Happy Friday folks! This week seemed to fly by, not sure why but I’m happy it’s almost the weekend again. Yesterday I took Caroline to the doctor and turns out she has a double ear infection, and last night I worked a West Point booth at a post-high school event in our local area, and then I went and picked my parents up at Hickam Air Force base! They flew in on an Air Force plane (Military Space Available, since they’re military retirees and can use that benefit for free) and they’ll be with us for a few weeks! I’m so excited that they’re back and I can’t wait to do some fun Hawaii things with them next week before Tom and I head to Japan and Korea. (More on that below.)
So without further ado, here are some things I’m currently loving!
1. I’m working on a blog post about the entire transformation, but I’m obsessed with the new light fixture (above) that I bought at Target last weekend. We replaced the ugly fan that was in our dining area and it completely changed the feel of our whole living area. It looks so similar to this one from Serena & Lily, which is an insane $648. And ours was only $79 (we have the large one)! It’s temporarily sold out online, but if you can buy online for in-store pick-up (or just find it in the store) I guarantee you won’t regret it.
2. Tom will be working in Japan and Korea for a week and we bought tickets for me so I can tag along (thankfully mom and dad are here to watch the kids!)! I’ll be sightseeing alone most of the time, but oh my gosh I am so excited. It should also be peak cherry blossom time too, which should be breath taking! I remember the ones in DC and it was the most beautiful time of the year. Anyway, while working on my packing list I read something along the lines of “dress to match the cherry blossoms if you visit Japan during the spring.” Sounds great to me! So I decided to bite the bullet and order this blush colored sweater blazer that I fell in love with at J.Crew a few weeks ago (as seen above). Now I just need it to get here before I leave on my trip! Fingers crossed. I love J.Crew’s sweater blazers and this will be such a pretty layering piece for our trip. If you have any Japan (Tokyo mostly, and maybe Kyoto) or Seoul tips I’d love to hear them!
3. I listen to the A Drink with James podcast often (great if you’re a blogger because it’s all about the business side of things) and he recently interviewed Julia Engel of Gal Meets Glam. She is one of my favorite influencers to follow because she has the most beautiful, feminine style and she lives in Charleston, but she is also incredibly focused and hard working. Definitely worth listening to if you enjoy following her too. (I linked to the youtube video but there is also a podcast version).
4. I got an Apple Watch, you guys! I’ve been thinking about one for a while and Tom decided to go ahead and get it for me since my old Garmin running watch quit working and I’ve been wanting a device that will track my swimming too. We decided on the Series 4 40 mm GPS + cellular one, and I got the pink sand sport band with the rose gold case. It’s only been a day and I’m already having so much fun figuring out how to use it. We compared prices everywhere (Costco, Target, Apple store, military exchange…) and the cheapest place was a huge surprise. If you’re military like we are, did you know that Apple has a 10% discount?! We didn’t until we were in the Waikiki store a few weeks ago looking at the watches and the guy who was helping us told us about it (I guess Tom’s haircut gave him away, haha). Anyway, go to the Apple website and scroll allllllll the way to the bottom, then choose “shop for veterans and military” and you can log in and verify your veteran, active military or immediate dependent status a few different ways and then you shop online! It has to be done online to get the discount, but you can choose in store pick up if you don’t want to wait. By buying it this way it was about $25 cheaper than it was at Costco!
5. I spilled neem oil all over our outdoor rug (long story), and we have yet to figure out how to get all the stickiness to go away. I love our rug so much that we may just order another one that’s exactly the same. We’ve had it since 2016 and it’s held up incredibly well. You can’t beat the classic blue and white pattern or the $39.99 price tag! Oh and it’s reversible too!
Happy weekend, everyone!
I used to pre-wash my husband’s oil-stained clothes with Dawn and it seemed to help. It’s good enough for oil spills and wildlife, maybe it could work on neem oil too?
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We gave it a good scrub down with Dawn, which helped a bit but it couldn’t get it out of all the little crevices. That was my thinking too!
Katie, I love this blog. I like your easy breezy style always with a splash of unexpected color or texture. I’m trying to be more bold with color and texture lately. I have several trips coming up where I have to go light and smart. I want to stay stylish too, so I would enjoy your packing tips as you plan for Japan. As always, thanks for sharing!
Love that blazer and love the blog in general.
It’s been a bit since I’ve been to Tokyo but I loved Akihabara even if it was just to look at all the tech things. Also good to look around Harajuku for the fashion. In Kyoto, I loved the Jodo Shinshu temple for the architecture or actually any of the temples, I know that Kiyomizu had a pretty view and that another one is photographed on instagram quite a bit.
Another thing to try in Japan during this season is the seasonal goodies. I know that McDonald’s had a special cherry blossom mcflurry a couple of years back and my friend brought back ume chips earlier this year