I have been spending a lot of time revamping my wardrobe, not only just for summer but in general. I am trying to stick to a color palette of neutral pieces that can be mixed and matched. It is really fun to create a capsule wardrobe that will last! Most of the pieces are from stores like Nordstrom, Aritzia, Target, Mango, Zara and J Crew! Shop everything and see how I styled them below!
Father’s Day is right around the corner- which is so hard to believe! Dads can be so hard to shop for but it can also be fun! I did a lot of scoping at Home Depot, as well as Mark and Graham and Nordstrom. Home Depot has so many great finds for the home and yard. Since we just bought a new house we are going to be doing some home projects there! I thought Father’s Day would be a great time to find some home improvement tools for Michael. Mark and Graham is always one of my favorite gifting sites too. There are so many cool personalized gifts like wallets, golf gifts, bags, and more. I linked everything below!
January is always one of my favorite months. I just turned 30 on January first, so I felt really motivated this month to form some new rituals, get organized, try new things and start the year on a good note! One of my favorite rituals I started this month was my morning meditation. I start each day, before everyone else wakes up with a cup of coffee, my journals, and my meditation book, Journey to the Heart. I also tried some new products, like my tea kettle and rotated in some old tried and true products like my favorite foundation! Another item new to me, were these wine glasses from Crate & Barrel! They are so pretty and I am loving them so far. I also found these wine wands that are supposed to remove sulfates from wine to help reduce face flush and headaches! All my favorites from January are linked below!
Weeknights can be a little hectic for a family of four! We get so busy with work and the kids that it can be hard to come up with easy and quick meals. I found a few recipes online that I really enjoyed for a quick easy weeknight dinner!
For the Creamy Chili Sauce
2. Add ground pork, grated ginger, water chestnuts, and 1 tablespoon sriracha hot sauce and cook until pork is browned, broken up, and cooked about 7-10 min.
3. Add coleslaw mix, coconut aminos, rice wine vinegar, white pepper, and salt, and stir until well combined. Cook, stirring regularly, about 5 min.
4. In a bowl whisk together 1/4 cup mayo and 1-2 tablespoons hot sauce. Add salt, to taste.
5. Spoon a hearty helping of the pork-cabbage mixture in a serving bowl. Garnish with sauce and green parts of the green onions and black sesame seeds.
This recipe was from https://40aprons.com/whole30-egg-roll-bowl-paleo/
1. Use the food processor to grate the cauliflower
2. On med high heat, In a large pan stir fry broccoli and squash in sesame oil for 4-5 minutes.
3. Add onions and stir fry 2 minutes. Transfer all veggies to a bowl.
4. In the pan add the ginger and garlic, cook for 30 seconds.
5. Add in coconut milk, aminos, vinegar, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper.
6. Bring that to boil
7. Reduce heat to low and simmer uncovered for 5 min.
8. In a new skillet, heat coconut oil, add in the cauliflower rice, remaining salt, remaining pepper, cook and stir frequently for 3-5 min.
9. Return veggies to pan, reheat for 1 min.
10. Mix all ingredients together.
This recipe is from Ketotarian by Dr. Will Cole
This past week I helped throw a baby shower for one of my good friends! It was a small shower and we did it at night as a dinner and it was such a lovely evening. I used some great local vendors to make the space baby shower ready for Sam. I got this amazing light up letter sign from Alpha Lit Nashville. They also did my sign for me when I brought Rocco home from the hospital. They are so great to work with and it was a great touch outside especially since the shower was in the evening. Next, I used Cheryl’s Flowers in Franklin to make these gorgeous fall bouquets. They were gorgeous and really brought the inside to life and were perfect for a baby boy shower. One of my other favorite parts was the balloon wall! It was beautiful and the perfect backdrop for photos for the evening!
Now that the temps have started dropping, I have started to make some more of my favorite warm drinks like cider and hot cocoa! I recently made mulled wine on a chilly Saturday night- and it was so good! It is so warm and spicy and easy to make for a party as well!
Wine glass (linked here)
1 Cinnamon stick and one more to garnish (linked here)
Bottle of wine
1/4 cup Sugar
Sprinkle of cloves (4-5)
1 Star anise
1 Strip of an orange rind and one more to garnish
Last week I shared a festive fall cocktail with you- I hope you got to try it last weekend! We made another fall themed cocktail and I wanted to share with you today so you can have it at your halloween party, girls’ night or just to share with a friend! It is so good and perfect for a chilly October night!
Wine glass (linked here)
Cinnamon sticks (linked here)
2 parts apple cider
2 parts whiskey
1/2 squeezed lemon
Squeeze of honey
Now that it is October, all the fall vibes are in the air! There are so many tasty fall recipes, cute decorations, and fun trends to try this time of year. I thought I would share an amazing cocktail recipe for a girls night, Halloween party, or Thanksgiving Weekend. This recipe is pretty easy to make and you can make it however strong you want. Enjoy this sweet salted caramel martini recipe!
Martini glass (linked here)
Caramel garnish (linked here)
Salted caramel sauce (linked here)
1 shot (or to taste) Vodka (can use vanilla vodka or regular)
2 shots Bailey’s
2 shots Nutpods (can use original or caramel)
Sea salt for garnish(linked here)
Nashville is such a fun city to live in! We love exploring new restaurants for brunch, dinner with family, lunch, smoothies etc! There are SO many great places to try. While our family is in town we are able to go on a few date nights to check out some of our favorite dinner spots and do some activities together! Nashville is a great city to try new things and always has some fun event going on or unique experience to try. Here is what we are doing on our Nashville date nights! You can watch our latest Nashville Date night vlog here and below!
We went to a nice dinner together at Oku this past week. It was so fun to get dressed up and go out just the two of us while my parents watched Julian and Rocco. Oku is a great sushi restaurant and it is located in the Germantown neighborhood in Nashville. Germantown is a little north east of downtown but very close still. There are so many amazing trendy and amazing restaurants in Germantown, and it gives you a different feel than downtown. O-ku is really good if you’re in the mood for sushi and is one of our favorite spots. It’s has a great vibe/decor and you can really dress casually or dress up. In terms of food- where do I begin! We ordered their margaritas which are made with coconut milk and are such an interesting take on a margarita. We had tuna, O-ku rock shrimp, and sashimi to start, which were so good. For our main course we ordered the Tennessee two-step roll and miso hamachi tacos. Both had such great flavor as well- you really can’t go wrong here. For dessert we had their mochi! Some other amazing restaurants in Germantown are The Optimist, Butchertown Hall, and Henrietta Red.
Fifth and Broadway is a new development in downtown Nashville right off of Broadway. The development is a mix of nice restaurants and bars and shops and quick eats. There are nice sit down restaurants as well as a large food hall with a lot of casual restaurants like Desano’s Pizza and Hattie B’s Hot Chicken. Some great restaurants in Fifth and Broadway include Sixty Vines, Blanco’s Tacos, and Twelve Thirty. Sixty vines is on the rooftop and it has a great view of Nashville, beautiful patio, tasty Italian food, amazing wine, and a great ambiance. It is a great spot for date night. Blanco’s Tacos is right on Broadway and the open-air style of the restaurant makes it great for people watching. On top of that they have amazing margaritas and great food! Twelve Thirty Club is a more upscale restaurant on Broadway and has a very cool vibe and ambiance with live music! This is a great place to get a cocktail and enjoy some music. It would be such a fun date night to check out a couple of these restaurants and then if you’re feeling lively- head out to Broadway to keep the night going. Catch some live music and dancing at one of the many honky tonks along the street.
Since both of the above ideas are a little more lively, I thought it would be nice to propose a more laid back date night idea. Every tuesday night the 12 South neighborhood puts on a farmers market. 12 South is such a great laid back area with open space, cute restaurants, adorable shops and more. So, the farmers market is nestled right in the heart of the neighborhood. There are tons of food trucks set up, vendor tents, and live music. It would be so fun to go around to each tent or truck and enjoy a casual night together.
For baby boy #2, I decided to put together nurses baskets for the staff at the hospital and my doctor’s office. The nurses and staff at both the hospital and doctor’s office have done and do so much to make sure you are safe, comfortable and well taken care of during your experience there. This is one way to say “thank you” for all they do! I filled the baskets with mostly blue items for baby boy. I added snacks for them, hair ties, some beauty goodies, Liquid IV for hydration, dry shampoo, candy, gum, chapstick, things like that! Anything that is helpful for long shifts or after!
This is just a fun way to say “Thank You” to all the hospital staff. I tried to include items that I knew would be helpful on long shifts or ways that they can have a little self care after. To assemble the baskets, I filled the bottom with the “grass” like in Easter Baskets, and then put things like candy on the bottom too, to help prop up the items in the basket. That way a lot of the fun stuff was on more of display and the items were able to be seen better. It was a fun process!
