Tag: favorite things Friday

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.

There’s a Theme Here, Friday

Today’s Favorite:

credit: @woofknight

Kidding, not kidding. Does this really exist? Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday! On Fridays, I stick to the frivolous stuff in life. The more that I study philosophy, the more that I realize the gist and the meaning of it all: Stay in every precious fleeting moment and just enjoy it, dammit. How better to go about that task than playing around with the stuff of life? On Fridays on the blog, I talk about one of the things, the websites, the songs, the arts, the crafts, the products, the movies, the books etc. which have made my life more interesting and fun. Please see previous Friday posts for more favorites and please add your favorites to my Comments section.

Today’s favorite is pretty practical. I’m in that stage in January while I am still having fun organizing and cleaning stuff out. (I’m expecting this mojo of mine to fizzle soon, so I am capitalizing on the moment.) Confession, for most of my adult life I have had a plastic grocery bag storage problem. (And let me say right here, that I use recycled bags whenever I can, but we have three big dogs. Those teeny, tiny rolls of plastic bags which are impossible to open, and are equally impossibly small, just don’t cut it for our large dogs’ “leave behinds” on our walks. Only plastic grocery bags do the job properly.) Anyway, I have always devoted one or two cabinets in our kitchen or laundry room to the overflowing cloud of plastic garbage bags that pops out and threatens to drown and suffocate the entire household every so often. What a ridiculous waste of space! I found this contraption on Amazon that seems to hold a million plastic bags in a small tube which can be hung in our garage. The bags are removed from the bottom, much like you remove a Clorox wipe from it’s container. I just freed up a whole giant shelf in our laundry room! Voila!! Look up “TOGETRUE Plastic Bag Holder, Mesh Grocery Bag Holder Hanging Storage Bag Dispenser” on Amazon or other retail sites.

And bonus favorite for today: Earlier this month I wrote a blog admitting to my addiction to pens. Luckily another reader came forth with her pen addiction and we had a bonding moment. I mentioned finding Japanese Kokeshi doll pens in a cute Japanese shopping area in New Jersey, that are not only adorable but are absolutely perfect for writing. (their fine tips and their black ink is divine!) It turns out that these perfect pens are available on Amazon to purchase. (What isn’t? I know.) Search up Japanese doll pens, and you will see that there are a plethora of choices.

Enjoy your weekend, friends!!! See you tomorrow.

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

Feel Good and Figa Friday

Below is the feel good video of the season, in my mind. It’s my favorite holiday video that I’ve seen so far. You know that this little girl is deeply loved. (and she knows it, too)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1600992072571330560

I needed this video. Yesterday I was running holiday errands. We have a teeny little UPS store right around the corner and it was filled was people. I was sending numerous packages and I was being helped by a sweet, but obviously newbie employee, so the process was painful and crawling. A horrible cat fight ensued right beside me, by an enraged “Karen-like” customer (who had her dog in tow) and the equally enraged female manager. The f-bomb was poppin’ out like Rudolph’s red nose, fully aglow. They were screaming at each other and saying things like, “You should have remembered to take your meds!” and things were being thrown. It was like something out of the Real Housewives. It could have escalated to that crazy scene with Beth and Summer in the last episode of Yellowstone, but thankfully someone called the police. I was so tempted to leave, but the line behind me was out the door. Needless to say, my nerves were shot. (But my packages did get sent.) One old man behind me muttered, “I wish that these New Yorkers would stop moving here!” (which didn’t help defuse the situation and I honestly don’t think either woman was a New Yorker. In my experience, New Yorkers are usually very nice.) Anyway . . . .

Today is Friday!!! And Friday’s are devoted to favorite things, products, books, etc.! I don’t get deep, introspective or philosophical on most Fridays. Today’s favorite of mine is fascinating. This is the artwork of Alexis Berger who has a wonderful site on Etsy. She makes a lot of interesting glass jewelry, but my favorite items that she designs, makes and sells are her figas which can be viewed (and purchased) here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/AlexisBerger?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=1098881296&section_id=13920727

What is a figa or “mano figa” (meaning fig hand)? Alexis writes her explanation here:

Did I purchase one? You bet your figa, I did! The fabulous figa does not disappoint and Alexis also sells lovely beaded, crocheted cords to hang your figa on, to wear or to display. Mano up and buy yourself a figa for Christmas.

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

Fridayness

Happy Friday!! Happy Best Day of the Week!! On Fridays, I discuss the “stuff of life” – books, products, beauty items, food items, what-have-yous, ect – the literal stuff in life. Fridays are dedicated to my favorite things that get me excited. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites and add your own favorites to my Comments. It’s okay for us to share some of the same favorites.

My favorite for today is Utah Mint Chocolate Truffles. These are like Russell Stover’s french mint candies, but on steroids. They are amazingly delicious and refreshing. We bought an enormous bag at Costco last week and they are almost all gone. Move over Pumpkin Spice, it’s mint time!

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