P and I went on a vacation to Hawaii this month. I posted a very detailed blog post, linked here. So some of my favorites are travel related or things I bought for this vacation. Without further ado, let’s dive in.
A few years ago, I bought myself these REI Co-op Expandable Packing Cubes (these specific ones are the older version and they now have a newer version) for actually camping/backpacking. I quickly realize how convenient and organize it is to pack with them, so I now travel with them everywhere. If you think they’re a gimmick (like I used to), just trust me – purchase some packing cubes. I swear they do make your life easier. P has been traveling for work this past few months, and I’ve been packing his luggage for him with these packing cubes. He has also fallen in love with them. When we had a holiday trip together a few months ago, we realized that we both needed our own set. I purchased these for him, and unfortunately – these are also not available anymore. But I’m sure there are plenty of options if you simply Google/Amazon “packing cubes”. This one on Amazon has great reviews + it comes with a laundry and shoes bag! I can’t personally vouch for the ones on Amazon, but I truly love the ones we got from REI. Great quality and not a single broken zipper/seam!
2. Hiearcool Universal Waterproof Case
For our trip to Hawaii, I wanted to take some photos/videos underwater when we are snorkeling. I wanted to make sure to get ones that would really protect our phones, so I did a lot of research. After reading countless of blogs, most of them have mentioned these as their top 3. Also, Amazon have almost 50K reviews with 4.5 stars for them! They’re currently on sale – $10 for a pack of two waterproof cases. When you receive them, there is a quick guide (place tissue paper inside and submerge underwater for at least 30 minutes) to test that your item isn’t faulty! I left ours underwater for a few hours and the tissue paper was completely dry! We also didn’t have any issues at all with them during our trip. Amazing.
THIS.. This is soooo comfortable and I wore them quite a bit on the trip. Most times when I fly, I’m usually dressed in leggings or joggers for comfort. I wanted to find something that’s chic, but also super comfortable. I’ve been meaning to get myself a pair of cute overalls as well so I went looking. This was a few days before the trip, so I went straight to Amazon. After looking at different options and reading reviews, I decided to give this jumpsuit overalls a try! Fun Fact: P has been trying to get me to wear some overalls. He thinks that I’ll like it and look cute in it. I just haven’t found one that I like the look of until this one. There are some pros and cons to this, so I can’t say I’m in love… I am keeping an eye out for more overalls options.
The Pros: Comfortable and affordable ($30). Plenty of colors and different styles (long, short, wide legs, etc.) The straps are adjustable to two different sizes. Best part, the button you see on the strap is not necessarily where you need to button your strap onto. There’s a button inside so that you won’t see extra strap parts. There are two pockets. You can style it in many ways… dress it up or dress it down.
The Cons: Even though it’s $30, I do think it’s overpriced for the quality. Some of the stitching is coming out and it also shrinks easily. I accidentally washed it with warm water and the pants part hits my calves (it used to be a little above my ankle). The two pockets are nice to easily put your phone or wallet in, but they’re pretty big pockets. When I lean over, the items will fall out of the pockets.
If you have any recommendations for cute and comfortable (not denim) overalls, please let me know!
4. Sprinkler System (Hose Timer, Dual Hose Adaptor, and Sprinkler)
Very, very random… but my most favorite item(s) this month is the sprinkler system that we had set up for our backyard. We recently put down grass seeds, and if you’re not familiar – newly planted seeds have to be well hydrated. I have no idea why we didn’t think of this sooner, because we were watering the grass with a hose every night. Not only is this not the most efficient way, but it would take time as well. A few days before our trip, P and I were worried about the grass situation especially since there was a heat wave coming into town. I even thought about hiring a neighborhood kid to come by every night help us! We eventually thought about a timed sprinkler system. We bought a hose timer, dual hose adaptor, and sprinkler.
GAME CHANGER. How could we have not thought about this any sooner? I am so delighted we have this now. Is this a permanent fixture? Absolutely not. We aren’t in the budget to add ground sprinklers yet – but this quick, easy, and temporary fix is what we needed. The hose timer is sweet. We programmed it to water everyday for 7 minutes around 8 pm. I also love that you can press the “manual” button to automatically release water right then and it doesn’t affect the program. I do this when I do need to use the hose to water our garden. Since our backyard lawn area is in a weird shape and we needed more coverage than what one sprinkler would offer, we bought two. With that, we needed the dual hose adaptor. For some reason, the sprinkler doesn’t have much great reviews on Home Depot, but it’s been good to us. No complaints so far!
And with that, I have concluded my April Favorites! Nothing too exciting, but these are the items I am loving. Thanks for joining me today and see you next time!
If you haven’t yet – please subscribe down below. You will get notified whenever I have a new post.
Those packing cubes! Who knew