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5 Tips to Help Set Intentional Goals for the New Year

Hi Everyone!

With the start of a new year it is common for most people to make resolutions or goals to accomplish for the year. I know that New Year’s resolutions aren’t for everyone. For the majority of New Years I have set goals to fulfill for the next year. I’ve learned some tips and tricks from setting New Year’s goals for the entirety of my adult life. I thought I would share them as most of you will be re-evaluating your 2020 and determining what changes you would like to make for 2021! 2021 can only go up from here, right? (Right???)

  1. Set Short AND Long-term Goals and Break Each One Down.
    It’s tempting to only create long-term goals, because those are usually the most exciting. Buy a house, lose 30 pounds, or take a beach vacation are all goals that sound so exciting and are motivating, but they each need smaller goals in order to be attained. These are less glamorous, but are very important to reaching your goals. For example, to lose 30 pounds is a long-term goal. What short-term goals and habits do you need to implement in order to reach your long-term goal of losing 30 pounds? Add these smaller steps once a month or week and you will be able to reach your goal by the end of the year.
    Long-term goal: Lose 30 Pounds.
    Short-term goals: Workout 5x a week, start eating at home more, drink 100 ounces of water a day, or walk more often.
    The short term goals will help in reaching your long-term goal and will make goal setting less daunting and overwhelming. You got this!

  2. Set More Attainable Goals (and ones that are just out of reach).
    I don’t know about you, but when I make a to-do list and can cross off items from my list it gives me a great sense of accomplishment. If all you have are lofty goals to reach, there will be fewer items to cross off your list. To me, that is defeating. Looking at a list that I haven’t crossed anything off of is intimidating! It makes me feel like I have made no improvements. When I set attainable goals that are still getting me to my somewhat-out-of-reach goals and can cross those off… I really feel like I am making progress– because I am! Maybe you’re not as visual as I am, but crossing items off just feels freaking good.

  3. Write Your Goals Down
    This doesn’t necessarily mean putting pen to paper. I always put my goals for the year in my notes app on my phone. This makes them extremely accessible to me whenever I want to review them. If you enjoy physically writing them down… do that! Seeing them written (or typed) out really helps to visualize yourself attaining them!
  4. Re-visit Your Goals Often
    If you take away ANYTHING from this post that is helpful, I hope that it is this!!! Don’t just plan and write out your intentions… re-visit them! And often. Anyone can put pen to paper and make a list of goals they want to achieve. But visiting them more frequently means the more they will be in the forefront of your mind. The more often you are thinking of them, the more likely you are to achieve them!

  5. Set a Time Limit on Your Goals
    I am not saying that if you don’t reach your goal by the time limit to just forget about the goal. Absolutely not. If you set a time limit of a month or by the end of the year and you still haven’t accomplished the goal, it may be time to re-evaluate and see if there are other means to achieve your goal. If your goal is to lose 10 pounds by the end of the year and it is June and you haven’t lost a pound, it may be time to find new strategies or find resources that you aren’t using right now.

I hope that these 5 tips help you set your goals… and achieve them! I am a firm believer in making resolutions in the new year. If that isn’t your journey– that’s okay! I know I am not the only one who uses a new year to reflect.

Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? Do you already utilize any of these tips?

Happy New Year to you and your families!

This is where you could find me, Kevin, and Judy ringing in the New Year!

XO,

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Easy Creamy Italian Sausage and Gnocchi Dinner

Hi Everyone!
I am so excited to share this easy recipe I put together using kale, Italian sausage, and gnocchi. I don’t know about all of you, but one of my favorite favorite dishes from Olive Garden was always their potato gnocchi soup. No, this isn’t a copycat recipe for the soup, but that soup introduced me to gnocchi. It wasn’t an ingredient that my parents cooked with growing up, but it’s something that I now try to create my own recipes with. This is a recipe I just threw a bunch of stuff I had in the fridge together to see if it would work… and it did! It’s now a hit in our house and heavily requested.

Servings
4-5

Cost
Total: $20.85
Per Serving: $4.17

Time
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 40 minutes

Ingredients
1 lb. Ground Italian Sausage
16 oz. of Gnocchi
1 White Onion
1 Bunch of Kale
1 Cup of Vegetable Broth
1 Cup of Pinot Grigio
1 Cup of Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1/2 Cup of Heavy Whipping Cream

Seasonings
4 Tbsp. of Olive Oil
2 Cloves of Fresh Garlic
1.5 Tbsp. of Flour
Italian Seasoning
Salt
Pepper

Step 1: Clean, dice, and prepare all of the ingredients needed. Dice the onion into small pieces first. I don’t use kale often and I know that I am not the only one. Pulling the leaves from the stem and then cutting into 2-inch pieces is the most efficient way to prepare the kale for this dish.

Step 2: Cook one pound of Italian sausage in a pot. (This is the pot that I use the most for dishes like this.) Once fully cooked, set the sausage to the side and leave some of the grease in the pot.

Step 3: Grab a different pot and add water and salt to it. You’ll be adding your gnocchi once the water is boiling.

Step 4: Add the onions, 4 tablespoons of olive oil, salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and 2 cloves of fresh garlic into the same pot the sausage was cooked. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Once the onions are soft, add a tablespoon of flour and mix together.

Step 5: Add the 1 cup of vegetable broth and 1 cup of pinot grigio to the onion and flour mixture. Stir all together. Allow to simmer for 10 minutes.

Step 6: Next, take your kale pieces and add half to the pot. Stir this around for a few minutes and add the other half.

Step six in the kale, gnocchi, and Italian sausage dinner recipe

Step 7: Place the potato gnocchi in the boiling water and cook for about 3-5 minutes. A trick for knowing when gnocchi is finished cooking is that they will start to float to the top of the water.

Step 8: Add the ground Italian sausage and cooked gnocchi back to the pot.

Just need to add heavy cream and parmesan cheese to the kale, gnocchi, and Italian sausage dinner recipe

Step 10: Now you can add your 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and 1 cup of shredded Parmesan cheese.

Step 11: Continuously stir all of the ingredients for a few minutes and bring to a simmer.

Step 12: Enjoy!

I love this creamy Italian sausage recipe and I hope that you and your family enjoy it as much as my husband and I do. Are there any gnocchi recipes that you keep in rotation? Share them with me because I am always looking to expand the ingredients I use when cooking!

If my opening paragraph got you thinking about soup, I have an easy soup recipe that I posted last year that you can give a try! As always let me know if you end up trying any of my recipes at home!

XO,

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Friendly Reminder Friday: The 70/30 Rule To Live By

For this week’s Friendly Reminder Friday I am sharing my 70/30 rule I have for myself for weight loss, being healthy, and just life in general.

I know it can be tempting to be super restrictive, because that will bring you the results you want quicker. But, honestly, the weight will come back as soon as it fell off if you are super restrictive with your diet and workout regimen. I try to eat healthy 70% of the day/ week and reserve 30% for treats or a higher calorie dinner I’ve been dying to have. I don’t follow the “cheat day” idea because, for me, that has lead to having multiple cheat days in a row. I’ve found that if I have treats and different things when I want them, I don’t overindulge when I FINALLY get my cheat day.

I also try to apply my 70/30 rule to life in general. If I’ve spent 70% of my day being productive and I’m feeling like watching Netflix— I will. This allows me to give myself grace with my schedule (workout, daily, etc.). No one is on 100% of the time and if you are you will likely burn out. Balance in life is a lie because sometimes you need to focus more attention at work or home or your kids, but the 70/30 rule allows me to try and keep it as balanced as it can get! 🙂

As usual, I am not a doctor or nutritionist, but I have been on the up and down roller coaster of life and have found the 70/30 rule to help me the most. Allow yourself grace. The world is full of influencers & celebrities promoting the “hustle”, but when I embrace the hustle… I find that I burn out quicker (and harder). Try the 70/30 rule for yourself and see if that garners the type of schedule you want for your life!

XO,

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10 of The Best At Home Date Nights For Couples

Hi Everyone!
With COVID and quarantine, Kevin and I (let’s be real, mostly me) have had to get pretty creative with date nights or just remaining entertained. I put together a list of different at home date night ideas that aren’t just popping popcorn and putting on a Rom-Com. We’ve tried some of these on the list and can’t wait to give the other ones a try!

1. Paint and Sip
If you’re friends with me on Facebook you saw that Kevin and I did an at home paint and sip a couple weeks ago. We did an in-person paint and sip in 2015 at Pinot’s Palette in Naperville, IL. We were there for my birthday, and had such a great time. Considering we are in the middle of a pandemic, we decided to just give it a try at home. It was pretty painless to set up and do ourselves. I started on YouTube and searched for “Paint and Sip At Home.” This led me to a channel called Michelle the Painter. To get in the Christmas spirit we landed on the most adorable snowman painting, but she has a wide variety of different paintings to choose from. At the start of her videos, Michelle lists out all the tools and paint colors you will need (she also puts it into the description of the video). From there, I made a a note of the different brushes and paints I had at home and went to Michael’s to fill in the gaps. I didn’t get the exact paint colors she listed… but got ones that were close enough to get the job done. From there, it was pretty easy! We got the YouTube video ready on our TV, set up easels at our coffee table (covering it, of course!), poured ourselves a drink, and pressed play! I definitely recommend! We had A LOT of fun with this one. Because we can’t just do things for fun… I posted each finished canvas side by side on Facebook and let my friends vote on which was better. (I won. Just needed to acknowledge that.)

Snowman painting from one of our at home date nights.

2. Book Club
Truth be told I don’t know that Kevin would be into this at home date night idea. It would take a decent amount of preparation, but I think it would be a lot of fun! (Hear that, Kev?) Choose a book that was created into a movie that the both of you agree to read. (For example, Harry Potter, Twilight, The Fault in Our Stars, Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close). Set an amount of time to have this accomplished (1 week, 2 weeks, 1 month) and plan a date night shortly after finishing the book. Discuss your favorite parts, your favorite character, least favorite character, or what you would change. I know this sounds like an adult book report (it kind of is), but I just think it requires more effort than the typical dinner and drinks date nights and would be rewarding to do together. After you’ve had your book discussion– watch the movie together! You can compare characters throughout the movie, talk about how you imagined the scene in the book versus how they portrayed them on-screen, or what did they leave out? I know of a few friends who would really enjoy doing this with their significant other. As much as I love being silly and playful with Kevin, I always love when we can have in-depth discussions that don’t necessarily have to do with anything too serious.

3. Wine Tasting Night
I won’t go too in depth with this one because I have already dedicated an entire blog post on how to have an at home wine tasting. (Charcuterie board ingredients included!) We had a blast with this one as well and will definitely be doing it again! *If you don’t drink alcohol, a chocolate tasting night would be fun, too!

Wine night for at home date nights

4. Craft Beer Tasting Night
Surprisingly we have yet try this! Both of you make a trip to the store and buy 3 bombers of local craft beers each and try to pick a variety. You can do the same idea as the wine night and score each beer and see which one comes out on top for each of you. This is a fun way to get to know some of your local breweries without having to leave your couch! I definitely recommend having some pretzels with beer cheese near by. 🙂

5. Island “Getaway”
This one I thought of based on events that shall not be named (*COVID*) that caused us to cancel our trip to Hawaii in May. On the day we were supposed to leave we threw ourselves a luau. I went to Target and bought some Luau decorations, made some lava flows (here’s a recipe), and played Jimmy Buffet and Bob Marley all day. We even wore swimsuits. HA! It was fun even just envisioning we were on a beach (I’m sure it would have been even more fun to actually be on a beach, but we made some lemonade) together. I feel another luau may be in our future this winter.

6. Try a New Recipe
Pick out a dinner dish that the both of you would be excited to eat and cook together! Try venturing out and trying something different than your typical dinner menu. Last year I shared one of mine and Kevin’s favorite meals– salmon with mango salsa— that would be a fun one to try together.

7. Karaoke “Bar” Night
Again, YouTube is our friend. Go and search some of your favorite songs with lyrics and sing your heart out! Take turns and maybe turn this into a “bar” night without having to leave the house. For us, that usually includes pitchers of Bud Light and some darts… and maybe a cheap frozen pizza.

8. Themed Movie Night
A little more amplified than your typical at home movie date nights. Choose a trilogy to binge, your top three favorite Jennifer Aniston or Jim Carey movies, or each of you pick a scary movie. We had a Halloween movie night and I bought Halloween themed pajamas to wear. Make it fun!

Halloween pajamas for date night! Will be doing something similar for an at home Christmas date night.

9. Unconventional Game Night
During quarantine, we played a lot of conventional two player games like Gin Rummy and Mancala, but we also played some more unconventional TikTok games. We played a roulette shot game where we bought a pint of tequila and a pint of Malibu Rum. Put 2 shots of each plus 2 shots of water onto the table and played flip cup to see who would pick a shot first. I also found another drinking game on TikTok that was a mixture of tic-tac-toe and flip cup. Once you flipped your cup you could place it on a gird that we made on our dining room table with masking tape. (We are classy folks over in the Powers-Keefe household.) First to get three in a row wins. I’ve also been intrigued to try a mystery food game. Each of you makes a trip to the grocery store and buys 10 items of food for the other person to try blind-folded. Then they have to guess what each item is. The person with the most right guessed food items wins. Don’t get me wrong I love my traditional board games, but these kept things interesting.

10. Learn Something New Together
Hey, YouTube, our old friend! (Maybe I should have named this article “Ideas YouTube Gave Me For At Home Date Nights” LOL.) Honestly you can learn to do anything from YouTube. I would have loved if we searched for dance lessons before our August wedding. It’s always fun for us to learn something new together… and it usually turns into a competition. I’m sure you’re not surprised. Much like most of our other at home date nights! HA!

I hope you get to try some of these ideas for at home date nights and have just as much fun as us! I know a lot of places have been opening restrictions, but I think a lot of these date nights can transform a “typical” date and make it so you don’t have to change out of your PJ’s if you don’t want to.

As always, let me know if you end up trying any of these ideas or if you have some of your own at home date nights that I need to add to my list!

XO,
Happy At-Home-Dating!

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Everyone Needs a Friendly Reminder… Here is Yours!

Hi Everyone!
Long time no talk, huh?

I have been really thinking about what I set out for this blog to be and what I have done with it thus far.

I have been so proud of this blog in so many different ways. There have been a number of posts that were just a small idea that I created into something I was so proud of. For instance, my post 25 Women Tell Me What They Wished They Knew at 25. That post took months and months of gathering advice from 25 different women and trying to put it cohesively into one post that I thought other young women and girls could learn from. It felt so valuable to me and I often times go back and read it when I am needing a feel-good moment. Whenever I post recipes for you guys to try it is a recipe that I have tried and tried a million times to be sure that it would be something I would be proud to hear you made.

Because I take so much time and thought and effort into each post, I often find myself stuck sometimes. I want this blog to be somewhere 20-something women can go and realize they are not the only ones thinking what they are, where moms can come and grab a recipe that’s healthy for their family, or someone can go and just realize they are not the only hot mess express in town. When I get stuck trying to come up with something that is SO inspiring or SO different and unique and come up empty, I then feel bad that I am not posting more and get into this crazy, annoying cycle of feeling inspired and then uninspired.

I thought that instead of trying to put out the “most perfect” (perfection isn’t real, but I like to think it is) blog post I will start putting out a small post every Friday. Consisting of something inspiring that happened that week, an example of my hot mess life, or just something that I think everyone could benefit from hearing. I am going to be calling this weekly post “Friendly Reminder Friday” and I am actually really excited about this segment! I will still continue with the long formatted blog posts and the posts that are more like projects, but I think this will get to the sole reason I started this blog: to help 20-something women feel like they aren’t the only ones.

I felt that there were enough blogs out there that showed the perfect house décor, perfectly pictured recipe, perfect life, and not enough that just showed life real and raw. That’s why I started Unapologetically Emily and I want to make sure that that is always the purpose behind every post.

XO

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5 Reasons Why I Am Grateful For My Micro Wedding

What is a micro wedding? Although they have been around for years, they are definitely becoming more popular these days due to COVID. Micro weddings consist of a wedding that has 50 or less guests. A lot of 2020 brides are having to choose between micro weddings, elopements, and having a mini-mony. Even though we weren’t necessarily planning to have a wedding in 2020– we were in the midst of planning a 2021 wedding when I got laid off from my job. Because of this, we decided to move up the wedding date and plan a micro wedding in 3 weeks. (I am still in disbelief that I pulled it off. If you want an insight to how I did that… I would be happy to put together a blog post about my 3 week wedding planning process!)

Growing up I watched shows like Say Yes to The Dress and Four Weddings and imagined I would have a HUGE, elaborate wedding. Then I got older. I realized how much I disliked typical “traditions”, how much weddings cost, how stressful it can be for the bride and groom to have big weddings, and that it’s hard to spend quality time with each guest who may have traveled far and wide to be with you on your special day. Prior to COVID I was itching for a smaller wedding… it’s unfortunate the circumstances in which what I wanted actually became reality, regardless it was the picture perfect day!

1.) Guest List
This was a big one for me. We ended up having 19 people in attendance (including us!) Although there were a handful of people we truly missed dearly that day (my sweet Granny included), we felt like every person in attendance had been in support of our relationship from the get go. I already wanted to have a smaller backyard wedding in 2021. And even still… the guest list was creeping over 100. While 100 people at a wedding is a smaller event, it was still getting bigger than I was wanting. With qualms from either side of our families saying “Well, wouldn’t you like to invite this person or that person? They watched you grow up, don’t you want them to see you get married?” And while, yes, that is true. I would love to have an event where I could have every single person who has made an impact in my life recognized… that just wasn’t going to coincide with my priority of having a small wedding. This micro wedding really let me live out my dream of a small, intimate wedding.

2.) More Personal
Have you ever traveled to a wedding, spent a significant amount of money and time to be there, and then you get to see the bride and groom all of two minutes? I didn’t want that for my guests and I didn’t want that as a bride. Those two minutes are usually filled with a “thanks for coming, how was your travel, be sure to enjoy the bar and dance floor, see you later.” With only 19 people in total, we were able to have actual conversations with those we loved for the entirety of the weekend. Especially with us living far from our families and friends, it was extremely important for us to have quality time with each person… and we accomplished that and I would not give that up for anything.

3.) Casual Atmosphere
We are a pretty casual couple. We hardly ever do big date nights that include a black tie dress code. I don’t remember the last time I wore heels (didn’t even wear them on my wedding day) and I usually have to do a little begging to get Kevin into any shoes that aren’t Nike tennis shoes. Heck, we wanted a backyard BBQ wedding from the beginning! Yes, I had structure for the day (you have to! Especially with my family, those Powers need a little direction), but I left room for us to sit and mingle together. My brother officiated our wedding, Kevin got a silicone wedding band, I got my wedding flowers from Hyvee, my wedding dress came from JC Penny, we had our friend photograph our wedding, and our “dress rehearsal” was at our favorite Irish pub down the road from our apartment. Everything was casual… and perfectly us.

4.) It’s Official!
Before we got engaged we had been together for a little over 5 years, had been living together for almost 4 years, and Kevin uprooted his life in IL to follow me to Nebraska for my dream job. We were pretty much as committed as committed gets. It felt so silly to have an engagement last over a year, but we were going to do it… because that’s what you’re supposed to do, right? The reason you get engaged is to get married, though… right? Why not make it legal as soon as possible?! That’s the whole goal. It just felt so right to have a 4 month engagement instead of a 15 month engagement and that’s really all that matters.

5.) Save Money
I mean… this is a HUGE one! The national average cost of a wedding in 2019 was $33,900. I’m sorry what?! In order to declare my love in front of my family and friends I have to spend almost $35,000?! I think that is absolutely absurd and makes no sense, especially when the national salary average is $56,000. This was never our intended budget to begin with; however, decreasing the guest list by about 80 people helped us to not even come close to that national average! HA! I originally planned to spend $1,500 on my wedding dress and I ended up getting mine for $70. We saved A LOT of money by keeping it small and intimate and in the current economy and considering I lost my job, we didn’t have as much expendable income to spend on a party. Our family also helped us throughout the weekend which was SO helpful and we felt very grateful for that because I know that not every couple is put in that situation to have financial help from family.

While I am not shaming anyone who wants the large and elaborate wedding, I just knew in my gut that wasn’t for me and that I wouldn’t enjoy myself as much as if I had something smaller and more laid back. Like I said, it’s rough that we put this wedding together because I lost my dream job due to COVID (idk if you’ve noticed, but no one is having events with 500+ people at them LOL), but it really was the most perfect day that really encapsulated our relationship and who we are. Are there any other brides out there who really wanted a smaller more casual wedding, but felt the immense pressure to have a large party? I can’t be the only one!

If you are a bride-to-be… stick to what you want! Whether that be something small or something large… or maybe just the two of you and a justice of the peace… it is YOUR wedding day and something you will reflect on for years to come. Why not make it exactly what you want it to be?

XO,
Happy Wedding Planning!

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The Five Tools I Implemented to Lose 20 Pounds

Hi everyone! If you’ve been following along on my journey, you know that in the recent months I have lost around 20 pounds. Now I am not trying to promote anybody feeling like they need to lose weight or need to change the way that they look. You are beautiful just the way you are! But, I have always been an active person and I was beginning to feel constantly fatigued, uncomfortable in my own skin, and just not like myself. Losing weight is definitely not the most important step in being comfortable in your own skin… I also learned to love myself at every stage instead of only consuming myself with losing weight. Getting healthy + fit again was the goal… losing weight can come with implementing more healthy decisions (usually). These are the top 5 habits & apps I implemented into my life to get my results– I am not a doctor or have any kind of degree in nutrition & fitness– this is just what worked for me and maybe you can find an app or habit that you can add into your own lifestyle!

Tracking
Some people track macros or calories and some people just intuitively eat. I kind of do a mixture of all three! I use the app My Fitness Pal. I find that the calories they suggest for you are far too little, so I did my own research based on my lifestyle to see what calories/ macros fit for me. I like that you can create your own calorie amount and are not stuck with what they suggest. At the start of my health journey, I was tracking every meal to be sure that the calories I was taking in was less than the calories I was burning off. Present day, I don’t track as strictly because I have learned what calories and macros I eat regularly.

Exercise
You hear it all the time… nutrition + exercise are the key components to losing weight and getting healthy and that is for a reason! With my ever-changing, demanding work schedule I decided that 3-5 days a week would be sufficient for the goals I was trying to achieve. On days when I can’t make it to the gym or fit in a workout, I make it a priority to still be moving throughout the day. I try to get at least 10,000 steps on those off-days. If I have any advice when it comes to exercise… it is to find a type of exercise that you ENJOY! Whether it’s weight lifting, running, Orange Theory, Yoga, Boxing, Biking… as long as you enjoy it, it’s going to be something you are going to WANT to do and not something you feel forced to do.

Sleep Cycle
Sleep is very vital to living a healthy life. Adults need between 7-9 hours of sleep a night (I thrive when I get a full 10 hours of sleep and am a monster if I don’t– LOL) and I can guarantee most adults do not get that. When you are exercising consistently, your body needs rest to repair your muscles. Not only is it vital to your exercise routine, getting enough sleep helps with brain health, is linked to a decrease in heart disease, and reduces stress. I am someone who likes looking at patterns and what I can do to improve any situation so I have been utilizing the app Sleep Cycle. It tracks your night’s sleep and determines how long you were in REM sleep. It also allows you to set an alarm with a 20 minute increment so it can wake you up gradually and not abruptly which can often leave you feeling super groggy at the start of your day.

Waterlogged
It’s shocking to me how many adults hardly drink water throughout the day… HOW?! At the start of my health journey I made the goal to drink a gallon of water a day. Drinking water helps with so many aspects of health and fitness, but I find I crave a lot less when I am constantly replenishing my body with water, my skin is clearer, and I don’t bloat as much. As I’ve said before I am super visual and like to track patterns, so I use the app Waterlogged to track my water intake throughout the day. It has a cute water bottle you fill throughout the day 🙂

Notes
I am super organized and need to have a plan in order to do anything 100%, so I utilize my notes app A LOT when it comes to creating and following a workout. Throughout my workout I check off the exercise once it’s done and it helps me to stay focused and on track during my workouts. Failing to plan is planning to fail!

Again, these are all just tools and habits that have helped me in my health journey and this is in no way saying these are the only ways to do it! In all, I think being mindful and recognizing bad habits and patterns can really help you on your journey of health!

Happy healthy-ing!
XO

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Best Purchases I’ve Made During The Last 6 Months… From Amazon, ThredUp, ThirdLove and more!

Hi everyone! Another blog within a week… who am I?! I know I am not the only person who did a little more internet shopping and Amazon package stalking since shelter in place orders began in March. Although most orders have been lifted now, I know the packages are still being delivered 🙂 These are the products that I am SO happy with and will more than likely be purchasing again (maybe not the couch any time soon… that’s a once every 5 years type of purchase! HA!). If you are like me, if I hear of a great product from someone… I immediately start researching to see if it’s a wise product to spend my money on. I have linked every single product, so if you are intrigued, you can check it out for yourself! ***Some of the links are affiliate links (the Amazon links) and I will make a small commission off of them if you decide to purchase from those links.*** If you purchase any of these items and you love them as much as I do… let me know! Or if you have made a purchase since March that you just can’t get enough of… I’d love to hear about those also! This list is in no particular order!

Ashley Furniture Sectional
I know I said that none of these items are ranked, but this one is so obviously number one. Even though it took forever and a lot of miscommunication from Nebraska Furniture Mart, we eventually got our Ashley Furniture sectional and we could not be happier with our purchase!

Handheld Vacuum
Never thought I would be someone who bought a vacuum specifically for our couch… but here we are! I found this one from Amazon and it’s small enough that it stores super easily.

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Palette
When it comes to make-up I am usually a drugstore girl through and through. I definitely would never spend more than $40 on any one make-up item, but I have been eyeing this highlighting palette for almost two years and I figured my wedding day would be the occasion to purchase this from Hourglass. It is the perfect every day “inner glow” highlight and I plan to use the HECK out of it… especially because of the price! Ahh!

Diamond Dazzle Stick
Ooooohh! This may very well be my best purchase of quarantine. If you wear jewelry on a regular basis, you know how amazing it is to get your ring back from the jeweler and it is soo sparkly. This little stick does the exact same thing. I highly recommend having this handy if you are newly engaged for engagement pictures and your wedding day. Highly, highly recommend.

Stars Above Lounge Pants
Go to Target, buy these, and thank me later. They are the best lounge pants hands down!!! Don’t wear them in public, though, they are a little sheer. Ha!

Thred Up Clothes
Okay, so I think I am going to do a separate review of Thred Up and everything I received, but I am so SO impressed with this online thrift store and the variety they had. It’s exciting to be able to try different styles of clothes and have fun with being creative without breaking the bank. Also, purchasing clothes from this website is much better for our planet than buying from fast fashion stores such as Shein (although I do love a good Shein haul).

Facial Steamer
I had seen many “infuencers” and bloggers using this all over instagram and definitely thought they were unnecessary (and they honestly kind of are), but I absolutely love adding this into my skin care routine at least once a week!

Shoe Slot Organizers
Ahhh. What has my quarantine life consisted of if not organizing every nook and cranny of my apartment. I saw these on Tik Tok and I HAD to have them. I can more easily access and see the shoes in my closet now 🙂

Estee Lauder Double Wear Foundation
Once again, I am a drugstore make-up girl at heart and have NEVER purchased a foundation that cost more than $15 before. If you follow beauty YouTubers or beauty bloggers you have for sure seen at least one of them talk about this foundation… and let me tell you, it is for a reason. Again, I bought this for my wedding day, and it did not disappoint. It has the most beautiful finish and literally does not budge. I highly recommend this for important events and, heck, every day life too because it just makes my skin look so. dang. good.

PINK Ultimate Biker Shorts
If anyone follows me on Instagram, you have definitely seen me talk about my love for the biker short trend… and these are THE best. Hands down. If you have also fallen in love with this trend, you need these in your closet.

Bath & Body Works Serenity Aromatherapy Lotion
I have been sleeping on Bath & Body Works. I never understood the hype, but I do now. I bought this lotion and went back the next day and bought three more lotions and also two body washes in the same scent. Haha! You’ll understand when you smell it, and the lotion bottle looks adorable on my sink.

Hairitage Magic Dust Texturizing Powder
I saw Casey Holmes talking about this new affordable hair line at Walmart and well I love her and her hair is #goals… so I went and bought the three items she talked about from Hairitage: dry shampoo, flexible hairspray, and the texturizing powder. I could pass on the other two, but the texturizing powder is amazing and I don’t have any other product like it so it’s staying in my hair routine.

Invisibobble Scrunchie
Less breakage, it’s freakin cute, and I get to act like I am 16 instead of 26.

Alani Nu Confetti Cake Protein Powder
I have been following Katy (the brand owner) on Instagram for a few years now and her and her family are adorable. I have loved every product I have tried from her brand (Energy drink & Balance supplement) and this one is no different. It’s delicious.

ThirdLove Bra
Again, another company I may have to do a whole separate review of, but this is the comfiest bra I have ever worn and I actually measured in their half sizes and I have never had a bra fit me so perfect. Highly recommend, but I do want to try a couple more styles.

HAPPY SHOPPING! xo

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How to Have a Fun At-Home Wine Date Night for $60

Hello everyone! I know it has been awhile since I’ve posted here… and well… do you blame me? It’s so hard with the present world to be motivated to share fun and happy things. In May when quarantine was still new Kevin and I were trying to get creative with at-home date nights we decided to do an at-home wine night for as cheap as possible. Although quarantine and restrictions have been lifting, I know many who are still trying to keep their public exposure to a minimum. Plus… quarantine or not, everybody loves a good, cheap, at-home date night.

I had heard a lot of good things about ALDI, more specifically their wine selection. Then when I saw the prices… I HAD TO HAVE THEM. Under $5 for a bottle of wine?! Some under $3?! If I tried them and it wasn’t good… oh well! THEY ARE FIVE DOLLARS. I love a good winery visit with a little charcuterie action so I figured why not create our own while at home.

I was able to pick a variety of items for our snacks and wine all for $60. Honestly, you could make it even cheaper with less wines and less variety of cheeses, meats, crackers, and chocolate. The items I ended up purchasing from ALDI for this date night were:



Wines
Winking Owl White Zinfandel $2.49
Winking Owl Chardonnay $2.49
Flirty Bird Sauvignon Blanc $3.99
Flirty Bird Red Blend $3.99
Moiselle Sweet Red $4.95

Cheese
Imported Brie $3.49
Mozzarella $1.65
Mild Cheddar $1.65
Gouda Cracker Cuts $3.49

Meats
Beef Snack Sticks $3.49
Dry Cured Ham $$3.49
Sliced Salami $5.99

Snacks
Mini Pretzel Sticks $1.95
Buttery Round Crackers $1.95
Savoritz Veggie Crackers $1.99
Roasted Peanuts $1.79
Spinach and Tomato Pizza $3.29
Green Grapes $3.10
Red Grapes $2.15
White Chocolate $1.99
Dark Chocolate with Almonds $1.49

Subtotal: $60.86
Total: $62.11

I created a charcuterie board with the cheeses, meats, fruits, and crackers. I warmed the brie in the oven at 375 degrees for 15 minutes. The desserts and pretzels were placed on a separate dish.

Instead of just trying the wines and snacks, we decided to rank each wine out of 5 in three categories and decide what each wine paired the best with. Here’s what we came up with:

Winking Owl White Zinfandel
Overall Taste: 4
Fruitiness: 3
Drinkability: 5
Overall Score: 4
Paired Best With: Cheddar and Mozzarella

Winking Owl Chardonnay
Overall Taste: 3
Fruitiness: 2
Drinkability: 3
Overall Score: 2.66
Paired Best With: Red Grapes & Gouda Cheese

Flirty Bird Red Blend
Overall Taste: 0
Fruitiness: 0
Drinkability: 0
Overall Score: ZERO (this one was SO bad!)
Paired Best With: White Chocolate and Regular Crackers made this slightly bearable

Flirty Bird Sauvignon Blanc
Overall Taste: 2
Fruitiness: 2
Drinkability: 2
Overall Score: 2
Paired Best With: Green Grape

Moiselle Sweet Red
Overall Taste: 4
Fruitiness: 4
Drinkability: 5
Overall Score: 4.33
Paired Best With: Red Grapes & Mozzarella
***This one was the BEST! Would absolutely purchase this one again!

Once we finished ranking each wine, I looked up fun couple questions and “would you rather” questions for us to answer. Even though we’ve known each other for almost six years, it’s always fun to ask new questions and learn new things about each other or trying to guess what the other person’s answer may be to a question.

I highly recommend an at-home date night like this! We had a blast. Not every wine turned out to be good, but it was even fun tying the bad ones together 🙂 We will DEFINITELY be doing this again… we want to try it next with craft beer. If you and your significant other try out any of the other wines ALDI has to offer and there is a winner… I would love to hear about it! We can add it to our next date night.

XO, Have fun wine-ing!



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Baked Salmon with Mango Salsa Dinner For Two

Hi, me again!
I know that during this time of the world being upside down, a lot of people are turning to new recipes and spending way more time in their kitchens. I have (somehow) done the opposite. I have been rotating a lot of the same recipes that we have always done because in this time of complete uncertainty, I can rely on my go-to recipes to create some kind of normalcy…? I know, it’s weird. This recipe is one that I have been making for Kevin and myself since we’ve been living together- 4 years?!- and it is definitely a favorite. We don’t make this meal as often as we’d like because our number one priority for meal planning is sticking to a budget and salmon filets can become more expensive than the typical proteins we build our meals around. BUT… we have recently begun shopping at Sam’s and we got a killlllller deal on a skinless salmon filet that we cut into 8 individual filets, making each filet only $3.25!!! I think this recipe may be revisited more often because of this (which is awesome!).

Servings
4
Like I said above, the salmon that we purchased created 8 individual filets. For this recipe, we only used 4 🙂

Cost
Total: $26.89
Per Serving: $6.72

Time
Prep: 15- 20 minutes
Cook: 15- 20 minutes
Total: 30- 40 minutes

Ingredients
4 Salmon Filets
1/2 of a Red Onion
2 Red Peppers
3 Mangos
2 Avocados

Seasonings
Salt
Pepper
1/3 cup of Cilantro
1.5 Lime
Olive Oil

Step 1: To start, you’ll dice all of the vegetables– red peppers and red onion. Because this is a salsa, you’ll want the ingredients to all be diced smaller. For this dish, I love to add 1/4-1/2 an avocado to the plate for a little extra color, flavor, and fat. I don’t necessarily add it to the salsa and usually dice the half length-wise.

Step 2: Dice the fruit. The mango may be the one ingredient that needs more instruction when dicing. When I first started using fresh mango in my recipes I definitely had to look up how to cut a mango on YouTube (lol)… and I recommend doing that if you need more of a visual than I can provide! Still a mango newbie here! You’ll want to start by making vertical slices around the seed. Line up the stem so you know where to avoid. Next, you’ll slice a grid pattern into each slice. If this is how you cut avocados, you’re in luck because it’s pretty similar. Be sure not to cut into the skin while you’re making your horizontal and vertical slices. Once you have made the grids into each piece, you can cut the chunks off by guiding the knife closely to the skin. I told you I am a newbie… so hopefully the pictures help clear up my amateur mango dicing skills! 😉

Step 3: Once all of your veggies are cut, you can dice up your cilantro and slice open your limes into 3 halves.

Step 4: Combine your red peppers, red onion, mango, cilantro, and limes into a bowl and mix.

Step 5: Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Step 6: Season the salmon. Unless I am making a very specific-themed salmon dish (Asian, Italian, etc.) I usually only season my salmon with salt and pepper. At this point I will also add 2 tablespoons in an oven-safe pan and turn the burner to medium-high heat to get the oil warmed up.

Step 7: Start cooking the rice. You all know (or maybe you don’t HA) I usually use par-boiled or pre-cooked rice. This just reduces time and allows me to not be stuck in the kitchen forever! If this is not your first choice, by all means prepare your preferred rice. At this time, I will usually get the water and rice measured out into the pot and start cooking it.

Step 8: Once your oiled pan is heated, you can add the salmon. Cook the salmon on the stove for 4 minutes. This will make it nice and crispy before going into the oven.

Step 9: Place the oven safe pan with the salmon and olive oil into the oven for 7-10 minutes. You want your salmon to cook between 110-140 degrees F. If the temperature reaches above 140 degrees F, your salmon is likely over cooked (which is honestly so easy to do).

Step 10: Once your salmon reaches the desired internal temperature, remove from the pan and let rest for a few minutes. I always plate this meal with the rice on the bottom, then salmon, with the mango salsa resting on top. If you decided to have avocado with this meal, you can either set on top of the salmon with the salsa or to the side– or honestly whatever you want to do (there are no rules!).

Step 11: I LOVE cilantro… so at this point I add more of that to the plate.

Step 12: Eat it up!!!

I love hearing if you’ve had this meal before, are planning to try it, or have made it and loved it! As I always say, I myself am the worst recipe follower… I just add seasonings and cook on intuition, writing these out is getting easier for me, but I am absolutely no expert! Thanks for following along for the recipes I can actually organize. 🙂 I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy during this crazy time!