Weekend Recap

Good morning! I hope you all had a great weekend! It’s been busy around here with lots of visitors. Here’s a bit of what we’ve been up to over the past few weeks.

This post contains affiliate links for your shopping convenience. You can read my full disclosure policy here.

Home Projects & Updates

I haven’t given a new house update for a few weeks, but not much happened one of those weeks. However, last week, they started the insulation! We opted to do spray foam insulation on the exterior walls so that went in early in the week.

It’s wild how much it changes the look over everything – and how much quieter it is when you’re inside now!

The interior walls have batting insulation, and then we chose to do more of a sound-proofing type insulation around Kurtis’ office. He’ll be upstairs and currently I hear way too many of his phone calls so it will be nice to buffer that a bit! They’re hoping to start drywall this week, so I’ll be sure to hop on my Instagram to share some video if they do. That will really start to change the look of things!

Friday we had a meeting with our builder to go over a few questions and get some updates. He said we’re about a month behind right now, so he’s guessing a July or August move-in date. Not what we were hoping to hear, but it actually works a little better with some of our schedule next year.

He mentioned that a house they’re building a few doors down is doing turf in the backyard and it was something we had considered. We went over and checked out the samples and it’s wild how far turf has come over the years. We really liked the ones that incorporated “dead grass” called thatch to make them more realistic. I posted about it on Instagram and got so much great feedback! The general consensus is that people really love theirs, but it can get hot in the summer.

We’re working on a mini makeover for the cat’s bedroom. The cats don’t actually sleep in here, but it’s where we have their litter boxes (in the bathroom) and extra food and water. This is where we also lock them up if we have cleaners or repairmen here. It’s basically the furniture graveyard. We had oriented the room a bit oddly when we had moved in because we needed to make room for a lot more water dishes and food bowls (because Bailey was still with us). It was more about function over looks. Knowing we’ll be listing our house in the spring, I wanted to slowly start making some changes. The first was getting rid of the rug we had in there. It had served its purpose (and definitely helps them not track as much loose litter out of the room). But it needed to go. Ruggable reached out to see if I wanted to try one of their new styles so I selected this rug. Admittedly in the past, I didn’t love how their rug systems worked (basically a thin top rug you could wash that attached back to the base). So I was eager to give this new style a try! While we had the bed up to lay down the rug, we gave the room a really good deep-clean and even washed the baseboards. Here’s the before and after so far. It has a long way to go!

Here you can see a close-up of how Ruggable now integrates a non-slip backing into the rug. It’s still washable but so much easier to lay down when you’re not also having to fight a rug pad! It was so much softer than our prior rug too. They offered a discount code to my readers for 15% off with code LIFEONVIRGINIASTREET15. I still love a true hand-knotted or natural fiber rug in our main spaces, but their rugs are great for high-traffic areas or spaces you know you constantly need to clean (like kitchen runners, playrooms, etc.) since most sizes are machine washable.

I have a tentative vision as to how I want the room to look, so the colors on this rug worked perfectly! This is the room that has the adjoining bath with a navy blue vanity. I’m hoping to find a great light fixture and nightstand during black Friday and then do a little more zhuzhing and then I’ll be sure to share how it looks. But the new orientation is already helping so much in this space!

I had set up our Christmas tree last week, and then my friend Katie was getting rid of the viral Home Depot tree so I snagged it from her (it’s the 9′ full but comes in other sizes too). We’re loving the twinkling lights (they’re definitely more white than we’re used to though – not a warm white). It’s the only Christmas I have out so far (and it’s still undecorated) so I’m hoping to get that wrapped up this week! We’re basically just rocking summer, fall and Christmas around here right now.

Around Town & For Fun

Kurtis was in Tampa and then Chattanooga for the period between when my brother and sister-in-law left and when his sister and brother-in-law arrived. They’re our last houseguests likely until after we move! We’re basically blocking out any stays early next year because we don’t know when we’ll be listing and don’t really want our guests to have to pack up and clean any time there’s a showing!

We both often say how blessed we are that we get along so well with our siblings but also all of our in-laws. We love them all so much! So much so I was willing to post this very unflattering selfie of me with Janine and Pat the night they arrived 😉 We went to Amici for dinner before Kurtis got home later that night. Turns out it was the only picture we got together this whole trip so I had to use it.

We had such a great time while they were here. On Sunday, the guys golfed and then Janine and I met them for lunch at the clubhouse. I hadn’t seen it since a recent renovation and really loved the vibe. I should have taken more pictures (I only got one of the bar area) because Kurtis has now said he wants his future office to have this vibe. He’s an easy client once he has a vision – I’ve already designed his entire space and plan to order a few items if they’re discounted deeply enough for Black Friday!

Pat and Janine always love the wildlife from the back balcony in the carriage house. They were out watching a football game one evening though when our bear friend visited, so they missed the true wildlife 😉

We hit up all of their favorite restaurants while they were here including Cuvee followed by a nightcap at Ambrosia. We always love the vibe this time of year in both of those restaurants!

We took an afternoon and played the golf course in our neighborhood. It’s just a quick par 3 nine hole course and the weather was gorgeous (despite starting in the 30’s that morning). It was fun to see the back of our new house from the course. I had never seen it from that angle before.

For their last meal, Janine requested the Wine Bar in Watercolor. We sat out on the patio and enjoyed the beautiful weather, charcuterie and a glass of wine. They had an early departure the next morning so it was nice to have an early night with a light meal!

The sun was so pretty streaming through the trees in Watercolor that afternoon!

I tried to catch a glimpse of the Northern lights that night, but our trees out back block the northern horizon. At least the stars were pretty!

After two rounds of braces as a kid and Invisalign about ten years ago as an adult, I had to get Invisalign. Again. Several years back I got a crown and my upper retainer never fit again. Long story short, my upper teeth had already started moving a lot (particularly one that was almost on the roof of my mouth as a child). So, I’m about a week in now of what they hope is a 14 week treatment plan. I think I went into it rather blindly like “no big deal” and now I’m questioning my life decisions. Ha! It’s really not that bad, but I had to get EIGHT glue dots on my teeth that act as hooks with the trays, so it’s definitely taking some getting used to!

Now that our visitors are all gone for the foreseeable future, we need to lock down our eating and routines. His company trip in February is in Kona next year, so it gives us a good goal to work towards. The challenge of living somewhere people vacation is that anytime we have visitors, we’re on their schedules and usually eat like we’re on vacation too. So, lots of homemade food for us since Pat and Janine left! The addition of fresh dill and lemon juice in this chicken noodle soup recipe make it so good! One of our top recipes in rotation around here in the colder months.

The cold weather has the cats in cuddle and fire mode, which we love! I ordered these chew ropes for them and they both love them! They’re both still so playful despite being 17 years old! I just love that the ropes are also supposed to help clean their teeth. And, after nearly a year, I retired the Varley shipping box Henley was using in my office as a bed. I upgraded her to this bed and it took a bit for her to use, but now she’s in it quite a bit. They both also have little wicker houses they love in my office (from Mark & Graham but no longer available) and random basket trays on my floor they also love to sleep in. My rug is currently 40% off!

We met up with our friends for the first time in a bit for Amigos on Friday night. Sweatshirt weather has definitely arrived on 30A during the mornings and evenings, but it’s a time of year we both love so much! Kind of the calm after the storm of tourists. I loved this second photo of our little buddy Hudson and Kurtis on a bench. Hudson usually ropes either Kurtis or me into running and playing or catching him if he jumps off the stage. So it was funny to see he made them take a rest!

Saturday, Kurtis and I headed to the beach for a few hours. The water was the clearest I’d seen in awhile. It was absolutely beautiful! And so peaceful to just sit in a chair and listened to the waves for a few hours.

For bocce league this week, Rachel wanted to practice making a new turkey recipe for next week. I was assigned a salad, so I tried to replicate one that I had ordered at Shark’s Tooth last week. It was a harvest salad with mixed greens, roasted sweet potatoes, dried cranberries, walnuts, apples, feta, and a sherry vinaigrette. I followed this recipe for the dressing but had to make a few modifications for it to taste right. It definitely needed some salt and then I added lemon juice (maybe a tablespoon?) and it was all so good! The dressing recipe made probably double what I needed for the salad, so it definitely makes enough for an extra large batch or to save for another batch down the road.

With the recent time change, we now play bocce before dinner and then eat afterwards.

Proof of fall on 30A. The colors are so beautiful (although limited)! But then I checked the forecast and the high fluctuates between 74 and 76 here until Sunday so we’ll call it early fall 😉

Kurtis has to travel again most of this week, so I’m hoping to get the house decorated for Christmas while he’s away. It’s so crazy to me that Thanksgiving is already next week! This will actually be our first time we’ve ever been home for Thanksgiving since moving to Florida (and maybe only second or third time in 20+ years). We’re looking forward to experiencing Thanksgiving at the beach before we then travel to both Omaha and then Salt Lake to celebrate Christmas with our family!

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.

• AMAZON has a number of daily deals. You can shop their site here.
• ANN TAYLOR is offering 40% off winter styles and 30% off everything else. You can shop their site here.
• ANTHROPOLOGIE just added 1000s of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• BODEN is offering 10% off women’s wear with code C7R7 You can shop their site here.
• CHICO’S is offering 30% off everything sitewide. You can shop their site here.
• COCO & EVE is offering 15% off most items sitewide with my code SARAHST15. You can shop their site here.
• CRATE & BARREL is offering up to 30% off furniture, Christmas and more. You can shop their site here.
• ETU HOME is offering 25% off sitewide with code BLACKFRIDAY25! You can shop their site here.
• FRANK & EILEEN has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• GAP has a number of 60% off limited time deals. You can shop their sale here.
• GROVE COLLABORATIVE is offering 25% off a $75+ order with my code SARAHSTEWART. You can shop their site here.
• J CREW is offering up to 40% off cold-weather finds and an extra 60% off sale items with code SHOPSALE. You can shop their site here.
• J CREW FACTORY is offering 40-70% off everything you can also get an extra 70% off clearance items with code LAYER70. You can shop their sale here.
• JENNI KAYNE is offering 25% off nearly everything in a very rare sale. You can shop their site here.
• LANDS’ END is offering up to 60% off sitewide as well as an extra 75% off clearance with code ICESKATE. You can shop their site here.
• LOFT is offering 40% off your full-priced purchase. You can shop their sale here.
• LULULEMON has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• MARK & GRAHAM is offering up to 60% off early Black Friday deals and free shipping on orders $100+ with code CHEERS. You can shop their site here.
• MARSHALLS is offering free shipping on orders of $89+ with code SHIP89. You can shop their site here.
• MCGEE & CO. is offering up to 30% off during their Black Friday Early Access sale, 50% off holiday items, and an extra 30% off clearance styles. You can shop their site here.
• MIGNONNE GAVIGAN is offering 20% off your purchase with code LIFEONVIRGINIASTREET20. You can shop their site here.
• NORDSTROM is offering up to 60% off Early Black Friday markdowns as well as up to 40% off during their Designer Clearance Sale. You can shop their site here.
• OLD NAVY is offering 50% off early Black Friday deals! You can shop their sale here.
• POTTERY BARN is offering up to 60% off furniture, outdoor, bedding, plus Early Black Friday deals and free shipping on 1000s of items. You can shop their sale here.
• REJUVENATION is offering up to 40% off furniture, lighting, and more. You can shop their site here.
• RUGGABLE is offering 15% off your purchase with my code LIFEONVIRGINIASTREET15 and also has a number of new rugs in their sale section. You can shop their site 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 Sale of the Year with best pricing and free shipping. You can shop their sale here.
• TARGET has a number of home deals like 30% off select Threshold with Studio McGee decor items, up to 40% off floorcare, up to 30% off kitchen and dining items, 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 has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• TUCKERNUCK has a number of new items in their sale section. You can shop their site here.
• U BEAUTY is offering 20% off your order with code LIFEONVIRGINIASTREET20. You can shop their site here.
• VINEYARD VINES is offering up to 40% off select full-priced items with code BESTGIFTS. You can shop their site here.
• WAYFAIR is offering up to 70% off during their Black Friday Early Access Sale. You can shop their sale here.
• WEEZIE is offering 15% off sitewide for my readers with code LIFEONVIRGINIASTREET15! You can shop their site here.
• WEST ELM is offering up to 50% off sale style. You can shop their site here.
• WILLIAMS SONOMA is offering up to 50% off Black Friday deals. You can shop their site here.

I hope you all have a great week!

If you would like to follow along on more of my home decor, DIY, lifestyle, travel and other posts, I’d love to have you join me on any of the below channels:

Instagram | Facebook | Pinterest | LTK