Things I’m Loving Friday #283

Hello, hello! By the time you’re reading this blog post, I’m likely on my way to Utah or already exploring Park City with three of my best friends.

I am so, so ready for some quality time with Carrie, Leah and Michaela — we’ve been BFFs since elementary school! — and I have been looking forward to our girls’ weekend for months! We found an adorable VRBO house in a great location and have a distillery tour, lots of exploring and even some spa time on the agenda. Bring it on!

Since I don’t arrive back in Charlotte until close to midnight on Sunday, I’m hoping I’ll have time to recap our weekend for you on the flight home so I can share the fun on the blog on Monday. Until then, I wanted to stick to my usual Friday shenanigans and share my weekly Things I’m Loving Friday roundup of favorites with you guys.

I hope you all have a fantastic weekend!

Things I’m Loving Friday 

• Build Me Up Buttercup Pandora Station

Ryan started playing this Pandora station in our house a few weeks ago and we agreed that it’s one of the best! Practically every song is a hit and this station results in a lot of sing-a-longs and dance parties for our family. It’s also pretty kid-friendly and very happy and uplifting. If you’re looking for a throwback station to listen to during a cookout or a pool party this summer, I highly recommend this one!

• Teleties + Hair Tie Power Rankings

One of my friends gave me these hair ties for my birthday and they quickly claimed a place on my “best hair ties ever” list! I feel kind of ridiculous for having a list of hair ties I love so much but since I wear my hair up pretty much every single day, I suppose it’s no surprise.

Teleties seem stronger than the Invisibobble and don’t stretch out nearly as quickly. (Plus, they’re cuter when I wear them on my wrist!) I’ve been wearing Teleties in my hair more than any other hair tie lately because they seem to combine what I love about the Invisibobble (the decrease in ponytail creasing, less pulling and damage to my hair) but they have a stronger grip so I can wear them to the gym and feel confident they will stay in place. (Note: I still use and love Invisibobbles. They’re the hair tie I wear in my hair to bed every night and since I feel like they cause the least amount of creasing and allow me to keep my waves in tact overnight after styling.) As for the third hair tie on my hair tie power rankings list, Goody’s Ouchless Forever Hair Elastics are my go-to for keeping messy buns and ponytails in place during intense workouts. If I know my workout is going to involve jumping or running, they’re the hair ties I go for every time because they don’t budge and have some serious staying power!

• The Banker’s Wife by Cristina Alger

I added this book to my must-read list for the summer after a couple of you recommended it to me and it was a serious page turner! As I alluded to in Wednesday’s blog post, I flew through this book and really enjoyed the twists and turns.

The Banker’s Wife begins when a private plane with only two passengers takes off for Geneva and completely drops off the radar. Its remains are later located in the Alps and the widow of Matthew Werner, a private banker for Swiss United, an offshore bank with shady practices and an ever shadier client list, is informed of the crash. Annabel Werner is shocked and heartbroken but her feelings of devastation are quickly accompanied by questions that lead her to determine her husband’s death was no accident. As Annabel continues to dig, she finds herself face-to-face with some powerful and extremely dangerous people.

At the same time Annabel finds herself searching for answers, Marina Tourneau, a driven journalist engaged to Grant Ellis, the son of presidential hopeful James Ellis, agrees to help her boss on a story that results in the murder of her boss only days later. The story involves digging into the client list at Swiss United, the very bank where Matthew Werner worked before his death, and Marina quickly uncovers information that could destroy the lives of some of the most powerful men in the world, including some she may soon call family.

• Brandless Baby Food

Brandless Instagram ads followed me around like crazy for months! I kept seeing various organic food and baby items advertised for $1-3 and was very intrigued both by the price point of their items and the concept. Brandless builds direct relationships with suppliers, eliminating extra costs associated with distribution costs, wholesale to retail markups so they can offer quality products at more affordable prices. Not long after I saw a million IG ads for Brandless, the company reached out to me offering to send me an assortment of items from their site. I jumped at the chance to try a few of their baby-related products and was incredibly impressed! I made sure to snap a picture of the four remaining products we have in our pantry right now since Ryder flew through everything they sent! The standouts were the organic baby food pouches (the organic pear, spinach, kale and pea and the organic pear, banana, pumpkin and squash were his favs) and the organic banana baby teething wafers. I also liked their diapers but they are a little on the thin side, so not ideal for overnight sleeping but they worked great for daytime!

• P is for Psychology by Dr. Natasha Schvey

When the author of this children’s book, Dr. Natasha Schvey, an Assistant Professor of Psychology and licensed clinical psychologist (and a blog reader since 2010!) reached out to me about her first children’s book and offered to send a copy to Chase, I couldn’t wait to read it with him. Chase is such a curious kid with a million questions about everything and when we read this book together for the first time before bed, it took us a solid 30 minutes to read because he was so interested in all of the new words, new people and new ideas on every page. He was ALL IN!

The book is quite advanced for little ones in that it’s an alphabet book (A is for Attachment, B is for Brain, etc.) with an index of terms in the back to help explain everything but anyone with an interest in psychology who wants to begin talking about psychology with kids would likely enjoy this books as a way to begin this type of conversation. As a parent, I was grateful I had a bit of psychology knowledge from a college course in my back pocket to pull from when I read this book with Chase and I’m sure anyone out there with a greater knowledge of psychology would be all about this one, especially if they enjoy explaining various aspects of psychology to curious kiddos!

• Around the Web

Food: Curry Turkey Burgers / Family Meal Ideas / Banana Coconut Muffins

Fitness: 15 Minute Power Yoga Workout / Lower Body AMRAP Workout / 5 Personal Trainer Red Flags

• Friday Flashbacks

30-Minutes-or-Less At Home Workouts (A collection of short but effective workouts you can do anywhere. No equipment needed!)

Recipe Superlatives (A roundup of recipe superlatives featuring some of my favorite recipes you may have missed, overlooked or forgot about throughout the years.)

Question of the Day

What is one thing making you smile this week?