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Stephanie Howell

reading, organizing, shopping, momming too close to the sun. Home is wherever the Army sends us.

Zulily Favorites of the Week 9/20- 9/26

♡This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only become an affiliate for products I TRULY believe in, love, and use religiously. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!♡

 

Hi y’all! Haven’t done of these in a while and there is SO MUCH good stuff on Zulily Right now.  I’d like to do more of these as we lead up to the holidays.

 

 

  1. Plaid Coat- I refuse to say shacket. Hahahaha. But these are VERY in right now and this is such a nice coat.
  2. Tropical & Geometric Acrylic Tray – zulily.gfpv.net/ZdN11WChic and perfect for jewelry or makeup on a vanity.

3.  Mesh Leopard Flats– These are a dead ringer for Rothy’s at a FRACTION of the price.

4. Hunter Rain Boots (this link will give you an additional 10% off) The boot selection is SO GOOD this sale. So many sizes left.

5.LaScoota Scooter (this link will give you an additional 10% off) -We have three of these scooters and they are the BEST. There is a chair you can add if you have a smaller child.

6.Cole Haan Belted Coat – This is a lovely fall coat. Very reminiscent of a Zara coat I’ve had my eye on for a lifetime. Just chic and smart and I love it.

 

7. Girls Hi-Lo Rainbow Dress- Cora has this and says it’s the PERFECT dress. Hi-Lo, rainbows, and 5 stars for twirling…or so she says.

 

8. EltaMD SPF – The number one SPF I recommend. This lotion is a WORKHORSE. The tinted  version is also 10/10

9. Ray Ban Wayfarer Sunglasses – The Duchess of Cambridge wears these. Need I say          more? Almost $30 off retail is a great deal.

 

Deals:

The scooter and the Hunter boots are an additional 10% off if you click on the link above.  Starting on September 24, you can get free shipping on 3 or more items.

MEMBERSHIPS:

Cost Details
$50 OPTION A Membership $50 a year. receive an additional 5% off your purchases and receive free shipping on all orders over $55.

$50 OPTION B

 Membership $50 a year. receive an additional 15% off your purchases.
$30 OPTION Membership $30 a year. receive an additional 10% off your purchases.

 

 

 

 

 

Virtual Walk Through the Met

>>>> CLICK AND SCROLL TO TAKE A VIRTUAL TOUR OF THE MET >>>>>

It’s been super weird living an hour away from my favorite city on earth and not going there even once in the past six months.

A few weekends ago Jimmy and I booked an early slot for timed entry to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and it was AMAZING. Like goosebump inducing level amazing.

We were the only people in many of the rooms and it was incredibly surreal to be able to get up close and personal with the art without anyone else around.

When I got to the Egypt section of the museum I was the only soul in the entire section. The security guard came over to talk to me, turns out he was from Egypt and I basically got an amazing firsthand mini-tour.

If you live in driving distance I HIGHLY recommend this experience. I have been many times but never ever like this. I’ll remember it forever. 🖤 

My Favorite Drugstore Makeup Items

♡This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only become an affiliate for products I TRULY believe in, love, and use religiously. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!♡

I can admit that I am a bit of a high-end makeup snob. It’s just one of those things. Not much can beat Charlotte Tilbury or my favorite Marc Jacobs Beauty eyeshadow palette.

Makeup is one of the few things that I tend to treat myself with.

BUT.

Drugstore makeup has gotten so, so, so good. And there are a few tried and true faves that you just can’t beat, in my opinion.

Here are a few of my faves in each category.

Face:

Loreal Infallible 24 Hour Foundation

Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Concealer

Maybelline Master Chrome Highlighter in Molten Rose Gold

Milani Baked Blush in Dolce Pink

Loreal Lumi Glotion

Physician’s Formula Butter Bronzer

Real Techniques Blend + Blur All Over Brush

Lips:

NYX lip liner

Maybelline Lifter Gloss in Petal and Ice

Milani Matte Lipstick

Eyes:

Loreal Voluminous Mascara

Maybelline Brow Ultra Slim Defining Eyebrow Pencil

What are your drugstore holy grails? I’d love to know- comment below!

March Reflections

I miss:

Date nights

Going to the movies

Concerts

Aggressive Hugging

Seeing big smiles and not being able to help smiling in return

Shaking hands

Talking to strangers in lines and elevators and on airplanes. Connections in random moments.

Holding babies at the register to help the mom that can’t quite get to her wallet, meanwhile baby is melting down and she’s panicked.

A house full of boisterous military kids. In and out and I’m and out. Giggling teens and rambunctious preschoolers.

I miss :

Vacations

Visiting nursing homes

Church

Volunteering in my girls’ schools

Watching kids sports

Fairs and festivals

Libraries

Browsing at shops

Frivolous things like haircuts and manicures and massages.

Parties

Play dates

Retreats and conventions.

But most of all I miss the time of innocence before all of this.

Before I realized how selfish some people could be and before I knew anything about Q a n o n – before I know how truly angry and entitled people could be.

Back when I honestly didn’t know that anything, even a disease, could be divisive and politicized.

I had NO idea.

It’s like a slithering , seedy, dark underbelly that has been revealed. I feel like I’ve been turned upside down, shaken, jarred. I feel like a slightly off center version of myself.

Now I see it EVERYWHERE.

And as a fixer, a people person, a lover of everyone, a tenderhearted human, I want to fix it all. I want to make it all better. And I can’t.

It’s like trying to move a mountain with a freaking spoon.

Before…seems like a lifetime ago. I miss that but I don’t mourn it. It’s been a necessary awakening for me. I needed to be shaken. But man.

I miss it.

February 2021 Reading Recap

♡This post contains affiliate links at no cost to you.I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I only become an affiliate for products I TRULY believe in, love, and use religiously. Thank you so much for helping to support my little family!♡

Hi everybody!

Happy Monday. I just want to say that I LOVE a new month, a new page in the planner, a fresh start. And the fact that March 1 falls on a Monday just makes my heart so happy. Here’s to a beautiful new month!

That said, I had an AMAZING reading month in February. Some that are destined to be all-time faves and absolutely zero duds, which is rare!

As always, you can find my real-time reading thoughts on:

IG

Goodreads

my reading community on FB

Happy reading!

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano –

What a hot mess! Hahaha! I related to this book more than I care to admit. Such a clever premise and I love how Cosimano takes the thriller/ mystery genre and turns it on its head. It’s like a mommy blog combined with a thriller.  Razor sharp and witty and snarky and laugh out loud funny, I adored this one and I’m so glad to hoping it’s a series…the last line made me believe that it might be! ✭✭✭✭

The Invincible Summer of Juniper Jones by Daven McQueen –

“ Ethan remembered what his mother said, about how black kids were never allowed to be innocent. And yet he had been, for a time. Aunt Cara said she wished her brother had never sent him to Ellison – and he knew that things would’ve been much easier if that had been the case. But now, at least,he could see the world for what it was. He could see himself for who he was. And maybe, in time, he’d learn to look in the mirror and see his blackness as a precious gift.”

This book broke my heart into a million pieces and made me so damn angry. It also made me vow to be a better ally and advocate and to speak up and speak louder. 

This book is technically YA but everyone should read it. It’s a beautiful and deeply sad story and I’m better for having read it. ✭✭✭✭✭

Ever After Always by Chloe Liese –

This book. Oh. This. BOOK. My obsession with the Bergman family continues. Freya is easy to fall in love with and Aiden’s anxious, big heart makes him so damn lovable as well. 

It’s so nice reading a romance between a married couple of 10 years. And rare. As a military wife…the “you value your work over me” struggle is REAL. Man, I winced when I read parts of this book because it just hit me right in the feels.

You can tell Chloe put her heart into this one – her soul just pours out on the pages. ✭✭✭✭✭

Can’t wait to read about Rooney and Axel.

The Light Through the Leaves by Glendy Vanderah-

**ARC- Pub date 4/1/2021**

Don’t mind me, quietly weeping as I finish the last paragraph and read the words aloud…because they are too beautiful to exist only on paper. My heart. Oh, my heart…this novel is so very special. 

Glendy pours her heart out on to the pages of her books and the end result is…magic. Her books have this steady and comforting beauty to them. She marries the magical/supernatural and the everyday so very effortlessly. 

Her words are soaked in magic and purity and a tender respect for nature . And love. Always love. A love story wrapped up in a botany/biology lesson. Trees, plants, flowers, animals, insects, the earth- these things are always well-loved secondary characters in Glendy’s books.

This one was hard to read at times. The cruelty of mental illness cloaked in love — well, it’s complicated. The Light Through the Leaves contains an intricate recipe of healing, grief, guilt, trauma, addiction, despair, love, longing, and redemption. And all of it a little bit weird, in the most delightful way.

This book is a treasure.✭✭✭✭✭

Shipped by Angie Hockman-

I loved this debut novel and I gobbled it right up. 

Great chemistry, a sensitive and kind male lead, a strong woman lead with ambitions and a backbone made of steel, sisterhood, and a supporting cast of lovable characters. The pretty bow on top is the fact that I got to learn all about the ecosystem of the Galapagos. 

Adored it! ✭✭✭✭

The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary-

**ARC- Pub date 4/29/2021**

I really enjoyed the chemistry and connection between Dylan and Addie. This book has some wonderful themes of redemption and forgiveness, with some funny hijinks sprinkled throughout and a lovable cast of characters. I STRONGLY disliked Marcus so much that it made it hard to enjoy the book but the ending redeemed him for me a bit. ✭✭✭1/2

The Push by Ashley Audrain –

TW: abuse, child loss. 

Ummmmm dark and messed up and disturbing and unsettling and bone chilling and gut wrenching… holy sh$&. I read this one in a matter of hours because I literally could not put it DOWN. Reminiscent of Gillian Flynn and Lucinda Berry’s Baby Teeth this one was riveting. And again, disturbing. 

And the ending…WTF and OMG all rolled into one. ✭✭✭✭✭

The Jigsaw Man by Nadine Matheson-

**ARC- Pub date 3/16/2021**

First of all, I’m super pumped to have a new (female!! Black!!!) crime writer to follow. Nadine Matheson is an extremely talented author and I’m excited to see what she comes up with in the future. 

Okay. So this book is twisted and GRITTY. If descriptive, dark, serial killer/police procedural novels aren’t your jam, then this is not for you. It’s pretty…macabre. It also seems like it’s the second novel in the series, which it isn’t. 

That said, there are some serious clarice/hannibal vibes between Olivier and Henley. This book is atmospheric and suspenseful and had me intrigued up until the end, which was rather…sudden. I’m thinking there must be a second book in the works. 

All in all I enjoyed this and I look forward to reading Matheson’s subsequent novels, she’s got a unique and strong voice!! ✭✭✭1/2

The Things We Cannot Say by Kelly Rimmer –

This book DEVASTATED me. I can tell you right now it will be one of my favorite books of all time. I wept for 30 minutes straight as I brushed snow off my car, folded laundry, and did dishes, all the while with earbuds in….listening to this beautiful and terrible story of loss and love and sacrifice and dedication.

Duel-timeline stories are tricky for me. I usually find one of the stories tedious, but that was NOT the case here. I adored both stories and felt both deeply.

There really aren’t proper words to explain my feelings, but my heart will remember this story forever. ✭✭✭✭✭