summer friday faves
This post with my summer Friday faves contains affiliate links, which means I may be compensated if you click through and purchase some of the things I have shared with you below. Thanks, as always for your support!
Back in the day, I used to do a somewhat regular blog series of “Friday Faves” to share links of some recent things I had been loving lately.
Nowadays, I can’t seem commit to a weekly post of any kind anymore. Consistently inconsistent is more my style. 😉 But I did (and still do) love to read what others are doing/using/loving.
I haaaate admitting when summer is almost over – it’s my favorite season of them all! But my kids are back to school as of TODAY, so before the calendar officially turns to autumn, let’s get into my summer Friday faves!
1/ Sakara Life
Here’s something you may not know about me: I hate to cook. We would probably order out a lot more often if my husband hadn’t graciously stepped into the roll of chef in our house.
After researching and trying a few different meal delivery services, I came across Sakara Life, and their Signature Nutrition Program. It really appealed to me because it’s how I personally like to eat. And unlike some other meal delivery services, no cooking or prep is required. It’s entirely plant based, nutrient dense, and all in all, exactly what I was looking for. However if you are looking for more animal protein, you could absolutely add it on most of these meals.
You can use my personal code: THELDLSAKARA for 20% off your first order of the Meal Program or Supplements.
I most commonly order the 3-Day Organic Meal delivery, just 1x-2x per month. It helps me keep things fresh when I’m in a food rut. I love the supplements from Sakara too. I could actually go on about what I love about Sakara, but I might save it for a future separate post where I compare another local meal delivery service that I also used and love. 😉
2/ nuuly
Ok, I might be late to this trend, but now I am OBSESSED. I have always been a bit of clothes horse. In fact, another thing you may not know about me is that I went to fashion school (proud FIDM alumnus here!) and worked the early part of my career in production manufacturing with various LA-based clothing brands.
In case you aren’t familiar with how Nuuly works, here it is. For $100 a month, you get to pick 6 pieces (any pieces, doesn’t matter the retail value), wear them as much as you want, then return them in eco-friendly reusable shipping to be cleaned. That’s it! There’s no catch! Some items even come new with tags, if you’re the first to order it.
TIP: I love to shop the “New Arrivals” section for this very reason!
I ordered my first box for my trip to Cabo with my girlfriends earlier this year. But then kept it up because I found I always had a trip, a holiday, a concert, or something each month that I normally would’ve wanted to buy a new outfit for. But with Nuuly, I got multiple outfits for these occasions, as well as pieces just for day-to-day wear.
You can get $30 off your first nuuly rental with my link right HERE.
You can shop from my “closet” of all of my favorite tried + true Nuuly pieces right HERE.
3/ travel with points + miles
If you know me in person, you know I will not shut up about this lately, haha. I have always had a credit card that earned me some points, but what I have learned recently is that I was doing it all wrong. I was not maximizing the possibilities with points + miles for my family!
The picture above is from when our family went to Oahu and Maui a couple of years ago. I paid for all 5 of our flights with Southwest miles (and a companion pass), and the hotel was booked with my Chase Ultimate rewards points! The whole trip was nearly free, and made possible just by opening up two different credit cards. We have also been to Cabo, Mayakoba, and Costa Rica, all thanks to credit card points!
This spring, I am taking our family of 5 to Australia, flights and hotels ALL on points! The flights alone would’ve cost me over $12,000, but instead I am paying just $360 in taxes and fees. I can’t even begin to tell you how satisfying that is to me. It is possible, and it’s really not has hard as you might think. By taking advantage of credit card welcome offers, you can get a wealth of travel benefits!
There are whole blogs/content creators/websites dedicated to this type of travel, my most recent faves to follow are the Travel Mom Squad. And there is so much more I have to say about this, so I may just have to follow up with some more blog posts of my own about this topic!
The two most common questions I get when I start talking about this are:
1.Where do I start?
Credit card offers are often changing and many offer elevated offers at certain times of year. It also depends on your long-term travel goals. But currently, the best offer that I would personally recommend (both my husband and I have this card) is the Chase Ink Business Preferred card, which is offering a limited-time elevated sign up bonus of 120,000 points! This is my personal referral link to that card. *Just make sure you scroll over to the PREFERRED card (not the Premier, which is the first one to pop up in this link).
This is a business credit card, so you do need to have a business of some kind in order to open this card. But the good news is, if you do just about anything to supplement your income, such as sell things on Facebook Marketplace, Photography, Consulting, etc. you can qualify for a business credit card!
2. Won’t this ruin my credit score?
In short, no.
I have maintained a credit score of over 800+ for the last few years since I began taking advantage of credit card welcome offers. Here’s a couple of best practices for responsible credit card use:
- Use your credit card on everyday purchases you were already going to be spending on anyway
- Meet the initial minimum spend requirements within the signup period
- Pay it off in full each month
- Strategically plan when to open new, close, or downgrade your cards
- Enjoy without affecting your long term credit!
4/ skincare by emme diane
As a lifestyle blogger, I dip my toes in a lot of categories, but I don’t share a lot of skincare or makeup products. That’s becuase its just not really my niche or my passion. The other reason I don’t share a lot is because I have been ferociously loyal to Emme Diane and her products after she helped me figure out my adult acne (which was combined with severe skin allergies and sensitivities) years ago. And my skin has been consistently clear for the most part, ever since!
One thing I love about Emme is here wholistic approach to skincare. So it’s not just about products, but also lifestyle and diet too. If I ever do have a change in my skin, she is just a quick free online consultation away from dialing in some changes and getting me back on track. In a world saturated with skincare promises, I feel confident that I can trust Emme.
I don’t even have an affiliate link for Emme Diane, just a tried and true customer for 7+ years!
5/ audiobooks
Literally lol-ing about myself with this one, as I have been almost opposed to audiobooks for most of my life. Still not convinced it really counts as “reading,” but here we are. I consider myself a visual person more than an auditory person, so the thought of them just never really appealed to me before.
But this summer, as we were all over the place with road trips and hence, lots of time in the car, I got really sick of my Spotify music feedback loop (anyone else have this problem?)! So I needed to switch it up. I started with some non-fiction audiobooks I had been wanting to read, but can’t seem to sit down and focus on when I read them 0n paper. Then I slid into some fiction audiobooks for the entertainment factor on the long drives and mindless tasks like laundry. And before I knew it, I was actually into audiobooks!
So, finding out I could listen to 1-2 audiobooks on my Spotify Premium Family account, which we already had, was a game changer. Next, I did a free trial of Audible. But then I learned that you can listed to some audiobooks with a Kindle Unlimited subscription (another service we are already paying for) so I am going to cancel Audible. My next step is looking into how to use Libby or my local library because I loooove the library and believe that is such an underutilized resource for most of us to read for FREE!
Ok well, as per usual, I have gone on way too long in this post.
But there you are: 5 random and unrelated summer Friday faves I have been obsessed with recently! I hope at least one of them provides you with a little inspiration. And if you have ANY questions about any of these things, please let me know in the comments below!
