Things I’m Loving Friday #568

Friday is upon us! How are you doing? How was your week? It was a little frazzled over here thanks to back-to-back teacher work days, Ryan home sick with Covid and the usual kid + work + life commitments but the weekend is here!! I’m hoping to share a weekend recap on the blog on Monday but until then let’s move right along to what you’re likely here for in the first place: my weekly roundup of Things I’m Loving Friday favorites! Keep on scrolling to see a short list of simple things making me smile this week. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend — a perfect mix of relaxation and fun!

Things I’m Loving Friday

• Loom Animals DIY Kit

The boys and I had so much fun getting a little crafty with my mom and these adorable loom animals last weekend. I bought this beginner kit off Amazon and had high hopes because we’ve always had good experiences with Klutz products. (Note: Stock looks very low on Amazon, but I found the kit for sale through Scholastic as well and the code READING will save you 20% today only. I ordered 3 more for gifts!) The loom animal kit ended up being the biggest hit with our kids (and me and my mom!) and we made some of the cutest little critters. It was definitely a beginner-friendly kit, though I would not say it’s something a young child new to loom weaving/this kind of crafting would be too comfortable doing without an adult. The kit works well because it has you begin by making a little chick and then all of the other animals follow a similar template. I only wish they made holiday-themed kits like this because I’d be ordering them in a heartbeat!

And if you’re in the crafting mood, I also wanted to share this fun little gift I put together for part of my niece’s birthday gift (all supplies linked here):

Even the boys got into the name keychains and made some for on their backpacks!

• Grove Co. White Pumpkin & Ginger Dish Soap + Hand Soap

This is such a random share and it wasn’t until my mom complimented the smell of our dish soap last weekend that I even thought to include it a TILF post. If my mom noticed the lovely seasonal scent, maybe it wasn’t just something that would only bring me joy!? I recently added the white pumpkin & ginger dish soap and hand soap to a Grove order on impulse when it didn’t still feel like the surface of the sun outside (ahem, it was 87 degrees one day this week) and love the way it brings a little festive fall scent into a mundane task like washing dishes. (I’ve used these re-fillable soap + dish soap dispensers from Amazon at our kitchen sink for years and they’ve held up perfectly.) I’m still trying my best to wait until October to decorate for fall but all bets are off with seasonal candles and soap!

Also, when I was finding a link to the soaps for this post, I saw this coloring scroll on Grove’s site for kids. How cool is this idea!? It has a light adhesive backing so the coloring pages stay in place (genius) and I just ordered the ocean one for our boys and the solar system one for my nieces and nephews. I’ll report back!

• Dumbbell Belt (For Hip Thrusters)

This dumbbell belt was one of the best things I bought for my at-home glute workouts last spring. When I work out at home, access to heavier weights/certain equipment is limited and I always struggled when loading up multiple dumbbells for hip thrusters, my all-time favorite glute exercise. This band helps SO much because you can strap two dumbbells in on either side of your body and then a cushioned belt rests comfortably on top of your hips as you thrust upwards.

• Great Big Beautiful Life by Emily Henry

Genre: Romance / My rating: A-

I’ve been a little mixed on Emily Henry’s books which I know isn’t the most popular opinion, as she has a very strong dedicated fan base, but this book? This one I absolutely loved!! Great Big Beautiful Life is a romance novel with two intertwining storylines I enjoyed equally which is a rarity for me. The book centers around two writers competing to pen the biography of Margaret Ives, an elderly woman who once was a prominent feature in the tabloids due to her family’s notoriety and wealth and her subsequent marriage to a rockstar. It’s immediately captivating and an enjoyable breezy read with a little more intrigue than your average run-of-the-mill romance.

From Amazon: Alice Scott is an eternal optimist still dreaming of her big writing break. Hayden Anderson is a Pulitzer-prize winning human thundercloud. And they’re both on balmy Little Crescent Island for the same reason: to compete for the chance to write the biography of a woman no one has seen in years—or at least to meet with the octogenarian who claims to be the Margaret Ives. Tragic heiress, former tabloid princess, and daughter of one of the most storied (and scandalous) families of the twentieth century.

But the problem is, Margaret is only giving each of them pieces of her story. Pieces they can’t swap to put together because of an ironclad NDA and an inconvenient yearning pulsing between them every time they’re in the same room. And it’s becoming abundantly clear that their story—just like the tale Margaret’s spinning—could be a mystery, tragedy, or love ballad . . . depending on who’s telling it.

• Friday Flashbacks

Chicken Sausage Sweet Potato Bake (Another recipe we’ve loved for years that we made yet again for dinner this week)

Pumpkin Paleo Oatmeal (One of my favorite seasonal breakfast recipes! If you love Cream of Wheat, give this one a shot!)

Question of the Day

What is one thing  making you smile this week?