Favorite Things from August

This weekend zipped by as quickly as the entire month of August. Probably because we spent way too much time driving. We celebrated my brother-in-law’s birthday in San Diego and then met a friend’s baby in Temecula, and all of these activities summed up to about 5 hours in the car. Which is 5 hours too many with a little one. Today we are planning to spend the entire day at home, and I’m kind of glad to get into our routine, and reflect on this month’s favorite things.

Speaking of routines, baby FLO and I have been working hard to establish nap times, but then when the weekend comes all scheduling goes out the window. Before baby FLO was here we talked about the importance of continuing our lives and not creating rigid rules around the baby, but now that he is here this is one of the most difficult things.

If we break his routine, and he doesn’t nap we end up with an unhappy, cranky baby and one that will likely not sleep well. I feel so guilty for whisking him around with us, to activities that we want to do, when what he really needs is a nap. We really need to find a balance there. In hindsight, maybe only one giant weekend outing is a good idea, not two? If you are a mama, how do you handle breaking out of the schedule to enjoy weekend life?

Beauty

Back to favorite things from August. Since working on establishing a skincare routine (read part 1 & 2 ) I discovered that my face is naturally red. My nose and cheeks seem to be always flushed like I had a couple of glasses of wine. It might be light eczema or allergies, but the redness is always there. I’ve been searching for a product that would help alleviate the redness altogether, but for now, I found one that can camouflage it.

I’ve never used a CC cream before, and this one has a green tint that does a really great job in reducing the redness. I know Clinique has a similar line of green tinted products and have been thinking about trying those out. For now, though, I’m so happy I found this one!

On most days, I only use the CC cream, but on special occasions or nights out I combine my favorite primer and the CC cream, followed by a concealer. Speaking of which, would anyone be interested in seeing my makeup routine? 

Kitchen

One of my favorite things from August in the kitchen was my spiralizer, of course. We had this dish at least 4 times this month! In general, I tried to create balanced dinners that didn’t have any carbs. Eliminating carbs at dinner helps both of us lose weight, but we both also feel better going to sleep without an uncomfortably full belly. Trader Joe’s cauliflower rice, in the frozen section has been among my favorite things to cook with this month. It’s ready in just a few minutes and you can stir-fry it and flavor it almost well-enough that it always takes Mau several bites before he asks if this isn’t rice 🙂 Which in my book is a huge success!

Trader Joe’s cauliflower rice, in the frozen section, has been among my favorite things to cook with this month. It’s ready in just a few minutes and you can stir-fry it and flavor it almost well-enough that it always takes Mau several bites before he asks if this isn’t rice 🙂 Which in my book is a huge success!

Home

For the home, I’ve been really focusing on adding more plants. I think the house looks so much happier and alive when there are plants around. Not to mention all the wonderful benefits potted plants bring to the house. Plants that are low maintenance are my kind of plants. Especially with a new baby, there are some days we forget to feed the dog, so routinely watering plants is definitely very low on our list.

Baby

Baby FLO is teething like crazy, so he is a drool machine right now. It’s kind of embarrassing when letting people hold him because he slobbers all over everyone and everything. I used to carry little burp cloths with us, but they never seem close at hand when needed. So, I did some searching around and found these, which do double duty, not only as drool wipes but as an added style accessory! I now just add one as part of his outfit.

Style

I came home with a few new tops from the Macy’s sale. This one with the slit in the back is so comfortable, and was on major sale. One thing I noticed is that it’s almost identical in color to a tunic I bought earlier this summer. Now that I have been cleaning out my closet, I’m really starting to see patterns of things I buy over and over again.

This weekend was also my last chance to wear my favorite jeans of the summer. Similar styles here and here (at 40% off!). I’m putting mine away for a few months for fall, and will be taking them out again for winter whites!

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