Five Friday Favorites 10.18.19

Happy Friday! Did you have a great week? I had a short one because I’m on a mini-vacation right now, so that made it pretty alright.

Also, I’m relearning this whole blogging-consistently thing. I have a lot of ideas and literally no schedule right now. Bear with me? Cool. Let’s get into the happiest things from the week.

A lazy weekend

Last weekend, I laid on the couch basically all weekend. To be honest, I felt awful and it wasn’t really by choice, but there aren’t too many weekends where we don’t have social obligations, so it hit me at the best time. I watched a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation (my boyfriend is an even bigger nerd than I am), napped a lot (I don’t do that), and cuddled dogs. I started to feel a lot better Sunday night, and went into my short week feeling refreshed.

American Royals

I binge-listened to this book in, like, a day and a half last week. I am not nominating it for the Great American Novel, because it’s light and errs on the chick-lit side, but it was compelling and funny. Not sure about you, but I don’t regularly think, “Hm, what if the US hadn’t become a democracy when we gained independence, but rather turned into a monarchy?” I loved it. Actually, I didn’t love the end, and I suspect it’s being set up for a sequel, but I thoroughly loved it till the last page or so. It’s been on my mind ever since I finished it, so I’m still counting it as a fave.

Fall outfits

This is the worst thing to post without pictures, but outfit pictures are not a common thing right now. I’ll get to it, I promise.

In the summer grossness, work attire is just dumb. I don’t want to wear an appropriate amount of clothes when it’s 90 billion degrees outside, so I just wear jeans and a flowy shirt and hope I don’t feel sweaty by the time I get from my car to my desk. Putting in any additional effort to look cute is not a thing.

Fall affords so many more opportunities! There are sweaters to layer and boots to wear. I love it. But a few weeks ago I was commiserating with my best friend about feeling uninspired with clothes. When I find something I like, I basically want to wear a variation of it forever, but then I get bored. Her solution: statement jewelry. I have since made an effort to incorporate more fun necklaces and rings and obnoxious earrings into my wardrobe.

Also, leather leggings can really step things up. (Not the famous Spanx ones. I asked for them as a gift and returned them because I didn’t love them. I don’t know if anyone else agrees, but they still felt very shapewear-ish to me, and I’ve never worn shapewear before, so it wasn’t fun. Mine are from Express, along with the rest of my wardrobe.)

This week’s dinners

Okay, I didn’t cook a ton this week because my boyfriend was working late and, as much as I love cooking, when I’m in “single-girl” mode, I do not cook properly most of the time. A couple nights ago I cooked up our last few slices of bacon, made avocado toast, and had an Epic bar with a banana and a giant spoon of almond butter.

BUT. We did eat two home-cooked meals. Every Sunday that we don’t have other plans, my boyfriend makes steak, asparagus, and potatoes on the grill. All I know about the process is that there’s a lot of olive oil and salt and some mesquite charcoal involved, and it’s always fantastic.

Then I made this creole chicken and sausage, but in a slow cooker on low all day. I served it with rice cooked in bone broth (collagen! protein! flavor!), cheese, and a little Greek yogurt in place of sour cream. We both raved about it, and I’ll absolutely make it again.

A Chicago weekend

I’m back in my old stomping grounds! Right about a year ago, my boyfriend said he wanted to see the place where I went to school and the city where I spent my college years, and we’re making it happen as you’re reading this. Yesterday we got the dogs all settled with the house sitter and hopped in the car for a long weekend. Basically, I am showing him campus, exposing him to some of the great food, a few museums and some touristy stuff, and we’ll just be strolling around the pretty city. Oh, and he’s gotta meet Susie.

And that’s all for me for now! I hope you have a fabulous weekend, and I’ll talk to you next week.

What’s the best thing you’ve made/eaten lately?

What have you been reading?

Any fun weekend plans?