Friday is here. How are you? How was your week? This week was completely overtaken by efforts to help in the aftermath of Hurricane Helene and it passed by in a flash. (See more below.) It’s been a week that’s felt intense and heartwrenching to say the least.
Now the weekend is nearly here and Ryan’s birthday is on the horizon on Saturday. We have a birthday cake to make and some surprises to wrap today and hope to make him feel extra special. I’ll do my best to snap pictures to share with you guys on Monday but until then, keep on scrolling for this week’s roundup of favorites, Things I’m Loving Friday style!
Things I’m Loving Friday
Help for Hurricane Helene
(Photo from yesterday when we focused our efforts on helping animals impacted by Hurricane Helene.)
It’s been such a heavy week for so many communities in NC, SC, GA, TN and FL and we’re certainly feeling the heartache here in Charlotte as we see so many images and read so many stories about the impact of Hurrican Helene in the western North Carolina mountain towns so many of us love so much. (Truly the stories I’ve read involving the loss of loved ones, missing people and children have ripped my heart right open.) Honestly, I’ve had a hard time thinking of much else and am joining our community in donating as much as I can. I cannot begin to tell you how many people I’ve seen filling overflowing carts to donate and how many local businesses are opening their doors as donation drop-spots to help get essential items to the places where they’re so desperately needed. One man I talked to who worked at one of our local grocery stores said this past week reminded him of Covid days when things were so quickly wiped off shelves as we’re all trying to send essential items to WNC. I’m hoping and praying these communities are feeling love and support from us from afar, though I know it will never be enough.
For those of you reading out there who may not live in areas where items are easily collected, Operation Airdrop has been doing incredible work providing relief and life-saving support and Samaritan’s Purse is an organization that’s been repeatedly recommended as a resouce to support, as they’re headquartered in Boone, NC (an area directly impacted) but they’re also helping Hurricane Helene relief efforts in multiple locations outside of Western North Carolina as well. Thank you for any help you can provide these communities that lost so, so much.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick
My rating: A- / Genre: Fiction / Science Fiction
I’ve been in a book rut over the past few weeks and it’s been such a bummer. Ryan laughed a few times when we’d finish watcing an episode of Ted Lasso before bed and I’d say, “Well, I guess I’ll go read my dumpy book right now,” because I just could not find a winner. He’s a big advocate for abandoning bad books if they’re not for you but I admittedly sometimes hold out longer than I should. After three back-to-back subpar reads, I finally threw in the towel on a fourth bad book when The Measure became available through my local library. One of you highly recommended this book to me, touting it as one of the best books you read this year, so my hopes were high. When I tell you this book consumed my thoughts, I mean it. I read it in two nights because I was so invested in the characters, the plot and the outcome.
The Measure begins when boxes are delivered all over the world to every single person. Everyone awakes to find a string within their box, a string they quickly realize is supposed to tell them the length of their life. The book follows a handful of characters with different string lengths and different approaches to their strings and the way they choose to live their lives. The Measure wasn’t suspenseful or mysterious or anything like that but it was gripping in the way it made me think about how I would handle the situation the characters found themselves in throughout the novel. It was the kind of book I found myself wanting to talk about non-stop!
Koia Protein Shakes
I’m a picky one when it comes to plant-based protein shakes. I don’t love the vast majority of plant-based protein powders and haven’t found many plant-based protein shakes that have called to me. I was very pleastantly surprised when an impulse buy of BOGO Koia pumpkin spice protein shakes at Publix led me to trying their shakes because I’ve actually enjoyed them. Hooray! They’ve been great for popping into one of my Pack-It frozen snack pouches and bringing along with me for a mid-morning or afternoon snack along with an apple or banana.
October 2024 Top 10
Blog Posts
Breakfast Meal Prep Recipes
Whole Wheat Pumpkin Muffins
Everything I Read This Summer
How to Make Salmon Bites
Easy Orange Juice Chicken Marinade
Chicken Sausage Sweet Potato Bake
A Day at Magic Kingdom (From the Perspective of Someone Overwhelmed by Disney)
Egg White and Oatmeal Protein Pancakes
Cottage Cheese Zucchini Breakfast Casserole
Pumpkin Spice Cake Mix Cupcakes
Your Top 10 Favorites
Epicurean Cutting Boards (mini, medium, large): I have and love all three! The cutting boards of my dreams! Non-toxic, doesn’t retain smells/flavors of food, dishwasher safe and super thin.
Oversize Tee: So many oversize tees add bulk and aren’t at all flattering but this one is comfy and drapes so, so well. I think it fits true to size for an oversize fit.
Retainer/Mouth Guard Natural Cleaner: Apparently I am not the only one who was horrified by the state of my mouth guard and retainer. This stuff WORKS and that’s all there is to it.
Light-Up Memory Cube: A huge hit with our big kids for road trip entertainment. Think Simon from our youth but with more games.
Pack-It Freezable Snack Pouches: A pouch you put directly in the freezer and then use to keep cold snacks on hand. I use our Pack-Its most often for yogurt, string cheese, protein shakes, fruit and veggie slices… you name it!
Personalized Charm Necklace: I personalized this one with charms to represent each of our boys and love it so much.
Stainless Steel Snack Containers: I use these to pack fruit (berries, pineapple, peach slices, clementines, etc.) for the big kids for their school snacks.
StickiKubes: Such a gem for entertaining our boys in restaurants, on road trips, while watching Chase’s soccer games, etc. They use them to make so many different kinds of imaginative creations and they wash clean!
Striped Oversize Sweatshirt: The slouchy oversized sweatshirt I love for cozy days! I have the small and medium in two different colors and prefer the fit of the medium.
Shape-Shifting Cube: Think of this like a fidget toy for big kids. It’s another road trip gem Chase (9) and Ryder (6) love.
Friday Flashbacks
Pumpkin Paleo Oatmeal (Aka not oatmeal! This one is made with egg whites, almond milk, flax seeds and pumpkin and is voluminous and very high in protein making it super satiating.)
Oatmeal Pumpkin Protein Pancakes (Protein-packed and the perfect way to start your day this fall!)
Question of the Day
Did anything happen this week that made you smile?
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