Friday Favorites- Back in Town Edition

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a good week and are surviving this massive heat wave.  We are finally home from Florida, where believe it or not the weather was more tolerable!  I have just a few things to share today before we get back into our normal life routine next week... 

Favorite Way to Beat the Heat: homemade Popsicles! 

My mom picked up This cute set of Popsicle molds for our beach vaca- and they were a big hit!  

You don't need a real recipe- just blend together smoothie ingredients and freeze.  healthy, delicious, and you control the sugar content for your little one! 

For 4 popsicles I blended together 1 cup Greek yogurt, 1/2 banana, and 1 peach (peeled & sliced).  It was a little tangy from the yogurt, so a splash of juice could make it a bit sweeter.  But Lu still loved it! 

The molds are already back in the freezer with a new blend:1 cup strawberry yogurt, 2 slices watermelon, 1/2 banana.  Yum! 

Favorite Garden Harvest: Blackberries! 

My tomatoes started coming in while we were gone, but I am most excited that the blackberries are beginning to ripen!  If you don't want to make a big veg garden, I promise you can easily start with a berry bush.   You can pick up a thornless variety of blackberries (or raspberries if you prefer) at your local garden nursery or Home Depot for less than $20- they are super low maintenance. 

 Today was the first handful of yummy home-grown berries.  Blackberries are Lu's favorite fruit and I couldn't wait to give her some from our garden.

Yes, she ate them on the floor in only a diaper...

...Because this is what it looked like when she was done. 

Favorite Baby Travel Necessity:  Explora Bibs

I use these practically every day already, but for traveling they are an absolute necessity. Just wipe and stash back in the diaper bag.  I only had to bring one bib for the week away- huge packing bonus. 

More travel tips to come (when I finish getting caught up on chores around the house...)!

 Have a great weekend!

Friday Favorites- Buy & Drink

Happy Friday!

This week's favorites may seem a bit like product pushing- but I promise these are items that I genuinely discovered on my own and have fallen in love with! 

Favorite Recent Purchase:

Now that I am home, I rarely have the opportunity to get a real manicure.  (Besides, she isn't noticing my imperfect nails so why bother?).  I already told you about my fav Essie color Here, but my recent discovery is the Essie mini 4-pack.  Yes, you get 4 colors for the price of one regular-sized bottle!  The colors are complimentary (my fingers and toes actually go together!) and the mini bottles are perfect for me- I never use an entire bottle of polish before it separates or gets all gooey.  I bought the 2013 Wedding Collection colors, but This is another option. 

Favorite Summer Beverage:

I have to admit that I am a long-time summer Corona drinker (I even had a Corona bikini in college... which is now embarrassing).  I just love the fresh lime.  This summer I have strayed and fallen in love with Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy.  It has the perfect citrus touch without being too sweet.  Yum!  

And if that isn't convincing enough... Lu is still nursing, so you know that my limited adult beverages are going to be good! :)

Favorite Baby Moment:

The little one discovered long ago that this playmat was puzzle pieces and loves to pull them apart.  But now that she is finally on the move (doing the trademark Sparrow scoot), she can grab and go! 

I just love the "who, me?" look in her eyes. 

Hope you have a sunny weekend ahead!