Friday Favorites

Happy Friday, all! Another good week in the books. 

It's been really nice having Sammy home every night this week (which hasn't ever happened since we've lived together!). As an introvert, having time to myself many days/nights throughout the week because of his work schedule is amazingly helpful, so I was surprised when having very little "alone time" this week didn't bother me...at all. 

Not sure how long I could sustain that past this week haha but it's really been great spending the extra time together. Next week may even be a little lonely when I'm wearing my face mask and in bed by 9 p.m. ;)

Some favorites, shall we? Starting with some spring decor I broke out (and by broke out I mean pulled out the ONE thing I had to display...). I've had this silver bunny for several years after picking it up from Crate & Barrel during a sale. It's sat in a box, waiting for me to buy a house so I could use it. And then we picked up a little plant from TJ Maxx on Sunday because I felt like we needed some greenery in our lives (but faux greenery because I can't be bothered to keep plants alive).

I stopped at Target with some coworkers during lunch this week and grabbed this dish towel. I also have a French inspired one that feels "spring-ish" in my Amazon cart and an Easter one shipping from Etsy soon. I didn't want to decorate super hardcore for Easter or spring but definitely wanted to freshen and liven things up, so in addition to these additions and swapping out our candles for some spring ones, I have some faux lavender in my Amazon cart that I plan on filling a white vase with and sticking on our table instead of the bowl I always have there. And we'll call it a day.

I don't know that I would necessarily call this a favorite but getting new siding (the palette of shit on our lawn) is nice haha. Still unsure of the color the association chose, but hopefully it turns out OK! We were hoping they would be done today but they haven't even started on our house (they started on the opposite end of our building on Monday). So I foresee a future "favorite" being the completion of this project haha.

But the first grill of the season is definitely a favorite. We were out in 42 degrees with coats but that's basically summer in Chicago after winter and we were thrilled about it.

And this boy was very happy to be outside in his "backyard."

So happy that he tired himself out ("new" experiences tend to really drain him haha) and cuddled with us for the rest of the night which is always my favorite.

On Tuesday, these Italians celebrated St. Joseph's Day which is one of my favorite days of the year. My grandparents used to host just under 100 people every year for St. Joseph's and I always looked forward to it more than almost any other holiday. We haven't done it in a few years because of my grandma's health but she's really hoping to do it again next year. But as soon as Sammy and I get a bigger house, I'm taking over :)

This year, I insisted we celebrate and make some of the traditional foods especially since Sammy wasn't working.

These two while Mom cooked...

I started by making my papa's braided bread.

Sammy really wanted to help braid it, so we did that together which was special because we value our grandfathers' traditions a lot and it felt really nice to do something together that honored my grandpa's legacy.

She turned out pretty well! Didn't taste like my papa's, so I want to find his original recipe and play with it, but it still tasted pretty darn good.

My grandparents used to make an enormous amount of food and it's tradition that people bring something "to the table" as well, so they always had a crazy amount which I obviously couldn't recreate, but I did make the traditional stuff.

We don't eat meat on St. Joseph's Day so my family always makes fried fish, which I did, along with salad, regular pasta for Sammy, and St. Joseph's pasta which is long pasta mixed with cauliflower and toasted bread crumbs (to symbolize Joseph's wood shavings) which is my FAVORITE dish.

It's also traditional to wear red (don't ask me why, we still can't figure it out), so we all had our red items on ;) and took a blurry family photo.

And I wore my grandma's apron which made her endlessly happy :) It was a fantastic night and it made my grandma so, so happy to know we plan on continuing their tradition of celebrating. It really meant a lot to me to celebrate as our little family in our own home.

Not to purposely include back to back selfies or anything, but I had ordered these "bride" shirts several weeks ago and the original package got lost in the mail so the shop sent me a new package and it finally arrived this week. I'm obsessed with the two items I got.

The sweatshirt is seriously SO soft. It's roomy (I definitely could have ordered a small which hasn't happened since like the fourth grade) and just feels like quality. The color isn't showing well here but it's the prettiest peach/blush color.

I beg of you to ignore this pose I'm doing and please don't ask me about it. But this is my "Le Bride" shirt I just had to have. I looove it. It's definitely too big (which I'll never complain about) so I have to roll up the sleeves and tie it at the bottom, but I think it's going to be so cute with a denim jacket or blazer.

I'm definitely going to be wearing one of these next Saturday to my dress appointment. YES, ANOTHER ONE, OK?

I reached out to a recommended travel agent this week to see if we could get a super head start on honeymoon planning. We want to do a honeymoon registry as part of our overall registry so I was hoping to get some ballpark ideas cost-wise even though organizing our registry is many months out as well. My little OCD heart loves to start planning early, what can I say? A little sneak peak as to where we might be headed... ;)

I just ordered this dress (since it was 60% off from Tobi!) as a possible engagement photo option. I'm super anxious to get it in the mail to see if I like.

I'm meeting Chelsie tonight after work for a mani/pedi dinner date which I'm really looking forward to. Tomorrow is our cousin's 30th birthday, so we're headed downtown for that which should be awesome, and then I'm spending the evening with my momma. And Sunday I get to fully relax and prep for the week...lazily ;)

Have a great weekend! xo

*Linking up with Andrea!