Things I’m Loving Friday #284

Hello from Itasca, Illinois! I flew to Chicago yesterday afternoon for a super-short blog trip. I’m here with NOW Foods for a brand immersion experience and will be back in Charlotte around 10 p.m. this evening. It’s a fast trip but so far it’s been a really fun one! Plus, I’m spending time with two of my longtime blogging buddies, Anne and Gina, which is a definite highlight for me!

As far as the weekend in concerned, it’s Ryder’s first birthday weekend! He turns one on Tuesday and my parents will be celebrating with us. I’m not sure what’s on the agenda right now but I know it will include cake and lots of family time!

Now I have to get movin’ and head out to meet up with the NOW Foods crew but first let’s dive right into my usual Things I’m Loving Friday roundup of favorites, shall we? As always, feel free to share a little bit about something you’re loving in the comments section of this post!

Things I’m Loving Friday

• Pullen Park in Raleigh, NC

Earlier this week, my mom, Chase, Ryder and I took a little road trip to visit my Aunt Laurie, Uncle Drew and my cousin, Andrew. (My mom arrived in Charlotte early to spend time with the boys and watch them during my blog travels this week. She’s seriously the BEST.) I loved catching up with everyone and spending time at Pullen Park, a gorgeous 66-acre park located in Raleigh.

My aunt has raved about Pullen Park for years and said the boys would love it and she was absolutely correct! The park has playground equipment for kids of all ages, paddle boats, a carousel, motorized kiddie boats and even a train!

The park and playgrounds are free to enjoy but tickets for each activity cost $1.50, so it’s all very affordable and a kid paradise! It’s absolutely worth a day trip to the park if you live within driving distance and we easily spent three hours at Pullen Park before heading home. The boys had so much fun and I loved it, too!

• Free People Dupe Bralette (with Light Padding!)

I love the Free People Adella bralette and wear it all the time but my one complaint with that bralette is that I wish it was lined. Well, I did some digging and I found a dupe for the bralette that has light padding and I LOVE it! (I’m wearing it in the above photo and also in the Pullen Park pics.) It’s just as comfy as the Free People Bralette but the padding gives my small chest a little help and makes the bralette much more appealing for me since I’m still nursing. (I just lift it up when I nurse but I like that it has padding just in case I happen to leak a bit.) It’s available in lots of colors and $14 cheaper than the Free People version as well. I ended up ordering this version in three colors because I knew I would wear these bralettes so often!

• Cookie Plate with Mimi’s Cookie Recipe

I ordered these cookie plates with my grandmother’s sugar cookie recipe printed on them for my mom and my Aunt Laurie for Mother’s Day this year and was so excited with how they turned out! I brought my Aunt Laurie’s cookie plate along with me to Raleigh this week for her to open and the timing could not have been better because we were actually talking about how much we all loved Mimi’s sugar cookies two minutes before she unwrapped her cookie plate!

I used the Etsy shop Prairie Hill Pottery to order the cookie plates and just had to scan the recipe card with Mimi’s handwriting on it to send their way before it was printed on the cookie plates. I hope the cookie plates make my mom and aunt smile whenever they see Mimi’s gorgeous handwriting and make her delicious cookies!

• The Mother-In-Law by Sally Hepworth

I’ve read a few of Sally Hepworth’s novels in the past and loved them (I highly recommend The Family Next Door) and when this book popped up as a recommended read for me on my Kindle, I skimmed the reviews and it sounded quite interesting!

The Mother-In Law jumps back and forth from the past to the present and follows the lives of Lucy and Diana, two women connected by their love of Ollie, Lucy’s husband and Diana’s son. Lucy always dreamed of having a close relationship with her mother-in-law but after meeting Diana, her hopes of feeling a maternal warmth from her husband’s mother were quickly squashed. While Lucy and Diana’s relationship was far from warm, she finds herself reeling after the police knock on the door and inform Lucy and Ollie that Diana is dead from an apparent suicide. Questions follow and Lucy and Ollie quickly realize the police do not believe Diana caused her own death so two questions remain… How did Diana really die and who killed her?

I loved the writing in this book and enjoyed the way it jumped back and forth between the past and the present and gave the reader insight into why the characters behaved the way they did toward each other. I also loved seeing relationships grow and change in a believable way and it kept me interested an engaged until the very last page.

• Friday Flashbacks

Cilantro Shrimp (I made this recipe again this week to eat salad-style with avocado, cherry tomatoes and brown rice and it was fabulous!)

What To Pack In Hospital Bag for Baby #2 (I didn’t share a hospital bag packing list for baby #1 because I had no idea what I would need! I shared this list of the things I packed to bring to the hospital when I had baby #2 since I had a much better grasp on what I would and would not need.)

Question of the Day

What is one thing you’re loving this week?