April 2020 | Monthly Faves
Please note: this post contains affiliate links. This means if you purchase a product I link to, I will receive a small commission at NO additional cost to you! Affiliate links are one of the few sources of income that allow me to run this blog. :)
Hey friends!
Crazy to think that another month of the Covid-19 pandemic has just passed.
It was a quicker month for me. Probably because I'm considered an "essential worker" at my restaurant job, so I've stayed very busy.
I'm back at it again with another Monthly Faves. Here we go...
RECOMMENDED: If you like this, check out my previous Monthly Faves post: March 2020 | Monthly Faves
1. TV SHOW: Schitt's Creek
I have to thank my old coworker, Ryan, for this recommendation. He shared a video on Facebook from a scene of season 5 of Schitt's Creek, and I thought it was so funny and cringey that I just HAD to know what show it was from. (I would soon find out that the charm of this show lies in all its wonderful, cringey moments). Ryan promised that if I watched it, I wouldn't regret it.
MAN, he was so right.
Schitt's Creek is a show about a wealthy, high-maintenance family that loses everything and is forced to move to a small town the father of the family once bought as a JOKE for his son. You witness them struggle to adapt to their surroundings and all the little drama that occurs in their lives.
I haven't seen season 6 yet because it's not on Netflix until October 2020. I may just have to suck it up and purchase the season online; I don't want to wait 6 more months!
There is no nudity, but there is the occasional swear word and sex reference, so I'd recommend either being 16+ if you're going to watch it alone, or have your parent's permission if you're under 16.
I'm thinking to post a more in-depth review of the show soon!
2. Song: "Last Time I Say Sorry" - Kane Brown & John Legend
To be honest, I didn't listen to much music this monthโlet alone new music. I'm still kinda obsessed with the song from my March 2020 Monthly Faves post, "I Hope You're Happy Now" by Carly Pearce & Lee Brice.
But in the interest of picking a new song, the one I've enjoyed and have been listening to the most is "Last Time I Say Sorry" by the unexpected duo, Kane Brown and John Legend.
I would've NEVER put these two artists together in my mind, but they managed to create something touching together. Their voices harmonize well, and I appreciate the message of the song: not just apologizing to appease someone but apologizing with the sincere intent of not doing it again. It epitomizes the whole "words-vs-actions" concept many people have trust issues due to.
The music video is also unique. It's all in black & white, and it's just the two artists in their casual home environments singing. It's almost vlog-style, like it was taken over a laptop video camera or phoneโa refreshing change from the usual high-quality footage and staged environments.
3) BOOK: The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris
This was my pick for last month, but I read the second half this month and just HAD to include it. As great as the first half is, the second has even more action, and the ending is absolutely magicalโsimple yet profound.
This book is a must-read, if you ask me. Not only is it necessary for us to understand what certain races of our previous generations endured, but the story is just riveting and eye-opening. Oftentimes, it was disgusting to read tooโbut again, we need to experience that.
4) CLOTHING PIECE: $4 Walmart sweater!!
Look at this stinking cute sweater. The color is a rich turquoise, and it is SO soft and comfy (and pretty warm, yet still breathable!). It can be dressed up, or you can lounge around the house in it. I did both. I also got another in hot pink. ๐
So Walmart was having a sale (well, they always have sales!) on sweaters since we are transitioning into spring/summer time. THEY WERE $4 A PIECE!! What a steal! Originally around $17.
They also had a sale on jewelry where the pieces were $1-3 a piece. Shoot me before I go broke.
I actually bought about 5 sweaters and 6-9 pieces of jewelry with the expectation of writing a blog post about it. And then, well, I didn't. I got busy and waited too long, and the sale is probably over. ๐ (AKA I can't write it off as a business expense anymore, hah!).
Honestly, though, they've always got clearance itemsโwhich is crazy given that that their items are already cheap. I can't promise the quality of everything is A+, but I'm actually usually impressed with the durability of everything I purchase at Walmart.
5) FOOD: Olive Garden's Cucina Mia
For those who don't know, I work at Olive Garden. I've been there for a few years. They've stayed open during the shutdown but only for curbside pickup. Initially I wasn't working, but about 10 days into the shutdown, I got called in to work as a to-go specialist.
ANYWAY, my Olive Garden has been offering its employees a free meal from a select menu every time they work (how cool is that?), plus 50% for any employee and their family, even if they aren't working right now. Darden is actually a good company to work for.
This means that I've been eating a lot of OG. Good thing I've been outside doing a LOT of walking to balance it out! My go-to order has been the Cucina Mia (create-your-own) option. I've been ordering any pasta with the creamy mushroom sauce and sautรฉed shrimp on top. Yum!
However, I'm now VERY tired of pasta. I don't want to look at pasta for at least a month. (And don't ask, "What about those delicious breadsticks?!" NO! I got sick of those years ago).
So maybe this is less my "favorite" of the month and more my "most commonly eaten" food of the month. Either way, I enjoyed itโat least for a while.
BTW, did you know that many Olive Gardens are offering wine & beer (& some even sangria kits) for curbside now? Minnesota included!
And no, I don't get endorsed for this. *eyeroll*
6) ACTIVITY: Playing Call of Duty: Modern Warfare
HAHA.
I know. You don't even have to say it.
Gaming is the LAST thing I thought I would get into.
Okay, well that's not entirely true. I used to love playing Halo: Reach with my brother, or even by myself. I never really did the story mode, and I still don't. I've been playing multiplayer games and have had so much fun.
It's literally been an addiction, to the point where Thomas has been yelling, "Give me my controller back!" When we are both home, we have to TAKE TURNS playing now. ๐ญ (We could just get two controllers, but I don't want to play split-screen anyway).
It started with him playing more frequently, and then he said, "Hey Farrah, try one game. Just ONE" (because prior to that, I resisted and wasn't remotely interested). So I succumbed, and well, the rest is historyโor the present, actually!
BOY OH BOY, did I suck hardcore when I first started. I was so shaky with the controls & POV that I had to lower the sensitivity of the remote, and I was lucky if I got one or two kills in a game. Now I frequent the double-digits in kills often and have massively improved my game (pun-intended!).
Covid-19 is officially making me crazy. Send help.
7) MAKEUP PRODUCT: Rimmel's Lasting Finish Foundation
Last month, I talked about a foundation I DIDN'T like (Milani's Conceal + Perfect), so this month I figured I would talk about one I DO like and have been wearing: Rimmel London's Lasting Finish 25Hr Breathable Long Wear Foundation.
Here is what I like about this foundation:
It was cheap. Less than $7, and I think I found it on sale too.
The wide, doe-foot-like applicator makes for easy application.
When this foundation is applied, it feels like a second skin. It's so cool. My skin absorbs it well, and I can touch my face without worrying about it moving or rubbing off. This has been especially nice since I've had to wear a mask almost every day at work.
It is a very light-weight foundation. The bottle describes it as medium coverage, which seems accurate enough to me. It has worked for me, but if you like or feel you need a heavier coverage foundation, I wouldn't recommend this one. I haven't tried building it up, but you probably could...?
Long story short, I would purchase it again.
8) PROJECT: Making Thomas a "Lovopoly" board game for his birthday
Thomas's birthday was on April 16th, and I decided that as one of his gifts, I would make something special by hand.
I had seen posts on Pinterest of people who made "Lovopoly" board-games for their significant other, which is basically just a personalized, love-themed version of the board game Monopoly. So I got to work.
It took about 4-5 hours and was actually kind of fun to make! I waited until the last minute (as per usual), so the light stress of that wasn't very enjoyable. But the cool part is that you get to personalize it to fit YOUR relationship with your S/O.
I took a Monopoly Jr. board, put card-stock paper over it, and got to designing. I added spots like "Valleyfair" (since we live in MN), Ariani's (the restaurant we went to on our first date), and "Pay Connexus" (our electric company). I even made money with our faces on it, which was humorous, as well as "Get Lucky" cards that included everything from free property to free kisses (oo-la-la) to free 2-minute massages (somehow he picked that card FOUR times while I picked it a WHOPPING ZERO times! I only let it slide because it was his birthday ๐).
He loved it, and we had fun playing.
9) MEMORY: Trying magnetic face masks
The memory section is a difficult one because there are always an abundance of good memories each month, but my choice for April is the night that Thomas and I applied magnetic face masks.
We used Biovรจne's Charcoal Magnet Mask. Our friend, Jen, gave it to us after trying it herself. It's 10x more fun than a regular face mask. Why?
BECAUSE IT'S MAGNETIC, DUH.
This is the advertisement on biovenebarcelona.com:
You apply it with the little plastic applicator, let it sit for about 10 minutes, and then use a magnetic piece that looks like a pawn from the board game, Sorry, and a small paper cloth to remove it.
It's incredible how much the magnet picks up and how strong it is! No washing or peeling involved. We (especially Thomas) loved the feeling of the magnet removing the face mask. It's a foreign feeling but quite relaxing! Plus, it leaves a residual moisturizer/oil that makes your face baby-soft.
This would be such a fun product to do with your partner, or even better with your friends during a sleepover! (Once quarantine is over, of course).
10) PICTURE: Modeling my $4 sweaters outside
There haven't been many days during this where I've gotten fully-dolled upโhair, makeup, outfit, everything.
But even if I wasn't going to write a blog post about my amazing $4 finds, I was sure as heck gonna model them and get a few good photos out of them!
Considering we did our photo shoot during a 20-minute wedge of free time we had before heading to work, I'd say we did pretty darn good. Photo creds to Thomas!
Thank you guys for reading!
I skipped two elements from last month: my favorite movie & favorite app. I didn't have an answer for those.
The only app I could've honestly chosen is Pinterest because I worked on my business page and analytics for From Farrah (I got 10k viewers, which was a great achievement!). But Pinterest is always my favorite app, so...
And as for movies, I didn't actually watch any in April. ๐ฒ What?!
I did see an entertaining action-comedy with Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler on Netflix called Murder Mystery at the end of March that is worth a watch if you've got time. Like its title implies, it's one of those mystery movies where there's a killer in the group and you have to figure out who it isโbut funnier.
As always, I'm interested to hear what your favorites were! Comment below.
Until next time...
