Category: Lets Look

Let’s Look:Inside our Fridge & Pantry!

Published on by Maggie Eterno2 Comments

Morning, friends!!! Goodness, we came home from Spring Break and hit the ground running. So much going on this week that I’m just taking it an hour at a time. It’s been a bit overwhelming, but I try not to think about what’s ahead too much and just focus on the present and the task at hand. Do you ever have weeks like that? So much to do that you can only take it a day at a time?

We will get there, friends! The weekend is upon us and although it is equally as busy for us, I’m looking forward to it.

I didn’t blog yesterday…. honestly I was struggling a bit getting back into the swing of things. It always takes me a bit to adjust after a week off.

Today is the Let’s Look! Every month, I link up with Erika and Shay to “look” at a certain aspect of our lives.

In January, we looked at our coffee bar areas. 

In February, we looked at our love languages.

In March, we looked at our perfect night in.

I’m not going to lie, this month’s topic isn’t my favorite. Currently, I’m on the struggle bus with this aspect of my life, but here we go.

My fridge… nothing glamorous at all. I thought about making it all pretty and tidy for y’all, but nope…I’m just keeping it real.

Nothing special at all! We always make sure that we are stocked up on eggs, yogurt, fruits and veggies. Jojo loves the Core Power protein shakes by Fairlife so I make sure I have plenty for him. And of course lunchables and fruit cups for lunch!

And then the freezer…. I don’t typically freeze my meat. I buy it fresh and cook it within a couple of days. If, for some reason, we don’t use it then I freeze it. But two staples in my freezer are frozen pancakes and a Dijourno, ha! The kiddos love the pancakes for a quick breakfast and the pizza is an easy dinner when we are super busy!

And then there’s my pantry. So quick story. I have an organization system. Nothing complicated as I have learned with kids to not over complicate being organized. But, there’s a method to the madness that is the pantry. A couple of weeks ago, Mackenzie decided to “help” me clean the pantry and she moved everything around!! EVERYTHING!!! I had to bite my tongue and say thank you because the girl spent an hour cleaning and organizing. So nothing is in its place at the moment and I don’t have the time to put it back the way it was.

But you know, it’s like when your kiddo makes their bed and it’s not exactly the way you like it. You don’t go behind them and “fix” it. You tell them good job because that was their best work. So for now, we will keep it the way it is until I have some time to organize it back the way it was. We added the counters back in December and I love them! I haven’t had the time to really organize all of the drawers and cabinets. It’s a summer project! Do you have certain projects that you put off until summer? Or is that just me?

And that massive crate does not stay there normally. Poor Georgia was spayed this week so we needed a big crate for her since she has the cone of shame….

Bless her…

So anyways! Nothing to exciting here today, folks! I hope y’all are having an amazing day!! I have so much that I want to share with you, but I’m trying to organize it all in my brain. I will get it together, I promise!

If you are a blogger and want to join us next month, here’s the schedule of topics.

Have a great Wednesday!

XO

Let’s Look: A Perfect Night In!

Published on by Maggie EternoLeave a comment

Hi, friends! I’m a little late getting my post out today. I’m telling y’all, daylight savings kicks my butt every year. I’ve been waking up an hour late. Hoping I can adjust back soon. I miss my “me” time in the morning!

Today is the March edition of Let’s Look. Once a month, I link up with Shay and Erika and “look” at different aspects of our life.

In January, we looked at our coffee bar areas.

In February, we looked at our love languages.

And today, we are looking at our PERFECT NIGHT IN!

As a kid, my daddy made his own pizza crust and every Friday night we would have a movie night and eat pizza. His pizza became quite famous. It’s delicious and everyone that tried agreed.

He would make it for us anytime we had friends over. He made it for our teachers, for my sorority sisters. He made it for everyone. He loved sharing it with others.

When dad passed away, I asked my mom to teach me to make the pizza crust. I wanted to learn so that I could make it for my family. I’m not a great baker, so for me, it was hard.

One night, it took me three tries before I finally got it right. I’ve been persistent and I think I’ve become quite good at it.

And we do the same thing I did as a kid, eat pizza and watch a movie.

So of course, my perfect night in involves dad’s pizza!

During quarantine, we did this multiple times a week! It was so awesome. And we’ve continued to do it more even after we’ve gone back to almost normal.

I make the pizza. We eat. Then we pile up in the living room with blankets and watch a movie. It’s our favorite thing to do!

How about you? What’s your favorite way to spend a night in?

Next month, we will be “looking” at our pantry and fridge. Ummmm it’s gonna take me a month to clean them and organize them 🤣. Making a mental note now, to make sure I get that done.

I hope y’all have the BEST day!!

XO

Let’s Look: Love Language

Published on by Maggie Eterno2 Comments

Once a month, I link up with Shay and Erika to “look” at different aspects of our lives.

Last month, we looked at our coffee bar areas.

And this month, we’re looking at our love languages 💘.

Years ago, I read this book,

In this book, Gary Chapman writes about the five ways that people give and receive love. The love languages are quality time, gift giving, acts of service, physical touch and words of affirmation.

It’s so easy to show love the way that we feel loved. The challenge comes in when we have to show love in the way that our spouse feels loves. It’s especially difficult when the two of you speak two completely different languages.

You may be giving him gifts and all he wants from you are words of affirmation. When we know each other’s language and we speak it, it helps tremendously in a marriage and any relationship for that matter.

At the end of the book, he includes a fun little quiz that you and your spouse can do to find out your love language.

You can also take the quiz, here! They also have a quiz for children, teens and singles.

Alright, so what’s our love language?

When I read this book years ago, my primary language was quality time and secondary was gift giving.

During those years, I had terrible panic attacks and anxiety. I was constantly in a fear and panic state of mind. I say all this because I needed Jospeh with me 24/7. He was the only person that made me feel safe. So quality time for sure was what I needed then. And he was always so good at giving that to me.

I took the test again yesterday to see if I’ve changed and I haven’t too much. My primary is gift giving and almost tied for second are acts of service and quality time. I think it’s totally accurate.

I love giving and receiving gifts. They don’t have to be big and expensive. The smallest of gifts make me happy. I think it’s because the thought that someone puts into getting you something means that they thought of you. And that makes me feel loved.

When we were dating, Joseph would buy me flowers every month on our “monthly anniversary” and he would give me greeting cards all the time. All. The. Time. Receiving these made me feel so loved. I still have many of them in my memory box.

Acts of service also speak to my heart in a big way. I love it when he cleans up the kitchen after dinner or when he makes the bed in the morning. I also love when he helps me switch a load of laundry over or when he picks up the kids from school for me in the afternoons.

Spending time with Joseph is my favorite thing to do. I love going anywhere with him. What I’m loving the most right now is working on our investment projects together.

And now for Joseph’s love language. Well…touch, touch, touch ha! It’s all about the physical touch. Joseph took the test again and it has not changed. His primary is physical touch and secondary is quality time. When I was telling him his results, he said “see, I just want your body and your time” 🤪🤣!

He’s so crazy!

Marriage is not easy, but it can be very rewarding and fulfilling when we are committed to speaking each other’s languages.

Here are a couple of posts about marriage that I’ve written in the past:

Love is a Choice

Love and Respect in Marriage

I got to thinking about my kiddos and their love languages. I think I’m going to have them take the quiz. I’m super curious as to what each of their languages are.

If I had to guess… Jojo would be words of affirmation and physical touch, Mary is gifts for sure! And Mackenzie’s is physical touch. Let’s see how well I do! I’ll keep y’all posted!

Now it’s your turn, what’s your love language?! I want to know!

This was such a fun topic. Next month, we are looking at our perfect night in. I can’t wait to share it with you!

I hope y’all have a wonderful Wednesday, friends!!

XO

P.S. This post contains an affiliate link. Thank you for supporting my blog!

Let’s Look: Coffee Bar Area

Published on by Maggie Eterno4 Comments

Hey friends!! It’s the first LET’S LOOK of 2021!

Once a month bloggers, Shay and Erika host a fun link up where we look at different aspects of our lives. It’s a fun way to get to know other bloggers and it’s always so neat to see how others “do life.”

This month, we are “looking” at our coffee bar areas.

It’s hard to believe it took me years to finally consider myself a coffee-drinker. I think I tried in college, but could never find a flavor I liked. And if I drank coffee, it was more creamer than coffee, ha!

I finally turned the corner when I became a mom of three under the age of three 😳. Because, hello, three kids right?!

For the longest time, I had no idea how to make a pot of coffee. So Joseph always made it for me. It wasn’t until he was going out of town and my most important question was, “who’s going to make my coffee in the morning?!“ that I realized I needed coffee more than I knew I did.

If you follow me on Instagram, (if you don’t, you totally should 😉) then you know last year I started sharing a morning pic of my coffee mug and a Bible verse every day.

The biggest question I get asked is, “where do you keep all of those mugs?” Well. Your girl has a problem. I LOVE coffee mugs! When we travel, I buy one. When I’m at Target, I buy one. When I’m at TJ Maxx, I buy one. You get the point 😆. Needless to say, I am thankful for the cabinet space in my kitchen!

My coffee bar area isn’t fancy! We bought this coffee pot a little over a year ago after our $30 Walmart one finally broke after many years!

We thought we would use the single cup brew more, but we actually never use it. I don’t know if it’s just me, but coffee tastes different to me when I do the single brew.

I am a simple girl when it comes to my coffee. Folgers and creamer. That’s it. After all, “The best part of waking up is Folgers in your cup!”

I’m not a huge fan of fancy coffee. I’ll drink a Frappuccino at Starbucks every now and then, but for the most part it’s Folgers for me.

Beside my coffee pot I have most of my Rae Dunn mugs hanging on my mug tree.

And the most asked question, where do I keep all of my mugs?!! Well, this is the cabinet above my coffee pot. I’d be lying if I said those were all of my mugs 😆. I have more mixed in with my normal cups in the cabinet beside this one. And I keep my Christmas mugs with my Christmas dishes above my oven 🙊🙈. Y’all. I do have a problem 🤣.

Funny story… so Joseph and I bought a beach condo last year to renovate and sell. Before we sold, we definitely enjoyed the condo and spent most of the summer and fall there.

When we finally decided to sell, it sold in 30 minutes!! When we were sitting there amazed at what had just happened I stopped and thought, my mugs!! I’m not including my mugs in the sale!

So we added a line in the contract that said, my mugs were not included 😅😂.

I had quite the collection of mugs there, too.

See… I need an intervention, folks!

And that’s it for the first Let’s Look of 2021!! Next month we are talking about our love languages! I’ve also included the list of the topics for 2021 below in case you blog and want to join us!

I hope y’all have a fantastic day! We are celebrating our favorite TEN year old, all day long!!

XO

Let’s Look: Your Christmas Cards

Published on by Maggie Eterno1 Comment

Morning, friends! Today I’m linking up with Erika and Shay for their Let’s Look Link Up.

Each month, they share how they do something and invite others to share, too. Today is the last Let’s Look of 2020. I am still in shock that the year is almost over.

I joined the party late this year so I didn’t get to do all of the Let’s Look topics. But I’m excited to join in on the fun for 2021.

Today we’re looking at CHRISTMAS CARDS! I’ll be the first to admit, these caused a lot of stress for me in years past.

I looked at them as something I had to do. But slowly I changed my mindset and now I see them as a tradition and something that we can do not have to do.

So here we go! I don’t have our actual Christmas cards, but I thought it would be fun to post the pictures I used for them each year.

2019

2018 was crazy for us. I took a full-time job and it was a struggle finding a day for a photo session. I think every time we tried, it rained, someone was sick or someone had sports. But here’s our annual picture of my kiddos on their pjs on the day before Christmas.

2018
2017
2016
2015
2014
2013
2012
2011
2010

We didn’t do cards in 2009, but look at this picture?! Oh where has the time gone?!

2009

Wow!! A decade of family pictures! I am so glad I got over my terrible attitude and learned to love doing this with my family. It brings me so much joy to see each picture and how much my kids have grown. Mindset is everything!

I’m still working on 2020’s cards and will share them with y’all soon!

Thank you for going down memory lane with me this morning.

Happy Wednesday!!

XO

Let’s Look: {How We Pumpkin}

Published on by Maggie Eterno2 Comments

Good morning! I am linking up with Erika and Shay today for their monthly Let’s Look Link-Up. Every month they share a little peek at how their families do something and invite others to link-up and share too. I thought it would be fun so I decided to join in! This month it’s all about how we pumpkin!

First things first…Y’all…I have a confession to make. I am not crazy about pumpkin flavor anything! There, I said it! Annnnnd I kinda feel like this….

But I do love pumpkins as decor! I’m more of an apple spice and cinnamon girl!

I was hoping to have all of my fall decor up so that I could share it with you on this post, but it’s been a crazy couple of weeks. I didn’t buy my mums last month like I normally do because we spent so much of our time in Hilton Head and I was afraid they’d die while we were gone. Now I’m ready to buy them and can’t find any nice ones anywhere. I’m going on a hunt this weekend and I’m hoping to at least get two for my big planters on my front porch.

Since my house isn’t fully decorated yet, I thought I’d share a couple of my favorite fall things!

The only pumpkins I have out right now are two of these white pumpkins I bought at Kroger this week. They caught my eye and were the last two white ones so it was meant to be! I love white pumpkins…they are my favorite!

And I am burning these candles that give me all the fall feels! They are seriously the best candles. Mulled Wine smells good, but my favorite fall scent is Spiced Apple. I have one at our beach condo and love the way it smells. I buy all of my Sand and Fog candles at TJ Maxx or Marshalls. They seriously smell so good and last a long time.

I love a fun halloween t-shirt and this one is currently my favorite. I bought it from the girls at Mum-Bae Boutique. You can follow them on Insta!

I also bought a new orange watch band for fall! I buy all of my bands from Amazon. They have the best prices on the silicone ones. I have them in multiple colors! You can’t beat $7.99!

When the kiddos were younger, we always tried to go to a pumpkin farm or do something “fall-ish” with them. If it weren’t for my sister, we probably wouldn’t have gone this year. She took my kids to Jaemor Farms while Joseph and I were in Hilton Head working on our condo. I am so thankful for her and the way she loves to make memories with my kiddos!

Another favorite fall activity we do is our Carnival at Church. They go all out and my kids love it!

And last, but not least we love Trick-or Treating! Our neighborhood closes our gates and has a big potluck before all the kiddos go trick or treating. We normally have friends and family over at our house and we hang out while the kids have a blast running around the hood. I’m super excited about Halloween falling on a Saturday this year, but I’m a little sad that my older two have opted not to dress up this year.

And that’s how we “pumpkin” around here! We decorate the house, go to a pumpkin farm, attend the church carnival and go trick or treating! Next month we are talking about our holiday menu and then in December, our Christmas cards. Holy moly it’s almost Christmastime!

I hope you have a fabulous Wednesday and as always, thank you for stopping by and reading!

PS – this post contained an affiliate link… thank you so much for reading and supporting my blog!