Hi, hello! I always have at least 5 random things bouncing around in my head, so here’s my first edition of a ‘Five on Friday’ style blog post like the good ‘ol days of blogging.
My First Five On Friday
1. New (To Me) Products I Love
This undereye concealer deserves a dedicated shoutout. It does everything you’d want in a concealer and isn’t the least bit cakey. I have the shade Illusion.
I’m also very happy I finally tried this illuminator. I have the shade Starglow and use it right after moisturizer. It adds such a happy glow, but it’s not glittery at all. Just dewy.
I need a new lip product. Send me details on your favorite(s)!
2. Putting My Baking Hobby Aside
If you missed my Instagram story about it this week, Alex just found out he has adult onset Type 1 diabetes. It was a total shock! He has always been my baked goods taste tester & number one fan, so I think I need a new hobby.
We tested a 3-ingredient cookie recipe this week– ground pistachios, peanut butter and egg. It was as good as you imagine. Sugar-deprived Alex gave it a rave review, though.
An Unexpected Update On HippoPops
My other Instagram story news from the week is that we rented a dumpster and I am being relentless with what goes. Speaking of– and also very timely with my sugar free baking news– we decided to retire HippoPops*. It has always been a ‘one day’ thing, but over the last few years I have realized that it’s not really what I want to do with my time.
So, most of the HippoPops things have made their way to the dumpster this week. We are recycling what we can, donating other things… moving on. This decision took a while to get to, but ultimately we realized that even though it’s something that we *could* (try to) do, it wasn’t really what we wanted to do. And that’s ok!
*Not sure what HippoPops is? I started a cake pop business in 2018 but put it to the side when our youngest was born early and had a NICU stay. After that, I wasn’t ready to start it up, so it sat. I did a brief comeback in December and it confirmed my suspicions: making cake pops and trying to grow a business heavy on sales isn’t my dream job.
Honestly, this section was supposed to just be about diabetes-friendly baking. Whoops.
3. I Kept A New Year’s Resolution
I started working out this year! On January 1, actually, like a real go-getter. But get this– I never stopped! I missed a few days while traveling, but other than that, I have kept a regular schedule.
Dare I say it’s now a hobby. Did this replace baking?? Probably not!
4. Design Mood Boards
I spent time this week pulling together three mood boards for my in-laws’ beach house. They are refreshing a room and wanted help pulling it together.
It was so much fun! I just sent them the concepts and we’ll go from there. I’ll share it here once we get the final look together.
Maybe this is my new hobby.
5. What I’m Reading
I’m currently reading ‘Wool’ and have reached the halfway point, which is where season 1 of Apple’s Silo show concludes. I watched the first season, but I felt like I needed more information before moving on. Alex read the book before watching the show and recommended I catch up there before we watch season 2.
I’m also currently listening to The Women by Kristin Hannah. It’s a historical fiction novel set during the Vietnam War. I’m using Spotify to listen to it– premium subscribers get 15 hours of listening time for certain books every month. It expires if you don’t use it!
And for books I haven’t loved this year– When No One Is Watching was initially a great read, but then it made a turn and I just couldn’t waste my time anymore. Anyone else experience that?? I will say the audiobook quality was great. The two main characters were voiced by different people.
Ok, that’s it! It’s the weekend!
I have several house projects I’d like to get to in the next week. Namely, painting stripes on the playroom closet shelves and painting the entryway bootroom wall.
I’m also hoping Alex can build a few shelves for our youngest’s son’s room– I posted sources for the colorful kid room earlier today, actually!
Next week I’ll chat TV shows. Is that my new hobby?