This + That: Holiday Weekend Edition

It’s a short week for us at the flower shop; with Independence Day falling on a Thursday, we’re closing up for a long weekend. C and I plan to spend the break at home, tackling a few more projects around the house — we’re Marie Kondo’ing all over this place — and hopefully spending a lazy day or two in the sun with friends and snacks. (Lots and lots of snacks.)

Here are some of my favorite things from around the web this week + posts from the archives that are perfect for the holiday.

---

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission if you make a purchase from my recommendations.

To Try

• Pinterest sends monthly emails about what’s trending on the platform to its business users, and ‘Frozen Moscow Mules‘ was on the July list. “Yes,” I thought, “I am in.” A quick Google later, I found a simple recipe on Joy the Baker. We had everything on-hand at home (besides the ginger syrup; I skipped it) so I washed the dust off the blender and made a refreshing batch for C and me last night. 10/10 would recommend, especially after a hectic Monday. Cheers!

• The copper party cups were a birthday gift from my friend, Lauren, a few years ago. They’re so festive for a summer cocktail!

• Need an easy recipe to bring to your potluck? Check out these mini blueberry cheesecakes from the archives. Add fresh sliced strawberries, and boom: a red, white and blue dessert.

• Camille Styles rounded up more fun and easy 4th of July recipes here.

• A Pair & A Spare transformed forgotten summer accessories from the back of her closet into unique pieces with her Cricut and I am obsessed. (She also shared her patterns so you can recreate them yourself; brb I’m off to order a Cricut and spend the weekend embellishing ALL THE THINGS!)

• If you’re hanging around the house for the holiday and want a great burger without breaking out the charcoal grill, Hello Fresh’s ‘Juicy Lucy’ burger is one of our favorites from the recipes we’ve tried in the last year. You can make it on the stove in the comfort of your air conditioning and wash it down with an ice cold beer. (Find the recipe here.)

To Wear

• Old Navy’s $5 Americana tees used to be a 4th of July tradition for my family (anyone else?) and I found a few other cute things on their website that would be super cute to wear to a BBQ this weekend.

• Anna shared five summer clothing brands to get to know. (Gah, I love her style!)

• From the Old Navy roundup above, I’m most tempted by these wide-leg cropped white jeans. It’s a trend that’s been on my radar for a while, and at under $40, these may be the perfect way to give it a go when I wrap up my 30×30.

To Read/Watch

• I plan to log some good reading time over the break, including finishing The Cactus by Sarah Haywood and diving into my unread Book of the Month stacks. What are you guys reading right now? I’d love your recommendations!

• Here’s a fun Instagram challenge for all the Tar-jhay lovin’ bookworms in the house: 1.) take a stylized book photo at Target; 2.) in your second photo, zoom out to share how you set it up in the store; and 3.) tag it with #stagedattarget. I saw the challenge on Kayla’s feed, and now I want to try it. (As if I needed an excuse for a Target trip. Ha!)

• I love listening to books as I fall asleep. I’ve gone through the Harry Potter series so many times I wanted something fresh to lull me to sleep. I downloaded narrated collections of Hans Christian Andersen Fairy Tales and the complete first edition of The Original Folk & Fairy Tales By the Brothers Grimm on Audible and they knock me out like a light. I set the sleep timer on the app for 30 minutes, but I rarely make it more than 10. (Click here to try Audible and get two free audiobooks!)

• On the subject of Audible, I listened to Chelsea Handler’s latest book, Life Will Be the Death of Me last week. Chelsea narrates the book, and while I enjoyed almost all of it, the parts about her dogs had me cackling out load and/or on the verge of tears. It’s a good book about figuring your shit out and finding peace in life, even if you don’t get around to until your 40s.

• I started watching the UK version of Love Island and I’m in deep; I stayed up all night Saturday and Sunday binge-watching the latest season. I don’t know why I’m so invested in this reality show about strangers sharing a summertime villa with the sole purpose of coupling up to win a cash prize (I’m honestly still unclear on how they ‘win’) but here we are. If you want to melt into your couch with mindless television over the long weekend, jump on in, the water’s fiiine.

• I also watched all four seasons of Superstore on Hulu, and if you’re a fellow fan of The Office and/or Parks & Rec, you’ll love this cast of characters and the way they subtly tackle the issues surrounding low wage work and the treatment of employees in the big corporate retail industry. I’ve already circled back to season one.

• Oh, one more! C and I are catching up on The Detour and it’s gut-bustingly funny.

For Fun In the Sun

• If you’re headed to the beach for the holiday, here’s a roundup of my summertime essentials for a day in the sun.

• My Corkcicle insulated cooler backpack is my new favorite thing for beach/lake/pool days. Form + function = summer love.

• Before you stock up on SPF, take a little break to watch this mini doc from Refinery29 about what the green beauty industry doesn’t want you to know. My big takeaways: I need to be more mindful about purchasing reef-safe sunscreen; my spidey-sense is piqued about ‘green-washing’ and deceptive marketing regarding ‘natural’ products; and I’m going to try to cut back on the beauty products I purchase in colorful plastic, as it’s less likely to be recycled.