in the laundry hamper so they aren’t wet and extra stinky. This means his sweaty shirts are often draped over our bathtub. Nooot my favorite thing. So you can only imagine my joy when I saw these suction cup hooks on Amazon! I had a feeling they would be the answer to this sweaty clothing conundrum and after installing them in our shower last week, I’m happy to report all of Ryan’s sweaty clothing now has a place to dry in our shower before it’s ready to be washed. Oh happy day. Oh happy marriage. (And yes, I used towels on the hooks in this pic to spare you a photo of his sweaty workout clothes hanging in our shower.) A big bonus: They could not have been any easier to install and are damage-free to our shower!
BEFORE:
AFTER (with Battery Daddy):
A Battery Daddy organizer was an Amazon Big Deal Days purchase I’ve actually been eyeing for more than a year. I finally got frustrated enough with a disorganized battery junk drawer that I added it to my cart and I am so glad I did! The boys actually took this one over and immediately transferred our batteries into the storage case (ya never know what will entertain kids, I’m tellin’ ya) and I instantly exhaled a sigh of relief when I saw the “after” of our battery drawer. Three cheers for better organization! I think a Battery Daddy might be one of those random gifts that ends up being a hit with guys this holiday season, as Ryan was also pretty pumped about it when I showed it to him!
My rating: A- / Genre: Historical fiction/Romance
I am a big fan of Beatriz Williams’ historical fiction novels so my expectations for this one were admittely high. The first quarter of the book was a bit of a sleeper for me but then man oh man did it pick up! I ended up reading this book until 1 a.m. earlier this week and finishing it in only a couple of nights because once I was in, I was all in! Plus, I always love a dual timeline book and waffled back and forth between which storyline I preferred which I consider a good thing.
From Amazon:
New England, 2022. Three years ago, single mother Mallory Dunne received the telephone call every parent dreads—her ten-year-old son, Sam, had been airlifted from summer camp with acute poisoning from a toxic death cap mushroom, leaving him fighting for his life. Now, searching for the donor kidney that will give her son a chance for a normal life, Mallory’s forced to confront two harrowing secrets from her past: her mother’s adoption from an infamous Irish orphanage in 1952, and her own all-consuming summer romance fourteen years earlier with her childhood best friend, Monk Adams— one of the world’s most beloved singer-songwriters—a fairy tale cut short by a devastating betrayal.
Cairo, 1951. After suffering tragedy beyond comprehension in the war, Hungarian refugee Hannah Ainsworth has forged a respectable new life for herself—marriage to a wealthy British diplomat with a coveted posting in glamorous Cairo. But a fateful encounter with the enigmatic manager of a hotel bristling with spies leads to a passionate affair that will reawaken Hannah’s longing for everything she once lost. As revolution simmers in the Egyptian streets, a pregnant Hannah finds herself snared in a game of intrigue between two men . . . and an act of sacrifice that will echo down the generations.
My rating: B / Genre: Mystery
The Night We Lost Him was my latest audiobook and it was entertaining for a background listen. (I’m not sure how enthralled I would’ve been had I read a hardcopy of the book, so this feels worth mentioning.) It felt like your average mystery but wasn’t totally predictable which I appreciated. It just lacked some of the intensity and suspense I find myself looking for in mysteries. I still liked the book though, and think those who prefer less-intense mysteries and books that center around familial relationships and secrets would enjoy this one!
From Amazon:
Liam Noone was many things to many people. To the public, he was an exacting, self-made hotel magnate fleeing his past. To his three ex-wives, he was a loving albeit distant family man who kept his finances flush and his families carefully separated. To Nora, he was a father who often loved her from afar—notably, a cliffside cottage perched on the California coast where he fell to his death.
The authorities rule the death accidental, but Nora and her estranged brother Sam have other ideas. As Nora and Sam form an uneasy alliance to unravel the mystery, they start putting together the pieces of their father’s past and uncover a family secret that changes everything.
Instant Pot Butternut Squash Beef Stew (Soup, stew and chili season is upon us and this is one of our absolute favorite comforting recipes.)
Halloween Spider Cupcakes (For anyone with a Halloween party on their calendar later this month!)
Question of the Day
What is one thing making you smile this week?
