What I'm Loving Lately

Hi There,
   It's been a while since I've done a "What I'm Loving Lately" post! And this is a jam packed post because there's a lot that I'm loving!

I LOVE this quote and it reminds me how important it is to reflect on the positive things we're loving lately! 

1. Fall TV: It's back and the DVR is getting quite a workout! Shows I'm into:

-Shark Tank--returns on a new night, Sunday!
-Keeping Up With the Kardashians---I've come this far with this crazy bunch, I have to keep going!
-Vice Principals---I have a love/hate relationship with this show. When it's funny it's really funny, but it doesn't really know what it wants to be.
-The Good Doctor---This just premiered last week and I enjoyed it, I think I'll stick with it.
-This is Us----the best. Love it.
-Teen Mom---see the description above for the Kardashians
-Counting On---Ok, I am normally a fan of the Duggar franchise but this season is snoozeville. I don't need to watch the 4th Duggar girl try on wedding dresses or attempt cooking with her new hubby. But I'll keep watching because it's a great show to fold laundry to.
-Meet the Putmans--Anyone else watching this insanity on TLC? A family of 24 who all live together. This one reeks of sexism but I'm just so intrigued by giant households, I keep watching with fascination.
-The Mick--I love this hilarious, inappropriate slapstick comedy
-The Little Couple---I've been a devoted watcher for years, I love watching this family grow and change.
-American Housewife---One of my fave sitcoms. I adore Katy Mixon the lead actress
-NBC Sitcoms that recently premiered: Will & Grace, Great News, and Superstore.
All this on top of my usual diet of Dateline, Law and Order: Menendez Murders, Leah Remini's Scientology show, SNL, the occasional Food Network show, and 20/20? Well if there's a girl up for the challenge it's me. The return of fave shows is always a Fall Favorite!

2. Cooler Weather Cooking: Last weekend we made chili in the crockpot and today I've got Apple Cider Pork Tenderloin, quinoa, and Maple Roasted Carrots going on. Oh yes. And to add to the fall kitchen fun, I made a pumpkin coffee cake this morning. Yummy! We stopped by At Home yesterday (one of my very favorite stores) and I found this fun kitchen mat, too. I just love this time of year. Cozy, chilly, comfy, and delicious.

3. Grocery Store Finds: I have discovered some new things lately at the grocery store that I'm liking. First off, Tessa Mae's dressing. I read that this is a Whole 30 approved dressing (I'm not doing Whole 30, see above featuring "pumpkin coffee cake"), but I love this dressing and my fave is the poppyseed. I am enjoying these Sargento Sweet Balanced Breaks packs. They come in a few different varieties and have things like dried fruit, nuts, cheese slices, banana chips, yogurt chips, dark chocolate chunks. They've been my go to after school snack lately. Of course I could make my own snack packs, but these are already portioned out and easy. I've tried a few recipes for Overnight Oats before and enjoyed them, but I've recently discovered these Quaker Overnight Oats cups. Just fill with milk at night, refrigerate, and then the next morning they are good to go. I like to microwave mine for a minute or so. The next item isn't a food one, but I am loving Biore's self warming charcoal mask. My skin's been looking a bit lackluster lately, and I've used one of these masks twice in the past week and love how soft my skin is after.

4. Good Books: My reading has seriously slowed down since school began but I've been really enjoying Elin Hilderbrand's "Identicals" and this week Melanie Shankle's book Church of the Small Things debuts and the description alone has me anxiously awaiting to dive in: What do cooking dinner, driving sugar-buzzed junior high girls to a soccer tournament, and being nice to that coworker who perpetually gets on your nerves have to do with making a lasting impact? In Church of the Small Things, Melanie Shankle reminds us that God does extraordinary things in our most mundane moments of faithfulness. Through her hilarious reflections on being a mom, wife, and writer, Melanie helps us embrace a meaningful life as we find the beauty and the laughter that lie right beneath the surface of every ordinary, incredible day. God uses the smallest acts of faithfulness to love and influence the people around us—and sometimes that looks a lot like packing sandwiches for lunch, working in a cubicle, or playing tea party one more time even though you feel like gnawing your arm off. -From thebigmamablog.com 

5. Baby Steele's Nursery: This nursery has become my new hobby. If I could just design nurseries all day, that would be great. I can't wait to show you all the finished look. We chose a paint color finally, purchased a light fixture, ordered his crib bedding, purchased an ottoman for our nursery chair, and more. My huge list of baby "to do's" has been cut in half and I just can't wait to pull a Joanna Gaines and hang pictures and fluff pillows once it's all ready. I never got to "finish" Hadley's nursery and pray that this time around I will be able to. We did clean out Hadley's things last week after over a year and that was one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. We are saving every bit of it. I know she'd be thrilled to share her space with her little brother, but it was still so so hard to do. I had been putting it off and am glad the actual act of taking things down and packing things away is behind us. We put it in an upstairs closet for easy access because I know the moment will strike when I just feel like going through it again. And that's perfectly okay.

Lumberjack Beavers?! Why yes, we did HAVE to order these sheets for the crib. Not a want, a need, really. 

Those are just a few things I'm loving lately! I have some plans to do a recipe post, a Bumpdate, and a "day in the life" post soon. What else would you all like to see on the blog?  I want to write what you want to read! Thanks for reading.

Savor Your Sparkle,
Leslie