I hope you all had an amazing weekend! We didn't do too much, just stayed home. The hubby and I did a circuit workout (2 days in a row and my legs are killing me!!), Lilly and I got our hairs cut, and yesterday I cleaned out Lilly's room and her closet full of clothes for about 2 hours. Just in time for me to add some more for the fall. :)
Over the past couple of weeks I've been buying clothes for the girls and for myself. Well, mostly for the girls, I was actually being good. Fall's coming and there have been some really great sales between Old Navy and Carter's. After going through Lilly's closet I'm glad I didn't go too crazy. She still has a ton of clothes that should carry her well into next year. Most were bought right before spring because she grew but it was still cold here. So I guess that kind of worked out to my benefit. I have a YouTube video up showing everything I picked up (see below for the video), but I wanted to just share some of the highlights of what I got here.
A few weeks ago Old Navy was having an amazing sale (honestly I feel like they are always having an amazing sale) and Zoe had a gift card from her birthday. So online shopping I went. :) I picked up three things for Zoe but my favorite is this three quarter sleeve graphic pullover and these printed leggings:
The top is a very light sweatshirt material and the leggings are just so adorably that I couldn't pass them up. I'm still on the fence about how well this goes together, but I think I like it. Can't wait for the temperature to drop just a little so I can put her in this.
Also from Old Navy, I picked up two pairs of skinny jeans for Lilly for $8 a pair. She got a medium wash and a black pair. They are kind of big on her but she will grow and they don't look bad rolled up a little. I picked up a pair of the Mid-Rise Rockstar Skinny Jeans in black. I got the pants for $13!! I love a good deal!
I picked up this denim Shirt Dress from Carter's for Lilly. This is perfect for the fall and can be warn in so many different ways. She decided that she's going to wear it for her first day of school.
I have been wanting a leather or faux leather jacket since last year and when I found this at Target I had to buy it. The price was right, but to be honest the price is WAY better now! It's on sale for $20 online! Don't forget that Target will price match too. I love it! I'll be in this jacket a lot this fall. It's a great way to make an outfit look a little more edgy. Below are two different ways I plan to wear this jacket. I'm also wearing the Rockstar Jeans.
To see everything else I picked up just watch the video below:
Let me know what you've picked up for fall. For yourself or your kids. My next adventure is shoe shopping for the girls. We are a converse house hold and everyone has at least a pair, but both girls are in need for some new ones. I might be too ;)
Thanks for taking a timeout with me! I'll talk to you next time.
I hope your week has been going well so far. So, I know I didn't touch on the this topic in a blog post, but if you watched my Mommy Mailbox August Unboxing video (watch it here if you haven't already) you would have seen I quickly talked about Rocksbox. I wanted to tell you a little more about it and give you my first impressions.
how adorable is that packaging?!
This is a monthly subscription box, but not a typical one in the sense that you can actually get this package more than once a month and only pay $19.99 a month. Crazy right?! Let me explain. First, you are borrowing jewelry. And it is not cheap costume jewelery either; each box averages about $200. Top brands like Kendra Scott and House Of Harlow are just some of what you can expect to see. You have the option to keep the box for as long as you want or return it the next day if you don't like anything you received. It's totally up to you. When you send the box back they will send you back a new box with three new pieces. You can do this as often as you want in a month. You do have the option to buy the jewelry if you really like it at a discounted price. You can either go online and click buy or you just send everything but the piece you want to keep back and they charge the card you have on file. So simple right?! You also get a monthly $10 credit to use towards buying a piece, but this $10 doesn't accrue over time. It's just $10 a month. The only store credit you get that stays in your account from month to month is the $25 credit for referring friends. You can cancel at anytime by either emailing them or going to your profile. I hope I explained that all well. I kind of had to do some digging around to really figure out how this box works. It's not as complicated as it may seem, but its so different from any other subscription box that it seems slightly confusing.
comes with a personalized card
So when signing up you create your profile and make a wish list of what you would like to get. My current wish list has 140 pieces in it (I REALLY like a lot of their stuff, haha!). I know for a fact that I got one piece off my wish list. I just added so much that I don't even remember anymore. But what I did get was awesome.
My first piece is the Slate necklace. I LOVE this necklace. It is edge-y and girly all at the same time.
This is the most expensive piece in this box. It is beautiful and so well made. I'm still on the fence about buying this, though. I really, really like it but I'm not sure about the price. I'm going to make a decision in the next few days though, I would like to get another box before my month is up.
Next piece is the Sophie Harper Pave Square Studs. These are beautiful, but a little too fancy for me. I would love to own these, but I know I wont wear them. I haven't actually worn them since I got them. So that speaks volumes.
The last piece I got is the Nakamol Mixed Cream Wrap Bracelet. Again, another beautiful piece. I can defiantly see myself wearing this almost every day. But, it doesn't really give me that "I have to have this" feeling.
So those are the three pieces. All are absolutely beautiful, but my battle of to keep or give back is the Slate necklace. I'll let you know what I decide to do.
My final opinion on Rocksbox: It's worth the $19.99, but only if you wear a lot of jewelry all the time. I'm a stay at home Mom and I do wear jewelry a lot, but not this kind of jewelry. I however, will sign back up when I have special events coming up. I think being able to borrow jewelry rather than buy some new pieces that you may only wear once is a much better option. Plus you get to borrow jewelery that you may not buy because of the price. If you are interested visit Rocksbox and use my code NICOLEBFF650 for your first month free. I do get a $25 credit if you use my code. You do not have to use my code, but I'm not sure they offer a free month without using one.
Let me know if you decided to try it out or if you already receive Rocksbox and what you think. For a free month, I don't think you can go wrong. Plus it's so fun to get jewelry, even if you have to give it back. :)
Thanks for taking a timeout with me and I'll talk to you next time!
I hope you had a wonderful weekend!! We were very productive, surprisingly. We cleaned out the basement and gave our old couch to our neighbors. I did a pretty hard core cleaning of our downstairs and than I tackled the spare room. I painted the room with the rest of Wedgwood Gray. I am in love!! I did a huge clean out of the room too. It's the catch-all room and I throw away nothing. So one full garbage bag later and the cardboard recycling bin full. The room is 95% complete. If you're interested in seeing the room let me know, I'd love to share some pictures.
The weather here was amazing. Totally fall weather, which makes me very excited. I'm sad to see summer leaving so quickly already, but fall is my favorite season. It means the kids go back to school, the leaves change, pumpkins and mums are every where, Pumpkin coffee (just got mine in the mail on Friday-ahead of the game), Apple Cider, PSL's (if you don't know what a PSL is I'm not sure we can be friends (totally kidding!!)), big comfy sweaters, Fall fashion period, and Sunday's become the most exciting day of the week (and some Thursdays). I can not wait for football to start this year. Football to me just screams FALL IS HERE! HAHA! I'm even more excited for football this year because of my Fantasy Football leagues.
A little throw back from last year <3
Over the past 3 years (this is my 4th year) I have become much more of a football fan. I've always liked Football. I love getting together with friends, making the fun snacks, an occasional beer (pumpkin beer or a fall harvest preferred), but understanding it all is a whole other story. I'm still not really on top of all the calls and/or why they are made. Hubby tries to help me and will answer any questions I have (in between yelling at the TV of course, haha!). But regardless of that, I love it even more now because of being on a family Fantasy Football League for the past 4 years. Fantasy Leagues can get a bit crazy (my husband and his friends tend to have some of the most, shall we say, interesting group texts during the season), but with the right group its a ton of fun. Plus it helps keep you interested in the games when you have players playing. I decided this year to get a group of ladies (and one gent) to start our own league. I'm pretty sure its going to be a hot mess, but we are all so excited!
Our league is called Touchdowns and Lipgloss (you know you love it!). It's a $15 buy in and the money goes towards two Sephora Gift Cards. Second place gets a $25 gift card and first gets the rest. Right now we should have about 8 people playing. Only 6 (including myself) have actually signed in and created their teams though. I have to get on top of this because our draft is next Sunday. I know it's early, but it works best for all of us. We use the ESPN Fantasy Football website to host our league and it's free. It's pretty simple to figure out and straight forward.
Now one of the most fun parts about playing Fantasy Football is creating your team name. My team name is Manning-n-Pedi (see what I did there?!). I think half the fun is coming up with a ridiculous team name. In fact, if you are playing in your own league (which I highly recommend you do) and need some help with a name, check out this blog post from Venus Trapped in Mars. In fact you should probably just follow Sarah. Her blog is great and the girl knows her sports. I tend to go to her blog a lot more through Football season because she talks about football in a way I understand. Sometimes ESPN just goes right over my head.
If your husband, boyfriend, family, or friends are always glued to the TV on Sunday's (and Thursday's) why not try and get involved too? Talk to them about starting a league of your own. You don't need to know the ins and outs of football to play. Of course it helps, but you will learn along the way. My family league has been just for bragging rights these past three years. Last year was suppose to be a $10 buy in but no one put any money in. This year we are definitely doing it though. When there is something at stake it makes you get more involved. It doesn't have to be cash related either. You could say the winner gets to choose where the rest of the team has to take you out to dinner. The loser has to wear the winners favorite team jersey (of course this only works if you two do not like the same team). But I think you get the point. You can make up anything. It's honestly just so much fun wither you have something on the line or it's just for bragging rights. If you need any help creating a league I'd love to help you out the best I can. Just let me know. :)
I hope if you like football that you decided to start your own league. I know you'll have a blast! Let me know if you do start your own league or if you are already involved in one. I'd love to hear who you're top picks are and what your team name is. And good luck on your draft day!!
As always, thanks for taking a timeout with me! Talk to you soon!
Hope your week is going well. Everyone is finally on the mend in my house (Thank You Jesus!). This cold was horrible. Just giving the girls a few extra days and than hopefully we can get back to our summer. It's flying by and I really want to hit up the beach a few more times. But in all of this sickness, I got a super awesome package in the mail from Mommy Mailbox and I'm so excited to share it!!
If you are not familiar with Mommy Mailbox let me give you a quick run down. It is a monthly subscription service that is intended to give Mom's a little something every month to make you feel special (you can click here and here to see the past two months). The boxes are not geared towards a specific item like most subscription boxes are (think Ipsy, Birchbox, Grazebox, etc.). The company picks a top Mommy blogger/business owner to help curate the monthly box. It's about $30.95 a month (mine works out to be about $33), which is a little steep for a subscription box, but usually one or two of the items will cover that price and you will always get 4-5 items. I have yet to be disappointed with a box and this months box has topped them so far. Mind you, you do not need to be a Mom to subscribe to this box. It's not geared towards Mom's specifically. It's just created with Mom's in mind to make them feel extra special. I think you would love everything even if you weren't a Mom. But if you're not a Mom, just be prepared to get some funny looks when the box comes in. ;)
This month Mommy Mailbox teamed up the Becki Crosby of Whippy Cake. I didn't know who Becki was until Mommy Mailbox posted on their Instagram that she was curating with them. I was going to cancel this month, but once I went to the Whippy Cake blog, YouTube Channel, and her Instagram (search whippycake in the app) I knew I had to keep it for one more month. I love Becki's style and her personality, so I know she was going to add some good stuff. And boy, did she ever!
Do you see all that awesomeness?! If a subscription box would offer me something like this every month I would sign up in a heart beat. The past two I received from Mommy Mailbox were great, but this one is honestly my most favorite box yet. Let me get into some of the details on what's pictured above.
Let's start off with the Dia's Jewels necklace. This necklace is gorgeous! I have been wanting a statement necklace for forever. I'm just supper picky and I don't want to spend my money on just any old one. If I'm buying something I have to be able to get a lot of use out of it. As it is, I have one sitting in my closet that I've never worn. I always put it on but than take it right off because I feel like its just too over the top (I should really just own my style and wear what I want. I'm working on that.) But anyways...The necklace is called Starry Night. Now I've tried to find it on the website but I can't seem to. I don't know if this was exclusive to the box or if it's just not up for sale yet. I'm hoping to see it or hear something from Mommy Mailbox about it soon though. The awesome thing about Dia's Jewel's is that each piece from her line goes towards helping women rescued from human trafficking. #Jewelsforacause You can't tell me you don't feel good about buying a piece of jewelery and knowing part of the proceeds go to charity. Check out her website, the pieces are great quality, and so reasonably priced. I was expecting at least $40 and up but most are less than $30. I have my eye on a few pieces already.
Starry Night by Dia's Jewels
Next is the liquid lipstick and lip liner from Ofra Cosmetics. I have heard of Ofra before but I have never owned anything by them, this is going to change though. The liquid lipstick is in the color Laguna Beach, it is a beautiful pinky nude. It goes on very creamy but dries kind of matte and is suppose to last up to 5 hours. The lipliner is in the color nude. It is waterproof and when they say waterproof, they mean it! It took a good scrubbing to get it off my hand after I swatched it. The two match up perfectly and when I tried them on it was a perfect natural nude for my lips. These two will probably become a regular staple in my makeup routine.
Next up, the Baggu Small 3D Zip makeup bag. I love the colors and the design on this bag. Its made of 100% ripstop nylon that seems incredibly easy to clean (in fact it is machine washable) and is rather large even though it says small. My only worry would be that it's so thin something might get broken if you drop the bag. Nothing worse than a shattered blush or eyeshadow. But other than that, I can think of a few uses for this bag. Like using it for the beach, bringing to the pool, using it for pens and pencils; just to name a few. Baggu has a ton of styles from purses to backpacks to these zip bags. They also have so many different designs and the prices are amazingly reasonable. Check them out here and see if there is anything you like.
And lastly is the Grey Ghost Bakery Lemon Sugar Cookie. Grey Ghost Bakery is a small family owned bakery based out of South Caroline. The baked goods are from recipes passed down from the family. Let me tell you, it was a darn good cookie! The description says it "tastes like the ones Mom made". I can't say my Mom ever made sugar cookies like that (sorry Mom!), but I will say these tasted great and you can tell they weren't store bought. Lilly really enjoyed it. I got about two bites and than she finished it on me. Check out their website (here) to see everything else you can order and to see if the bakery items are sold in a store near you.
Picture from Grey Ghost Bakery website
I did an Unboxing video, click on it below to see my initial reaction to everything.
I've said it before and I'll say it again, I love everything Mommy Mailbox stands for. You get what you pay for and more. And this months box was worth every penny. I am, however considering canceling next months. I know that probably makes no sense, but I need to take a break from these subscription boxes. But, we will see who the curator is for September and I'll go from there. :)
Thanks for taking a timeout with me and checking out what I received in my Mommy Mailbox. Don't forget to go to their website and check out their blog. Also, they say that they sometimes have left over boxes, so if you really liked a past box you can email them to see if they still have any available. They are an amazing company and I know you won't be disappointed if you sign up.
I hope you had a fantastic weekend (and a good Monday)! Everyone is still getting over their colds in my house. So needless to say it was a very quite weekend. Well except for Sunday when I did food shopping and went to Target. I got to go to Target by myself!! You Moms KNOW the significance to this. I got to get a Starbucks (the Mango Black Tea Lemonade is SO good!), walk around and actually looking at things (this led to me buying a faux leather jacket that I'll be sharing later this week.) Oh, the little things! Haha! I also did a little look-see on back to school shopping for Lilly (I promised her she could go clothes shopping with me so I didn't buy her anything). I mostly just looked at the clothes since I'm pretty sure all she needs is a back pack and a lunch box for Kindergarten.
Lilly and I already picked out her backpack and her lunch box about a week and a half ago. Picking it out wasn't as daunting as I thought it might be. I use to obsess over the perfect backpack when I was a kid. And although Lilly does care about what things look like, I'd say it took less than a half hour for her to figure out what she wanted. I showed her a few different kinds: Jansport, Disney, the ones at Target, and Pottery Barn. She did have a Jansport one that she liked but when I told her she could have her name embroidered on the Pottery Barn ones she instantly said she wanted one from there.
I helped her scroll through the site to see which set she liked the best. We ended up with three in our bag and she had to choose from those. She had picked out the Mackenzie Navy Glitter Heart, Mackenzie Pink Geo, and the Mackenzie Plum Glitter Heart.
Lilly reminds me constantly that her favorite color is blue, so I was a little surprised to not have seen three different shades of blue. Her fist pick was actually the Pink Geo with green straps, they just didn't have the right size left for her. She ended up picking the Plum Glitter Heart.
I picked out the small backpack for her. I was really worried it would be too small but it's actually the perfect size. She will get a few years out of it. Which was the intent since the backpack and the lunch box cost more than what I would have typically paid. Lilly was already told she will not be getting a new one for 1st grade. She said she was okay with that, but I'll let you all know in a year if she remembers telling me this. If you are wondering about the size of the backpacks, Pottery Barn has a great sizing chart. But to give you an idea, Lilly is about 43" tall and wears a girls size 6 and it really is the perfect size for her.
Nice and padded with the chest clip
The lunch box fits perfectly inside with room
It can be clipped to the outside to (I'm not a fan of this though)
Lilly also knew exactly what lunch box she wanted. That took all of one minute of watching the lunch box video. She picked out the Retro Lunch box.
I was really surprised that she wanted that one, but she said it was just like her friend Lily's from her preschool class. It's got a lot of room and I kind of like that I can put her thermos on the top and not squish any of her food. It seems to have great insulation and looks easy to clean. My only concern is the elastic straps on top will give over time.
As you can see Lilly got an L on they backpack and her name on the lunch box. I love both fonts but thought her name might be a little bigger on the lunch box. Lilly also picked out the font. One tip on the embroidery, as much as putting their full name on the front of the backpack is exciting, I would only recommend their first initial, last initial, or their monogram. It was pointed out to me once that with their full name on the backpack it leaves it open to strangers calling your kid. Although we teach our children about "stranger danger", one layer of defense can go down with our kids when someone knows their name. This is why her lunch box will never be attached to the outside of the backpack. Just food for thought. :)
All-in-all I'm really pleased with this set and Lilly loves it. The
quality is fantastic (which it should be) and I'm pretty excited to see
how it holds up during the year. We also received it within about a week
of ordering. They were on sale when I ordered it, I don't believe they
are on sale right now but I'm sure they will be again in the next few
weeks. I'm thinking I may order the pre-k size for Zoe next year when she starts preschool. Lilly had a 'normal' one from the Disney store and to be completely honest, she didn't need that big thing. She did use it for two years and could have used it again this year, but Kindergarten is a big deal. I had to make it special with something new. :)
Let me know if you bought any of the backpacks and lunch boxes from Pottery Barn. I've always loved their stuff and I'm very happy with our purchase.
Thanks for taking a timeout with me and I'll talk to you later!
Xo,
Nikki
*These products were bought with my own money and is in no way sponsored by Pottery Barn. They don't have a clue as to who I am. Also, the staged photos are courtesy of the Pottery Barn website. :)*
Hello there! I'm Nikki, a military wife and a SAHM to my two beautiful little girls.
My girls consume most of my time and we all know that even Mommy's need a timeout. So, Welcome to my offical Timeout! Grab your cup of coffee or glass of wine and enjoy your timeout with me!
