DAYS IN MY LIFE | building furniture, baking apple muffins, fall gardening, & feeling overwhelmed ☁️

just some fun things around the house, getting out and about. Today I'm having just a little home decor house session while Connor is asleep. I also want to attempt to build our kitchen island. I ordered this off of Etsy because I was having trouble finding one that had the right dimensions for what we were looking for so I discovered that they had a bunch of beautiful ones on there and this shipped I believe from Turkey so it really came quicker than I expected it to but we do have to put it together. That's one of the reasons why I love shopping at antique stores or just different furniture shops for furniture because we don't love building furniture and I'm going to attempt to do it by myself. I have a feeling I'm going to need Aiden to actually take over and do it. I know this shirt is from My Newly and it is gorgeous. I think it's from Anthropologie originally, I could be wrong but the cinched in waist, I have a little bit of a denim on denim look going on but it is really soft too. It's just really cozy. Bringing you into the kitchen, this is actually the island that I'm going to attempt to build. It has a few different parts to it. I don't see any instructions. I didn't see if Aiden knows where the instructions are but I really like the color of the wood and I shared this table that we got from Facebook marketplace and I'm glad we went with a bit of a darker wash on this because they're not too matchy which was what I didn't want. Our kitchen window right here, this is actually the shade that we got to put there. It came in and it is beautiful. I love the fabric. I love that it's neutral but it still almost looks like a mustardy beige. It's really gorgeous. Sadly though, it didn't come with all the hardware that we need so we're gonna have to get some parts to hang this but I am really excited to do that at some point. I also found this piece at an antique store. It's a needlepoint piece of art. It is gorgeous and the frame's beautiful. I'm not sure if we'll keep it right there but we just have it here for now because I don't even know what you would call this room the sitting room. It is just our catch-all space and I was originally hoping to have this somewhat put together by Christmas because I'm so excited to use this room in the wintertime with a fireplace but I just don't think that's gonna happen because I don't know what we want to do with this room. We have a lot of couches in our house. We have, this is the third, this is technically a sectional but we have three. I believe one of the previous owners actually had the sunroom as a formal dining room. Maybe in time when our family's bigger we have more people here but for now I like having cozy little places to eat and we use the couch in the sunroom the most so if you have any ideas for this room what you think. Should we do chairs? Down the line I would also love to do some built-ins over there. I think that that would look really nice. I just unboxed all of our pieces and I definitely think I am not going to be able to do this mostly because I can't find instructions so I just messaged the seller to see if they had them. They do have everything labeled so it might be as simple as just screwing in where it mentions it but I'm someone who likes to have written out instructions especially before starting anything so hopefully in the next few days we'll be able to do this but I do love the wood. I think it's gorgeous. I'm excited to put it together and finally fill this spot right here. I had to give an update because Aiden ended up building our island and I love it. It's the perfect size. It's so nice to have this for just chopping or when people come over to put food on it. I'm not sure if we'll leave it this stain. We might stain it a different color but I really like how it's just simple. It fits the space well and it's just really practical to have. Something I have been trying to do since moving is just slowly swap out things in our home to more non-toxic alternatives and I don't know if anyone else gets like this but I find this to be so intimidating because there are so many things. It can just feel overwhelming and it can feel like what is the point and so I try to focus on specific things that I believe matter the most and that area for me is sleep right now. When you think about how often you're sleeping just wearing cotton pajamas, using cotton bedding, even down to our mattress. When you think about how long you're spending time in your bed and so I wanted to share birch living with you guys because we are sleeping on their birch natural mattress and this is a swap I feel so good about for a couple of different reasons. One, this mattress is free of any fiberglass materials. It's made with natural wool, organic latex, and organic cotton and no polyurethane based foams which always just blows my mind that you have to seek out a specific company especially when you're talking about a mattress that doesn't use those harmful chemicals but two, it is so comfortable. I mean all of that is really nice but if I'm not going to get a good night's sleep on my mattress I still don't want anything to do with it and I can attest they have a few different ones on their website. I think they are a bit more upgraded mattresses but this is the natural one. I believe it's their base mattress and it is so comfortable. It's not too soft but it's not too firm. We have gotten such great night's sleep on this mattress. You can also go to birchliving.com slash michelle read and that'll get you 20% off a birch mattress. I'll also have a QR code on the screen if you would prefer to scan that. We're definitely not perfect when it comes to making these non-toxic swaps but again we're spending so much time in our beds and it was just time for us to really upgrade for our health but also we have had our mattress for a very long time. I will have this linked at the top of the description box but you can go to birchliving.com slash michelle read that'll get you 20% off a birch mattress. I'll also have that QR code on the screen if you'd prefer to scan. I am going to go to a lighting store tonight because I've been trying to find a pendant light for above the little breakfast table that we have and I have just searched online for so long and I think I'm nervous to order one because we have because we have a slanted ceiling it's a little bit different trying to hang it on there so I'm just going to do it the old school way and go to a store ask a professional and see what they think. I have passed the store so many times and I've always wanted to go in they seem to have a bunch of different lights it looks really beautiful just to stop in. I really want to replace all of the pendant lights around our house right now but in due time that will happen. I just had some groceries delivered. I'm so excited that I stocked up on crisp apple ollipops. These are the best. I'm about to have one. Chocolate chips, cheese. Connor likes these once upon a farm bars. I also really like the busy cold brew. Mostly things for dinners, some apples. I've been enjoying strawberries on my yogurt bowls. French fries are actually cooked in oh these are avocado oil. They have some that are beef tallow. I thought that these were those but avocado oil is fine too. The just bear chicken breast bites. These are delicious. We love to have these for lunch. Some produce, some meats. I'm trying to cook more with ground beef lately because of my iron and then some serenity pouches for Connor. I'm back home. That was really nice just to get some more information, browse around. I think I may have found one that I like but I'm gonna think on it for a second. I wanted to picture it in here. I'm gonna get started on dinner. I'm making a sausage orzo recipe. These are some of my favorites to do. They're so easy. This popped up on my Instagram reels and essentially you have some veggies in there, the chicken sausage but you simmer it with cheese in the middle. I've never done this before but it seems like it would make it really tasty and I always like trying a new recipe so I'll let you know how it turns out. Good morning. We are headed out of the house just to run a few different errands. I need to go to the drugstore to grab some hairspray. We were in Austin this last weekend visiting friends. It was so so nice but I left my hairspray at the place we're staying at. I have a J Crew return I need to do and possibly go to Lowe's to the garden center. I'll see if we're feeling it. I try to keep our errands to about two things. I find anything beyond that can just be a little bit much but it's a beautiful fall morning. We've just had the best time playing outside all morning and last night it was so nice. I just did all of these random little things I've been putting off on my computer. Budget things, work things but I just feel a weight lifted off me. So this is your sign if you have things you've been putting off that you're just thinking I'll get to that I'll get to that just sit down and do it. Watched a show while I did it and it was really quite relaxing. But now we're headed out and I'm in a good mood because this is my first time wearing a proper jacket. making it to Lowe's which I'm really thankful because I picked up a couple of mums. I oh the bees already found them that's amazing. I think it's safer now getting them now that it's going to be cooler the next week or so. So I'm excited to plant those and then a couple of carving pumpkins. We have a bunch of fantasy pumpkins on our porch but I would love to carve some pumpkins before Halloween coming up here soon. But now I'm actually about to head to an F45 class. I have not been for like a week and a half. I went through a streak of going at least two or three times a week so this will feel good. I think it's a strength day and they do this workout where you can either choose arms or legs or you can do both but it is kind of nice to have the option especially when I'm not going super consistently. I always try to go when I'm doing this workout. It's really good. Back home I just showered but I kept my makeup on and I'm surprised by the job that I did. It doesn't look too bad. Great workout. I love doing strength workouts at F45 because anytime I go to the gym and try to use machines, do weights, I just feel a bit like an awkward turtle in there trying to use the weight room. F45 is so nice because you don't have to think about anything. Someone's there to help you with your form and now I'm gonna bake muffins because life is about balance. We have this little dish and I love having some sort of baked good throughout the week to have. I've done a lot of pumpkin things lately. Pumpkin muffins, pumpkin bread which I love and I could eat every single week but I want to switch it up and I have everything for their apple cinnamon crumb muffins. That sounds amazing and I really don't bake with apples unless it's an apple crumble. I haven't done that in a while and this sounds great. Tonight we're having people over so I want to clean up the house a little bit. Maybe plant my mom's. Definitely spend time outside because it's not even gonna get up to 80 degrees today which is just amazing. I just took the muffins out of the oven. I'm gonna do the icing here in a second but I wanted to share something super cute that I got for Connor because he's often helping me in the kitchen. I've been thinking that he needs a little apron so I found this from Etsy. It's just this cotton apron that I thought he could also use for crafts more down the line as well but it's a great size because it's so little. It's adorable. I thought about getting his name embroidered on it too. I think that that would be sweet but I wanted to share it because this is the time of year I always start thinking about Christmas gifts and something like this I think would be cute as like a stocking stuffer. Mine is from World Market and I just thought that they coordinate really well which I'm always a fan of a matching moment. I just tried one and it's definitely good but I almost think it's not quite sweet enough. I think that was on me because my brown sugar was a little clunky as I continue to eat the whole thing so I guess it's not that bad. You hear the airplane? You want some? We trimmed some of our branches outside today and I was like wait a second I've been looking for something to put in this vase and just said you know what let's be resourceful and stick it in here. It's a little tall but I actually think it looks cute right there. What do we think? I should trim it a little bit but the stem's pretty pretty thick but I think she looks cute. I've had a sudden urge to hang some paintings so here we go. This was another piece that I found at the antique store. It really matches the other needlepoint one too but the frame on it is absolutely gorgeous and I thought this was a nice little spot for it. Good morning. Last night was so much fun. We had a ton of fun hanging out and I slept so well last night. I love when that happens. I'm just feeling very refreshed this morning which isn't always the case. Wanted to ask you though I've been looking for a new devotional. If you have any recommendations for a morning devotional or evening devotional whatever time devotional. My two favorites are my utmost first highest. I love that and then also new morning mercies but I've been wanting to switch it up and just try something new. If you have any recommendations besides those two possibly might do some sort of advent devotional and for that I think it would be nice doing something for the whole family. I want to try to research that. I'll share if I come up with anything. I just wanted to say hi before the chaos of the day begins. I shouldn't say that. I don't want to put out that energy. Yesterday was honestly such a lovely day. It was just you know those days with your kids where everything just goes so smoothly. They're just such a delight to be around and we just had a really really great day. I'm really thankful. Praying we have another one today. 6 50 a.m. on a Tuesday. Fades and bursts on my way. Turn the dial to the right place. This is my morning. Connor is spending some time at my mom's house this morning and often when I have time to myself like this I do two things. I either get a lot of work done or I work out just because I feel that that's the best way for me to be spending my time but today I decided I wanted to do something fun. Something that I've also been not putting off but it's one of those things that's been on my list that I just keep not doing and not doing that I really want to do and that is actually to get a flower arrangement made. I've talked about this in a vlog before but my mom got me a gift card to this it's a plant nursery it's really gorgeous the people are really friendly there too. If you bring in any sort of container that you have any sort of pot they will put together a little arrangement. The woman who was working behind the counter she was so cute she literally looked like a flower fairy. She was just surrounded by flowers and then had all her soil everywhere. I was gonna get a new pot to do this but lately especially after doing our budget and getting all organized and just seeing how hard you work for your money and seeing everything in an excel sheet it always makes me feel like okay I'm gonna use what I have when these opportunities come up so we have this pot that the previous owners left it is definitely well loved it is pretty beat up and it was funny because when I was bringing it in I could see him kind of looking at it and I was like I know it's really beat up but he's like no it has character and if it's about to be outside anyways it's probably gonna get beat up too but I just dropped it off I'm excited to see what it looks like I'll share you basically just say how much sun it's gonna get if you have any preference for colors I'm excited to see how it turns out but I'm about to go grab him I have a call that I'm gonna hop on here soon too I would love to get a run in too but we'll see what ends up happening I had to update you because I just picked up the pot and it is beautiful I will say it toppled over in the car on the way home so I tried to rearrange it as best I could it doesn't look as great as she had it but so gorgeous especially the mums in there and my pot doesn't look bad either just has some markings on it but super cute I just got to the gym because I'm craving a run I'm craving a run if you know you know if you run there's just some days where I can just feel that it's going to be a good run I just know it I am making it happen today that was a great run but oh my goodness I've just been going non-stop all day that I need to take a second to just breathe and collect my thoughts it's probably very apparent that we love our house we love being homebodies here and staying in our house that I really just do one thing out of the house typically each day I could stay in our house all day if I wanted to for the rest of today I would love to spend a lot of time outside it's another beautiful day it's a little bit warmer it's gonna rain the next few days so I want to take advantage of all the outdoor time and possibly plant my mums I haven't gotten a text yet for our little arrangement that we made I'm not sure if that's a one day thing a multiple day thing and then just take a breather hang out relax chill I just came out to plant our mums but technically I don't need to plant them they're just these ready refill ones so this kind of feels like cheating hey these are very enticing to Connor though to pull off all the flowers I need to teach him how to pull off the dead ones yeah we don't want to pull off the living ones so I've been meaning to show these I got these from baby gap for Connor it's been so fun pulling out all of his fall things because I ordered these a while ago but it's finally getting cool enough how sweet is this sweater I love all the colors and then this little jacket is perfect for the weather right now it's pretty lightweight but still comfy love the bear on this one too but I think that they still have 40% off right now so I've also been meaning to store away the diaper pail because we really don't use this we haven't used this for probably six months now we just take all the diapers out I kind of prefer it that way they're not as frequent as they once were when you know when you have like a small small baby so it's one of those things I'm just not crazy about it never trapped the smell perfectly and most diapers we ended up taking out anyway so I don't know the chicken thigh recipe I used was really great I will link the marinade that I used down below if you want to try it out and essentially I just seared the chicken thighs on the pan before for about like three minutes on each side and then I baked them in the oven and they were really delicious probably my favorite recipe yet I'm actually editing this video right now and I just feel like I have been all over the place in this vlog and that is because mentally I feel all over the place I have so many tabs open in my brain right now with just a lot of really great things going on between being really busy with work which I'm always thankful for we have Connor's birthday coming up his birthday party we're actually hosting family this year for Thanksgiving this is my first Thanksgiving ever hosting I'm a little bit intimidated a little bit nervous because I'm excited to spend time with everyone but just cooking a Thanksgiving meal and of course already thinking about Christmas I'm thinking about Christmas decorations and I just think as a mom too I'm always thinking about like how can we make things as like fun and magical for our kid as possible and so my brain is just exploding right now I just feel like I've been a little bit absent when it actually comes to like chatting and catching up and all that so I think my next vlog I'm going to try to do some sort of sit down Q&A because I just feel a little bit distant I'm just taking you through the day that's where I'm at I'm so thankful life has felt so just full and abundant and I really feel as if my cup is running over right now but I'm also very tired thank you guys for being here I'm about to get a good night's rest on our birch mattress if you are in need of a mattress please check them out I really value my rest these days and I'm very thankful for it so I'll have them linked down below but I will catch you guys in my next video so grateful for you bye friends