Friday Faves + Wild Friends giveaway
Hi friends! Happy Friday! Hope you’ve had a wonderful week. I’m SO excited for this weekend. We have nothing officially planned, the Del Mar fair is in full swing (happening), and I feel like I can get caught up on life a little. As I mentioned, we had some rough sleep/nap days, so fingers crossed that we’re back in the game. Our house is a disaster, we’ve eaten a lot of takeout, and my inbox is giving me the sweats. But, FRIDAY! You’re here. It’s so nice to see you again.
It’s time for the weekly Friday Faves party! It’s fun to share some of my favorite eats, wears, reads, and adventures from the week, and I always enjoy hearing what you’re loving, too. Please shout it out in the comments section if you’d like to join in the fun, and also enter this week’s Wild Friends giveaway.
Summer is officially here, since Livi goose is out of school for the summer. She’s going to be doing a couple of camps, we have some family vaations planned, and in the meantime, we’ll all be heading to the beach, Kid Ventures, the museum, zoo, cooking, and playing together here at home. I can’t wait. I can’t believe how much she’s grown this year.
Ok time, you can slow down a little.
The Pilot and I enjoyed a date night at the new LOT in Liberty Station the other night. We had the opportunity to check out the La Jolla location when it first opened, and were so excited that they brought it to Liberty Station. It’s the perfect spot for date night as it’s a restaurant, bar, and swankypants movie theater in one spot.
They have an outdoor patio overlooking Liberty Station, with bonfires, tables and lounge chairs.
We shared a margherita flatbread and for my entree, I had an incredible salad with salmon, kale, quinoa, goat cheese, strawberries, and almonds.
I’ll definitely be recreating this combo at home.
We had originally planned to see a late showing of Neighbors 2 (has anyone seen it?) at 9:30, but when we went to buy our tickets, we found out that it was 9:30 AM. The only thing playing was Jungle Book, so instead, went to Target to pick up some essentials, including wine and tiny pajamas. #parentsgonewild
A fun highlight of the week was when Liv and I were invited to check out the ivivva store in UTC.
If you haven’t heard of it, ivivva is owned by lululemon and they make activewear for girls. I swooned over the catalogue when we received it in the mail over a year ago, and am so excited that Livi is old enough to wear it now. (The smallest they go is size 4, but many styles begin at size 6.) It’s everything you’d find in a lululemon, in brighter colors and smaller sizes. Each piece has a functional design for the girls’ sport of choice, whether it’s swim, gymnastics, dance, running, or tennis. A lot of the pieces were in UPF protective fabric, lightweight, wicking material, and all of the fun classic designs. It was SO CUTE to see Liv in the kids’ version of a Power Y and Run swiftly shorts.
Thank you again to ivivva for the fun visit and for Liv’s new gear; she loves it!
After our shopping trip, we grabbed lunch and rode the train. Not a bad afternoon girls’ date. 🙂
On a more personal note, a huge favorite for this week was finding a new pediatrician for P. I kind of mentioned this on the Family page, but we haven’t had a lot of luck with her peds. We saw a new pediatrician and he was kind, caring, knowledgeable, and genuinely wants to figure out what’s going on with her reflux and the choking incidents. He’s everything a doctor should be. We’re seeing an ENT, and are also getting some testing done. FINALLY.
Always smiling:
Trader Joe’s, back at it again. I go crazy for the new crinkle cut butternut squash fries, and they came out with SWEET POTATO NOODLES. YASSSS. I lightly boiled them and then sautéed with olive oil, salt and pepper. Topped with turkey meatballs and marinara sauce, and they were fantastic. I’m excited to play with these a bit more!
Anthony Bourdain, I like you a lot.
WILD FRIENDS nut butters! (I’ve partnered with them for the remainder of this post.) As we all know, I’m a huge fan of all things nut butter and have tried so many brands over the years. I was recently introduced to Wild Friends.
You guys. It is my new favorite, hands down. The texture is super smooth, and the flavors are delicious.
They also have Protein + nut butters, which are the Pilot’s favorite. They took their delicious flavors and added high-quality whey protein (non-GMO and hormone free). These nut butters have 50% more protein, which make it a great clean protein option with a dose of healthy fats.
The chocolate coconut peanut butter (it tastes like coconut Nutella) is my very fave, and Liv loves it too. It’s what she wanted for dessert last night! The jar is almost gone….
Oops. hahah.
Some more info about Wild Friends:
Wild Friends was started by two peanut butter loving college roommates. They were looking for ways to spice up their favorite food, and Wild Friends was born. They are based out of Portland, Oregon.
All of the ingredients are things you can pronounce, without any additives or preservatives. They use organic and non-GMO options whenever possible, and are produced and packaged with the planet in mind.
You can check out their store locator here to find some near you! They’re located in many natural health food stores including Whole Foods and Sprout’s, TJ Maxx, Home Goods, Marshall’s, and now in select Target stores.
The Wild Friends nut butter fairly kindly offered to hook up two very lucky readers each with 2 jars and a pack of 10 single serve packets in the flavors of their choice. All you have to do is leave a comment below with something that’s making you happy this week. 🙂 I’ll announce the winner in Monday morning’s post!
Cheers to the weekend,
G
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Spending the weekend in NYC to celebrate my hubby’s bday!
Hanging out with my favorite golden retriever always makes me happy!
My lemon poppyseed bakery muffin and a farmers market trip this morning made me *very happy*
I’m an elementary teacher and “School’s out for summer! School’s out forever!” Haha not really, but this was my first week summer vacation 🙂
I love having some awesome lake weather this weekend!
Ahh! So fun and that nut better sounds so yummy! Coconut and chocolate and peanut butter are seriously top three best things in the world.
Today I was interviewing my daughter (age 3) for a Father’s Day questionnaire thing that we’re going to give to Daddy next weekend, and all of her answers revolved around hugs and kisses and how much love there is between all three of us! My heart was overflowing. So yeah, that is totally making me happy this week(end). 😀
A full day off (saturday) alone to myself and sitting outside in the sun without any extra distractions or noise 🙂
My 2 year old daughter makes me so happy!
The sunshine and being out by the pool is making me happy this week! 🙂
Yoga is making me smile this week!
Weekends make me happy!
I feel this week, I’m finally getting this single mom thing down – I’m taking care of things, getting my “village” in place for my kids and house fixing things….I got this!!
Having this weekend off to spend with my Fiance!
I had an extra day off this week.
I packed up my kindergarten classroom for summer in one day. That has never happened. I am ecstatic. Bring on summer!
I’m heading home to see my mom next week for her 60th birthday!!!
Touring grad schools (social psychology) in Colorado!!
Planting flowers in my garden!
This week I’m happy because I finished a 5K!
My 4 month old sleeping through the night!
Date night on Friday made me happy… We did happy hour and didn’t break the bank. More money for peanut butter!
A work trip to Hawaii next week!
getting out of the clinic friday to volunteer at special olympics doing vision screening was a nice change of pace and fun! the athletes are so sweet 🙂
A visit to the farmers market with friends!
Watching my almost 2yr old and 4yr old daughters play happily together for HOURS this am and listening to their conversations made my heart smile. Friends by birth ??
The start of monsoon season in Tucson is making me happy
ahhh i love monsoons!!!!
thanks for the giveaway! summer and nice weather is making me happy 😀
Ice cream is making me happy. Thank you for hosting such a wonderful giveaway 🙂
Having had an amazing conversation with my hubby about our future and what works best for us as a family is making me so happy this weekend!
Something that’s making me happy this week is going to my bridal shower and seeing all my family and friends!
Being out and about in Austin when the weather is good makes me happy!
Celebrating my youngest’s 2nd birthday is making me happy this week!
Hi there, Gina!
I was wondering if you could please share where you got your Hamsa necklace. I’ve been gawking over it for awhile now and need it in my life. 🙂
Thanks so much!
Alyssa
P.S. Thank you for generously sharing all your insightful wisdom. Your blog is delightful!
thank you so much for reading <3
here is the link! http://rstyle.me/n/bsf7wwb5i37
when i saw it in the store, i knew i had to have it 🙂 excited to be necklace twins with you.
xoxo
Your words always bring a smile to my face. 🙂 Unfortunately, the link isn’t working. I wonder if it’s because I am not a member of Reward Style.
<3 <3
Sorry about that! new link: http://www.alexandani.com/hand-of-fatima-pull-chain-necklace.html
A weekend with limited plans and a planned date night yesterday (Saturday) has made this a great weekend!
My baby boy just turned one this week – gasp, no longer a baby but toddler status! It makes me so happy and excited to continue watching our family grow and evolve!
Warmer weather!
Summertime! Cuz, who doesn’t like the sun?
Having my husband home from business travel!
Making me happy this week: catching up on SLEEP after getting married last weekend. It’s been magical. <3
Love this peanut butter ( actually make your breakfast cookie with the almond butter– so so good). Here in MI. our stores do not carry this ( boo hoo). I get it when I travel to my parents home in Northern CA. I will send away for this as well as hands down the best tasting… As well low in sugar, important to me. Love your blog— and book!
Watching my pup learn how to swim this weekend made me super happy.
Something that makes me happy… I am now 23 weeks pregnant and nothing makes me happier than feeling little baby boy kicks! I have been eating alot of nut butter this pregnancy so this would be amazing to win. Thanks for the giveaway and Liv is absolutely stunning!
I’m a teacher, and we just finished up the last day of school! I’m excited for a week of relaxation!
I got to spend last week with kids I used to nanny for-seeing them grow has made me so happy!
WINE 🙂
Attended a friend’s wedding in Seattle last night. Had so much fun celebrating with them!
family time on the weekend is making me happy 🙂
I have a job interview this week and that makes me happy!
Spending quality time with sweet friends this week made me so happy! 🙂
First off, Olivia is precious and it is completely insane how fast they grow! Holy!!! This peanut butter looks and sounds delicious.. I would dive in spoon first 😉