Friday Favorites

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I can't believe that we are half way through January already. I feel like this year is going to fly by. We have a lot of fun things planned and the girls start Kindergarten this August as well. Bring on the rest of 2020. I know it will be better than 2019.

Onto Friday Favorites and Happenings.

ONE. Tuesday was one of my best friends birthday. She turned 34. Nathalie was my maid of honor and the one I visited in October to meet her baby girl. We have been friends for about 13 years now and she is truly an amazing woman. 

Nathalie and I met in a bar. Sounds like a love story. Ha. But my friend Matt introduced us at a bar, we chatted all evening long and then made plans to hang out the next day. And from there on out, we were inseparable...until she moved to Oklahoma. But fingers crossed they can move somewhere closer to us again in the future.

I have about 500 photos of us and I picked some of my favorites. Happy Birthday Nathalie!!

TWO. This week I made a new recipe. A recent IG follow makes the most delicious looking dinners each night and I finally tried one. I made her Cauliflower Gnocchi Skillet and it was soooo good. Who knew cauliflower gnocchi could be this good. I used Rao's like she suggested since it is our favorite as well. And the only change I did was to make one and a half recipes. Make sure you broil the cheese at the end. So good, healthy and worth it. 

Cauliflower Gnocchi Skillet

THREE. J Crew recently had a winter sale and I scooped up three work shirts. I wanted to buy more, but I just didn't want to spend the money after the holidays. I bought two short sleeve shirts and one sweater. How cute are these? All of these items are still available and on sale.

 J Crew Puff Sleeve Top

 J Crew Sweater with Jewels

J Crew Point Sur Short Sleeve Shirt

FOUR. Weekly Funnies.

Have a great weekend!

I am linking up with April, A Little Bit of Everything, Meet @ the Barre and Becky.

Disneyland Part 1

I am finally getting around to writing about our Disneyland trip. Between the holidays and many scheduled posts, I never wrote about our magical time in Disneyland. It truly was the best time. And going during the Christmas season was even more magical.

Let me start this by saying that I have been to Disneyland many times, but I haven't been in 21 years. Rory and the girls have never been and my parents have been many times as well. But I have never been during the Christmas season and it has to be my favorite. I don't know how any other time can compete. Maybe Halloween? Probably not.

If you remember, we didn't tell the girls about our trip until the morning of. We got the girls up and ready as if they were going to school that morning, but when they saw some luggage and some backpacks, they asked where Rory and I were going. We told them to Disneyland and they cried thinking they were not going, but they were. We also didn't tell them that my parents were coming until we got to the airport and they saw my parents. Two big surprises for them.

We flew to Orange County with a stop in Oakland first.

That afternoon, we unpacked, walked to Target for some supplies and then went to an early dinner. We had an early night since we knew we were going to have a long next day.

Tuesday morning we got up bright and early, had breakfast at the hotel and then took the shuttle to Disneyland. We spent the entire first day in Disneyland. We were there from 8 am to 5:30 pm. We left the park and went to dinner near our hotel. But here is our day. I will let the photos do most of the talking and I will interject in between.

We took a photo right inside of the park. As you can tell, it was a little sunny and we had a hard time seeing. The girls wore their Frozen costumes that we got from Target after Halloween.

Right after you walk into the actual park, there was a tree at the beginning of Main Street.

We also snagged a photo with Goofy.

By this time, we had already been in one of the main Disney stores and the girls wanted everything.

 Sleeping Beauty's Castle during Christmas time

We headed right over to Pirates of the Caribbean. I took a few photos, but it was pretty dark in the ride. We had no wait.

Then we headed over to the Haunted Mansion. This has always been a favorite of mine and with it done up in The Nightmare Before Christmas style, it was even more fun.

We only had about a 5 minute wait. The rest of the time, it was about 40 minutes or more to ride this ride.

From there, we headed over to FantasyLand. The girls spotted the carousel and wanted to ride that. We rode that about 4 different times between the first day and the last day.

From there, we went on the Snow White ride, Mr. Toad's Adventure and Pinocchio's Daring Journey.

The girls were begging to see the princesses, so we went over to the Royal Hall. This is where we had to wait about 30 minutes to get in. We saw Belle on the way, but they closed her line, so we just went to the Hall. The girls got to meet three princesses and they were beyond happy. Though, they were hoping Anna and Elsa were in there, which we later learned that they were in California Adventure. I would have had them wear their Rapunzel dresses the first day had I known.

 Cinderella

 Ariel

 Snow White

After our meet and greet, we came out to the Rapunzel show almost starting. We grabbed a seat up from with the girls and watched that which was really cute.

Then we headed over to have a quick lunch and then were off again to TomorrowLand.

We went on Autopia, the Monorail and Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.

Her face makes me laugh every time. I had about 4 different selfies that we took and each had the best face.

It was almost 3 pm and we had to make it over to watch the Christmas parade. We got there 20 minutes ahead of time and got front row seats and enjoyed a churro.

Of course the girls were waiting for Anna and Elsa and Anna just happened to blow kisses and wave to the girls.

The girls also LOVED the princess float. They now know that Aurora is my favorite princess and kept pointing her out every day.

The girls are very much into Toy Story, so they were beyond thrilled when their floats came out.

And the big man, Santa!

After the parade was finished, we went back on the Toy Story ride and then headed back into FantasyLand for the Dumbo ride.

We rode several rides many times and I have forgotten many of them I am sure. We didn't go into FrontierLand until the third day. Same with Star Wars Land and Toon Town.

And that caps off our first day at Disneyland!

Master Bathroom Renovation

Shortly after the hall bathroom was 90% complete (they need to install the mirror, shower enclosure and touch-up some items), our contractors started on the master bathroom renovation. Now this is a tiny master bathroom. I have no idea why they made master bathrooms so small in the 60s but they did.

Here are some before photos.

 Yes my husband used to have a squatty potty.

And I took these photos one evening when I was cooking dinner.

Anyways, our contractor and his workers demoed the bathroom in a very short time. And then they added in a pony wall and some other framing work that needed to be done. They also moved the shower head and knob up higher since Rory is a tall guy. This was all done in one day.

Next, they did some dry wall work, a bit of painting (which now has to be partially redone since an area of drywall needs to be redone) and then started the shower system.

Now my shower system is done with mud backing. Rory's bathroom has the newer Schluter System. this makes it so he has more room in his shower and it is a more modern backing. Don't worry, they did leak tests and this has a life time guarantee.

 Schluter System installed

Behind that cardboard is Rory's new vanity.

And that is where we are at right now (well when I wrote this. They were tiling at the end of last week.).

Friday Favorites

* This post contains affiliate links. When you click a link, it is no cost to you and I make a small commission (pennies) from it. Thank you for supporting Sparkles and Lattes.

I feel like I haven't done a Friday favorites in a really long time. Between the holidays and gift guides, I haven't done a traditional favorites post. That changes today.

ONE. I wrote about this item in my Amazon Prime purchases in November, but I wanted to write about it again now that we have used it. Lindsay recommend this Starlight/Night Light Projector and I scooped it up right away to give to my girls for Christmas. We set it up Christmas day and we have been using it every night and even at nap time. The girls LOVE this projector. It has a cover on the star piece that allows it to just be a night light. But you can take the cover off, and it projects stars and moons on the ceiling. You can set a timer on it and not worry about it being on all night. You can also set it just to project the stars or have them spin or have them spin and blink. You can also change the colors to many different combinations. The girls chose a different color or set of colors each night and love it. I think they love it so much that they just stare at it until the timer goes off and then I have to set it again if I hadn't set it long enough.

What I am getting at, is this was a very good purchase for my girls. They absolutely love it.

Starlight/Night Light Projector

TWO. During Nordstrom's year end sale, I bought a Free People Long Sleeve Snap Cuff Top. I had been eyeing this top for awhile, but didn't want to pay full price for it. I also read the reviews and sized down to an extra-small. When it arrived, I tried it on and fell in love with it. It isn't see through despite the thin material, is soft, have beautiful snap cuffs and will get a lot of wear this winter season. If you find this top on sale or don't care if you pay full price, you should get it. It is a great staple in any closet.

Free People Long Sleeve Snap Cuff Top

THREE. As with the sale above, I picked up two items from the American Eagle sale. I bought my favorite jeggings and a color block sweater. I love these jeans. I wear them all the time and haven't bought an expensive pair of jeans in over a year. These jeans hold up wash after wash, don't stretch out that much over the day, are comfy and just fit my body perfectly. And they fit every body perfectly, no matter your size. And they are on sale for $29 right now.

 AE Jegging

AE Color Block Sweater

FOUR. This week we took the girls to their pediatrician for their 5 year old check up. Not only did we learn a few things about their growth, but we also learned that they both had strep and it probably didn't come from me since they had very early signs of it. Ugh. Anyways, the girls stayed home with Rory on Monday and have been taking the same medicine as me.

But the best part of the check-ups are learning how much your kids have grown in a year. Sutton has grown 2 3/4 inches and has gained 4 1/2 pounds. She is in the 60th percentile for weight and 85 to 90th percentile for height. So Sutton weighs 41 pounds and is 44 3/4 inches tall. Avery has grown three inches and gained five pounds since last year. She is in the 55th percentile for weight and 85th percentile for height. She weighs 41 pounds and is 44 1/2 inches tall.

We have some tall girls! And healthy girls!!!

FIVE. Weekly Funnies.

I am linking up with April, A Little Bit of Everything, Meet @ the Barre and Becky.

Have a great weekend!