My life navigating COVID unemployment one day, post & glass of wine at a time
Hope you are following along on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/butwilltherebewine/
If you are, you saw that I started posting a cocktail every Friday. Cheers to surviving another week of 2020. To kick off week #1, I had to pick one of my favorites with sort of incorporates wine…..sparkling wine that is.
The One & Only: Aperol Spritz
Ingredients:
Incorporate all ingredients over ice, garnish with orange & enjoy!
Flasback almost 2 years ago. It was December 31, 2018 and I was trying to think of a realistic resolution that I could actually keep. After going through all the usual options, I realized that my wardrobe (while items I really liked) were all very similar in color: white, black, gray & blue jeans. In 2019 I was going to add in some color!
I am not a shopaholic, but whenever there was a sale or I need a new item in my wardrobe, I made sure it had more color in it.
Luckily – this resolution has been a lasting one that I really embraced. I haven’t looked back. Over the last year and a half, I have incorporated a lot of green (hey! I am a redhead with blue eyes), some blues, yellow, a few pattern wrap dresses & a little pink.
I was reminded of this resolution this morning, when I wore my Midnight Pine Green skinny jeans. Turns out, over a year later, they are not only available in select sizes – but are on sale.
Give it a try – it’s certainly one way to brighten up 2020!
This project was a multi-step labor of love, and boy has this fireplace come a long way. Also, check out how the room has changed: we squared off the weird round doorway, got rid of the dated built in during our reno, what a difference. From brown brick and flagstone hearth…. to white washed and black granite.
DIY White Washing:
WARNING: Brick absorbs the paint fast, so work quickly!
We did not tape off edges or cover hearth because it was getting replaced anyway, however recommend doing so and laying down if that is not the case.
Now that we have our family room addition, this fireplace is now in our dining room. I wanted the mantle decor to have character & contrast. I got the olive tree and candle stick trio from Target, but otherwise used candles, books and frames we had (most likely all from homegoods).
Here it is close up! I think I am going to paint the inside of the fireplace black to match the new granite hearth. What do you think?
I have a new favorite item from Amazon, this $25.99 oversized white sweater. If you watch the video below, I go into detail on how I am not really shopping right now. With no where to go, it doesn’t make sense to add much to my wardrobe. However – this price point and ability to style it a few different ways….makes this sweater the exception.
From leggings dropping my daughter off in the morning at school or going out to dinner. You definitely get your moneys worth with this soft sweater.
I am wearing a small, and am usually a size 4. So it is definitely oversized.
I am not going to lie, I am still riding the high from my yellow front door. While I still get excited every time I see it turning the corner to our cul de sac but, we must move on. So what is next? How about one of the first things people see when they come through the front door: my dining room table next to an undecorated mantle – IT. IS. TIME.
When we knocked down the wall and redesgned our kitchen in 2018, my father and I whitewashed the brown brick. It was a huge improvement and matched our new white cabvinets.
Here is the blank slate I am working with and hope to make some progress next week. My goal is to have a range of size, shape, color & texture to jazz it up. Stay tuned and comment with any inspiration!
My birthday is 2 days after halloween, so basically it has been grouped into a Halloween party/weekend my entire life. But rather than those who share a birthday around Christmas, I love it! What a fun holiday to piggy back on. Since it is coming up next month, I thought I would resurrect these photos from (gulp) 2014. This was a fun one: easy costume (leather leggings & dark brown shirt) but the detailed makeup and twigs for antlers made it memorable.
Maybe I will do a fun makeup costume for 2020….although let’s be honest, if I can even take my kids trick-or-treating this ear, any makeup look would be covered by a mask anyway! So maybe not?
I have thought about this door for a while…. it is the first thing our neighbors, friends and family see when they come over. And it was, BLACK! Dark and boring if you ask me. I wanted to buy a new door during our 2018 renovation, but we went over budget so that wasn’t going to happen. Even though our spray foam insulator and friend asked “you’re going to replace that door, right?”. UGH!
So here we are, 2 years later, stuck at home in 2020 and I CANT STOP LOOKING AT IT. While we still don’t have the budget for a new door, we DO have budget for a bucket of paint. I researched researched researched, drove around and looked at the new construction houses and their doors. It was obvious – bright is in! And bright is what we chose!
It took a lot of time (7 coats over 2 days) to cover the black, but the process itself wasn’t difficult.
Step by step instructions & video:
What a beauty!
I am pretty sure anyone who comes over our house already knows this….but just to be sure, I bought this doormat.
We order a lot for our home & family on Amazon…. and I mean a lot! But let’s put necessities aside, here are some of my favorite items from Amazon that I have bought over the last year:
Clothing & Accessories:
If we must be home all the time, might as well be in comfortable jammies, am I right?? Well my sister in law sent me a pair of these back in March when quarantine first began. They basically turned into my uniform. 5pm, pajamas promptly went on and wine was poured no matter what. If you think I am kidding, I am not…. multiple neighbors saw me in them when getting my 5 yr old inside for dinner. In fact, I liked them so much that I sent a pair to my sister & ordered another set for myself as backup when they were in the laundry (machine wash on delicate – easy peasy).
Full transparency, these are not made of silk but they feel like it. And thank god for that – my quarantine cooking/cleaning & kids would’ve ruined an expensive silk set in the first week.
My sister in law sent me the blue leopard, I gave my sister the pink stripe pattern & this new palm leaf print might just have to be added to the collection as well.
Size: Small
Price: $28.99
Over 4 years I was pregnant, breast feeding, losing the pregnancy weight, then had our 2nd daughter – so start the process all over again. We had a few weddings to go to over the past few years, and I didn’t want to spend money on a dress that may or may not fit in a few months/pounds lost.
While I know there aren’t a ton of Formal Events or Weddings happening in 2020, trust me when I say I got my money’s worth and then some from this baby. For those of you in the wedding circuit, this dress is cheaper than renting – bonus you can wear it more than once.
I felt very secure on the top, and the cute inside skirt gave me extra coverage on the dance floor. Because sometimes you need to catch a wave….or wait on the pavement for your uber (sigh).
As a redhead, I looove wearing green. But I am tempted to buy this again in black for 2021.
Size: M
Price: $29.99
The Only Purse Organizer You’ll Ever Need
Raise your hand if you can’t find your keys when it is time to unlock your car. This purse organizer has been life changing. I am keeper of ALL the things: my items, my kids, snacks …and now MASKS. I can’t say enough how awesome this is.
There are several sizes depending on the tote or work bag you have! Oh and changing purses…..just pick it up and swap into the new one in a matter of seconds. I can no longer use the excuse “I left it in my other bag”.
Size: Medium Slender
Price: $13.29
Golf Attire:
Most retail stores weren’t open when I started learning how to golf this spring.
These are my favorite items from my amazon golf purchases.
First and foremost, these Nike golf shoes!!! I originally had a pair of FootJoys but returned them. This pair, as seen in pic on left, are SO comfortable. The fit and look like a sneaker but have all the qualities you want in a golf shoe. I get so many compliments on them, the conversation usually stars with “Are those golf shoes”…which is what I like about them, they are stylish and sporty. In fact, a couple of the women at our club have since also bought them.
Additional amazon golf finds include:
White golf skirt, M $25.99
Black skirt , M $24.99
Adidas Black short sleeve golf shirt: Medium, $33.88
Home & Health:
Moscow Mule Set
Remember that moscow mule set I got Ryan for our 7th anniversary! It is beautiful, and arrives in 2 days!
Price: $43.97
Collagen Peptides:
I put this collagen in my shake or coffee every morning. I used my last scoop this morning – which is what made me think of writing this post. I have tried a few over the years, SR is definitely my favorite brand.
I started using collagen 2 years ago – I had a ton of hair fall out after breast feeding and needed all the help I could get.
Price: $27.95 for 16oz
Don’t sleep on this cup!!! Cheaper than Yeti brands of the world, vacuum insulated….and holds a sh*t ton of coffee. And what parent/teacher/adult doesn’t need that right now?? I am lucky enough to have a friend with a cricut who personalized mine! The rose gold and carrara marble are my fav colors.
I LOVE this insulated cup because:
Size: 24oz
Price $22.99
Back in my first post “why start a blog”, I mentioned how blogging came up in my meeting with a life coach. This post is dedicated to our conversation, unexpected emotions and benefits of our 1:1 meeting.
My sister has had a life coach for years so while the term was familiar, I have to be honest in that I don’t exactly know what coaches do. Before I get started, the term Life Coach made me a little uneasy. Was I failing if I needed a coach to help me with my life?? On the other hand I pondered, why don’t we work on the development of our personal lives? We just stop going to school after our degrees. Then attend multiple professional conferences & workshops to continue that path…. but not have meetings or collaborative sessions towards achieving our personal goals??
I was navigating the unknown during a pandemic no less…. so why the hell not. It certainly couldn’t hurt!
Let me start by saying I prepared for my zoom appt as if I was preparing for a big client meeting. I had my husband block off his calendar to take the kids, I wrote out the list of my strongest professional qualities & skills, proven accomplishments & ROI stats. It was only a few minutes into the call that I realized I approached my conversation with Ali Ray Coaching as if she was a Career Coach – and NOT a Life Coach.
Quickly Ali helped me evaluate the core values I needed in order to be fulfilled in both personal & professional endeavors. All while she let me mourn the abrupt end to the latest chapter in my marketing career. I was way more emotional than I expected! I cried…multiple times, while unexpected, it actually felt really good to let it all out. To give you some context, I was let go then immediately asked our nanny to wrap up. Literally, the next day I dove in, head first to stay at home mom/cook/cleaner life in a quarantine. I never gave myself the proper time and emotional release to process my layoff.
Ali was not only a great listener but she also prompted me with pointed questions, insights & action items to further explore my passions. She inspired me on so many levels, but her encouragement that my life & interests don’t have to wait until 5pm/weekends to begin was by far the greatest. Starting a blog was just one step on having one of my passions come to life. I am currently working on my second big milestone down this new path. More on that soon (wink wink).
I highly recommend anyone contemplating working with a life coach to take the next step. For me, our conversation helped me:
Thank you, Ali. You were truly a savior during a dark time in 2020.
....but will there be wine? 