July Favorites
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July has been such an amazing month for me and my family.
I wanted this to be a monthly series, sort of a recap of my favorite moments and purchases. But truthfully after the month I’ve had in July, it’s going to be tough to follow up with an August appreciation post! With that said, here are some of my July favorites.
We got our family portraits back and subsequently found our wedding photographer.
Something I have been stressing hardcore about with wedding planning was finding the right photographer. First of all, good photographers are not cheap. Second, I am hella picky with photo editing. The majority of photographers I found locally were very into the rustic styles, which is so not me. I like bright and light photos – I want our wedding pictures to make me feel peaceful when I look at them, not like I’m Snow freaking White chilling in the woods waiting to bite into a poison apple.
When looking for a photographer for family portraits, my mom recommended someone who had done photos for my sister’s cheer team. I figured what the hell, looked her up on Facebook, and fell in LOVE with her work. Once I met her and saw her finished work firsthand, I knew she was the one for us!
I ordered bridesmaids gifts and was surprised by this sweet personal note.
I’ve been shopping online at Adeline Clothing for about a year now. Let me just say that they have gorgeous clothes for great prices! It’s so hard to say no sometimes – especially when items go on sale. Recently they posted a particular item that I knew my bridesmaids HAD to have for the wedding. When I ordered and let the Adeline team know what they were for, the girls gift wrapped them and sent the sweetest personalized note.
Hands down, Adeline has the best customer service of any clothing company I have ever ordered from. If you’ve never heard of them before, go check them out! A lot of their sales are through Instagram, but they also have an app you can download and shop from your phone.
I tried the FlexCup – here’s the verdict.
Little TMI here, so if periods gross you out, go ahead and keep scrolling. But women, listen up! Not gonna lie, I was a little unsure about this reusable menstruation product. I for sure thought I’d be able to feel it just like a tampon when it gets full. Full disclosure, I think tampons are the absolute worst because my periods tend to be heavy and I end up having to change my tampon every 2ish hours. Instead of doing that, I stick to pads – which are awful because then I feel like I’m wearing a diaper. Anyway, I was tired of spending so much money on products just to bleed on them and throw them away.
I knew there had to be a better solution that would save me money and be more comfortable.
And I’m happy to report that I found it! I had my period last week and on the first day I tried the disposable ring; it felt pretty similar to putting in my NuvaRing, but slightly thicker. It wasn’t the worst, but was kind of difficult to pull back out. I also don’t like the fact that it’s disposable – the whole purpose for me was to find something reusable.
So for the remaining four days of my cycle, I used the FlexCup. It was sort of weird to put in at first (I’m not a fan of shoving things into my vag, but that’s just me) but once I got it situated, I couldn’t feel a thing! I literally felt like I barely had a period, other than in the evenings when I had to dump the cup and wash it out. I wore the FlexCup all day without any leaks. Thankfully with the cup, I was able to cool off in the pool during the recent July heatwave.
After about 10 hours of wear, I’d take it out in the evening while showering to make cleaning easier, and then I’d sleep with a pad overnight. (I still have a drawer full of period products, so I may as well use them.)
My 2020 Erin Condren planner arrived.
Y’all – I am SO PUMPED when I get new planners! I love the smell and feel of fresh pages that haven’t been marked up yet by my pen. It’s weird, I’m weird, but it’s so intoxicating to me. Anyone else feel that way about new planners?
Even though it’s only July, I wanted to go ahead and order next year’s planner so I’d have it for wedding planning. I like to plan way in advance, so I know I’ll be penciling things into next year’s schedule here in August or September. That’s just who I am as a person. Also check out that name change! I know it won’t change officially until halfway through the year, but what can I say? The excitement is unable to be contained!
Speaking of planning…
I got an email from Alexis at Strange and Charmed talking about 5 Reasons You’re Not Finding Planner Peace, and it was incredibly insightful! You can watch the full video on Youtube here.
And being the lovely person that she is, Alexis decided to give me a coupon code to share with you guys for her shop! Take a look at her Work Smarter, Not Harder Master Class Bundle or the You Got This Goal Setting Workbook, then use code BellesNBucks for 20% off your order.
Seb and I saw the new live action Lion King.
In case you’re wondering, yes my face looked like that for the majority of the movie. Yep, I’m super weird and just don’t show it that often. So congratulations, you guys get to see me nerding out over one of my favorite Disney movies.
Despite what all the critics and amateur critics are saying, I thought Lion King was fantastic. Truly, I loved the casting. The actors for Timon and Pumbaa were hilarious (I’m a big Seth Rogan fan personally) and I loved the renditions of the songs. My favorite song was probably “Be Prepared” because he didn’t really sing it so much as perform it in a manner that was equally terrifying and creepy. Scar’s character in general gave me the heebie jeebies.
Elsie likes broccoli?!
My soon-to-be mother-in-law came to town, so we took her to dinner one night. What a shock it was for us to discover at dinner that night that Elsie likes broccoli! She grabbed the biggest piece from my plate and chowed down. I’m thankful to have a kid who actually likes vegetables and eats them by her own choosing.
Amazon Prime Day was a success.
I managed to order a few gifts for Elsie and Seb, but I got a handful of other items I’ve been waiting to buy. For most of July I was dying for a new desk in my office to open up some of the space. So I found one for less than $100 that I love! I just set it up last week and am getting everything situated in the office. Once it’s done I’ll get some pictures up!
Other purchases I made during Prime Day on July 15-16: a new vacuum, Fire kid’s tablet, Cricut Bright Pad, and photo light box. I’ve used the vacuum a couple of times and like it so far – as long as it works that’s all I can ask for, right? The tablet is a Christmas gift for Elsie, and likely will be the only “big” gift she gets from us this year. As for the Cricut Bright Pad and light box, I haven’t had a chance to use either yet. I promise to report back once I have!
What are some of your favorites from July? Share them in the comments!
