Happy Friday Everyone!
It has been pretty busy around here… so, I’ve dropped down to one post a week again. We have Spring break coming up, a trip and all the SENIOR extras. We’ve also been dealing with some sick pets (sadly). We lost our sweet little Double Stuff guinea pig last week and the momma guinea pig Penelope passed away a few days later. There is some sort of virus going around with them, so we have separated them all for now. We have had some vet visits and meds, but nothing helped! They are all 4.5-5 years old and it is just so hard to help them when they are older and get sick. It is very sad. 🙁
One – Quick Trip to Kansas City for State
Autumn has finished out her first year of Lancerettes. We closed it out with a fun/quick weekend in Kansas City for her state competition. It was at the HyVee Arena and I’m sharing one little snippet of her from the day. I’m trying not to post photos of the others girls on here for privacy sake, so if you follow my personal account on Facebook you’ll see a lot more group photos over there.
One of the highlights of the Kansas City trip was that Brian and I got to go to dinner on the first night while they were having a group party with the girls. Nathan had planned to come down with us to Kansas City, but he came home sick the morning we were planning to leave, so he stayed behind. We ate at Trezo Mare, which was a restaurant right across the street from our hotel. It was SO good that we took Autumn back there with us to eat the second night we were in Kansas City. I ordered these scallops with asparagus and purple potatoes and a delicious butter cake a la mode BOTH nights. It was that good!
After her state competition (the girls did SO well!), we headed to the Crown Center for lunch. We had gone to Fritz’s when the kids were little on a Great Wolf Lodge trip and thought it’d be fun to check it out again. The place has these train tracks on the ceiling and the train comes to your table and a little lever comes down and delivers your food.
Here is a flashback photo of me and Autumn at Fritz’s on our last trip there. Wow! She was practically a baby still! And I look a lot younger (and less tired- ha!).
On our way home from Kansas City, we stopped at this super cool local coffee place by our hotel called Headrest Roasters. I got their Wedding Cake seasonal latte and it was delicious. I also picked up a veggie house made wrap and that didn’t disappoint either!
Two – Spring is Here!
This month I finally got the Valentine’s Day decor down and the Spring decor up! I love my big Rae Dunn mugs for tea and this Robin’s Egg mug is so cute with the light blue interior.
The kittens went WILD while I was decorating the house. Here is little Aurora with some bunny ears. She is just SO stinking cute! These kittens have just taken over my house! Ha, ha!
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I purchased this new entry table from Amazon and I’ve had fun decorating it each season. I found a little miniature bunny candle in white for my gold tray from the Target Dollar Spot, the initial monogramed egg I already had and then I got this new antique-looking bunny from Target… BONUS: It lights up!
Three – Other Happenings
Nathan had his last and final band tour/trip for his senior year. Autumn stopped band this year, so we are wrapping up band forever in our household soon. It is bittersweet! I don’t believe he will play in college. For the band tour they went to Indiana and Michigan. They got to tour the Concordia University in Ann Arbor, Michigan and then the rest of the time they played concerts for various churches. I don’t have any exciting photos, because Nathan didn’t take many photos. But, I have one photo of Nathan before he left and then the other photo is of the cute ragdoll kittens and they’re standing next to all of the treats I got Nathan for his long trip. Oh, if only I could eat all those yummy treats still without consequences.
Four – Latest Books I’ve Read
Hello Beautiful by Ann Napolitano – I picked this book solely because I saw it was rated as one of Goodreads #2 books for 2023. Wow! It did not disappoint. It did have Little Women vibes in a more modern way, but it was still different. It talks about the beautiful relationships that 4 sisters share, how these relationships are tested by the hardships of life, family drama, loss, love, mental illness, distance and more. The ending had me bawling. Just a really touching book and one of the few books I’ve given a full 5 stars! It makes me want to go watch Little Women now. 🙂
Outlive – The Science & Art of Longevity by Peter Attia, MD – I was really excited to read this book, but it really didn’t live up to all of the hype that I had expected from it. However, it is really highly rated on Amazon and one of my fave bloggers gave it a good review. So, I think I may be one of the few that wasn’t a huge fan of it. It talks about the 3 horsemen of death, basically heart disease, cancer and cognitive decline (dementia, etc.) and what you can do now to prevent it. This book had A LOT of info and talks about how medicine these days isn’t preventative enough. I felt it kind of drug on and on in parts. I think an end of chapter summary would have helped pull all the pieces together a bit, or perhaps just some of it could have been simplified.
I really enjoyed the part about VO2Max and how exercise and sleep can help us to be preventative. But, some of the blood tests/scans he suggests I’m not sure if insurance would cover or what my doctor would say if I asked for them. I think maybe if you have a huge risk of heart disease in your family, it may be good to pursue those more (perhaps with a specialist?). But, even his advice on exercise was a bit out there for just the regular person. For one exercise he suggested wearing a heavy backpack around the neighborhood, which I am sure is a great workout… but, probably not one I’m going to pursue.
The last chapter on help with mental disease was really not helpful at all (to me), I kind of felt it was more of him telling his own story and I’ve just never had issues with anger or abuse. He mentioned intake on two occasions, which benefitted him greatly. But, I am sure all of this is helpful to someone that is going through this/or knows someone. I know metal health is important, but I just really didn’t gain anything from this chapter, since he didn’t really cover anxiety, which is more of an issue for me.
I think a lot of what was in this book is kind of common knowledge already. I do think being preventative is the key, trying to eat healthy, getting enough sleep and keeping your emotions in check. But, while listening to this book on audio it just kind of depressed me and I still felt confused by what actions I would need to do personally based on this overload of information. It is titled Outlive, so we can enjoy all the years in our life and not have a decade or less of years that aren’t quality years before we die. I think everyone wants that, but I also think sometimes we just need to embrace some stuff (such as aging) and know that not everything is in our control. If I were to do everything in this book each day, I don’t think I’d have enough time to actually live. And, it would probably cause more anxiety for me. I don’t regret reading it, but it was just a bit over the top for me. And the last chapter kind of just went into TOO much detail about the authors personal life/flaws. It just ended on a bad note for me. I’d love to hear what others thought about the book?
Five – Latest Finds that I Love
We love Casey’s, but we don’t have them in St. Louis. It is a gas station/store similar to Quik Trip. We stopped at one on our way home from Kansas City and I stopped up on a couple of the Salted Caramel bars and Autumn loves their Neapolitan dessert bar!
Princess Aurora had her spay done and I am SO glad that both kittens are fixed now! I decided to keep their claws, even though we have always declawed our cats in the past. I never really thought anything of it, but after my 17 year old calico passed, I found out that it is actually illegal to do in St. Louis now. Of course, I could have taken them out of the county and had it done, but I decided to give it a try and they’ve been pretty good with their claws. It just took some getting used to for me and now I’m glad we’ve decided to keep them and I can’t believe I used to think declawing was normal in the past. No judgement for those that do, this is just what we decided for them. I was at Schnucks getting groceries after I dropped off Aurora, so I decided to get her a few little treats for her recovery. These Delectables are something the vet introduced me to and they give them to the cats when they’re getting shots. They call them ‘cookies’, but it is actually a gel paste you can put on a plate. I split one of them up between our 3 ragdoll cats. This is definitely more of a treat-treat, so they won’t get them often.
Of course, I’m back with my latest KitNipBox that came for the month of March. This month we got a fishy themed box! With two new kittens, we need a lot of cat toys, so I decided to subscribe to the KitNipBox, which is a monthly cat subscription box. You can order it with the food/treats or with just toys. We have gotten it for 3 months and I’ve been really impressed with it so far. If you’re interested in trying one out for your cat, I’d love for you to use my referral link HERE, it’ll help Oliver and Aurora earn a free box!
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Pixi sent me their Seal the Glow set and these products help you to maintain a lit from within glow all day. Their specialty formulated trio of primer, powder and mist work in harmony, sealing in moisture and providing essential nourishment for a truly radiant complexion. Now, let me share these Seal the Glow products with you:
Flawless Beauty Primer – This product is my holy grail! It hydrates my skin, gives me a radiant glow all day, plus helps my makeup to stay put.
H2O Skin Veil – A weightless, loose water-powder to perfect, fix and finish any look. It cools, refreshes and hydrates as it leaves a satin skin-like finish. Buff onto complexion on bare skin or on top of foundation.
Makeup Fixing Mist – Prolongs makeup wear and keeps it from moving, melting, and settling into fine lines or pores.
Then, for fun they sent me an initial wax seal! I tried it out and it worked like a charm. Thanks so much Pixi! I hope you all enjoy these products if you try them.
I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing weekend!
