Max Out Happy

The FriYAY Series

fav picture from the week (in my nephew Jackson’s nursery)

Happy Friyay! Tonight, we are heading to the mountains for a quick weekend trip when Andrew gets home from baseball practice. We have never taken a long trip driving into Davis’ bedtime, so hopefully he will be able to sleep in the car! If not, it’s going to be a long four hours for all of us (we are taking all three dogs, too!) We’re staying with my mom tonight and tomorrow night, and then we’ll stop to see Andrew’s mom on the way back Sunday! It will be a full weekend, but I’m excited to see family and for Davis to see 2 of his 3 grandmothers!

We got a new TV and mounted it above our fireplace, so I’ve had to rearrange some things this week and figure out the new space and how it will work for us. I’m feeling good about everything! We have had our TV on a stand since we moved into our house, but Davis wouldn’t stop going up to the TV and standing 2 inches away from it – so mounting it was a great solution! Now we have an extra TV to put in the garage for when I’m working out in there…which I need to get back on track with, haha! #life

I felt like I couldn’t catch up this week! I typically feel that way to some extent, but this week, the house chores were piling up and with baseball games starting up again, afternoon and evening time to get things done is harder to find. Last night I was finally able to get a few things done before we leave – I hate to go on a trip with the house messy. Is anyone with me on that? I like to at least have the laundry and dishes done, the house vacuumed, and the trash taken out. That way, when you come back, you’re not walking into a mess, and your house feels that much more like home.

Posts I’m currently working on: Summer must-haves, favorite products for Davis, favorite beauty and skincare items, “mom-drobe”/activewear/loungewear, and a few other surprises. Lots coming your way in the next few weeks!

Since I’ve felt a little extra stress this week, I’m trying to remind myself of all the tools in my toolbox to help myself out. So, if you’re like me and you need a little reminder, take this time to do a few things: Unclench your jaw, lower your shoulders if they are tensed up, let your body get heavy. If your tongue is pressed up to the roof of your mouth, let it go. Let out a big nasty breath of everything you’re holding onto right now, then close your eyes and take a few really good deep belly breaths in and out. We made it to Friday!

That’s it for today! Just popping in to say hello and wish everyone a good weekend.

Amazon Finds!

Another round up! I love discovering new and useful things. I have gotten so many great items from random hauls and suggestions from other people! Here’s a bunch of stuff from Amazon – everything is either stuff we have that we love, random stuff I found, or things my friends have recommended recently!

One: Polarized sunglasses for CHEAP (set of 2) – this is what I’m talking about, ladies! Recommended by my friend Kelly (also there are two “my friend Kelly”s so it’ll just be a mystery which one recommended each item!)

Two: Leggings – okay, the price CANNOT BE BEAT. These were recommended to me by an old student who is a new mom and says she lives in these!

Three: Revlon oil-absorbing volcanic face roller – perfect for getting oily throughout the day, melting in the summer heat, etc. My friend Kelly recommended this!

Four: Workout/lounge shorts – the reviews all say these are stretchy, comfortable, sweat-wicking, and basically just ideal. I ordered some and I’m hoping they’ll be good for sweaty baseball games with Davis in the NC smothering heat! While we are on the subject of shorts, these Summer shorts look so lightweight and the reviews are great! They have 2 styles here, one that’s more slinky and swingy (that’s the one I would choose), and one that’s more like linen and more structured.

Five: Rug grippers – we have a kitchen mat that keeps sliding everywhere and it’s so annoying to vacuum around. These are such a good idea.

Six: Flowy, swingy workout tank! I’m telling you, I’m trying to prepare for an NC summer with a toddler! Here’s another good looking short sleeved shirt by Under Armour.

Seven: Clip on silicone strainer – we have one and we love this thing! So much more convenient than a traditional strainer you have to hand wash. We just throw this one in the dishwasher and it can fit beside cups on the top rack!

Eight: While we are on the topic of strainers, this sink basket strainer is SO SMART. Perfect for washing produce, straining pasta, or even putting extra dishes on it to air dry!

Nine: Chom chom roller for pet hair – LIFE CHANGING. Our friend Meghan recommended this to us a couple years ago and now I’m trying to tell everyone I know. It does an amazing job on furniture and I can say this with confidence because we have three dogs who are HAIRY. They all have undercoats and a LOT of fluffy blonde fur. The secret to the chom chom is the back and forth friction. I’m telling you, it makes a big difference.

Ten: Collagen cream for face – I randomly found this and my interest is definitely piqued! (I googled it and it is piqued, not peaked, unless you are so excited that your excitement is literally at max capacity. Just FYI). I spent a long time reading through all of these reviews. Seems worth a try, and I love that it has a push feature so you don’t get any bacteria back into the tube. They have a retinol cream, too! A lot of the reviewers said they used both.

Eleven: Mini hand-held fan – I cannot stress enough that I get sweaty very easily and then I start to panic. Summer is hard for me. This way I don’t have to steal Davis’ stroller fan 🙂

Twelve: These pretty stoneware canisters – I have always been obsessed with things that hold things. Containers are my thing. I love organizing, and containers help you do that! Boxes, jars, canisters, you name it. These are so pretty and come in a few different colors. Great for the kitchen but could also be good for the bathroom for items like bath salts, cotton balls, sheet mask packets, sample size products, etc.

Thirteen: If I put one more water bottle in this house, I will be in trouble, but this one looks really nice and of course I want it! Pretty color options, a big 40-ouncer, fits in the cup holder of your car, HAS A HANDLE, and has 3 different sipping options. SIGN ME UP. I have a problem. (Someone please report back as to whether it actually chills your drink for 34 hours?!)

Fourteen: Ice roller for your face – I am honestly not sure I believe that this makes a huge difference in someone’s looks, but I’ve never used one so I can’t speak to that feature. What I DO know is a nice cool roll on the face would be soothing and calming. Inexpensive and has great reviews!

Fifteen: Screen & lens cleaning wipes – Man, by reading these reviews, I realized that people are really particular about their cleansing wipes! A teacher at my school carries around alcohol prep pads with him everywhere he goes, which I thought was so smart, but these are less concentration of alcohol to be safer on screen materials. These aren’t 60% to kill germs from Covid, but with Davis constantly trying to do the Snapchat dog filter on my phone, I like to make sure it’s clean. Would be great for daily upkeep for phones, keyboards, apple watch screen, computer screens, etc. Even the radio screen in the car that gets so dusty! Maybe I’m one of these particular people now, too!

That’s it for this roundup of Amazon finds! I’ll keep looking for useful, functional, and good-looking items you can add to your cart 🙂

This post contains affiliate links to Amazon products that I might make a commission on if you directly purchase from the link. I would not steer you wrong! All opinions are my own.

The FriYAY Series: Introduction

by whitney

Friyay! We made it! I decided to start a separate instagram account for Max Out Happy, because I didn’t want to spam all my family and friends with blog content all the time now that I’m trying to step up my game – so since I’m kind of starting fresh there, I figured I’d do an introduction in case any new readers make their way to my site! My original two introduction posts are here and here – all of those things are still true, as well!

So, hi! I’m Julia. I teach high school Family & Consumer Sciences classes (it used to be called Home Economics). I teach child development, early childhood education, family & human services, and teacher preparation classes. Typically, I love my job (the pandemic has really impacted things, of course). I have my master’s degree in Educational Psychology and I became a National Board Certified Teacher last year. I’m a type 2 Enneagram, “the helper.” This is really true for me and I love looking at different enneagram accounts on instagram to see if I agree with what it says about the type 2! I love helping people, explaining things, and feeling like I have done something meaningful with each day. My husband also teaches at my school, and he coaches football and baseball (our story is here). Our son Davis is 15 months old and the best thing in my life! We have three dogs – 2 corgi brothers from the same litter, Bruno and Oliver, and Nala, who is a big fluffy golden retriever/chow mix. Bruno has diabetes, and he’s the only one of our dogs who will happily let Davis play with him. Oliver is a huge ham and lap dog, and Nala is the sweetest girl you’ll ever meet.

Some random things about me:

  1. In addition to writing, I love to proofread. I am often looking over someone’s cover letter, resume, social media post, etc. and I enjoy doing it! I was a writing tutor throughout college and originally wanted to be a high school English teacher. I’ve even considered starting a side editing/proofreading business because I think it would be fun and easy to do on my own time.
  2. Organization is an absolute DELIGHT for me. Having an orderly space sets me at ease and makes me feel so much better. Professional organizing is another side business idea I’ve had! It is so rewarding to help someone else find better functionality in their space.
  3. I love to learn, and if someone would pay me to go back and get my PhD, I would be there already.
  4. I love school/office supplies, and have been keeping a bullet journal since November. I love it! Very therapeutic for me.
  5. I love words. They can be so powerful and I love to see the different ways people string them together (nerd alert, I KNOW).
  6. I’m always interested to know the names of colors for nail polish, lipstick, and other beauty supplies. I think it’s crazy that is someone’s job. I have lots of good ideas and puns if anyone ever wants to offer me this job, haha!
  7. I never watch TV by myself. Most of my friends (and Andrew) always watch TV in the background or have their favorite shows they watch by themselves, but Andrew and I watch a couple shows before bed every night and other than the occasional night to myself where I might pick something to watch on TV, I never turn it on. I’d rather read, go outside, play music, write, etc.
  8. I have three tattoos – one I got with my best friend Whitney on my foot (we got them in college), one I got with my sister on my wrist for our grandparents who passed away, and one is behind my ear and was supposed to be the Libra constellation, but it’s actually incorrect and I think about it all the time. You can only see it when I wear my hair up!
  9. I love dogs so much. Like, just so much. But really I love all animals. I would love to have a pet pig and a pet raccoon. I love following farm accounts on tik tok and living out my dreams of having allllll the animals through them.
  10. I have a terrible habit of popping my knuckles and joints on my hands. It drives Andrew absolutely crazy but that’s showbiz, baby. I have done it for as long as I remember and I feel like it’s better than biting my nails or sucking my thumb (which, by the way, I also did for WAY too long but never had to have braces).

That’s enough for one intro! I hope everyone has a great weekend. I’ve got a few posts coming next week if I can get my life together!

P.S. The only thing that really changed from my original intro posts is that I no longer set my alarms at odd times, mostly because Andrew doesn’t, so our alarms would always go off at odd times. I do still have a really hard time watching awkward, cringey moments on TV. I still cover my eyes at 33 years old. And I still think I may have missed a calling as a news anchor. Some things never change.

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@maxouthappy