Friday Favorites!

Well...we made it! Happy Friday!! 

How was your week?

Our's was a pretty standard week...just lots of running to and from the girls' school.  Luckily the weather has been FABULOUS...so as soon as we get home from school in the afternoon and Charlotte gets her homework done- we have been playing outside until dinner!!  So thankful for the beautiful sunshine and still pretty warm temperatures!!

Okay- now for the good stuff...my FAVORITES from this past week!

 ONE
I know I have mentioned this item one other time here on the blog- but I thought I would share it again....because it really is my FAVORITE way to get rid of unwanted facial hair.  Ever since my pregnancy with James, I have felt like it was necessary to wax the hair above my upper lip....(gotta love hormones- HA!), but I did not want to have to go to a salon every 4 weeks to do it! I went to Ulta and a sales associate recommended these wax strips by Parissa and they are awesome!
You warm the wax strips up by rubbing them in between your hands- SO simple and NO MESS! I am telling you these REALLY work!!

The wax strips also come with this azulene oil that you apply over the area where you applied the wax and it helps take off any leftover stickiness and it also soothes that area. My upper lip area is usually red for about 20 minutes after I use the wax, but then it is fine!

If you are looking for an easy, at home waxing system- you should totally try these out!!

TWO
I am always coming up with new smoothie combinations...and I am LOVING this current mixture I have been making.  I call it my "sunrise smoothie."  For a single serving smoothie, I use about 5 ice cubes, 1/2 frozen banana, a couple frozen pieces of mango and pineapple, 3 frozen strawberries, a small handful of spinach (forgot to include it in the picture :), about 2 tablespoons of frozen orange concentrate (this is what makes it DELICIOUS) and 3/4 cup almond milk (or whatever milk you drink).  I also add 1 packet of stevia because I like my smoothie pretty sweet :) You can totally leave that out.  Anyway- blend it all up and I am telling you- it is SO good!! If you love smoothies- try this combination out!

THREE

My friend Johannah emailed me earlier this week and invited me to join along in a Fall Blog Exchange with a couple of her friends! I have never done one of these before- but I am so excited to send a fun little package to someone and heck, who I am kidding, I love the idea of getting something in the mail for me too! :) If you would like to participate in the swap, got to Johannah's blog and she has all the details posted! The more that participate, the merrier!

FOUR

Yesterday, my ultra sweet neighbor took Charlotte and Cora to go see her daughter in a cheerleading performance.  The girls were SO excited!! Not only did they get to ride in Miss Kathy's car, they got to see Miss Taylor do "her cheerleading," and THEN, they took the girls to get ice cream!! It was basically the BEST. NIGHT. EVER. for them :)  Seeing my girls have so much fun is definitely one of my FAVORITE things.  

So thankful for our wonderful neighbors!!

The girls made these signs for Taylor...isn't being 6 and 5 years old just the best?!?

How cute is Miss Taylor??! My girls just love her!

 FIVE
I am done decorating my porch for Fall and I LOVE the way it turned out!!

We are renting our home, so I don't have a lot of flexibility changing and updating things inside our house, so I really enjoy being able to change up our porch and get it looking festive for all the different seasons! Major shout out to my husband who made me the chalkboard sign and wooden pumpkins on the sign....out of scrap wood he found when we were on a walk one day. YES- we are those people who have no shame recycling someone else's trash :) I got my pumpkins at Aldi (they are only 2.99 each at my Aldi) and got my mums from Home Depot! I got one of the pillows on my bench at Goodwill and for the other pillow, I got the fabric on clearance at Walmart and made a cover out of it.  Decorating my porch and having to be creative with how I do that on a limited budget is seriously one of my FAVORITE things to do! 

Hope you have the best day and a wonderful weekend!!

I am linking up with Andrea and Erika for their Friday Favorites Link Up!

  I am also linking up with April for Five on Friday!

 Joining Karli for her, Oh Hey Friday Link Up! too!