Friday Favorites

Happy Friday friends!  It has been such a beautiful week here in Texas and the light is lasting just a little longer each day.  There is just something about this time of year that makes me feel just a little more youthful.

So far 2017 has been busy with lots of work and play.  I shared a little random roundup on Tuesday with some highlights including our Vegas trip.  Also a big shout out to Karli who blogs over at September Farm but also has a sweet little branding business.  She designed my new header which I’m really hoping will be live soon on my blog!  I have been having so much fun using it in other designs like this graphic below.  Here are a few other favorites from my week!

My favorite read this week was by Lindsay of Pinch of Yum.  While I initially followed her blog to find yummy recipes, I was captivated by her latest post documenting her feelings after the first 40 days without her son.  I have never felt her loss and can only begin to imagine the pain she and her husband have endured but this read just gave me chills and it completely reinforced the love a mother has for their child regardless of how long they are physically with them.   It was a beautiful read.  

Speaking of yummy recipes, my favorite this week has been finally using my Instant Pot.  Santa brought me one for Christmas and thus far I have been totally intimidated by it.  This week I was determined to figure it out.  I cooked yummy pork chops similar to what I typically cook in the crockpot but used this smothered pork chops recipe without the mushrooms. Thursday night I made these chicken carnitas and, y’all, it took me like 20 minutes start to finish. No, that is not just the prep time that was the pot to plate time!  Granted, I was starving and skipped the last step to make them “crispy” but they were still so darn good topped with cilantro and avocado.  What I’ve found so far besides how fast it is to whip something up is that the meat has been super juicy and so flavorful. Even after cooking all day in my crock pot so many times the pork and chicken was dry.

Favorite Purchases

Not the greatest picture (hello, only fashion blogger who cannot create a flatlay!) but these items were definitely my favorite Presidents Day purchases!  I ordered this sleeveless ruffled top on the off chance that it would work and it is so darn adorable!  The medium was perfect and I am typically in between sizes so I would say if you are borderline order down. Hard to tell here but these white cropped jeans have a raw edge and I’m loving that trend.  Of course the shoes, oh the shoes!  I’m not sure why I’ve gotten so insanely crazy about this style of shoes but I kind of need to stop!  These Vince Camuto booties have been in my cart forever so when they were marked down I knew I had to have them.  Thinking this will be one of the outfits I will wear at the blogger conference I’m heading to this weekend layered with a light jacket.

In my What’s Up Wednesday post this week I shared the special Rodan + Fields currently has going on for Lash Boost and I added a picture which included my lashes with mascara.  I was able to take a picture this week and finally got a shot of my lashes without mascara to compare to the before shot. My lashes are definitely longer!  If you are interested in trying out Lash Boost please email me @sjanac69@gmail.com.