Weekend Recap

Good morning! I hope you all had a nice weekend. I pray none of you were affected by the catastrophic flooding in Texas. It is absolutely heartbreaking to hear the stories and see what occurred and we send our prayers and thoughts to everyone affected. So much unimaginable loss. We are also praying for miracles for those that still remain missing.

Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to over the past week or so.

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Home Projects & Updates

They’re continuing to make good progress over at our new build. Actually even more has been completed since the image I last took below. They added the peaks on the carriage house (to the left) and got a lot more plywood up on the walls. We’re guessing the plywood sheets will go on the roof this week! Now the garage and carriage house are in the front of our house (as opposed to detached and behind our house like we currently have). The carriage house is nearly the exact same size as what we have now it just looks bigger in this stage because it’s in front. We just love that it can now be accessed from inside, and it frees up so much space in our backyard now that it has been moved to the front!

Here’s a look at perhaps our favorite new spot – the mud room! It’s going to be so great to have a little drop zone that isn’t in the kitchen. This space is rather small footprint-wise (the other side will be the stairs up to the carriage house) but exactly what we need to have some cabinets or a storage bench or something along those lines. But due to the staircase, it’s a really tall room with lots of natural light, so it feels much larger than it actually is! I also love that it offers a secondary entrance into the house from the front porch (and garage).

Here I’m standing between the dining room and living room looking up to the staircase. It won’t be this bright once the remaining walls go up, but it’s a pretty view right now! At the top of the stairs there are French doors that lead out to a small balcony before you get to our bedroom. Since it faces the street we’re not sure how much use we’ll get out of it, but it will add a ton of natural light to the hallway upstairs!

No new build goes without a few mishaps along the way. A week or two back we noticed the trusses in one of the bedrooms wasn’t vaulted like we had requested (and was on the plans). Sounds like it had gotten missed somewhere along the engineering process. But, the good news is they had the six new trusses on site and installed within the week. Bad news is, it looks like the forklift maybe got a little too close while hoisting them. Oops! We’re guessing it should be a quick repair this week.

Back at home, we tackled a quick project I’d been wanting to get to for a month or two. We have this little room just past our laundry/pantry where the HVAC closet is. It’s also where the cat’s water dish is on the main floor and where we hang our stick vac. But it had also become a dumping ground for cases of extra soda, bottles of tea, Pellegrino, etc. I just hated that I had to see all the crap every time we walked in the side door into our kitchen since it was straight ahead. So we organized our pantry a bit, got all the overflow drinks off the floor, and moved a few things around. The biggest goal was to have a dedicated spot for our beach and pool bags. We used to dump them in my office or in the kitchen and I knew this little spot could act as a bit of a mud room. We used these pegs (in the 3″ length) and they worked out perfectly! Kurtis thought they were super easy to install. So much so, he decided to hang some more on his side of the closet for jeans and belts. We’re just kicking ourselves that we didn’t do this quick and easy upgrade much sooner!

Around Town & For Fun

Kurtis and I made the viral cottage cheese sweet potato beef bowls last week and really enjoyed it! I had seen so many posts about how the unusual combo was surprisingly good so we gave it a try! It’s literally just taco meat, cubed sweet potatoes (we roasted them in the oven but they’d be good in an air fryer too), cottage cheese, avocado and then a heavy drizzle of hot honey (we used Mike’s hot honey)! There’s several recipes out there, but we just blended a few since there’s really not that much to it. It’s a fun one to try! Side note: we bought these bowls a few months back for meals like this and we both love them so much! They’re oversized, heavy and just so great if you like big salads, pasta dishes, or bowls like this meal.

We decided to brave the crowds and hit the pool at Camp Creek one afternoon. I honestly don’t remember that much traffic around town in a long time, and we didn’t even go down to 30A! But there’s always such a fun buzz here around holiday weekends.

Kurtis and I headed out on our golf cart one day and I made him stop so I could take a picture of this gorgeous blue heron in our pond across the street. His color was so hard to capture but it was the prettiest, intense blue! So fun to see.

I added mini flags to all of our planters on our porch for the holiday.

I made a fun little patriotic charcuterie board for a last-minute dinner with some friends on the Fourth! I’ve used these star cookie cutters more times than I can count. They work great for 4th of July, Christmas, birthdays and really any time you want to add a unique touch. They have a bunch of sizes in the kit so there’s so many options! I used this navy blue charcuterie board.

After dinner, we headed to Camp Creek for the annual fireworks show. There was a large group of us that went but we never got a picture because we had to shuttle over and we all got split up for a while.

They always do such a nice job with the fireworks! It was quite the show (and fun to also see the Alys Beach show behind it in the background). Leaving is never fun though. We ultimately decided to walk back most of the way to our cars because the shuttle lines were pure chaos. It was a hot and humid night but so beautiful and always a fun way to celebrate!

On Saturday and Sunday, we tried to wrap up some random projects, laundry, and cleaning in preparation for our upcoming trip to Omaha.

We ended the weekend with a post-dinner golf cart ride around the neighborhood with Chris and Rachel. There was a slight break in the humidity and it felt so nice!

I spent most of the remainder of last week working. This week marks both Amazon Prime Days and the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale (which means tons of other retailers have really big sales planned)! I plan to publish both my Amazon Prime Days and Nordstrom Anniversary Sale content early tomorrow morning (the first day of both sales).

We then fly to Omaha later in the week to celebrate Kurtis’ parents’ 60th wedding anniversary. We’ll be staying with our besties and goddaughters so we can get some time in with them in addition to all of Kurtis’ side of the family coming into town. It should be a great week!

Recent Buys & Sales

Following are some sales from the weekend that have carried over and are still going strong! You can see my top picks here.

• ABERCROMBIE is offering up to 50% off select summer styles, as well as an extra 20% off clearance items. You can shop their site here.
• AMAZON has a number of daily deals. Our cordless table lamp set is an item we use way more than we ever thought we would. So great for al fresco dining or ambient light in the kitchen and other spaces. Be sure to also check out their Early Prime Deals! You can shop their site here.
• ANN TAYLOR is offering 30% off your full-priced purchase and an extra 50% off sale styles. You can shop their site here.
• ANTHROPOLOGIE is offering up to 40% off furniture, decor, candles, bedding, and more. They also have up to 30% off 1500+ summer clothes,accessories, shoes, and beauty. They’ve also added a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• ATHLETA has started their semi-annual sale with up to 70% off, now with an extra 30% off! You can shop their site here.
• AVARA is offering 15% off your regular-priced purchase with my code STEWART15. You can shop their site here.
• BODEN is offering 10% off new styles with code W7CX. You can shop their site here.
• COCO & EVE is offering 25% off sitewide! You can shop their site here.
• CRATE & BARREL is offering up to 60% off during their 4th of July Warehouse Sale. You can shop their site here.
• FRANK & EILEEN is hosting a sale with items marked up to 40% off. You can shop their site here.
• GAP is offering 50% off your purchase, including markdowns. You can shop their sale here.
• HOTEL LOBBY CANDLE is offering a rare 20% off sitewide! They have so many lovely scents, but I’m really loving this one right now. You can shop their site here.
• J CREW is offering up to 40% off select cashmere, an additional 60% off sale styles, and an additional 70% off select sale styles with code EXTRA. You can shop their site here.
• J CREW FACTORY is offering 40-70% off sitewide as well as an additional 70% off clearance with code HOT70. You can shop their sale here.
• KULE is hosting their Summer Sale with items marked up to 40% off! You can shop their site here.
• LINDSAY LETTERS is offering 20% off art with code COASTAL20. You can shop her site here.
• LOFT is offering 50% off your entire purchase, plus get an extra 15% off your $125+ purchase with code GO4TH. You can shop their sale here.
• LULULEMON has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• MADEWELL is offering up to 70% off sale styles SUMMERTIME. You can shop their site here.
• MARK & GRAHAM is offering up to 50% off sale styles and free shipping on orders $150+ with code SHIPFREE. You can shop their site here.
• MARSHALLS is offering up to 70% off clearance sale and free shipping on orders of $89+ with code SHIP89. You can shop their site here.
• MCGEE & CO. is hosting their Summer Sale with up to 70% off items in their sale section. There are actually quite a few items currently at 70% off! You can shop their site here.
• NORDSTROM is hosting their designer clearance with up to 60% off and has added a number of new items to their sale section! They’ve also launched a preview of this year’s Nordstrom Anniversary Sale if you want to check it out! You can shop their site here.
• OLD NAVY is offering 50% off everything. You can shop their sale here.
• POTTERY BARN is offering up to 50% off furniture, bedding and more . You can shop their sale here.
• REJUVENATION is offering up to 40% off during their end of summer sale. You can shop their site here.
• SAKS FIFTH AVENUE is hosting a huge designer sale with items up to 60% off. You can shop their sale here.
• SALT & STONE is offering 15% of your purchase with my custom code SARAHS15. I have really been loving their clean deodorant! You can shop their site here.
• SERENA & LILY is hosting their 4th of July Sale with up to 40% off sitewide and free shipping (including furniture) on a $2500+ order! You can read the reviews for items we’ve owned over the years here. You can shop their sale here.
• SOMA is offering up to 70% off new markdowns. You can shop their site here.
• TARGET is hosting Circle Week and has multiple home deals like up to 30% off Studio McGee (today only), 40% off Threshold & Casaluna bedding, 30% off select indoor furniture and lighting, and more. You can shop their site here.
• TJ MAXX is offering free shipping on orders $89+ with code SHIP89! You can shop their site here.
• TORY BURCH is hosting their semi-annual sale where you can get an additional 25% off items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• TUCKERNUCK has a number of cute new items added to their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• VARLEY, one of my favorite new brands I’ve tried this year, has a super rare sale right now with up to 30% off select styles. You can shop the sale here.
• WAYFAIR is offering up to 50% off during their surplus sale. You can shop their sale here.
• WEST ELM is offering up to 60% off sale and clearance finds. You can shop their site here.
• WILLIAMS SONOMA is offering up to 75% off their 4th of July Sale. You can shop their site here.

I hope you all have a great week!

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