Current Summer Obsessions

Life has truly been crazy these past few weeks!  With the beautiful summer weather, dogs that are always covered in mud, and so much happening out at our house site, it feels like our routines are a little bit off track.

The below are some of my latest obsessions, with some personal stories thrown in, to catch you up on what helps get me through this fun and hectic time!

1.  Remedy by Old Crow Medicine Show.

Listen to previews of the songs here

Muffin and I are Bluegrass fans.  While I would consider him the more die-hard fanatic of the genre, I do truly enjoy music with a banjo!  Old Crow will always be near and dear to my heart since Wagon Wheel, pre-Darius Rucker Days, was the song of our wedding weekend!  The new Old Crow Album Remedy just came out today and we've both already listened to it several times!  It is now the soundtrack to our summer!  Be sure to check out Brushy Mountain Conjugal Trailer--my current album favorite (though 8 Dogs 8 Banjos is a close second!).

2.  Beets.

SO TASTY with some Goat Cheese and Arugula!

Yep.  I said Beets.  I love them SO MUCH you wouldn't even believe me if I told you.  When I first tried beets I kept thinking about the TV Show Doug from the 90's and the fictional band The Killer Beets.  I decided to get over it and just try them and haven't looked back since.  I've recently discovered how easy it is to cook them (just cover them in olive oil and roast until tender.  Peel off the skin and voila!) and have been keeping a container of them ready for salads all summer.  It's made it easier for us to keep healthy and have made for great lunch box salads as well!

3.  Benefit Gimmie Brow.

Gimme Brow found here

So in the midst of all of the chaos of my life, I had an eyebrow crisis.  By eyebrow crisis, I mean that my esthetician accidentally waxed a bald spot into my eyebrow.  To be fair, it is a long story and wasn't her fault, but clearly something had to be done about this issue!  I am now addicted to Gimmie Brow and won't go a day without it.  I would say that it makes it your eyebrows look immaculately groomed no matter how much attention you've been giving them (which is great since I'm now trying to grow them out to fill in my bald spot!).

4. Philosophy Purity Made Simple Face Mask.

Purity Made Simple Mask found Here

I. AM. OBSESSED.  This is truly the most magical product I've ever put on my face--and I'm not a product person. I bought it on a whim (while buying another Gimmie Brow) and love it!  Muffin thinks I've lost my mind, but that's ok because my skin will be soft and smooth!  It's summer, so I'm using tons of sunscreen and bug spray and wanted something that would deep clean my face--and let's be honest, who has the time or money for regular facials (especially while building a house)!?

5. Orange Is the New Black.

I like to power stream shows.  The extremely official Urban Dictionary defines power streaming as "Watching several episodes of a TV show in a row, usually from an online streaming service.  This can be done over several evenings, or a marathon weekend."  I take watching my stories very seriously and always have a latest obsession.  I love it even more if I can get Muffin, AKA Mr. I Don't Watch TV, hooked on it as well.  OITNB is one of my success stories and Season 2 recently came out on Netflix.  Muff and I had a great time catching up with all of our "friends" in the federal prison system.  It's even better that Danielle Brooks, who plays Taystee, is a graduate of my High School!

6.  Audible.

Check out audible here

The driving we've been doing to and from our home site, building supply stores, paint stores, etc. has really picked up since construction started. To help pass the time, I've subscribed to audible and am really loving it.  It is great to be able to use the idle car time listening to books I've been meaning to read, but just haven't gotten around to!  The best part is that the iPhone app will sync to my AppleTV once I'm home if I'm at a really critical point in the book and don't want to stop (plus this gives the added bonus of listening to the book with our nicer sound system).

This summer's routine, so far, is no routine and I'm loving every minute of it!

-Katie