I hope you all had a fun and festive week and enjoyed your Halloween. I’m going to dive right into today’s post since I want to chat about Halloween and that is the first bulletpoint on my list of weekly favorites! I hope you all have a wonderful weekend!
Things I’m Loving Friday #532
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Halloween 2024
Halloween was a fun one for the Fagan crew this year! It kicked off with a fairytale parade at the big kids’ school where all of the kids parade around dressed up as book characters. Chase’s costume worked well for trick-or-treating and the parade as he wanted to dress up as Willy Wonka after our family read and loved Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together last month!
(If you follow me on Instagram, you already know the drama with Chase’s Amazon delayed-and-then-canceled costume, but we put together a make-shift costume at the last minute that he thankfully absolutely loved even if it didn’t exactly look too Willy Wonka-ish to the adults out there. Ha!)
Ryder really wanted to wear Chase’s Creature Man costume from years ago and so he went as “Bug Boy” from a book all about bugs!
Pumpkin Stress Balls
I also got to spend some time in Rhett’s classroom as my fellow room mom and I organized a Halloween game and craft for the kids as well as goodie bags and a sweet treat. These little pumpkin stress balls were a huge hit for anyone who may need a fall craft idea in the future! We just had the kids fill orange balloons with rice and tied them off with green string.
As for Halloween evening, the boys changed into their costumes and Ryan and I went as skeletons which I’m pretty sure is the same thing I’ve been for the past three years. I had no idea how much use I’d get out of my Old Navy skeleton onesie but it’s been worth every penny for a lazy mom costume that still looks festive!
Chase went as Willy Wonka, Ryder went as a fire knight and Rhett dressed up as a lion!
We trick-or-treated with a bunch of our friends and it is crazy for me to think that there hasn’t been a single Halloween since Chase was one where we didn’t trick-or-treat with this same crew! It was a blast and the boys loved spending time trading and sorting their candy when we got back home which is all kinds of nostalgic to watch as it was one of my favorite things to do with my sister on Halloween as a kid, too!
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Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle
My rating: B+ / Genre: Romance/Women’s Fiction
Having previously read and loved In Five Years by Rebecca Serle, I had high hopes for Expiration Dates by the same author. (I enjoyed the book from start to finish but absolutely prefer In Five Years.) Rebecca Serle has a gift for adding a magical, unexpected twist to her romance novels that instantly piques my interest and keeps me invested in the plot from the very first page. In the case of Expiration Dates, when Daphne Bell meets a new man, she receives a little slip of paper with the name of a man on it and the duration of time their relationship will last. Daphne has received many slips of paper since this began happening years ago and the papers have all been the same: Name + The amount of time the relationship will last. That is, until now.
Daphne has plans to meet a new man named Jake on a blind date and when she receives the paper with his name on it before the date begins she is shocked. There is no timeline. No date telling her when this relationship will end. Daphne is perplexed and confused but intrigued. This must mean Jake is her “forever,” right?
As Expiration Dates continues, we’re given flashbacks into Daphne’s past relationships, her takeaways from her time with various men and the one constant in her life: Her best friend, Hugo. I loved learning more about Daphne and her unique circumstances and really enjoyed the progression of her relationship with Jake and her friendship with Hugo. The book includes a twist I didn’t see coming as well as an ending I liked a lot. It was a thoughtful, solid read I enjoyed diving into before bed every night.
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Zero Days by Ruth Ware
My rating: B / Genre: Mystery/Suspense
Ruth Ware is a go-to author for me when I am looking for a mystery that will immediately rope me in. Her books are always creative and intriguing and Zero Days was no different. I think the book could’ve been condensed a bit — it felt unnecessarily long in parts — but I still enjoyed the premise. I didn’t find it overly shocking but it wasn’t in-your-face obvious either. To sum it up: It was a decent mystery and good enough to keep me invested until the very end, even if I did find it a bit predictable. (Note: I read most of the book but also listened to the audiobook in pieces as well and loved the audiobook naration by Imogen Church!)
Honestly, the very beginning of the book was my favorite because I knew nothing about it (I downloaded it via Libby and didn’t read the plot summary) so I’m going to leave a summary off of my review, though a plot summary is easy enough to find on Amazon should you wish to head into reading this one with a little more information.
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October 2024 Top 10
Below you will find a collection of your top 10 favorites — blog posts + favorite finds — from October 2024!
Blog Posts
- 10 Healthy Ways to Eat Cottage Cheese
- How to Make Salmon Bites
- Breakfast Meal Prep Recipes
- Currently: October 2024 + Amazon Big Deal Days
- Recent Looks #8
- Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
- Banana Bread Protein Pancakes
- Easy Orange Juice Chicken Marinade
- Egg White Oatmeal Protein Pancakes
- Chicken Sausage Sweet Potato Bake
Your Top 10 Favorites
- Paula’s Choice Exfoliant (Magic in a bottle! I use this 2x a week so it lasts forever and works to even skin tone, reduce wrinkles and unclog and shrink enlarged pores.)
- Clinique Black Honey Lip Balm (So nostalgic! The Clinique classic that looks good on everyone.)
- ELEMIS Resurfacing Pads (I know myself enough by now to know I won’t wash my face in the morning but I will wipe one of these pads over my face every morning after I wake up.)
- Rocket Launcher (This thing launches crazy high!! Our boys looove it! Just make sure to use it in a big open field!)
- Crossbody Bag (The bag we’ve all loved for over a year. It looks $$$ but the pricepoint is great.)
- Floral Maxi Dress (So feminine and flattering.)
- Hidden Butt Scrunch Leggings (I was skeptical but these look fantastic on the booty!)
- Trouser Denim Pants (I adore these pants and have them in black and cream.)
- Christmas Tree Building Block Advent Calendar (Looks like Legos! I ordered this for the boys to build together this December.)
- Stainless Steel Snack Containers (The little containers I use to pack fruit for Chase and Ryder’s school snacks every day.)
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Friday Flashbacks
Cinnamon Apple Pie Ice Cream (Like fall in ice cream form!)
Easy Coconut Granola (It’s been a while since I made this recipe but I brought it back this week and have been loving it sprinkled over Greek yogurt for an afternoon snack.)
Question of the Day
How was Halloween in your house? Did you dress up?
Anything special making you smile this week?
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