Friday Finds

Happy Friday and Happy (almost) Halloween!! We're dressing Mia up tomorrow morning and heading to a party with the kids from her preschool pod, and then coming home and secretly eating Halloween candy (hopefully) without Mia noticing ;) 

Here are my finds this week. Eeeek Christmas clothes are starting to come out! Gimme all of the plaid please!!

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October Budget

I share my clothing budget here every month. My budget per month is $350, which may seem like a lot to some people or a little to others, but for me feels just right. I include all of my clothes, coats, shoes, and accessories in that budget, but not athletic gear, pajamas, or intimates.

It's almost November which means it's CHRISTMAS CLOTHES SEASON. The most wonderful time of the year ;) I've ordered a couple of things to twin with Mia for the holidays (like this top for me and this skirt for her) which officially makes me that mom, and honestly, I'm here for it. The only thing left for me before I officially turn into my mom is making her add a white turtleneck under everything. 

While I have kind of a lot of items currently headed my way, I actually only have one purchase for this month! I know, what, who am I?!?!! And my one purchase was actually an emergency Target pick up order for our family photo reshoots, ha! I planned very carefully for our family photos and had outfits picked out months in advance, but then Mia was crying or pouting in literally every photo except for this one. Our photographer offered to have us come back, which meant I had to figure out a new set of coordinating family outfits, which obviously meant I needed new boots. I have been trying to buy tall slouchy boots with a not-too-tall heel for years and years, and I honestly can't believe my Target pick up order are the pair that actually work. 

Target Boots - originally $39.99, on sale + used rewards $20.08

I did also order these jeans so I could do the cool girl thing and pair them with booties, but the fit was a little too baggy in the knees and slightly too short with my booties, so sadly they're going back.

For November, I'm most excited about getting this top in the mail that looks like the long-sleeve version of my favorite tank from this summer. Oh and of course, this scarf that I got to match with Mia in this jumper. Lol don't judge me 🙈 

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Casual Everyday

Sweater - Abercrombie / Jacket and Booties - J.Crew / Jeans - Madewell

Has your daily style gotten a lot more casual since the pandemic hit? I spent the spring and summer fairly dressed up because I love a good house dress or skirt. You look dressed up but really it's basically like wearing nothing. But now that it's chilly out and I have to get dressed first thing every morning to get Mia up and out the door for preschool, I've been leaning way in on comfy, easy pieces. 

Enter, this sweater. It's amazingly soft, it's long enough to wear with leggings, and it's thin so it's really easy to layer. Three major wins for me! Plus, I mean, it's striped, so what's not to love? 

I usually toss this on with leggings and a denim jacket for preschool dropoff, but this outfit is from last weekend when we drove out to visit Jeff's mom for the day to get her a little Mia time. (Sidebar: we've relaxed a little from our initial pandemic state of not seeing anyone to only seeing our small circle of family, which honestly makes so much of a difference for me mentally. Hope you are being careful!!) I added my favorite quilted field jacket that I've had for a few years now and still love. It's surprisingly warm (like, fall in Chicago warm, not winter in Chicago warm) and has really big pockets which are great for holding all of my Mia things on walks. It also comes in tall sizes which is a major plus for me. 

Sweater - Abercrombie / Jacket and Booties - J.Crew / Jeans - Madewell

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Currently #3

Exercising 

By running and running after Mia! She has hit the phase where she's not so interested in being in her stroller any more for a long walk anymore, so if I want to take a walk with her I have to mentally commit to chasing her for a few blocks. Luckily she's stopped sitting down in the middle of intersections because she doesn't want to hold my hand anymore. We ran around the Lincoln Park Nature Walk last week, and stopped for a few photos in the Honeycomb. We had literally been there just a few days before for our family photos, and Mia cried the. whole. time. But with just Mommy she seriously just wanted to sit here and smile for fifteen minutes - how cute is she here?! 

Watching

I did a lot of theater in high school, so I convinced Jeff to watch Encore on Disney+ with me this weekend. The concept is so fun to me - take a group of adults and have them restage their high school musical, 20 years later. I was nerding out on the theater side of things because really, can you imagine trying to perform a musical after only a week of rehearsal?!? Jeff thought it was fun too and was not a theater nerd, in general it's a fun high school reunion even if you aren't interested in the musical part. 

Reading

I'm currently reading 28 Summers (ha I knooooow it isn't summer anymore but I was on the library wait list for this one for a long. time.) and it's a cute, fun, easy read. The only thing... it's eerily reminiscent of The Blue Bistro by the same author. I loved The Blue Bistro, it's a way better story IMO, and it's currently in my rotation of fun, easy books on my Kindle that I pull out when my heavy reads feel too heavy or when I finish a book but am not mentally ready to start something new (other books on this list include The Devil Wears Prada and the Harry Potter books). And like, I knooooow the author basically writes a book a year about Nantucket so there's going to be some overlap, but there are characters with the same name, with the same backstory, they go to the same places, there's the same obscure disease, and they even talk about going to The Blue Bistro (it's a restaurant) in 28 Summers. So like I'm enjoying it and I'm going to keep reading, but I'm also annoyed. Long story short, if you want to read 28 Summers, just skip it and read The Blue Bistro instead.

Starting

A new Instagram account! I always love to take pictures of houses while we're out walking, and decided it's high time to give them their own account. And let me tell you, it's weirdly fun to start a new account and feel like I can share different things I love. If you like looking at pictures of pretty front doors and cool Chicago houses, give me a follow! 

Eating

This red wine spaghetti with pancetta from the New York Times and ohhhh my god. It's such an interesting recipe but is so good and satisfying, and I had almost all of the ingredients on hand already which is already a win. Plus there is a whole bottle of red wine in there. A WHOLE BOTTLE. Try it for your next date night, but make sure to get another bottle of wine to actually drink ;) 

Making 

Allllll of the things on my Cricut :) Every now and then I get in a mood where I want to make everything, so I had the machine out a bunch last week. I was experimenting with Infusible Ink which basically irons on actual ink instead of iron-on material - so cool! I say experimenting because I was doing it with my very old iron, which does technically work but takes forever. I also used it to cut out some fun Halloween decorations, which I think is how I'm decorating for all not-Christmas holidays from now on. It's fun and easy, and I don't have to store them since I'll want to make something new next year! 

Buying

More clothes for Mia. Even after I shared this. Send help. Coming our way: this jumper, this hat, this sweater, this skirt, these shoes, and probably more I can't even remember 🙈

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Friday Finds

Happy Friday!! Not a lot on the docket for us this weekend, we just have to make sure to find some leaves for Mia to crunch because that's her new favorite activity ;) 

Here's the finds for this week: 

one / two / three / four / five

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The Pumpkin Patch

Do you go to a pumpkin patch every year? It isn't something my family did growing up (or at least that I remember doing, but my dad insisted he remembers going on a hayride or two) - we were more of the "grab a pumpkin from the roadside stand and go" kind of family. But since my first niece was born it's something we've made a point of doing every year. I guess that's how traditions are made, am I right?! 

I'm honestly kind of amazed by how cheesy a lot of the big pumpkin patches are (some feel like tourist traps!) but we found one that we love and have been to three times now - Kroll's! It's pretty small, but they have everything I want and need in a pumpkin patch: pumpkins, apple cider donuts, a small petting zoo (where you can tell the animals are treated well), hayrides, and a corn maze. 

We stayed at my parents' house over the weekend for a mini staycation, so we headed over on Saturday morning with my parents and my sister's family. We ate, we didn't get lost in the corn maze, and we touched every pumpkin that was for sale (and then one of us maybe melted down when it was time to stop touching every pumpkin!) - a perfect fall day! 

Mia's top, jumper, tights, shoes, and hair bow

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Friday Finds

Happy Friday!! What are you up to this weekend? We're actually packing up and heading to my parents' house later to stay for the weekend. Since we live so close we rarely even spend one night with any of our parents, but since we don't have many plans these days a weekend away sounded fun! We have tickets for a pumpkin farm and plans to get some of my favorite hometown takeout. 

Lots of new arrivals this week, I had a hard time picking my finds!! I did show some self restraint while writing this and haven't actually ordered any of these... yet 😉

one / two / three / four / five

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