{stripe towels/white coat rack}

Happy Friday!  So excited about today’s post!  Talking July Amazon Buys, the best chicken and fun home items that were just added to the N sale!  Random I know but when it’s fun random we don’t care. :)  I’m kicking off my July Amazon Buys with my go-to striped towels for my coat rack turned towel holder.  It has been so hot and humid this month and we have been living in our pool.  Different friends rotate through and my kids are in and out multiple times a day.  I’m so grateful for our pool towel solution!  Now if I can just come up with a way for the pool towels to magically wash themselves.  Does Amazon have a solution for that? :)

When I was in Utah I spent some time at Koni’s house like I always do.  Koni and I have been life long friends – besties through school and on forever.  (If you want to see some fun throw backs check out this blog post from 2008 when only my family and close friends (like Koni) were reading my blog.  Worth it just to see our hairstyles. Ha.)  Anyway.. I walked out to her backyard and saw this work of art!  Then promptly asked her where she got such a fabulous idea. ;)  So smart to put two of the coat racks side by side!  And baskets below holding sunscreen and pool toys.

This coat rack is honestly one of my all time favorite Amazon buys and I’ve loved getting e-mails from so many of you who use it this way too!  (on sale right now!)

I ordered a few more towels this month (was so happy they are back in stock!)  These towels have been great.  They are big enough, but not too big making laundry hard and they are very absorbent.

Speaking of pool time.. we ordered a couple more fun Amazon items after spending time at my moms.  She had this watermelon ball for the grandkids and it was such a hit!  I’m still trying to figure out why it’s so fun.  It just fills with water and sinks and then rises.  Nothing too special, but the boys absolutely loved it and played with it for hours.  So when we left my moms and the watermelon ball behind.. into the on-line cart it went. :)

My mom also had a full face snorkel mask that Kole was obsessed with. I never would have thought to order something like this for our pool but it entertains him so long!

It’s so kid friendly and just fit his face so well.  He swam with it for hours every day when we were at my moms.  When I got home I ordered this kids full face snorkel mask.  It works great, but is a tiny bit tight on his face (a perfect size for kids 10 and under) so I just ordered this snorkel mask to try and see if it fits him a little better.

Who needs Maui when you can snorkel in your own pool? ;)

Sorry.. more pool items.  Not hard to figure out what we’ve been up to all July. :)  Last summer I discovered and ordered this electric portable pump to blow up pool floaties and we have used it over and over and over.  It has 3 nozzles and so you can easily use it for any pool floatie, air mattress or whatever you want to inflate.  I included it in my collage this month because we’ve been using it so much and it’s such a beloved Amazon purchase!

It works so well and blows things up so quickly.. I don’t know how we lived without it for so long!  This blue lounger made its way to our house this month.  Loving the side drink holders.  Ultimate relaxation!

Bonus.. it matches our pool and pillows so nicely!  Not intentional but we’ll take it. :)  Below are a few other fun Amazon buys for July!  I’m reading The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens with Kole.  An assignment for his whole future 6th grade class.  I’m making my girls read it too (or listen to it on audible) so that we can have some family discussions.  They are absolutely thrilled about it as you can imagine. :)  I’ll let you know what I think when we finish.  Trapped in a Video Game (the first book) is one of Kole’s long time favorites.  It’s an easy read for him now, but when I saw him re-reading the first book I decided to order the series for him for some fun summer reading.  If you have a child/grandchild who loves video games these books will be a hit!  I pick up a water slide for the yard every summer that Kole uses with friends and by the end of summer it’s usually hanging on by a thin thread so I get a new slide for the next year.  I gave Addison the dead sea mask for Christmas and she has loved it so I picked up one for me to try. :)  I also ordered this pretty gold plated necklace (along with this necklace from the N sale) to see which one I like better, a few more of Addison’s pink velvet hangers for her closet, some waterproof bags for a rafting trip she went on (they worked great and kept everything inside dry!), and Aquaphor chapstick.  Cherry ice is my all time favorite but when my kids’ lips get really chapped.. it’s time for Aquaphor.

1- the 7 habits of highly effective teens / trapped in a video game  2- kids snorkel mask/bigger option

3- triple racer water slide   4- mud mask   5- gold plated necklace  6- beach towels

7- waterproof bags 8- velvet hangers   9- pool lounger  10- watermelon ball

11- electric air pump  12- aquaphor lip repair stick

I’m so excited about this cast iron double grill!  One of my favorite N sale purchases.  I’ve had one for years but I use it all the time and it had seen better days (an understatement!) so I tossed it out and am so happy to have this replacement.  I use grills like this to cook chicken and thought I’d share this little trick because it’s so easy and will make your chicken delicious!

(I shared this on my blog a couple of years ago and I’m sharing it again for anyone who is new or missed it!) 

All you need is chicken tenders, extra virgin olive oil and this Santa Maria seasoning.

Put your chicken tenders in a bowl, add olive oil and sprinkle a very generous amount of the seasoning on the chicken (you can’t use too much!).  Stir it together in the bowl.

Then cook your chicken on medium heat!  If I look stressed in this picture it’s because I was.  I always have an apprehensive, unsure look on my face when I cook.  Ha.

Just keep flipping the chicken back and forth until both sides are cooked!  You can also sprinkle a little more seasoning on each side while the chicken is cooking too.

Ta-da!  Honestly it tastes so good!  My kids love this chicken and it’s so simple to make.  Plus I love just cleaning off the grill and not having to wipe down my entire cooktop.  This cast iron grill is flat on the other side so perfect for pancakes and french toast too. :)

{extra large wood cheese board/large wood cheese board}

Ok.  I wasn’t planning on talking the N sale in this post but ahhh!  They just dropped new items in the HOME category!  Good stuff!  Like my beloved Treasure & Bond cheese board!  Large and Extra Large.  You know I have a lot of cheese/serving boards in my home.  I can honestly say these are the boards I use the most.  I have both sizes and they are perfect for afternoon snacks..

or for shelf decor.  I always have two displayed on my entertainment center shelves.  I love the shade of the wood stain.. so beautiful!

They are also perfect for fancy treats during the holidays.  This is as fancy as we get. :)

That made me excited for Christmas!  So here’s my shelf with all new holiday decor.  And the treasure and bond board. :)

{wild poppy art/tower 23 art}

They also brought back two of my favorite art prints!  I have them both displayed in my upstairs laundry room at the moment.

Below are other fun homes items I love that are just popping up and on sale for such a great price.  I ordered the wooden bowls (large wood serving bowl/medium wood serving bowl – they look gorgeous!), the beautiful round wood serving tray and the stripe comforter & sham set .

1 – extra large wood cheese board/large wood cheese board  2 – stripe hand towel

3 – stripe comforter & sham set  4 – tower 23 art  5 – trisilk pillowcase  6 – iman accent pillow

7 – large acacia wood tray  8 – clipped floral shower curtain

9 –  large wood serving bowl/medium wood serving bowl

10 – fringe throw blanket  11 – round wood serving tray  12 – wild poppy art

That wraps up this random post!  Swim in a pool, cook some easy chicken and enjoy your weekend everyone!

:)