Happy Friday, friends! Usually ‘short’ weeks tend to feel the longest, but I feel like this week flew by over here. The whole month, actually! I can’t believe it’s the 20th and we’re two thirds of the way through. I mean, our Christmas tree is still up… 🙈 I wish I was kidding, but we’re still turning the lights on everyday and everything. This is *definitely* the latest I’ve ever had one up. I guess there’s something to be said for a real tree that’s dying and making a mess, you’re much quicker to get it out of the house! But we have no real plans on the calendar this weekend so I’m thinking I’ll make the time this weekend. It will feel good to get it packed up, but it also puts a 🔥 under my 🍑 to make a final decision about the piece of furniture we’ll be ordering for that corner.
What’s on the calendar for you this weekend, friends?! I’m looking forward to keeping it low key, getting some house projects done, and getting ahead on some work before going to California at the end of the month.
Hope you have a lovely weekend ahead!
xx jess
What I Shopped & Browsed This Week
Speaking of that piece of furniture I mentioned above… What are your thoughts?? Closed door or glass?? And if we’re doing glass, oak shelves or matte black?? These are the questions keeping me up at night. For reference… It will be the biggest piece of furniture in our living room. My biggest ‘pause’ with placing the order this past summer was that the all glass version would be too much styling ‘fluff’ when we probably need more actual storage space since our closets are on the smaller side. I’m planning on putting our alcohol and some glasses on one shelf and worried that even that would look too cluttered and messy. But then I just recently saw the closed wooded doors and was like WOW – PRAYERS ANSWERED. But truthfully, I wish it was part glass at the top, and wooden at the bottom to conceal a couple of shelves. (Kind of like this one, but I don’t love the paneling in the back. Or this one for a cheaper option?!) If I did the glass doors, I could probably find some great black bins to have some concealed storage on the bottom shelves. Definitely would have to do the all black shelves, as I think the oak shelves would look too cluttered with some type of bin.
Talking that out just now (instead of ideas just swirling around in my head) made it much more clear that the closed doorย cabinet is probably best suited what our needs are for that piece. But I still worry a bit that it will look too dark, and some light accessories on some of these matte black shelves would make it pop and add a lot to the room.
And then if you REALLY want to know what it’s like to live in this head of mine… What about this true bar cabinet from the same collection?! Less solid oak, could style it at the bottom, and it would actually house all of our barware (which would free up a lot of kitchen cabinet space). It’s a new piece, though, and it’s 6-8 weeks shipping, which doesn’t sound like much, but Dave has already been waiting on me to make a decision since June and is getting antsy. It’s also not as tall as I would like… We have 11 ft ceilings and everything looks tiny in our house. This bar cabinet is 72″, where as the ones above are 84 inches, and I think that foot would make a big difference.
Since it’s such an investment, I anticipate this piece will probably be our china cabinet for years to come. Ugh, HELP!
ALSO — If you’re looking for something similar and a more cost effective option, I love this one!! I just don’t think the walnut goes with our finishings as much. (I’m also secretly hoping this comes back in stock so we can just save $4k and make do for the time being, haha.)
Another home find… We have nowhere to put this boucle flip-top bench, but I love it so much! My Pinterest is a bit disorganized at the moment, but I save all of my recent home finds to this board and this board.
Added this coffee table book to my wish list. Great gift item for guys, too!
Majorly obsessed with these sneakers for winter/early spring. This pair, too!
This plaid puffer coat is so chic and on sale! I feel like it’s neutral enough you can still wear even though the holidays have passed?!
If you’re on the hunt for snow boots, I’ve been walking Marley in these multiple times a day and they are *so* warm! I think I told you guys I had both the black and the olive green pairs, but I ended up keeping the black pair.
Did I need a new robe? Not really. But I was browsing around the Parachute store last week and was blown away by the hand feel of this robe. Softer than I can explain for a regular cotton robe! I walked out of the store, but ended up turning around and going right back in to buy it.
I also bought this workout top in store! Such a steal, it feels just like Lulu.
I always talk about my favorite fragrance, Rose Silence. I was at Sunday Brunch with my girlfriends a few weeks ago and we were talking about London and I was like, ya know, I might need to make a trip because I’m almost out of my last bottle of perfume. (The first few years I wore it, the only way you could get it in the US was to pay shipping that was even more expensive than the fragrance itself.) But low and behold, IT’S NOW AVAILABLE WITH FREE SHIPPING TO THE US!!
Went a liiiiiitle wild adding things to my Amazon cart… This faux fur bag is an absolute need. (We’ve still got three more months of winter here in Chicago, hate to tell ya.) Verryyy interested in this teddy coat – such a great price. (The one in the photo above is an oldie from Target!) And then these boots, this darker trench, these faux leather pants, and this cardigan caught my eye.
What I Read & Listened to This Week
Grace mentioned a podcast a few months ago and I finally got around to listening to it this week. I really enjoyed it! It’s an oldie, but a goodie on David Chang’s podcast: Making an Enemy Out of Envy
I also finished Jen Atkin’s book, Blowing My Way to the Top! She narrates the audiobook if you’re into that, but I flew through the hardcover book in a couple of nights before bed. It was a good January book to read, as it was inspiring, but it was also funny, interesting, and had some celeb moments.
Credo acquired clean beauty brand, Follain.
Other Things of Note
I did a MAJOR revamp to my ‘Shop’ page here on the blog! I compiled all of my Holy Grail Beauty Products (#HGBP), but you can also click through to find some men’s shopping favorites, women’s winter fashion, vacay styles, and even more home decor I’m loving.
Have you had the Green Apple Wiley Wallaby?! I’m not a big licorice fan, but I got a pack of these in my stocking (that I put there myself 🤪🤶 because I saw them at the Dollar Tree when I was browsing around in December) and I’m obsessed with the flavor. Sort of tart, not too sweet, and chewy. I’ve since bought the family pack. The best snack when you’ve got a sweet tooth!!
We officially started Marley on The Farmer’s Dog this past month and she absolutely looooooves it! I emailed them to get a code for all of you Pup Parents and you can use this link to get 50% off your first box. I ordered her a box with a deal they were running on Black Friday and we transitioned her over to fresh food in December… Her coat was so much shinier, I felt like she smelled better, and her 💩 got a whole lot firmer and smaller. (I know, TMI, but it makes a difference when you’re picking it up multiple times a day!)
I’ve been loving my Amazon Halo! I was *this* close to buying the Oura Ringย a few weeks, but after the holidays, I needed to cool it with the spending. I used to be obsessed with my Jawbone UP band back in the day, but once the company went out of business, I never found a replacement. I’m sure I’ll cave and buy the Oura Ring eventually, but for now, this has been great for what I’m using it for… step count, heart rate, body temperature, alarm, and sleep score. I considered getting an Apple Watch, and I know you can remove all of the apps, but I did not want anything that was remotely tied to any sort of notification. #ADHDProblems
I signed up for ClassPass again!! It’s been years since I was a member and they’re currently offering one month free, so I signed up. (You can read this old post about why I used to love it!)
