April was such an eventful month filled with family gatherings for the holidays, dance competitions, soccer and football, a bachelorette party to Gatlinburg and all the weekly todos in between. I have been feeling like April and May are the two busiest months of the year, with something every weekend for the kids or even for Brett and I. It’s making our summer vacation at the end of May something I’m looking forward to—doing absolutely nothing but laying by the beach. In this episode of Fab Five Friday, I am so excited to share some of my favorites from this past month! Check it out!

1. Solace Watch Bands

Recently, I have been blasted by emails and social media about forever chemicals, or PFAS and was shocked. It’s a bit scary when you start to look into it, and quite honestly extremely intimidating to go on the quest to de-PFA everything you come in contact with in your home.

But, one step in the right direction for us, was these Solace watch bands. After I read that these harmful PFAS are present at the highest level in our watch bands, and that they could be absorbed into the skin, especially when sweating, I immediately made the purchase. Not only for me, but for my daughter as well. It was the best purchase! Not only are the bands beautiful and really well made, but they have a unique magnetic clasp that allows the bands to fit even the tiniest of wrists, which is so hard for both of us. They had a great sale at the time we purchased and we got two additional bands for free. I’ve worn it for weeks now, and at the gym, and they are very comfortable. Definitely recommend!

2. Protein Ice Cream

Protein, protein, protein! Make sure to get your protein! Does protein ice cream count? The answer is yes. I came across this brand of protein ice cream at Aldi, surprisingly. I didn’t realize it was sold at major retailers like Target. When I tell you that this ice cream is dangerously delicious, I meant it. Usually these kinds of ice creams fall short on texture or flavor, or both. But this ice cream is legit! It’s so good for when you need that sweet treat. I have to portion it out because I think it would be too easy to eat the entire pint!

3. Looking for Jane by Heather Marshall

This was the latest book club pick and I really enjoyed it. (Not because it has my name in it.) Looking for Jane is a historical fiction novel featuring three women across different generations and their ties to an underground abortion network in Toronto. It’s based on the real-life Jane Collective—a group of women who provided safe abortions when it was illegal at the time. The story is inspiring, featuring strong women fighting for reproductive rights. It explores themes of motherhood and having a choice, versus facing the devastating consequences of the lack of options.

4. Pureology Leave-in Spray

This Pureology all-purpose spray does literally everything! I recently added this back into my beauty supply because I was using other products and nothing really compared. Color protection, frizz control and heat protection all wrapped into one spray. It’s great!

5. The Ladder App Updates

I had to add my favorite training app, the Ladder App to the Fab Five Friday, again. Not only do I continue to love the diverse workouts that come out every week, but I feel amazing and so strong. In addition to the great coaches on the app, I have to highlight a few new features they’ve been adding. The Ladder app now includes a nutrition log, water tracking and step tracking. All in one place! I so appreciate the addition of these features because I was tracking my water, steps and macros in three different apps until now. It’s awesome to have everything all neatly laid out in an app I visit every day. And it makes the investment even more worth it.

And the food logging feature is also so easy to use. You can add items by voice, text, picture, or by scanning the barcode. It’s pretty accurate, too. It depends on the level of effort you put in, but for someone on the go who wants to better understand protein intake it’s been really helpful.

And that is it for this month’s Fab Five Friday! Thank you for stopping by! And check out last month’s Fab Five Friday if you missed it!

The post Fab Five Friday #99 appeared first on Jane Erica.

It’s the first Friday of 2023! I hope your year has kicked off to an amazing start! I’ve been feeling really good about my new year’s routine and starting off healthy, clear-minded and relaxed. The kids are back in school and are so excited to start up with all their activities again. I am kind of embracing the calm right now before everything kicks off next week. Soccer practice, art club, spirit squad, science club, dance. Like I said…. embracing the calm. It’s actually been really nice to succeed at my healthy routine right now. Ha! We shall see if I can keep it going. Wish me luck! Anyways, let’s get into some fun Fab Five Friday Feel Good Favorites! (That’s a lot of F’s!)

1. Happy Planner + Hole Puncher

Right now I am loving my custom Happy Planner! I’ve always loved a written planner, but it’s hard to find one that I can use to plan all the aspects of my life. I use the Big Happy Planner, so it’s easy for me to print off pages I want to add to it. And I use the special hole punch to add them to my planner. I don’t really use it as a calendar for appointments because I do all of that online, which is much easier for me since I work most days. So this planner lets me remove, reorganize and add pages that fit my needs. And I even added tabs to organize different parts of my life. Like personal todos, weekly schedule, parenting, blog, health & fitness, and school.

2. Philips Sonicare Tooth Brushing App

Ok, so this app is amazing. We had the Sonicare toothbrushes for the kids for a while before we discovered the Phillips Sonicare App for Kids that comes with it. I don’t know about you and your kids, but we were really struggling every morning and night to get the kids to brush their teeth, and do it right. We downloaded this on the family ipad, and created profiles for each kid. Everytime they brush, it shows a little video of their Fluffy friend getting their teeth cleaned, for the entire two minutes! And there are all kinds of fun prizes they get every time they finish brushing. I am not going to lie, Fluffy is super cute and I’m always curious to know what special prize they got after brushing. It’s fun for the entire family!

3. Dry January

Today is five days in on the Dry January challenge! If any of you are working on Dry January this month, congrats! That’s pretty fab! So far, it’s been going good for me, and I am excited to take a break from alcohol after all the holiday parties. It’s such a nice healthy reset. Going into the weekend I’ve gotta keep it going. (And so do you! You can do it!) Maybe staying away from the brewery in town will be a good idea. Words of encouragement are welcome in the comments below!

4. Erasable Pens

Ok speaking of planning, I am obsessed with these colorful erasable pens. Not only do the colors make my planner look beautiful and fun, but I’m also a bit of a neat freak. I always get so annoyed with myself when I make a mistake or change my mind about something and have to scribble it out. It looks so messy! So with these, I get nice clean pages that are full of color! On some pages, I even color code what I’m writing so I can see at a glance what particular type of thing I have going that week. It also makes planning super fun.

5. Book of the Month – Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young

I’m kicking the year off with Adrienne Young’s latest book—Spells for Forgetting. You all know from my 2022 book review post that I absolutely fell in love with her last year. This one is more adult fiction and once again she’s painted such an interesting scene and characters that I’m already fond of. So far so good!

I hope you have a wonderful and Fab Friday! Kick off this first weekend of January off on a happy and healthy start! Let me know what your plans are this weekend! Thanks for stopping by for this Fab Five Friday!

The post Fab Five Friday #25 appeared first on Jane Erica.

I hope your week is treating you well. It is Fab Five Friday and we are looking forward to the weekend. Which includes a lot of family time, Saturday tradition at the soccer field, maybe looking into some Halloween costumes and getting together with friends.

Here’s the Fab Five for this week, which I’ve been itching to tell you about!

Verity by Colleen Hoover

Verity by Colleen Hoover was such a page turner! I read it in two days. It’s one of those books that leaves you hanging at every chapter. You never want to put it down so you can find out what happens next. The story is an interesting and creepy read about a writer who gets asked to finish the book series of a famous author who got in a terrible accident and couldn’t finish it on her own. But as she begins to learn more about the author’s story and get entwined with her family, she starts to learn the truth about them and the tragedies that they’ve been through. Or does she?

Rylee’s Matching Backpack

Rylee’s been rocking this new backpack at school and she picked out such a great one. Probably because it came with a matching pencil case and lunch bag. It’s only $36, which is a really good price considering how much they are now days. We’ll see how the quality turns out to be after she uses it a bit more, but so far we are really liking it. She is starting to look so much more grown up this year already!

Kids Duffle Bag

Rylee has decided to take two dance classes this year instead of one and I needed a bag for her to carry her shoes, tights, water bottle and snack to class. When I saw one of the girls in Rylee’s class with this one, I knew I had to get it. This duffle bag is the perfect size for them! All the duffles I was looking at online were full size, and it’s so hard purchasing something like this online. But this mini one fits Rylee perfectly and she’s able to easily carry all her things to class.

Book Light

One of my favorite times to read is right before bed. But Brett goes to bed super early for work, so I don’t like to keep the night table light on because it’s too bright. I decided to upgrade my old Nook light which I was using to this Vekkia LED Light, and it’s great investing in new technology to make our lives easier! The clip is super sturdy and the light fills both pages. Another upgrade for me was the rechargeable battery which is so convenient. And it’s easy to travel with, due to the flexible cord. There are also a bunch of light settings, but the dimmest one is enough light for me, and I like the warm setting.

Football Season

Football season is back! We are a Fantasy Football family and have been playing in a family league for almost 10 years. We love getting together to watch the games and root for our favorite players. It feels like it’s been forever since we’ve watched the NFL and this week we’ve been really enjoying watching all the challenging matchups and figuring out whose team is the one to beat this year. It’s gonna be a great season!

Questions of the week:

• What football team are you cheering for this weekend? NFL or college?
• What book are you reading currently?
• What’s one thing you can’t wait to tell people about this week?

Would love to hear from you in the comments below!

Stick around and read some recent posts:

• Fab Five Friday #99
• How This Simple Phone Contract for Kids Saved Our Sanity as Parents
• The Perfect Charleston Girls’ Trip for Valentine’s Weekend
• Fab Five Friday #98
• Factor vs. Nutré: Here’s My Honest Take on the Best Meal Delivery Service

The post Fab Five #19 appeared first on Jane Erica.

Happy Friday! What a week it has been. Between planning birthday parties and summer camps, work travel (on Brett’s side), the last week of soccer and everything else, there’s been a lot going on! But now it’s time for my favorite part of the month, where I share with you some Fab things I think you need to know about. Let’s get into it!

Fab Five Friday

*This post contains some affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I make a small commission from purchases made from these links. Thank you for the support!

1. llama Theme Birthday Invites

Ok, so Rylee is having the ultimate Llama Themed birthday party this year. At an actual Llama and Alpaca farm! More to come on that, we are very excited!

But about the invites. Not only are these invitations adorable, designed by DesignMyPartioStudio on Etsy, but the printer service they recommended was amazing. I saw these exact invites on zazzle and they wanted some ridiculous shipping fee in order for me to get them in time. After I downloaded and customized my design, instructions were provided for getting them printed with Prints of Love. They printed them and delivered them in 2 days, free shipping and had a coupon code. It was the cheapest I saw and great quality. I highly recommend them. And get this, for every order you place, Prints of Love plants a tree in your name. How cool is that! It’s llama cool!

2. My Goals Printables

I shared these pretty, custom-made, goal-planning printables on the blog early this year, but I’m still using them and in love. A quarter through the year already and it’s been really helping me see my progress and adjust the goals I planned for this year. You can get a copy for yourself for FREE here on the blog!

3. Tinted Sunscreen

I love this tinted sunscreen by Chelle. The shade I have is light/medium and the coverage is great while still being light. I use this pretty much everyday instead of makeup. I’ve seen it the cheapest on Thrive, but other retailers sell it as well. (I love shopping on Thrive for deals on interesting products and things I can’t always find locally. If you are interested in checking it out, you can get 40% off your first order and a free gift up to $50 by signing up through my affiliate link)

4. HitFit Gym

I shared a complete post on my new gym obsession, the HitFit Gym recently, but it’s worth another mention. It’s really been working with my schedule and keeping me motivated to go. It’s helpful that I can go at any time, without worrying about class times and that I have a complete workout already planned for me. Read more about it in my blog post here!

5. Fable by Adrienne Young

My latest book obsession! I still can’t get this story out of my mind. Fable is the first book telling the tale of a girl who grew up on the sea (Fable) who, after suffering a terrible tragedy, is left on an island to fend for herself. That’s where her adventure begins, and it’s a pager turner! I found myself wanting to read this all the time to find out what happens next. And when I found out it was a two part series, I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the second book, Namesake, which is just as good. Reese, please make this into a movie!

I hope you all enjoyed this edition of the Fab 5 Friday! And I hope you have an amazing weekend! For more Fab Fives, check out this page. And thanks for stopping by!

The post Fab Five Friday #14 appeared first on Jane Erica.

Happy Friday! I cannot believe it’s already April! This year has flown by, and I’m really excited to be bringing back my monthly Fab Five Fridays, where I highlight some things I’ve been enjoying and feel the need to share because they are too good not to! Check out my latest Fab Five below.

*This post contains some affiliate links. At no additional cost to you, I make a small commission from purchases made from these links. Thank you for the support!

1. Metal Pill case

Brett and I both have this weekly pill case to keep our vitamins and supplements in to take each day. He had gotten the black one, and was using it every day. It just looks cool too, and I wanted one so bad. It’s easy to travel with and really does make taking your vitamins daily helpful. Plus I love the color of this one.

2. Keto Crackers

I found these Keto Crackers by InnoFoods at Aldi and loved them! I’m trying to find them again, but it looks like they are sold out and don’t ship out of Canada. They do have other products sold at Costco, like these Coconut Keto Clusters, that look really good. I really enjoyed eating these with a homemade tuna salad for lunch. Super satisfying, low carb and filling. So, if anyone sees these on the shelf, let me know where!

3. Kenneth Cole Suitcase Set

I love, love, love this Kenneth Cole Suitcase set. Brett got it for me for Mother’s Day last year, and I’ve travelled with it a few times now. The black and gold design is so pretty and I really like the way both pieces pair together. The strap on the backpack attaches to the suitcase making it super convenient for traveling. It’s really easy to maneuver, too. It was seriously the best gift ever. Thank you Brett!

4. REVLON Hair Dryer

I cannot live without this hair dryer. It was recommended to me from my good friend Nicole. I remember Facetiming with her during the worst of the pandemic and asking her if she was actually doing her hair through all this—and she has crazy thick hair that takes forever to dry. She told me about this and I have been hooked ever since! I’ve never been able to blow dry my hair before and this makes it look so good.

The only thing I would say about it, although it works amazingly, is it gets really hot. There isn’t a way to adjust the heat temperature on the one I bought off Amazon, linked above. I noticed that this one from ULTA is quite a bit pricier and saw in the reviews that there is temperature control and a cool setting. So I am wondering if they created a new model that includes this feature.

5. Outlawed by Anna North

The first book on my list this year was Outlawed by Anna North. I am crushing one of my goals for this year to read more, and this book made it super easy. It was such an interesting take on a Western story, set in a dystopian-like Wild West, with an erie feminist twist resonating throughout the beautifully written novel. It’s like the Handmaid’s Tale takes on a whole new setting, with a new set of female badasses, including the heroine, Ada. If gangs, heists and transvestism interest you, then this page turner should be added to your list.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you have an amazing Friday! If you’re looking for more, check out some past Fab Five Fridays here!

The post Fab Five Friday #13 appeared first on Jane Erica.