Friday Five: Fave Fam Recipe + Fashion Rut

PLUS: a real estate update

Welcome to Friday Five, where I share five things that are on my mind in the hopes of helping you connect to your Mom Flow. These are the things I would talk to a friend about over coffee.

P.S: don’t forget to listen to this like a podcast using the article voiceover feature at the top of this post.

🤦🏽‍♀️ Mom fash-un

I’ve been in suuuuch a fashion rut lately. I always find this happens as we transition into a new season, and especially when I’m hoping to not spend a ton on a new seasonal wardrobe. I will admit it - sometimes I wear PJ pants from daycare drop to daycare pick up (more specifically, on the days I’m at home all day in front of my computer but I won’t rule out a grocery run wearing them, too!). It makes me think of those old talk show ‘transformations’ where the mom says she has somehow lost her style over her years of mom life (before photo is pj pants, flannel, flip flops - ahem, too close to home) and she comes out in the ‘after’ with far too much makeup on, an overprocessed hairstyle… and *gasp* heels. And I mean, classic mom life, Lola has her spring/summer wardrobe already locked down 😏 What I really need to do is do another purge and clean up of my closet - and you know me by now… I dread doing that. I did buy some new and very trendy kicks that I linked below, soooo I’m starting somewhere.

☀️ Vacay dreams

We have been craving a vacay! It’s been since Christmas that we got out of town as fam or couple, and I’ve been secretly stalking Palm Springs hotels, one of our fave spots to get away, just the two of us, but geeeez, hotel prices have gone UP, annoying. We went to The Colony Palms for dinner last time, and I really want to stay there, but we usually stay at The Avalon. I also want to go see my fam so the kids can see each other which is prob what we will end up doing (sis, if you’re reading this, let’s plan?!). We have our annual six-week Portugal in June, so can’t do it all as much as I want to.

👩‍🍳 A family fave recipe (that ticks all the boxes!)

Hi, my name is Erin and I’m the mom who cooks separate meals for my child! I don’t know how it happened, but we’ve rarely fed Lola what we are eating, and looking back, we probably should have. Perhaps that’s because we do not currently eat dinner together as a family. It’s just a scheduling and preference thing for us - she eats 5:30/6pm and we just aren’t down with eating dinner so early. Plus, I really like enjoying my dinner, kind of like a reward after a long day. Anyways, my point here is to share a recipe that is something we actually all love, and Lola enjoys (again, this is rare!). She even asks for it: Cheat Lasagna Soup, and bonus, it’s really my easiest meal, and healthy, too.

Here’s how I make it:

Ground chicken, turkey or pork (or combo!), browned
Add salt, garlic powder, onion powder, oregano, basil, tomato paste
Add jar of marinara (I love Raos), carton of stock, black and white beans, spinach (fresh or frozen)
Simmer for 30 mins
Add cream, ricotta or even greek yogurt

Serve with cheese etc.

You might notice it has no pasta (a lasagna with no pasta?! WTH), but the beans act as the pasta, and hubs will sometimes cook some to add in but I’m going for low carb, high protein, high fiber. I made it this week and it’s such a budget friendly option, too!

🏠 Real estate update

I’m going to update you on our real estate, um, journey? Is that what we’re calling it? ICYMI, we are dipping our toe in, assessing our options as our mortgage comes due in Nov, and kindergarten registration happens then as well. We’ve chatted with our mortgage broker, and I have to give myself a pat on the back because she echoed exactly where I thought we would be in terms what’s available to us financially. For obvious reasons, I won’t be disclosing our finances here, but will share as much as I can, of course. For now, it’s just been a lot of back and forth with our real estate agent, discussions and strategies about what’s best but also, what is doable. Trying to be so pragmatic but also the creativity involved here in this market is an art. A house we loved and was potentially in our price point got 15 offers. Yup, this market is absolutely MADNESS. Not that we are ready to pounce but keeping our ear to the ground and basically preparing for war which takes some training. Something about combing the listings both calms me and stresses me the hell out! We’re going to keep going and see what happens… wish us luck.

😍 A few things you might like

I finally bit the bullet and I’m trying some Sambas - apparently the current trend is coloured Sambas, and these are Sambae’s (slightly different style than Samba’s!) but they have three colours in stock. I got the blue, who am I?! They are hard to find!

Just restocked my fave mascara that I reco to everyone and I have a 15% off code: ERINCSOUSA

That’s it for this week. If you like this content, please tap the heart or leave a comment. Maybe even consider forwarding it to a friend who would love this content? Thanks Jeanice, Jon, Kimberley, Reagen Alysha, Brianne and Ashlee for the comments last week!

xx, Erin

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