Friday Favorites #168

Hi Foxy Friends! Just getting back from Great Wolf Lodge and we had a fantastic time! Will do a post on that sometime soon. In the meantime, here are some of my favorites from the week

In case you missed it this week:

Monday: Summer Plans
Tuesday: 5 Ways To Make New Mom Friends
Wednesday: Favorite Summer Dress
Thursday: 10 Life Changing Hair Products

I also posted to my YouTube channel Mini Fox's 2 hour birth story....if you are more of a reader, find that here.

We had some friends passing through, so they stopped to and spent the night to break up their drive. The kids always have a blast when they are together.

How awesome is this shot?

The girls play so nicely together too.

Kids wiped out from swimming.

Saturday I went to our intern from work graduation lunch. It was nice and Mini Fox got to come with me.

Then I head home for a double date...we had so much fun. First dinner.

Then what do you do when dinner finishes too early and you need to waste some more time? Go to Pier 1 of course.

Then hit up Trader Joe's.

Then finish off the night with ice cream...but the kids like different flavors than us...we got our own cone of course...these are my people. I knew I liked them.

We did give the kids some. The older boys ate theirs too fast for me to get a picture.

Sunday was Father's day. We went to church. Then went to my parents to watch The Incredibles so we could watch the second movie this weekend...hopefully it works out!

What else do you do with your family, but a blind taste test of yellow watermelon vs. red. No one got it right.

Forgot to take a picture of all of us, but here is our little family of 4. Love these people.

I bought this dress on a complete whim without doing any research...I might regret it...since the reviews are either really raving or horrible. I'm nervous. I might get it in 2 weeks or 2 months...but either way fingers crossed, it's SOO cute, I really hope it is what it looks like. This could be what I wear for our family photos this year? Yep I plan this far in advance!

*Some of the links are affiliate links and I will  either receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you click on it or if you make a purchase from one of these links, I may also receive a commission on the sale of the product. Click here for my disclosure page. 

Some other things that I have bought this week...I'm on a roll.

This bikini top, and these bottoms, currently all swim suits are buy one get one 50% off, so buy a bikini top, get the bottoms for half off.

This ruffle blouse, I bought it in Medium a few weeks ago and it didn't work out, so I got a small this time, fingers crossed it's as cute on as it is in the picture. The medium wasn't so hot being so big.

I also bought some new nail colors. Have you heard of Color Street? It's an awesome new to me company, that sells nail colors, but instead of having to heat them onto your nails, it'a actual nail polish in sticker form. Stick on nails, put top coat on, and then take off with regular nail polish. It's amazing, and my friend just started selling it so I bought 6 more colors. They have designs, glitter, solid...they are my new best friend. Oh and did I mention they last for a solid 2 weeks? I ended up having to take them off because I didn't think this design was appropriate for the event I was going to, but I probably could have gotten away with another week.

Tonight Mr. is going to a poker night with the guys, so the woman are doing a night out on their own too :)

Linking up here

10 Life Changing Hair Products

I am linking back up with Lizzie , Sierra , Danielle , Emily, and Lindsay for Girl Chat. This month we're talking our favorite hair products. I never get tired of talking about this, that and make up. So here we go.

Back in 2016 I decided to intentionally learn how to do my hair. I tried some pretty awesome hair styles during the year long challenge. 

But what I bought a lot of, was hair products, I needed to figure out what the best was for everything. So here are my favorite products to date.

*Some of the links are affiliate links and I will  either receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you click on it or if you make a purchase from one of these links, I may also receive a commission on the sale of the product. Click here for my disclosure page. 

Best Shampoo:

I have found that this shampoo works best with my dry shampoo, because we all know that dry shampoo is life. I've tried different combos of shampoo with dry shampoo to find the most effective way to extend between washings and this is it, right here. I love this stuff!

Best Dry Shampoo: 

Hands down best dry shampoo is Amika brand.

A close second would be Living Proof Dry Shampoo, but I prefer the Amika one, but this one works too.

Related: How To Use Dry Shampoo

Best Hair Mask:

This is a new category, I had tried this one, but didn't feel like it worked all that great. So after finishing that container (which took forever when you only wash your hair once or twice a week) I wanted to try something else. I needed to get to free shipping, and got this hair mask and oh my goodness, so awesome! It makes my hair so soft and shiny. You won't regret this purchase either.

Best Hair Oil:

I don't even know if I can make this a category, and I, myself have to get better about using this product, but I do find that it works pretty well for dry hair. I'm busy and sometimes can't get to a hair cut as often as I would like, so I try to use this on my hair each day, to try and give my hair some moisture. And it smells really good too. If you want to try it out first, buy the mini, that's what I did, and quite frankly am still using it a year later. 

Best Products for Doing Your Hair:

I know strange category, but if you are wanting to do your hair, these products I found to be the best. 

First thing...if you want to do hair, you HAVE to get better bobby pins. The ones from the store don't even come close to as awesome as these are. And they aren't too expensive. I started trying to do my hair in 2016 and 2.5 years later I'm still using the same tub of bobby pins. The come in bronze, silver and black. I'm sure you can get quality bobby pins at Sally Beauty Supply too, so bottom line...drop the drug store bobby pins and get something better.

Related: How To Use A Bobby Pin

Next thing is dry wax...this is so important for taming those fly aways. Seriously, I don't know what I did before this discovering this stuff. I have to admit, I haven't tried any other dry wax, spray. I also have a dry wax gel, which I use for doing braids, I put on braids, so those little hairs don't fly out, but the dry wax is great for when you're done and you have those fly aways...spray this on, and you're good to go.

Related: How to French Braid Your Own Hair

When you're too lazy to actually really do anything to your hair, and you just want some fun curls? I found that if I use this on my hair first, then curl, my curls last longer. What I do is use the heat protectant, curl my hair, hair spray it and leave it to completely cool. Usually I do my make up, then the last step after my make up is done, I come my fingers through, spray with a little more hair spray and I'm done. 

What do you do if you are wanting to do your hair but your hair is too clean. Or if you have thin hair...and want some volume, what do you use?  Amika Un.Done Texture Spray! This stuff is the best, it gives you that grit without feeling heavy or grimmy, if that makes sense. It just gives you hair a little bit of texture, so when you're trying those hair styles out, it's not slipping all over the place.

And I think the last favorite hair product is my curling wand. I was using a regular curling iron and nothing made my curls last, but after using this, I can go between washes and have the curls last up to 5 days! There is almost always a coupon code out there to get them, and you don't need to get that set, I just got it because it was on sale, and I don't even use two of the barrels...

Related: How To Curl Your Hair

What is doing your hair without your favorite hair spray. In 2 years I've gone through 2 bottles already....I've tried so many, and this one is my absolute favorite.

Here is a video where I describe everything with a little more detail.

So those are all of my favorite hair products. What is something you love that I have to try?

Linking up here

Favorite Summer Dress

Hi Foxy Friends! The family and are off to a little staycation, for a couple of days. So it's going to be short and sweet today. I'm obsessed with dresses, and these swing dresses are on mega sale right now. The one I'm wearing is only $15, deal and a half right there. I might have them in several colors.

*Some of the links are affiliate links and I will  either receive a small commission, at no cost to you, if you click on it or if you make a purchase from one of these links, I may also receive a commission on the sale of the product. Click here for my disclosure page. 

Dress / Tennis Shoes

I love how you can style these dresses either up or down. You can add tennis shoes or some heels and call it a day.

Make Up Details: Foundation / Finishing Powder / Eyeshadow / Eyelashes / Blush / Bronzer / Eye Brow Pencil  

Link up your fashion posts below!

An InLinkz Link-up

Linking up here

5 Ways To "Get On Your Bike" And Make Some Mom Friends

Hi Foxy Friends! You must be thinking, how can getting on your bike, make you friends? Let me tell you a story. Back, about 10 years ago, I was at my cousins graduation party from college and my uncle was giving a speech about my cousin. Saying how charismatic he was and how easily he made friends. Then he went onto say that when they moved, he had no neighborhood friends, so he simply got on his bike and went door to door looking for friends. Ever since that speech Mr. and I would tell each other, we need to get on our bikes to make some friends. So I'm giving you 5 ways to "get on your bike" and make some Mom friends.

| ONE |  Take Initiative

When we first moved to our city, I had one friend, but she didn't have kids yet. You know how that is, when you have kids and they don't...it's harder to get together and too many months pass before you see them again.  It is a daunting task to try and make friends in a new city. Where to begin? This part can be scary, you have to take the initiative to find friends. I went online, searched "MOM Groups" in my city, and a bunch popped up. To be honest I can't even remember when the group was called, it was an app...not even Facebook. It was like findfriends, or something...but I said, what the heck. we're meeting in public places, I can do this.

| TWO | Show Up

So I went online found peopel to meet up with, and this is important, you have to actually show up! Super scary, to show up to Starbucks and not know what anyone looks like? I just showed up, didn't know anyone, but we all had kids, that's at least one thing in common.  I don't even drink Starbucks, but gosh darn it, I was showing up to find my people. It took many meet ups to find people who got me, but eventually I did.

My first play date with my new friends.

7 years later we're still talking, granted the one on the left moved away, but we still try to get together when we can.

| THREE | YOU Make The Plans

I find that when you are trying to make new friends, if you ask, they will most likely say yes. Most people are not planners.  I am a planner, have you seen my day planner? I like making plans.

So I find a time that works for me, and I sent out a text message or email and say, hey let's have a play date, or let's do a Mom's Night Out...and then it gets the ball rolling. It just takes one person to take the initiative and the rest will fall into place. Am I almost always the one initiating? Yes, but they keep saying yes, so I'll keep planning.


| FOUR | Find Common Activities

What I mean by this is you need to find something you like to do, and you'll find people. After having Baby Fox, I wanted to get back in shape, I had heard (by one of the ladies from the Starbucks meet up), that there was this thing called Stroller Strides (now called FitMoms), I mentioned them here. Basically it's a group that meets outside, with strollers and you go through a series of workout moves, each day is different, and you get to workout with your kids in two. Sometimes we would have 30+ woman all running with their kids from station to station doing different exercises. It was an amazing way to meet friends and to also get Mom advice.

Do you see me?

| FIVE | Make One On One Time

It's all great and dandy have a group of mom friends you meet up at the park. But what we all crave is that person to call or text random photos to.  This part is a little more time consuming, but worth it in the end, you have to  make time for some one-on-one time with your new friend. Whether it is a play date with just the two of you and your kids, or a Mom's night out. Make time to really get to know your new friends, so that your conversation is more than just surface/small talk and you can start talking about things that really matter in your life.

So those are my 5 ways to make Mom friends. I know it can be super scary, but if you put yourself out there first, more times than not, people will welcome you with open arms, because remember they are just like you and probably feel great that someone reached out to them.

Linking up here

Summer Plans

Hi Foxy Friends! Today I'm hosting over on The Blended Blog, so if you are from there, welcome! Thanks for stopping by! I know you are all dying to know what we're doing this summer. Staying busy that's for sure! Last week I told you how we plan our summer vacation. And today I'm sharing what we're doing!

I'll sort of follow the 5 steps to plan your summer vacation post.

Step 2 was prior commitments: We always go to my cousins house for 4th of July. The kids look forward to it every year, they get to spend the night with their cousins and we get some really good family time in.

Step 3 was to plan kid stuff:

Mini Fox

She is doing her first VBS (vacation bible school) with her best friend. I'm excited and nervous for her, but I'm sure she'll do great.

Baby Fox

Is doing several things, the first thing he is doing Build a Fort, which he loves, next year he'll be able to participate in the big kid fort building and he is so excited for that.

Then we try to do some education things, I gave him 5-6 choices and he picked what he wanted to do. So this year he is going to do some computer programming and a Lego building class. Both classes are 2 weeks, so in all he is doing something for 5 weeks, luckily they are mostly Monday - Thursday, and in the mornings (they are mostly 1.5 hours each).

Step 4 was visiting people:

Last year we spent a long weekend with some good friends, we were in each others wedding and traveled Europe together (pre-kids) and we wanted to see them again. So we are planning a long weekend with them, we're going to travel to their house since they just had another baby. And then we decided we know several people in the vicinity, so we're going to visit with them, then take an extra day to visit our orthodontist friends (they were the ones that did our invisalign, how we met them), and then we're going to extend another day to see my Aunt and Uncle. So what was going to be a 4 day trip turned into a 6 day trip. :)

Then we're also doing Yosemite again this year, we're so excited and can't wait! And we decided to stay an extra day, so that's going to be awesome. It's about a 7 hour drive (not stopping), so last year, we drove 3/4ths of the way, spent the night at a hotel, then drove into the Valley in the morning, and had that day, plus a full day the next day and then we left. We felt for how long it took to get there, it wasn't enough time, so we are staying an extra full day, which will be nice.

Step 5 The Little Things:

We plan on taking the kids to the zoo, and Legoland, plus doing lots of pool time and beach time. Can't get enough of that!

So what are your plans this summer? Head over to The Blended Blog to link up your summer plans!