A Few of My Favorite Things (Summer 2025)

Hi all! Last Fall I shared some of my favorite things that were bringing me joy – everything from skincare/beauty products to books and podcasts. It was so fun that I’m doing it again, this time with Summer in mind! 

These are the things that have been bringing me joy and making my life easier these days. A few (but not all!) of these links are affiliate links, which earn me a small commission and help keep Sugar & Sparrow running, but all the opinions are my own. Thank you for your support! 

Skincare and Beauty

I have always been the kind of person to keep a low maintenance beauty routine – wash and go hair, makeup done in five minutes, sticking to the same products forever. BUT I’m learning that making small tweaks here and there are beneficial. Here are some things I’m doing differently that don’t add more time to my routine (still a very low maintenance girlie!) and have better results:

• I bought the A313 French Retinol and Ialuset Hyaluronic Acid Cream as a bundle on TikTok (of all places)! I’ve been alternating them nightly for the past two months and my skin does feel softer and looks more youthful. I’m gonna keep it up. 
• My skin has a lot of natural melanin and I’m normally horrible about wearing sunscreen, but after my aesthetician friend recommended wearing SPF daily, I bought this Cetaphil Moisturizer with SPF that I’ve been using daily. It’s basically the same facial moisturizer I’ve used forever, but with sun protection, so I feel like I’m doing myself a favor. 
• I’m learning how to take better care of my curly hair and have seen a major difference with a new routine! I basically add Ouidad Leave-In Conditioner and Ouidad Styling Gel to my hair while it’s sopping wet from the shower, then use this curl brush to define the curls before diffusing with the Dyson Supersonic Hair Dryer. The Dyson was a splurge, but it protects my hair from heat damage, dries my hair faster than my previous diffuser, and makes my curls sooo shiny. 
• I’ve been loving this tinted lip balm for just a hint of color without having to wear full-on lipstick every day. 
• This is my all-time favorite nail polish color for Summer! You’ll see it in so many of my videos.

Wearing

Here are some of the pieces I’ve been living in this summer:

• I absolutely LOVE my TEVA Universal Sandals for wearing around town but especially on hikes. They are the comfiest sandals for trails that end in a river or waterfall (my favorite kind of hikes) because you can leave them on in the water and protect your feet from a rocky river bottom. I have them in black but I love them so much I also bought them in this color. 
• I wear these Birkenstocks with everything. Just the easiest, coziest everyday sandals. 
• I recently bought myself this pair of Crocs to wear around the kitchen, which was honestly the best decision. They are so comfy and I never have to worry about spilling on them while I’m cooking and baking! My husband bought me these charms to put on them which initially had me laughing so hard but they bring me so much joy that I’ve kept them on. 
• I’m a big fan of Quince for everything from cotton sweaters to luggage, and this season I’ve been loving this bathing suit and this linen dress. 
• I have been looking for the perfect comfy everyday t-shirts and ended up loving these vintage crew neck t-shirts from Old Navy so much that I bought it in three different colors, then also bought the dress version. 
• Levi’s Ribcage Straight Ankle jeans are my go-to for denim. 

Fitness

I’m always a runner, but especially in the summer. After running without sunglasses for far too long, I finally got myself a pair of Goodr Sunglasses which are designed for running, but don’t look as intense as most running sunglasses. I’ve also been adding weighted ab workouts at the end of my runs, which has made me feel like I’m really working out now. 

General Obsessions  

• Since 2018, I’ve been using the Canon T7i as my primary camera, which has been a great camera for food photography and videography. I was more than ready for the next level though, and after lots of research I added this Canon EOS R6 Mark II with a 50mm lens to my camera collection. My images and videos are already so much sharper, and I’m stoked to keep my older Canon as a secondary camera for filming. 
• My son has been playing Yoshi’s Crafted World and I am not a huge video game person but I love this one! It’s so fun to play, the graphics are super creative, and it’s been a fun way to unwind lately. 
• My husband got me this Ember mug in my favorite color and it’s been so nice to not worry about my coffee getting cold. 
• I’ve been trying to drink more water and recently got this 40oz Simple Modern Water Bottle which has been great. I love the colors it comes in and it fits in my car cup holder, which is very important to me. 

Reading

I’m the kind of girl who always needs a good book in her life, and here are a couple great ones I’ve read recently + ones on my list: 

• The Bright Years. This is the first book to make me cry in a really long time! It’s a family saga that deals with addiction and loss with some surprising twists. I can’t believe it’s Sarah Damoff’s debut novel, it’s so well written!   
• I read The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead and loved his writing and storytelling, so I had high expectations for reading The Underground Railroad. It tells the story of a slave’s escape to freedom from the antebellum south via the Underground Railroad and it gripped me the entire time. It was heartbreaking, eye opening, and kept me on the edge of my seat. I highly recommend it. 
• Same as it Ever Was by Claire Lombardo. This was another family drama that I recently read that deals with losing yourself in the early stages of motherhood, family secrets, and dysfunction. Not a super light read, but entertaining. 
• I’m currently reading Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins, the latest of the Hunger Games novels, so my rating is TBD, but so far it’s just as brutal and enthralling as the other Hunger Games books. 
• This one’s a cookbook, but I finally bought Dessert Person by Claire Saffitz and I feel like it’s going to inspire me. I’m very much looking forward to it!

Summer Desserts I’m Making

It gets hot here in the summertime, so I definitely love a no-bake recipe but these are some of the desserts I have on repeat: 

No-Bake S’mores Cake

I recently discovered the magic of icebox cakes! They’re no-bake desserts where you layer cookies and soft fillings (traditionally, whipped cream) and refrigerate them until the cookies are soft and cake-like. This s’mores edition features layers of graham crackers, chocolate ganache, and homemade marshmallow creme and it is heavenly. The perfect dessert if you need something quick and easy but magically impressive. 

Black Forest Cake

I have always wanted to make a Black Forest cake from scratch! So when my neighbor showed up with a bowl of fresh-picked summer cherries, I knew just what to do with them. My version of Black Forest cake is layers of decadent chocolate cake soaked with homemade cherry syrup, cherry filling, and whipped cream frosting that’s stable enough for easily decorating a cake. It’s the perfect way to use your summer cherries! 

Mixed Berry Crisp

This berry crisp recipe is so nostalgic for me and such a celebration of summer berries! It’s perfectly thick berry filling made with blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries (frozen or fresh!), topped with buttery oat streusel. It has the perfect ratio of crisp topping to berry filling and is absolutely irresistible served warm, topped with vanilla ice cream. 

Vanilla Sheet Cake

I’ve been making some of my favorite layer cake recipes as sheet cakes lately, which is always a great idea for a summer celebration where you need to feed a crowd. My latest is this vanilla sheet cake which is perfectly fluffy and moist, packed with vanilla flavor, and so fun to decorate! You can’t go wrong with a vanilla, but I also have recipes for chocolate sheet cake and berry chantilly sheet cake if you need something different. 

No-Churn Strawberry Shortcake Ice Cream

I LOVE no-churn ice cream because it’s so easy, perfectly creamy, doesn’t require any fancy equipment, and is so easy to customize with different flavor variations. I have all of the flavors I’ve made here, but my favorite is currently this no-churn strawberry shortcake ice cream. It’s a cheesecake flavored icecream base with swirls of strawberry reduction and homemade shortbread crumbles. Delicious!

S’mores Ice Cream Cake 

If you haven’t been able to tell by now, I am a big fan of s’mores. So of course I have a recipe for a s’mores ice cream cake that is one of my all-time favorite desserts! It’s layers of graham cracker crust, homemade hot fudge, no-churn chocolate ice cream, and no-churn toasted marshmallow ice cream. It’s surprisingly easy to make, but if you’d rather not assemble an ice cream cake, I also have this recipe for no-churn s’mores ice cream that is also incredibly delicious.  

Let me know what you’ve been loving lately in the comments!