Friday Favorites: Week of 6/11

Hi there and Happy Friday to you!

This week flew by, and it’s been so nice to have Scott back home and with us again. Skyler and I were in Florida for a week, and then Scott left the next morning for ten days. He was working with a daredevil circus show in the Wisconsin Dells, and it was a cool experience for him!

He returned late Monday night, so we took Taco Tuesday as inspiration to celebrate our time together and went out to a new spot in our neighborhood followed by a day at the beach on Wednesday. It wasn’t the typical way to spend the weekdays, but it sure was fun. And that’s what the flexibility of summer and living in the now is all about.

Today’s Friday Favorites covers a new perspective on Coney Island, a recovery tool I’m loving, a brief review of a food delivery service, two summer beauty staples and more!

Thank you so much for reading today.

FRIDAY FAVORITES: WEEK OF 6/11

• spontaneous beach day at Coney Island

With a fifty percent chance of rain on Wednesday, we took our chances and packed a beach bag for the first time this year. Since Scott and I both work at home and for ourselves most of the time, we try to make room for exploring the normally crowded destinations in NYC mid-week versus the weekends. (We both tend to work on Saturdays, and it’s been that way for awhile!)

I shared more about our day in this reel, and this visit just felt different. It was quiet. It was peaceful. And it was just what we needed to reset during a weird and not-so-normal season.

Coney Island tends to get a bad rep, especially from locals who prefer beach days near the City at The Rockaways, Fire Island or even The Hamptons. There are some great beach spots close to us, and I think this is part of the reason why Brooklyn has actually felt like home to me. I grew up near water and would prefer to be near it whether it’s a beach, lake, river, whatever. It makes my heart and soul happy.

Skyler has been asking to go to the beach since the cold, winter months. He’s been waiting and waiting for the day he could put his feet back in the sand and build sand castles, and it was so cute to see his excitement in the moment. Getting to experience simple things like beach days in the eyes of a toddler makes it so much sweeter.

Coney Island is about a 30-minute subway train ride from our apartment each way. It’s pretty easy to get to when things are running smoothly. We spent about three full hours on the beach and boardwalk, and it was also the first time we had ever taken Skyler to ride the carnival rides. It was a big step for everyone!

If you ever get the chance to visit Coney Island, I highly recommend you take it. Maybe don’t choose July 4th (the busiest I’ve ever seen it — and it was not as enjoyable), but if you’re visiting or have an off day to take the F train down and explore, grab a Nathan’s Famous Hot Dog, ride The Cyclone (we still haven’t done this!), do it and let me know how it was. Three cheers for more summer days like this!

• Manjares Mexico – Park Slope

It’s always exciting to see a new restaurant pop up, but this particular spot replaced one of our favorite places to go and hang – an Austrian Restaurant/German Bar called Cafe Steinhof. Sadly, it didn’t make it through the pandemic.

The silver lining was finding a new Mexican restaurant that was replacing it as we walked by a few weeks ago. We deemed Taco Tuesday the day to go, and walked a handful of streets over to it after picking Skyler up from preschool. It was the first time we were all able to sit down as a family to eat dinner together in almost three weeks!

The margaritas were fabulous, and we tried six different tacos between the three of us, along with a side of rice, beans, elote and chips and salsa. We had a great time and will be returning again to try more menu items.

• Theragun!

I first tried vibrating massage guns at the IDEA World Fitness Convention several years ago and remembered why it had been on my list of “fitness must-haves” when I went back again in 2019. Recovery is an important part of staying fit and keeping your muscles healthy, and percussive therapy devices take it to a whole new level.

I had been eyeing one for years, and I got the best surprise about a month ago after Scott made a random bike trip across the city for a “secret mission” that resulted in bringing a barely-used Theragun home. He found the Theragun Elite on Facebook Marketplace for a third of the retail price, and it felt like Christmas in July when he took it out of his bag.

I will always promote foam rolling, and adding a vibrating massager into the mix doesn’t replace that. This recovery tool works deep to break up tension and muscle soreness, and you can use it on your own at different settings. It does help, however, if you have someone who can reach the spots on your back that you can’t!

Scott likes the settings turned all the way up, and I prefer the lowest to middle speed settings. Just like foam rolling, it hurts so good and always makes me feel better afterwards!

SHOP Theraguns/Hypervolts here.

• FREE shipping promo & two summer staples

I’ve got some great news for you, clean beauty friend. But you have to act quickly! Through TONIGHT 6/11 at 11:59 PST, you can receive free shipping on your when you spend $50 or more.

Follow the Life In Leggings – Beautycounter page to hear the details first with more information and add-to-cart inspiration, but for now, I’ll leave you with two favorites that I have been using over and over lately:

• Mineral Sunscreen: I use a combo of the lotion, mist and stick all over Sky (and myself) every day.⁣ The stick is the best for on-the-go, but my favorite is the lotion. It goes on smooth like a moisturizer without the typical white streaking. And it works! The mist is good, but spray it onto your hands first to rub in evenly, versus directly on the body. (It tends to spray everywhere and not go on evenly without that step.)
• Hand Sanitizer + Treatment: It’s a safe hand sanitizer that also moisturizes and treats and radiates the skin on your hands. FYI, our hands can show signs of aging more than our face does. It pretty much does it all, without the pesticides and fertilizers that most sanitizers on the market have hidden in their ingredient list. And it smells good!

If you’ve never ordered with Beautycounter before, make sure to stack this promo with the code CLEANFORALL20 for 20% off your first order. I’m always here to help, and please reach out if you have any questions or want to know the best ways to save on your purchases.

• Hello Fresh

Have you ever tried a meal delivery service where you actually cook prepped food? I have tried a few companies and even had a partnership with Blue Apron back in the day. (Check out that throwback review!)

Well, Scott surprised me with a bi-weekly subscription of Hello Fresh that started several weeks ago, and I have to say that I’m impressed. The meals are quick and easy to put together, delicious, and unique. You can personalize your plans to exclude specific dietary preferences and select the amount of meals that works best for you and your family.

So far we are LOVING everything, and here are a few of our meals that deserve a feature:

By the way, this section of the post is not sponsored. I just wanted to share the company with you because I thought you might like hearing about it and trying it for yourself. I don’t think you’ll be disappointed if you do!

• favorite LIL posts

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All right. I need to get moving and onto the day. Skyler and I are heading out on a fun adventure, and I’ll be sure to catch up with the details upon our return.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend ahead, and you can follow along on Instagram in the meantime. Happy Friday!

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*Disclaimer: Friday Favorites posts may include affiliate links. Also, I am a Beautycounter consultant and love what I do with the company. By using the links provided in this post to order products, you are supporting my business. I truly appreciate you. Always.