Food Memories

Isn't it funny how a food can transport you to a different time and place?...  Kinda like your grandmother's perfume or your mom's Turkey and Stuffing. 

Well I have lots of "food" memories in my life.  This particular memory has to do with Kraft Macaroni & Cheese.  Specifically the spirals, those ones just taste better!

I don't eat this meal too often anymore, but when I do I am instantly transported to summer time while I was still in high school.  My friend, Erin, and I would get together and eat Mac & Cheese and watch Days of our Lives together in the summertime. 

We would even gossip-talk about all the drama in "Days" while all of our friends looked at us like were getting a little too cray-cray!  Damn you, Stefano <- he was the root of all evil!

So even today, when I eat some delicious Mac & Cheese I always want to hang out with my pal and watch a little bit of Days...  So many fun memories. 

Fun Fact:  I still watch Days of our Lives a few times a year, and every time I do I try to make my staple meal...  ;)

Fashion Friday: Bottoms Up!

I've done a few fashion hauls in my day, but I have never done an all "BOTTOMS" haul.  Well I guess the day has come to do one for y'all. 

This haul has been a collective one from about a month worth of shopping.  I went to Target 3 times to get all 3 skirts.  I know, I have a problem.  I think I need Target rehab.  But lets be honest, I would relapse in a New York minute!  I can't get enough of that store. 

Any who....  On to the haul!  All the skirts are the same style and brand, just different prints.  Merona has done it again, and only for $19.99.  Unfortunately, target.com is being a doo-doo head and they don't have any of these to link for you, except the solid black :(  But my local Target had them, and my store is teeny-tiny.  So you may be in luck finding them at your store.

The super soft fabric is very forgiving and super stretchy.  The Navy and White (left) is probably my favorite out of the 3, but I still love all of them so much.  There is also some side scrunch on the waistband, which is very comfortable.  I have a feeling I will be in a "MAXI" mood for the rest of summer and into fall... maybe even winter. 

All Skirts - Target (the striped ones are "in-store" only)

Leggings - Leggings - Leggings

As for the leggings, I know the photos look super awkward.  I spent way too much time photographing these, and they still look cray-cray. Side bar...  If you know a better way to photograph leggings so they don't look like a hot mess, please let me know.  Suggestions please!  Okay on to the specifics.  I went into my local mall with a TON of coupons in hand.  You would think it's back to school time with all the coupons stores are mailing me.  Oh, wait...  It is back to school time!  Time flies when you're having fun.

I stumbled into Express with my coupon thinking that I would find nothing, which happens more often than not.  But nope, I found leggings.  Not just 1 pair, but 3 pairs!  They were 40% off the original price and I got to use my coupon with the sale price.  SCORE!  It was only around $70.00 for all 3, not to shabby.  Thanks coupon people! 

All in all I'm super happy with all my bottom purchases.  As you can tell, when I find something that works I go a little overboard.  But it's difficult to find bottoms that I actually like.  So when it's good, I better stock up! 

Well, that's it for today.  I hope you all enjoyed the post and I will talk to you all very soon.

Thanks for reading!

Welcome to Fargo!

Today is FINALLY the day!  My mom, Jean, and aunt, Perkie, are coming to Fargo for a visit.  We've had this pan in the works for a few months now, and I'm so excited to see both of them. 

It's been 8 months since I've seen my mom.  She and my dad moved to Florida in January and she's been enjoying retirement life and has been keeping herself busy with setting up their new home.  I still haven't made it down to Florida for a visit yet, but I have plans to visit over Christmas this year. 

We have some fun things planned while my family is in town.  I'll be posting lots of photos on Instagram, so make sure to follow me at favoritedaughteremily.  And I may do a little recap on the blog after their visit is over with photos and fun stories of what we did during their vacation. 

I hope you all are having a wonderful week & I'll talk you all very soon.

Thanks for reading!

DIY Glam Letters

I've never done a DIY post before on the blog, but I thought today would be a good day to show you what I did this past weekend.  I can take NO credit for this idea, it was all Pinterest.  And it wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be - score!



When I saw this idea on Pinterest I thought to myself "I can do that".  I've looked at other DIY projects and thought it was a good idea, but I know my skill set and more importantly my immense limitations!  So those other projects never happened.  I'm kinda crafty, but I know what I can and can't handle.  And this project looked like a good place to start.  Now off to the tutorial...

Here are all the materials you'll need. 

- Magnetic Letters & Numbers
Amazon.com (letters & numbers)

- Plastic Primer Spray Paint
Home Depot Rustoleum Plastic Primer

- Metallic Spray Paint (I picked gold)
Home Depot Rustoleum Metallic Spray Paint

You will also need some cardboard or paper to line a flat surface.  I forgot to include a photo of that, but I'm sure you get the drift.  You look pretty smart.  Or you can forgo the surface protector and have fun little letters all over your garage floor.  No.  You don't what to do that?!  Oh well, your loss.

Oh, and speaking of little letters all over the garage floor...  If you want to get a massive squat/leg workout, leave them on the floor with the paint protector and bend over every time to have to apply the spray paint.  All the squatting will make for some serious leg burning the next day.  I'm still a little sore. 

If you'd like to not be in thriving pain the next day, you can always line a table with a paint protector and spray your letters at a normal height.  I'm just giving you a little heads up, or maybe I should say a "leg" up!  tee hee

 

Let's get on to actually spaying those fun little letters and numbers!  I started with the back side up, so when I finished them on the front it would give a seamless look.  And don't worry about spraying the magnet, it still sticks to the fridge with no problem.  But lets be realistic, these little magnets are not meant to hold up anything.  They are just too cute to have a dual function :)

 

Included below are a few photos of the process.  The middle photo is one coat of the plastic primer and the bottom photo is when there was 2 coats on.  This whole process took quite a while, but well worth the wait.

 

Spray 1st coat of Primer - wait 30 minutes

Spray 2nd coat of Primer - wait 1 hour (the 1st coat was slightly tacky)

Spray 1st coat of Gold - wait 15 minutes

Spray 2nd coat of Gold - wait 3 hours until thoroughly dry

 

 

Finally after waiting, not so patiently, for the 3 hours to pass I was finally ready to flip these bad boys over.  And then I had to do the entire process all over again... 

 

Spray 1st coat of Primer - wait 45 minutes

Spray 2nd coat of Primer - wait 45 minutes

Spray 1st coat of Gold - wait 15 minutes

Spray 2nd coat of Gold - wait 12-24 hours until thoroughly dry

 

I waited for 24 hours before I touched them again.  It's been kind of humid in my neck of the woods and I wanted to give them a chance to properly set up. 

 

Oh and a fun fact I had 6 neighbors come over to my garage to see what I was working on.  They all said that they had never seen me "working" in the garage before.  I guess I'm not a garage kinda gal!  One of the neighbors even asked if I was going to sell them.  Hmmm, new business venture - not so much.  I need to wait for my legs to recover.

 

Now that I have all of my pretty little letters I am having way too much fun on my fridge!  I even purchased a cute Mason jar at Target for my storage solution.  This precious little jar sits on the top of my fridge for added decoration.  So what do you all think of my new décor???  Kinda sweet, eh?!

 

I hope you all enjoyed a little bit of a different post on here this week.  Let me know if you like these kind of DIY posts and I may include them more often if it's well received.  Are you feeling uber crafty now?  Well you should be!  

If you have any questions about this process, fell free to post them below and I will answer you back.  I hope you all attempt this fun little project.  Happy DIY-ing!

Thanks for reading!

Microdermabrasion Face Off

It's time for a skincare face off <- see what I did there ;)  Okay back to the blog... I've been using and loving a high end microdermabrasion face scrub for the last few months.  But when it came to time to repurchase, I had some major reservations about shelling out my hard earned cash for another bottle.  So I thought I would search the shops and if there were any comparable items on the market. 

And, of course, I found a winner for only $15.79!  I got mine at Target and it's the Boots No 7 Total Renewal Microdermabrasion Exfoliator - wow, that's a long name.  Since I picked up this bad boy I've been using and loving it.  It is just as effective as the high end brand I was previously using.  Can't go wrong with this.

Not to be outdone by the cheaper version...  I had been loving my Dr. Brant Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant from Ulta, but I couldn't bring myself to purchase it again.  It works great, I just wish it didn't make me hesitate when pulling out my wallet.  Just another $78.00 I'll never get back...  No big deal :o

The Boots brand microdermabrasion product has a similar consistency and scent to the Dr. Brandt version but for WAY less.  In actuality the Boots brand has a slightly larger grit than the Dr. Brant.  But that's the only big product difference, in my opinion.  Oh, and of course the price!  Who can forget that?!

Both products do the job and they do it well.  So I would recommend either of these to you.  However if you're not a fan of spending money unnecessarily (like me) I'd try the Boots brand first and see what you think. 

I hope this was informative.  Hope you're having a great start to your week and I'll talk to you all very soon!

Thanks for reading