Can you recommend some plain everyday t-shirts that you love? Working from home means more comfy items to work in that aren’t PJs.

I love Everlane’s organic cotton tees! The best! Their Air Cami is also the best layering basic. Chaser has some fun graphic tees. I also love Old Navy’s boat neck stripe tees. I just ordered this grey stripe tee, too!

We recently became dog parents and adopted a 2-year-old retriever mix, similar to Webster. Do you have any dog bed recommendations?

Webster is a prince and up until a few months ago (and still on most days) he only slept on our living room couch, our family room couch or our bed. We recently bought a bed from Homegoods that is memory foam that we keep in our room which he has been loving! But honestly, I don’t have a ton of advice on dog beds!

Can you please link the red bracelet with charms on it you’ve been wearing?

It’s this charm bracelet from Sunday Forever! I wear mine every single day and I love that you can customize the charms.

I’ve been very inspired to improve my skincare routine thanks to you, Liz, but now that I’ve built a collection of various products, I am wondering how you use them all or how you vary them. There are serums, Vit C cream, eye cream, moisturizer, sunscreen, facial oil, primer, then makeup…do you put all these products on every day? Or do you stagger them and only use a few grouped together? In what order do you put them on? It feels like if I did them all, I would be layering so many on my face! Particularly wondering about serum/moisturizer/sunscreen with summer coming up!

Great question! Here is usually the order I do:
Daytime: Cleanser, Serum, moisturizer, SPF (let dry between each layer!)
Night: Cleanser, Exfoliate, Serum or Retinol, Eye Cream, Moisturizer or Oil

I usually only exfoliate 2-3x a week! If my skin needs an extra boost of moisture I’ll add an oil but usually just stick to a moisturizer. I have a bunch of different serums and usually switch off about what I use – typically Vitamin C in the morning and more anti-aging focused at night!

I’m 25 and I’m moving to Chicago this summer! Could you recommend some affordable wardrobe staples for the summer and fall that would be good for the city? I’m thinking jeans, light jackets, shoes, really anything! 

Some of my favorite jeans are these Good American skinny jeans, these AGOLDE Riley jeans and Jaime jeans, these Everlane skinnies and this cropped pair from J.Crew. In the summer and fall I typically wear sneakers like these Golden Goose, this pair from Steve Madden is a great dupe or I love these Dolce Vita sandals and these Steve Madden sandals. I also wear ballet flats a lot – my favorites are Chanel but I know those a pricey and these are a great, classic alternative! My favorite light coats are this tweed one from One/Third (seen here) or this easy one from Rails. I just ordered a few classic pieces for summer and into fall like this, this, this and this!

Looking to make a few upgrades around our house and would love to know if you have any favorite resources for finding furniture on a budget!

I usually look on Joss + Main or Wayfair first! I also love Urban Outfitters Home, Lulu & Georgia and World Market!

Are you keeping up your exercise routine while in quarantine? It’s been so hard with the kids at home!

I’m trying to! I have been working out 4-5x a week just for my own sanity. It’s not as hard as when I was working out at the gym I guess (weight wise) but I’m just happy to have my trainer who is doing ZOOM sessions and the fact that I enjoy running outside. Dave and I are lucky in that we both work for ourselves and Dave’s business is on the slower side since he works with bars + restaurants, sporting venues, etc. so our time is more flexible!

On a related note, what steps do you typically take when you feel like you’ve “fallen off” the healthy bandwagon?

I don’t let myself get too down on myself! I just start fresh the next day or the next week or whatever I need to mentally be in a place to dedicate time to being healthy. I also don’t want my “healthy bandwagon” to be too far off from normal life. I am not into diets and that’s why if I have a bad day or even just a meal, I try to balance it the next day or the next meal. I also let myself indulge and then get back to my normal routine. I think as long as your healthy routine isn’t too far off from your normal habits then it shouldn’t affect you too much!

At what point did you really feel like you’d “made it” as a blogger? Or when did you know that you could turn this into a career?

Hm, I don’t know! I signed a pretty big project with LOFT x Glamour Mag where I had a shoot all over Chicago for a city guide that they printed out and had in their local stores! That was in 2014, 3 years after I started blogging full time. That was probably one of my first big brand projects! I actually took the jump into full-time blogging pretty early (solely based off of a gut feeling) but I always say timing is everything. It was right before affiliate marketing began, before Instagram, way before brands even considered influencer marketing – it was a different world back then. I don’t know what made me take the jump into it because I had NO IDEA all that it would become.

What kind of shoes are you currently wearing to run in? Do you wear different shoes for running and weight-training?

I have been running in the ON Cloudswift shoes and love them! Prior I was running in the Nike Air Zoom Pegasus shoes and I honestly love these too. I think the Nike Pegasus may have a little more support on the ankles (I have weak ankles and appreciate this) and more padding where the ON Cloudswift have a lot of cushioning but also mimic running barefoot maybe? The Cloudswift feel like a very natural way of running.

I’m quarantining with my boyfriend and wonderful family on Cape Cod! His birthday is coming up in June and I’m stumped for gift ideas. Any recommendations?!

Dave has and loves this bag for his golf shoes, this wireless charging tray is cool, these are Dave’s favorite sneakers, Smathers + Branson makes the cutest needlepoint belts, we also love this wood and bar marble tool set!

Submit your questions for next month by emailing carolyn@helloadamsfamily.com with the subject line, “COFFEE WITH LIZ!”