Friday Favorites

Because of holidays and vacations lately (#roughlife ;)), I was thrown off by having a full, regular week.  I legitimately thought that Wednesday was Thursday all day long!  Clearly I need to look at my calendar more often.  Regardless, I am excited to have another weekend on the horizon!  Here are my Friday Favorites.

Today I am linking up with April, Christina, Natasha; Karli; Erika, Andrea, Narci; and Tif for all of the Friday link-ups

 

 

ONE: I haven’t posted in a while about this, but we (mainly my husband and his friend Ryan) have an Etsy shop: Honor Roll Designs.  I HAD to include this in my Favorites, because I am in love with the new designs available!  #proudwife

They are girlier than most of their shirts, and just fun.  Who doesn’t want a “Brunch” tank top, and are there any other fellow “Gilmore Girls” fans out there?!

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You can click directly on any of the shirts in the slideshow for more info and a link!

TWO: Some of our best friends, actually the etsy shop co-owners!, invited us to the Charlotte Knights game this past Sunday.  They also just had their second baby boy on Monday!  We were celebrating Ryan’s birthday a bit early, knowing they knew they’d be in the hospital with a newborn on his actual birthday.  We were hot, and the little ones were a bit stir-crazy (thankful for our husbands who kept them occupied), but we had a lot of fun.  It was the first time that we had been to the new Knights stadium at BB&T Ballpark.

THREE: On Wednesday I took our dog out for a walk and then did a mini workout (a rarity these days, honestly).  It was HOT AS MESS, and I was craving something cold and refreshing when I came inside.  This green smoothie was the ticket.  I don’t have an exact recipe, but here are the ingredients with approximate measurements:

• handful of kale
• 1 frozen banana
• 1/2-3/4 cup frozen pineapple
• 1/2-3/4 cup frozen mango
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1/2-3/4 cup coconut water (you may need more, depending on your blender)
• 1 Tbsp egg white protein powder (or any other plain or vanilla flavored protein powder would probably be fine)
• probiotic (optional)

We have been using this egg white protein powder for a few months, and really like it.  It is tasteless, and the only ingredient is egg whites.  No sugar, preservatives, or chemicals.

Shopping tip: I generally keep smoothie ingredients stocked at our house.  I buy large bags of frozen fruit (mostly organic) from Costco, the coconut water from Costco, and our nutritional supplements, such as the chia seeds and protein powder from Amazon.

FOUR: Since Saturday, our church has been hosting Love Week! I mentioned this a couple of weeks ago, but I wanted to share some of our serving experiences.  Teams from our church work with existing outreach partners throughout Charlotte and the surrounding area.  Though we work with them throughout the year, we do our best to flood the city with extra help for these 9 days.  This encourages everyone to get involved, and it raises awareness.  The number of different outreach partners and ways to help is incredible.  On Saturday Davis and I helped at Bright Blessings, an organization that provides birthday presents, birthday parties, hygiene kits, snack kits, literacy help, and infant needs items to homeless children in our city.  We helped assemble hundreds of snack packs, which are given to teachers in our school system.  If they see a child who they can tell is hungry, they can discreetly send these snacks home with that child in need.  We also helped decorate the birthday gift bags!

Last night we were able to help pack book bags full of school supplies for area children in need.  Kids require so many supplies before heading to school, and unfortunately there are many that are unable to afford them.  These book bags that were packed will be delivered to area schools and organizations and handed out to children who cannot afford their own.  This was a family event, and it was a joy to participate!

Check the #LoveWeek2016 hashtag on instagram and other social media for many other examples of LOVE around our city.

FIVE: Have any of you been Hobby Lobby lately?  I hadn’t been in quite a while, but I went this week…to buy one thing.  Well, I ended up with a cart full.  I am decorating the nursery, and also sprucing up Davis’ room.  Plus I’m working on their shared bathroom – it has been a little haphazard since we moved in last year.  I found so many fun items for those rooms, plus a filing shelf for my office area.

Plus, I saw these pillows and fell in love!  I am addicted to throw pillows. If you have any black and white in your house, you should run to your closest Hobby Lobby and scoop these up!

In case you missed it…

• I posted the recipe yesterday for the Gluten Free Blueberry Crisp Tart that I mentioned in last week’s 5.
• My Individual Quiche Recipe with Bacon, Mozzarella, and Spinach was Monday’s post
• I also posted some maternity faves, from Asos of course, this week

Linking up on Fridays is something I look forward to each week!  Thank you all for stopping by!