Feel Good Friday

This week felt like it flew by! As I was going through my pictures of this week to upload, I felt like we didn't hardly do much. It rained pretty much all day on Wednesday & it's supposed to do the same today. I took advantage of being forced to stay inside & knocked out a final exam & an eleven page final paper. It feels SO good to have those done & out of the way!

what we've been up to...

Last week when we cleaned out & organized my Dad's shed, we found our badminton stuff. We set it up over the weekend & played almost every single evening this week! Now let me give you a couple fun facts about our family ... none of us are very athletic & we all apparently have issues with depth perception + hand-eye coordination lol. While we've had a blast playing & can tell that we're getting better, we're definitely not pros! I'll link a great option here in case you're interested! It comes with everything you need + everything for volleyball as well!

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My Mom snapped this picture of part of a beautiful rainbow that came after one of the storms on Wednesday.

Just looking at this picture makes me take a deep breath & fills me with hope!

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My sisters & I were in charge of making dinner one night this week. We served cheese tortellini with red sauce (courtesy of Trader Joe's) with caesar salad & our favorite part ... homemade french bread with dipping oils. This meal was a huge family fav! The french bread recipe was honestly so easy & it turned out so delicious!

Linking the homemade french bread recipe here & the oil dipping seasonings here. The oil seasonings are great because it comes with four different kinds so you can pick your favorite! Just add olive oil.

friday favs...

Since we're in quarantine & not going anywhere, now is the perfect time to let my face & hair heal from all the makeup & hot tools that I typically use. I did some research & found some great affordable options that I bought from Ulta yesterday. I'll share each thing below! Since the products haven't been delivered yet, I'm not able to give my honest review, but I definitely will after I give them a try for a couple of weeks!

If you've already tried any of these products, please drop a comment below & tell us what you think!

First up is The Ordinary Hyaluronic Acid 2% + B5. Hyaluronic Acid is a type of moisturizer that goes deep into your skin & soaks up moisture from the air throughout the day so your skin stays moisturized & hydrated.

Both me & my youngest sister have found a huge love for hyaluronic acid which is really interesting because we have very different types of skin! Avery has pretty dry skin & struggles with acne. Because of this, a lot of her acne-treating products tend to dry her out even more. I, on the other hand, have fairly oily skin, but I still really prefer to have some type of moisturizer on. I used to use Peter Thomas Roth Water Drench Hyaluronic Cloud Cream & I absolutely loved it because it's incredibly thin & lightweight. It didn't make me greasy at all! But it's just a little too expensive for what I'm willing to spend on a moisturizer. I'm excited to try The Ordinary's version (& so is my wallet)!

Next up is The Ordinary AHA 30% + BHA 2% Peeling Solution. I love a good exfoliator! My all time favorite scrub is the Olehenriksen Transforming Walnut Scrub because it just really gets in there & cleans everything out. My face always feels SO squeaky clean & soft after I use it (which I do about once a week or every other week). The Ordinary's peel is supposed to give a similar result, but be a little bit more gentle on the skin & again, it's a bit more gentle on the budget as well. ;)

Another product I ordered is The Ordinary Caffeine Solution 5% + EGCG which is an under eye solution. Y'all know this year I've been struggling with dark + puffy under eyes which is something I used to never have issues with. I absolutely love the Tula Glow & Get It Cooling & Brightening Eye Balm (here's a link to the blog post I did about it a few months ago), but I'm always open to trying new things!

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My Mom got The Ordinary Granactive Retinoid 5% in Squalane. This product is supposed to reduce the signs of aging & help with skin texture. I'll be sure to let y'all know what she thinks!

PS - all of The Ordinary products are cruelty free & vegan which is a huge plus!

This week my brow pencil ran out. I had been using Benefit Cosmetics Precisely, My Brow Pencil Ultra Fine Shape & Define & I really love it, but again, it'd be nice to find something a little more budget friendly. I've heard great things about the Revolution Pro Define & Fill Brow Pencil & it's only $8!! One of the cons of this product is that it's only offered in three shades whereas the Benefit one is offered in tons of shades. As long as I can find a shade that fits me I think I'll be happy!

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Even though I haven't been using any hot tools on my hair lately, I've been spending a lot of time outside & I just feel like my hair is pretty dry & brittle. It probably doesn't help that I'm in desperate need of a good trim! I've heard that spraying a little bit of leave-in-conditioner can be a game changer so I ordered this It's a 10 Miracle Leave-In Conditioner for blondes.

My natural hair color is dirty blonde, but it gets much lighter in the summer. Avery is a natural dirty blonde as well, but her hair is very thin & mine is pretty thick. We thought it'd be fun to try this product together & see the difference that it makes for both of us!

Well that about wraps it up! How are you doing? Are you hanging in there? Struggling or thriving? We have another week AT LEAST with the safer at home order, but the weather looks like it's going to be nice so we're looking forward to more time outside. It's amazing how much better sunshine makes us all feel! We're feeling extra thankful that (up to this point) we have not been affected financially & we are praying for all of those that are. As well as all those that have been infected by Covid-19. It still seems surreal that this is all happening.

We would love to hear from you!

PS – this post contained affiliate links… thank you so much for reading & supporting our blog!

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