Friday Favorites! | CEUs, recipes, new jeans, eating healthy and my new raincoat!

Hello everyone! This is my first Friday Favorites in a while, and I'm so happy to be back at it. This week was a doozy- work was insanely busy. I'm so glad its the weekend and I'm looking forward to having the time to clean my home, do laundry, walk my dog, and do some good binge watching on Netflix. Bring on the weekend!

Free Continuing Education credits. I went to a continuing education workshop this week and at the end of the event, the presenter shared that she does a free journal club monthly, in which once a month she hosts a webinar meeting to discuss a published article in our field that everyone reads before the meeting. I was so pleased to find it was a free CEU event, and that I could get 12 of these CEs per year if I participate monthly. That's a huge deal! Normally CEUs range from $25.00- $100.00, so the fact that I can get almost half of my required CEs for free is so awesome. I'm really excited for our December meeting! 

Sandy's Kitchen Adventures. I have cooked 2 or 3 meals from Sandy's Kitchen this week and have loved everything I've made so far. I wrote a blog post about some recent favorite low-carb meals from her blog here, so I'm only going to go over them briefly. I made the Big Mac Salad and BBQ chicken cauliflower pizza and let me tell you- they were the best home cooked meals I've had in a looooooong time. I highly recommend her blog if you are looking for low-carb inspiration.

My new favorite jeans. I saw the American Eagle Next Level High-Waisted Jeggings recommended on Maddy Gutierrez's Instagram stories a few weeks ago, and at the most perfect timing- I had just thrown out my last pair of my beloved discontinued Lauren Conrad jeans that had finally run its course. I'll be honest, I haven't shopped at American Eagle since high school. And while I am still mourning those amazing, curve hugging LC jeans, I've gotta admit- these AE jeans are awesome. They are currently on sale for $30.00 and for the price, they are so worth it. They hug my body in all the right places, and the best part is that AE sells Short jeans online. The fact that I can wear these with booties or converse without them bunching up at my ankle makes me so happy and much more confident, as stupid as that sounds. I got 1 black and a few denim pairs. I am now fully stocked on pants for a while now!

Samsung Notes. The most random and probably stupid favorite of the week... I have been loving using my Samsung Notes app. I've been using them to make lists of recipes to try, work to-do lists, weight tracking, you name it. I think I like it so much because you can use a checkbox as a bullet, and when you click on the box, it "checks" the item off the list. I love it! It's so basic, but the app has honestly become a necessity in my daily life. I use it for everything from grocery lists, to recipes to try, to baby names that I come across and like. I even used it to list out my monthly goals/ tasks for November and to keep track of our Marvel marathon.

Eating healthy. I have kind of hinted at this a bit in my last post, but I have embarked on a low-carb, lean-protein diet. I have cut out sugar as much as I can as well. So far, I feel great! I'm pretty sure my body is in ketosis and I'm losing weight quickly. This is the first step to baby for us! Hopefully I will get to a weight that the fertility clinic will agree to start treatment or maybe I will get pregnant naturally before then. Whatever happens first, I'm so ready.

40 oz. water bottle. More on the healthy diet train, I have increased my water intake SIGNIFICANTLY this week to up to 120 ounces per day. It's pretty easy to do when you have this huge water bottle. I refill it three times a day and carry it with me to work and whenever I'm in the car. Drinking more water keeps me full longer, my skin feels more healthy, and I'm sleeping better. I don't know if all that relates back to drinking water, but I know it's so good for you. I hope I keep at it. 

Hubby's new days off.  I received the BEST news this week. Come January, my husband's days off are shifting from Wednesday/Thursday to Thursday/Friday! I am SO excited! This will give us so much more time together, especially since we will finally have the opportunity to hang out on Saturdays before he goes into the work at night. I can't wait :)  

Can't wait to do this every Friday night :)

My new raincoat. I finally have a raincoat for the first time since maybe middle school? I love it and it has come in handy with all the dreary weather New England has had lately. It's from Target (obviously) and I wear it constantly. It's a perfect in-between coat for Fall/Winter. 

Getting to wear my UGGS. You guys, I LOVE wearing my UGGS. Call me basic, but nothing beats warm feet in the winter. I have the Bailey Button UGGS in black. They are starting to see some wear and tear so it may be time for an upgrade next winter. 

That's all from me on this Friday. Hope everyone had a great week! Cheers to the weekend! 

Linking up with Della, Erika and Lindsay.