When its hot outside its easy to just toss on a pair of shorts and a t-shirt and call it a day. Dressing up doesn’t have to mean being uncomfortable and I love brands that embody the idea that summer men’s fashion doesn’t have to be stodgy.
When I came across Castaway Clothing I was excited to see how their clothing holds up to the hot Colorado summer and get Drew’s opinion on their gear.
For special events during the summer you can’t go wrong with a nice white button up. White shirts are perfect for helping reflect the sun and keep you cool. Castaway Clothing adds a nice pop of color on the collar and inside the sleeves with bight fun summer plaids. Long pants can be a bear during the summer, but Castaway’s Twill pant is designed to be work in the heat, offering both breathability and a comfortable stretch.
Shop this look:
Castaway Men’s button-down | Wayfarer 5-pocket pant stretch
Shop this look:
Castaway Breakwater Quarter Zip | Wayfarer 5-pocket pant stretch
Colorado is prone to afternoon rainstorms making carrying a light sweater a must have. In neutral grey the Breakwater quarter zip is perfect for matching any outfit and lightweight enough for brisk summer evenings.
Shop this look:
Castaway Breakwater Quarter Zip | Embroidered Shorts
Golfer’s know that a bold pant is a requirement of good game and you can never go wrong with embroidery. Each icon is stitched with care to ensure that even the toughest game won’t ruin your shorts. Available with dozens of fun patterns you are guaranteed to find a short that fits your man’s style.
As an added bonus, the American Flag pattern is perfect for summer barbecues. This is my favorite photo of Drew from Fourth of July!
Disclaimer: Castaway Clothing provided product samples to facilitate this review. No other compensation was received. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I’ve been quiet over the last several months, but for good reason and if you already follow me on Instagram you know the reason why. I’m excited to share that after five years of unexplained infertility, we are looking forward to welcoming a little girl in November 2021.
Infertility is a crushing, heart-wrenching experience I wouldn’t wish on anyone. The last five years have been a crash course in women’s medicine, teaching me above all else to always advocate for yourself, seek additional opinions, and never to give up. It’s hard to know exactly what made the biggest difference and finally allowed us to become pregnant.
After six unsuccessful iui cycles at two different specialists we decided in December 2020 to move forward with IVF at a third specialist. After being cleared to proceed I was instructed to call the office at my next cycle day 1. Much to our surprise that cycle never came and UNEXPLAINED INFERTILITY….. Miraculously became….. a natural Pregnancy.
While we prepared to move into IVF I took a few months to work on my mental health, attend acupuncture and see what else I could do to better prepare my body for IVF including visiting my primary care doctor to make sure there wasn’t any other hormonal reason I was continuing to struggle with conception. He looked through my cart and immediately asked if any of the specialists I visited previously had provided a diagnosis of PCOS. Based on my bloodwork, he felt it was likely PCOS was a factor in our infertility and recommended trying metformin, the typical PCOS treatment, as a long shot while we waited to start IVF.
During our initial consult with our third reproductive endocrinologist she shared that yes, I definitely have PCOS and I should tell my primary care doctor he was correct. Three weeks later I had my first ever positive pregnancy test. I can’t say for certain that metformin was the reason we finally conceived on our own, but I do know I am grateful to have a doctor who listens and was willing to try a new treatment path.
Over five years I’ve mentally planned a lot of different ways to announce our pregnancy, but now that we’re here I am love how we were able to tell our love story through the arrival of our little one.
Drew and I met in college at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, thanks largely to our shared membership in Greek organizations. Being a member of a Fraternity [yes, women’s organizations can be fraternities as well] is a huge part of who we both are and our experiences are ones we will share with our daughter so she can decide if she wants to continue in Greek Life when she’s in college.
Pregnancy photos by the amazing and talented Amanda at Belle Vie Photography. Amanda was a huge trooper driving all the way up from Denver to take photos with us in the 100+ plus heat! Even with all of us literally melting they came out so amazing!!!
I had Lasik eye surgery a few years ago but before that eye appointments and fittings for eye glasses was a pretty regular occurrence. Since I wore contacts most of the time I never paid much attention to sunglasses aside from quickly picking the cheapest thing that I could lose without feeling regret. Sunglasses never fit as nicely as my prescription eye glasses so it just didn’t seem important to have a proper fit.
Post Lasik sunglasses are a must for me. I don’t think Lasik made my eyes more sensitive, but having a good fit and high quality frame helps keep my eyes protected from the sun and dry air in Colorado. One of the hardest parts of COVID-19 has been not being able to really try things on in stores, but clothing and sunglasses alike.
When I discovered SmartBuyGlasses I was excited to check out a wide variety of sunglass options, all without ever having to venture into a store. One of the hardest things about buying anything online, but especially sunglasses, is understanding how they are going to look once on. The online try-on functionality is a really fun way to check out how each style is going to fit, and uses a real photo right from your computer camera as you are shopping. You can even tile your head around and get an idea of how the glasses look from the side.
For those who do have to wear prescription glasses, you can even meet virtually with an optician who will help interpret the strength of the glasses and give you a personalized experience just like buying glasses from a local retail store. They have really gone the extra mile with all the things that can be done online and can even use their Lens Scanner app to quickly identify your prescription if you happened to break your glasses and can’t get in for another appointment.
For an online shopping experience, SmartBuyGlasses can’t be beat. I just ordered my first pair last week and they arrived in just two days!
Disclaimer: I received a compensation and a product sample to facilitate the development of this article. All thoughts an opinions are my own.
Air fryers have been picking up steam as the best way to eat healthy without sacrificing the experience [and crispiness] of fried food. I’d never used an Air Fryer before so when I was offered the opportunity to test out the TaoTronics Air Fryer I was excited to give it a try!
The TaoTronics Air Fryer was easy to set up and came out of the box without any trouble. Removed the packaging stickers and gave all the internal parts a wash with hot soapy water. All that was left was to plug the fryer in and we were in business.
As an air fryer novice the user manual was a great resource for understanding the settings and getting a good idea of what to try out first. To ensure food gets to temp quickly you need to first pre-heat the air fryer, but I’ve found since my initial test run that pre-heating doesn’t speed up the cooking process.
The temperature adjusts from 150 degrees to 400 degrees, making it easy to quickly heat up precooked foods like French fries or chicken strips, and even fully cook raw items like hot wings. My favorite thing to cook is chicken tenders, giving them the ideal level of crisp before tossing them onto a salad.
The inside is non-stick so cleanup isn’t hard unless you decide to fry something with batter. I did buffalo cauliflower and the raw batter will get into the holes of the basket, but its still fairly easy to clean even with all the little crevasses. The basket separates and both need to be cleaned between uses.
Size wise the TaoTronics Air Fryer takes up about 1 square foot of counter space and needs to be pulled away from the wall for use. When not in use I keep mine in a closet with other kitchen gadgets and it’s light enough that moving it to and from the kitchen isn’t a bother.
Total capacity is 6 quarts, which is enough to cook food for 2-3 adults at one time. It’s important not to overfill the basket because air fryers require space for air to circulate to create a perfectly crisp exterior.
I’ve enjoyed getting to play with recipes and come up with new ideas. I definitely could make most of the recipes I’ve tried in the oven, but not having to wait for the oven to come to temp is a huge benefit. Air fryers operate as a convection oven, so if you have that setting on your stove it might make sense to save the counter space but its a fun way to jazz up your cooking either way.
You can find the TaoTronics Air Fryer on Amazon.
Disclaimer: I received a product sample of the Taotronics Air Fryer to facilitate this article. I was not compensated in any other way. All photography and writing are my own.
Welcome to My Bliss
