Tag: favorite things Friday

Hangin’ Around Friday

Happy Friday!!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!!! Before I get to my favorite for today (hint: see above), I wanted to share two interesting things. One, I just read that the reason why Redwood trees are the tallest living thing on Earth is because they intertwine their roots and they share their water. Isn’t that beautiful? What’s your “water”? (i.e. special gift or talent that was meant to be shared to make our world a more beautiful place) Share your water today, and stand taller for doing it.

And two, I had a really interesting, kind of hilarious conversation yesterday. I was doing quite a few returns at a local department store. I was being waited on by quite the colorful lady. She and I both agreed that we especially enjoy the thrill of getting quality items, at discounted prices. The lady, a quirky, jumpy, constantly smiling, slim, elfin type of a person told me, “My talents aren’t limited to bargain hunting. I’m just the kind of person who knows people. I get what a want.”

“What are you, a mobster?” her coworker quipped and we all three nervously giggled.

“No,” the confident lady replied. “For example, I get reservations where no one can get reservations. I get to the best seats at games, and I get backstage passes when I want them.”

My curiosity overcame me. “Okay, so how do you do that? What’s your trick?” I said, half-believing her.

“I just call ’em up, or I show up and I say I’m with Senator So and So’s party and then I march right to wherever I want to go.”

“Do you ever get called out?” I asked.

“Only one or two times, but then they still let me go on through, and I think it’s because they admired my pluck. The key is to have total confidence. Know that you belong in the place where you want to be, and act on it. Never show doubt.” And then she smiled like a self-pleased Cheshire cat, who was already dreaming about her next stunt to pull off.

Okay, back to the moment that you have been waiting for: today’s favorite. (See above) Another Studio’s plant animals are like jewelry for your plant babies. They are adorable and light and rest easily on even the lightest of leaves. They come in many different varieties (I personally purchased the bee and the gecko). They run around $7-$8 a piece. I got mine at a local store but you can go to their website and purchase them from there. For those plain plants of yours who don’t naturally flower, why not give them a cute little bling of their own with an A-S plant animal?

Have a great weekend, friends. Find the small things/experiences that bring a smile to your face, and buy them, and relish them and act on them (and share your water). See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Foreground Friday

Happy Friday!!! Happy Best Day of the Week!! Happy Memorial Day Weekend!! I hope that it’s a fabulous “unofficial” start to an amazing summer for all!! Before I get to my usual “Favorite Things Friday” favorite for the week, I want to get a little unusually serious, for a Friday on the blog, first. I need to get something that’s been wrangling around in my brain, down in writing. If you aren’t in the mood for some serious thought, please just scroll down to my favorite for today, as I typically like to keep Fridays on the blog, footloose and fancy-free.

Now the serious part: When I was reading some articles about Tina Turner earlier this week, I came across some film clips from the movie about her life,What’s Love Got to Do with It, starring Angela Bassett as Tina Turner. I then ended up on a clip of Angela Bassett in another movie from the 90s that I remember liking called, Waiting to Exhale. I vaguely remember enjoying both movies, decades ago. Watching these clips reminded me of what an amazing actress Angela Bassett is, in just about any role that she plays. The Waiting to Exhale clip was of Angela Bassett’s character, Bernadine, going ballistic when she finds out that her husband is leaving her for one of his employees. In the movie, Bernadine had given up everything of her own self, in order to support her husband and to help him to create his company, and she is feeling justifiably full of rage. As she is filling his high-end car, full of his high-end clothes from his enormous closet, before she lights it all on fire, (This scene underscores the proverb: “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.”), she is crying and ranting and raving. At one point Bernadine is angrily mocking something that her husband implied in the past, “I need you to be the f-ing background, to my foreground.” Ouch.

Background people are needed in every entity. Background people are typically what makes ‘the whole thing’ go round. Think about every music concert. There are a helluva a lot of background people – roadies, lighting, promoters, assistants, bands, managers, background singers, etc. that make the actual concert happen. The lead singer/star is in the foreground, but she/he couldn’t be in the spotlight, without all of the background players and staff. There is a time and a place for us all to be background players and support staff. The hive only has one queen. Still, sometimes we individuals tend to play it a little small, and we keep ourselves in the background, perhaps playing martyrs, when there are times that we need to let go of our fears and uncertainties, in order to venture into the foreground a little bit, of our own interests and lives. I think that in transition times in life, such as the newly empty nest, this is a good thing to ponder: “Where in my life do I need to step up into the foreground of my own choosing?” We women, especially, tend to take pride in being the supportive background players to our families, and to our spouses, and to our kids, and even to our bosses, and that’s great, and we don’t have to give all of that up, by also inching into areas of our own foregrounds. And as we discover and explore our own “foregrounds”, we can use this experience to learn how to ask for, and to lean on a little background help of our own.

Okay, that’s way too much seriousness for a Friday. What was I thinking?! As usual, I was thinking too much. My favorite for today, is my new favorite brand of mascara. (This happens a lot for me with mascara. I am fickle. I love one brand until I just don’t like it anymore.) I found this mascara at Sally Beauty Supply and it is my new “holy grail mascara” until it isn’t. This makes my slowly dwindling, shrinking, getting sparser with age, eyelashes pop, like they haven’t in a long time: Lime Crime Astronomical Volumizing Vegan Mascara (I am not clear why it is important to say that this product is “vegan” since I don’t know anyone who eats mascara, but c’est la vie. I’m open and learning.)

Have an amazing Friday and an outstanding weekend, friends!! See you tomorrow!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Wear the Pants Friday

Good morning!! Big Friday hugs to everyone! On Fridays, I get out of my head and into my stuff. On Favorite Things Friday, I just talk about the stuff in life that makes my life fun to live. Please check past Friday posts for more good stuff to get, to eat, to buy, to smell, to try, to wear . . . . and please list your favorites in my Comments section.

My daughter had to buy a few pairs of black slacks for her ice cream serving job this summer, and she immediately said that she knew exactly what pants to get. She said that her friend who is a hostess at a nice restaurant, told my daughter about these black slacks, and these are now my daughter’s go-to black slacks for any dress casual business event at school, etc. After seeing how flatteringly these slacks fit on my daughter, I asked her if she minded if I also bought a couple of pairs for myself and when she said, “Sure!”, I promptly ordered two pairs. These pants are nicely cut, inexpensive, yet good quality, durable, and they have a little bit of stretch to them. Old Navy High-Waisted Pixie Flare Pants for Women are my favorites for today. They come in other colors besides black. My daughter and I both purchased a size up from what we each normally wear, as these pants seem to run a little small. These pants are a great staple for any woman’s closet!

Okay, put your big girl pants on today and let yourself have a weekend to never forget!! See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

It’s Me, Friday

Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!! I’m not going to be writing much today, because I am going to a matinee with my favorite daughter (yes, she’s my only daughter), doing one of my favorite things (going to the movies), and seeing a movie based on one of my favorite books of all time. (Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret by Judy Blume) I’m so happy that they finally made a movie out of this great book. I love all things book related. Not only are books my favorite, but so are bookstores, and libraries, and those little free libraries that look like bird houses, and bookmarks and book covers . . . . . .

Today’s favorite has nothing to do with books, however. Today, my favorite is a hairspray that the kind, informed clerks recommended to me, when I was at Sally Beauty Supply the other day. (Remember, I live in humid Florida. Humidity is not kind to hairstyles.) When Sally clerks first recommended their best selling hairspray to me with the selling feature of “it works, but you can still comb through it” in my mind, I automatically turned that statement into, “Oh okay, so it doesn’t work.” But I took the professionals’ advice anyway, and it turns out, this hairspray is good stuff. It works! Professional Sebastian Shaper Plus Hairspray is the best that I’ve tried yet in my long life with my fine and stubborn hair.

Now, I’m going to go use a little bit of this liquid gold in a bottle on my hair, as I prepare to see my movie with my best girl. Have a great Friday!! See you tomorrow!!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Non-Boring Friday

Good morning!!! Happy Friday!!! Happy Best Day of the Week!!! Happy Cinco De Mayo!!! On Fridays on the blog, I discuss the stuff of life that makes life just so fun. I call it Favorite Things Friday and I would love it if you would share some of your favorites in my Comments section. Now, on to my favorite for today:

At the end of April, my husband and I were in Italy, and in Florence we had a tour guide who was extremely dramatic, and also quite attractive. As snobby and eccentric as she came across, she still had obvious flair. As we were walking the streets, our fashionable tour guide airly pointed out a store and stared deeply at my face, apparently checking for wrinkles.

“Oh yes, I can see that you would remember the 1980s,” she said quite confidently.

“That jewelry maker there,” she said, pointing to a store, “is making quite the splash, all over the world. Angela Caputi is bringing back the huge statement pieces of the 80s. You may want to check it out, if you dare . . .”

The Angela Caputi store was my very first stop the next day. And I purchased three enormous, over-the-top, interesting, eye-catching, popping pieces of jewelry (perhaps that’s part of the reason why we had to pay for extra heavy baggage on the way home?!) Angela Caputi jewelry is big and colorful and plastic-y and not for the faint of heart. One evening I wore my enormous Angela Caputi elephant (trunk-up, of course) orange and turquoise, charm bracelet to dinner, and I had at least 3-4 women ask me where I had purchased it. Angela Caputi jewelry is all that you need to make a plain black outfit, or a simple linen dress, make you look like you should have been invited to the Met Ball. (I imagine that Iris Apfel owns hundreds of Caputi pieces.)

Have a safe, fun, fabulous Friday, friends!!! See you tomorrow!!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Good Friday

Good morning, my beautiful friends and readers. Thank you for reading my blog. Thank you for “hearing” me. I love you. I started this blog in 2018, when my eldest of four children officially left the nest, by graduating from college and moving to a whole other city. And every year since then, I have written a blog post almost every single day. This blog is one of my own favorite things of all time. It has become my lifeline back to me. However, consistently, I have taken Easter weekend off from writing, since the day that I started the blog.

This is a holy time of year. Easter, Passover, Spring. This time of year is the biggest, most gapingly open portal to hope which we receive in any given year. It’s the perfect time to press the “reset” button. Whatever your spiritual beliefs are (or aren’t), you can’t help but to feel the renewal of life and hope all around you. This time of year, is the best time of year for me, to quiet my thoughts, and to let the good of life, just soak in. I hope that you are able to do the same.

Here are a couple of bonus favorites (for Favorite Things Friday), to tide you over. I hope that you are eager to come back to the blog on Monday. I know that I will be more than eager to write it.

L’Oréal Paris Age Perfect Satin Glide Eyeliner with Mineral Pigments – Oh my gosh. I can’t believe I forgot how much I love this eyeliner. I recently randomly pulled it out of a cup of eyeliner pencils that I keep by my bathroom sink, and then I instantly remembered how great it is, the minute I started putting it on. This pencil is so rich, so smooth, and so long-lasting. I love eyeliner, like Cleopatra loved eyeliner. I have a lot of eyeliner pencils. This one is the best!

Good & Gather Crushed Garlic Cubes and Crushed Ginger Cubes – I purchased these wonders at Target recently, and they have become flavor game changers. You keep them in your freezer (they look like small ice cube trays). Then, when you need to put something on the skillet, you just blop one of the frozen cubes on to the pan and it turns into the perfect mix of oil and flavor, to help to make whatever you are cooking, taste divine.

Have a wonderful weekend friends. I hope that the weekend ends with us all feeling refreshed, renewed, relieved, revived, rejuvenated and reoriented to living our lives with excitement, hope and energy. I will see you back here on Monday.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Friday Freak-Out

Credit: RD.com

Hi friends! Sorry! My morning has gone in all different wayward directions. It’s not my usual Friday vibe. It’s so annoying to have an un-Friday kind of Friday. Hopefully, my Friday will get more “Friday” as the day goes on.

Since I have been so distracted (nothing major, just a lotta little “chit-chits”), I don’t really have any favorites to share. I will say that I am thrilled that two of my favorite series have come back recently with new seasons and I highly recommend watching them: Yellowjackets and Ted Lasso. They are two entirely different watches and yet equally as good, in their own unique ways.

Please pick up my slack, and recommend your own favorite things to my Comments section. Or go through my archives and look at other Friday posts for some of my favorite things, websites, songs, beauty products, foodstuff, etc.

Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Hoot Hoot Friday

Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday! On Fridays, I stay above the surface and talk about the tactile, sensory, stuff you can experience in life that I just love!! Please check out previous Friday posts for more good recommendations. Today’s favorite, involves two of my favorite creatures from the animal kingdom: Owls (if there is such thing as a spirit animal, then I am convinced the owl is my spirit animal) and Underdogs. (Underdogs might be my all-time favorite of anything.)

Every year my husband asks the family if we want to do a family bracket for the March Madness College Tournament, and every year I agree to participate. I pick my bracket utilizing the highly scientific “Oh, okay, I know someone who went there, or someone’s kid who goes there . . .” system. Interestingly, I usually don’t do half bad every year, despite knowing virtually nothing about college basketball. I’ve even won the bracket, a year or two.

Honestly, I don’t think that I picked the Florida Atlantic University Owls to go too far. (Despite living in Florida, I don’t know any FAU alumnae) But I’m rooting (and hooting) for the Owls now! This is only the second time in which the Owls have ever made it to the tournament, and the ONLY time they have made it to the Elite Eight. This is what makes March Madness so special. You don’t even have to be a sports fan to revel in vicarious joy. March Madness brings out the freudenfreude in all of us, especially for the inevitable Cinderella team that surprises everyone.

Is there anything better in life than a Cinderella story? Be a Florida Atlantic Owls fan with me. Make them your favorite team of the tournament and send all sorts of good energy their way!

Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

The Luck of the Friday to Ye

Happy Friday! Happy St. Patrick’s Day!! May today be lucky, plucky, clucky, ducky and crispy! (see Wack-a Chicken game) Obviously, I am in my typical devil-may-care Friday mood! On Fridays, I try to stay away from the serious side of life. On Fridays, I discuss my favorites of anything. Life is supposed to be lived sensually and tactically and curiously and peacefully, and then our minds start making up stories about it – stories that get us all tripped up. On to my favorite for today:

While we all love clovers on St. Patty’s Day (especially the elusive yet extremely lucky four leaf clovers), we usually do not like clovers on any other day, especially clover that shows up in huge swaths in our lawns. In wanting to be good to the Earth and also good to our three dogs, my husband no longer purchases synthetic weed killer. (which he insists doesn’t work well anymore, anyway) Instead my husband swears by this formula (which, you guessed it, is my favorite for today): 30 percent Harris Vinegar (one gallon), 1 cup coarse salt, and 1 teaspoon dish washing liquid. He mixes all three ingredients in his sprayer and makes sure that the concoction sits for 30 minutes so that it dissolves and mixes completely. Harris Vinegar is much stronger than the usual stuff that you get in grocery stores and use in salads. It’s worth every dime when used as a cleaner and as a weed assassin.

Some Irish proverbs to consider:

May you be at the gates of heaven an hour before the devil knows you’re dead!

May you have the hindsight to know where you’ve been, the foresight to know where you are going, and the insight to know when you have gone too far.

 May the saddest day of your future be no worse than the happiest day of your past.

It is often that a person’s mouth broke his nose.

And what I wish for all of you, my beloved readers:

May your heart be light and happy, may your smile be big and wide, and may your pockets always have a coin or two inside!

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.

Smile Sock Friday!

Happy Friday!!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!!! Today’s favorite is a different pair of socks than shown above, but when I was searching for a cute Friday meme, with socks, these showed up. These Monday/Friday sock sets are sold by Uncommon Goods. Adorable!!! I’m sure happy that it’s the day to wear the yellow pair.

On Fridays, I discuss only the frivolous side of life – stuff. On Fridays, I talk about my favorite things. Today’s favorite is also a pair of socks I saw a woman wearing at the Stretchlab, and I decided that I had to have them. She told me that I was the fifth person to compliment them. These are non-slip socks that have a see-through mesh top with beautiful floral embroidery on them. These TAVI NOIR socks are like “shoes light”, and they make you feel like you are a beautiful ballerina. If you must wear non-slip socks around somewhere, they might as well be beautiful. Here is the link on Amazon:

I was at the beach yesterday. I can tell that spring break is full-on. My own daughter comes home tonight for her spring break. Good times! Enjoy it, all!! See you tomorrow.

Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.