favorite things Friday Archives - Page 6 of 23

Friday Smells Great

‘Tis the season!! Happy Black Friday, although this year it seems like it has been Black Friday for weeks on end now. I hope that you are getting lots of good bargains and having fun doing it, on this fabulous Friday (the best day of the week.)

On Fridays, I try to step away from the “f-word”, i.e. “Feelings.” On Fridays on the blog, I discuss the stuff which I like such as products, books, songs, websites, etc. Please check out my previous Friday posts for more good stuff.

My favorite for today is rareESSENCE aromatherapy inhalers. Smell might be my favorite sense that we have, and these inhalers are wonderful. I have been using my rareESSENCE aromatherapy DEFENSE inhaler, since I purchased it in New York City in late October, and I haven’t been sick despite being on a few filled flights, at packed college fraternity parties, crowded bars and restaurants, hospitals, sold out movie theaters, and being around more people in the last 3-4 weeks than I have been around in months. I don’t know if this inhaler has anything to do with my wellness, but it sure smells great! And great smells have always done wonders for my wellness.

I hope that you enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving. May the wonders of the season be more comforting and captivating than ever before, for all of us.

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

Free Friday

As a woman from a family who has many members who have served in our military branches, and who has married into a family of many members who have served in our military branches, I couldn’t be prouder. There is no greater sacrificial service, than to be willing to put your life on the line for something bigger and more important than yourself. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. We honor you. Veterans will always, always be a favorite of mine.

Happy Friday, friends!!! Friday is the best day of the week, in my opinion. Therefore I keep it light on Fridays and I only discuss the frivolous – essentially material stuff that I like. On Fridays, I offer up one of my favorites, whether it be a book, a movie, a product, a website, etc. and I ask you to add your own favorites to my Comments section. Please also check out previous Friday posts for more favorites.

Today’s favorites are hilarious plant stakes that I purchased at a local plant shop, but it turns out that you find all sorts of these sticks of cute-funness, on Etsy. (With that in mind, before you know it, every one of our own dozens of plants will soon have their own stake.) These plant stakes make me smile and giggle to myself every time that I look at them, so besides the delicious clean oxygen my plants offer up to me, now they make me giggle and smile on the daily, too. How great is that?! What a simple, easy, inexpensive way to add delight into your own life.

Have a wonderful weekend! See you tomorrow.

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

Catch the Smilin’ Sun Friday

Good morning! Happy Friday! On Fridays, I discuss the frivolous stuff of life only. I discuss my favorite things, or songs, or products, or foodstuff, or TV shows, etc. I’m feeling generous today, so I am going to list two favorites of mine for you to explore, if you are so inclined. (Btw, this upcoming weekend is “Fall falls back,” on the clocks. How delicious is that?! An extra hour of sleep is definitely a favorite of mine!)

Let’s just cut to the chase. Today’s first favorite of mine: suncatchers by Scout Curated Wears. These are not your Grandma’s cardinal/rainbow suncatchers. These are not your handmade Makit & Bakit suncatchers that were always ruined by that stray color bead that you just couldn’t remove from the section you didn’t want it in. These suncatchers are actually modern, intriguing, and spiritually pleasing. Scout Curated Wears has a lovely website with other pretty items like jewelry and greeting cards. Go to their site and enjoy perusing all of their offerings.

And my bonus favorite for today: Smilin’ Bob’s Smoked Fish Dip As I grabbed yet another two tubs of this delectable treat, and threw them into my shopping cart, my seafood grocer yelled out to me, “Oh, so you’re the one who keeps me selling out of this stuff!” Yep, it’s me. Guilty as charged. Although, I am sure I am not the only one who can’t get enough of this stuff. I have always loved fish dip, but hands down, this is the best fish dip I have ever eaten. Just call me “Smilin’ Kelly.”

Enter the weekend with this thought: “You get to decide your life.” Try it out. Just for the weekend: “You get to decide your weekend.” You won’t have control of everything that happens this weekend, but you do get to decide your reaction to it all. Decide wisely. Catch the sun and keep smilin’!

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

Friday Travels of the Mind

Good morning! You woke up to the best day of the week. Fridays are fabulous. On Fridays, I don’t discuss anything serious. I keep it light and fun. On Fridays, I discuss favorite things. Today’s favorite of mine might have you questioning my sanity (if you haven’t already). We were in a Japanese area of New Jersey earlier this week, and that is where I discovered the adorable Sonny Angels. (The Japanese people seem to have the market on all things “cute.” Remember Hello Kitty?) Sonny Angels are so popular that the one store was entirely sold out of them. Sonny Angels are little naked kewpie doll figurines that have funny little helmets made out of fruit, or animals, or sea creatures, etc. They also have a pair of adorable angel wings on the back of each Sonny Angel. The true fun of Sonny Angels is that you buy a box in one theme, such as “Sonny Angels Vegetable Series” and then you open the box up, to see which figurine you got. I ended up with the adorable “Bok Choy Sonny Angel.” I bought myself a few boxes for the glorious fun of opening them up and being surprised, and I offered to buy a couple for my 26-year-old son. He looked at me like I had three heads. He said, “Mom, if I had Sonny Angels lying around my apartment, people might call the police, thinking I am some kind of weird pedophile.” Luckily for me, I’m just some quirky middle-aged lady, so I can get away with the fun of purchasing silly little dolls. I know that you are curious to check these cutie kewpies out. Their official website is here:

https://sonnyangelusa.com/

We are back home from our travels. It was a wonderful trip and a lovely visit with our son. I feel refreshed (but also exhausted). I think that the quote above is spot on. I read once that we all are just an accumulation of our experiences: the people you meet, the books you read, the things you see. I love how travel wakes you up to new perspectives, ideas, questions, and joys. Travel always opens you up to new elements of yourself. 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.

Frisky Friday

Yay! It’s Friday!!! It’s the best day of the week. How are you feeling? Things are a lot cooler here lately. It makes everyone “frisky”. So today, we’ll just call it Frisky Friday. Speaking of frisky, before I started writing, I had to pick up our three dogs’ matching nap pads, which they sleep on every night. (Honestly, Josie, the rough collie, doesn’t actually sleep on hers. She has a lot of fur, so she prefers the cool tile, but she likes to have her own pad placed near to her. With kids and pets especially, it’s important to be fair.) I don’t leave the nap pads out all day. In order to prevent squabbles, I only put the pads out at night. The dogs don’t sleep in our bed, because two of them are over 75 pounds, and the other one is a crazy, restless, full-of-himself spaniel, who likes to spread himself way out, in the craziest of contortions. Need I say more? The dogs used to disperse out all over the house at bedtime, when the kids lived at home, but now they all sleep in our bedroom with us. Our nighttime ritual is to layout the nap pads every night, and that is each of our dog’s “place” until it is time to get up in the morning. Recently, this ritual reminded me of the times when I was a little girl and I was in “nursery school.” (that’s what they called preschool in those days) They would hand out nap pads, and we would put our pads in a circle, in order to then take a nap. That was my absolute least favorite time in school. I’ve never been a good napper. Once I’m up, I’m up. I remember feeling quite indignant about “nap time.” “I am a “big girl” now. I don’t need a nap.” I also remember getting in trouble, more than a few times, for my restlessness during “nap time.”

Okay sorry for the digression, it’s Friday! Let’s get to the point. On Fridays I like to talk about my favorites. On Fridays, I write about the things, the places, the websites, the songs, the whatevers that have caught my eye and have made my own life more fun and interesting. Please share your own favorites in my Comments section so our Friday can be even more frisky!

Today’s favorite:

I read about the XCJ Chinese Street Food’s Soup Dumpling kit, in a magazine lately. Cooking for just the two of us, has become a new and interesting challenge for me. I ordered one of the larger kits that contains dumplings, sauces, plus a bamboo steamer from this cool company. We tried it out this past weekend, and my husband and I were thrilled with the meal! The dumplings were fun and easy to cook (on the bamboo steamer) and even more fun (and fabulously delicious) to eat! Here is their website:

Dumplings and More (Nationwide)

Have a frisky, fun, fabulous weekend! See you tomorrow!

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

Friday Vacation Spot

“We are all here on this planet, as tourists, as it were. None of us can live here forever. The longest we might live is a hundred years. So while we are here we should try to have a good heart and to make something positive and useful of our lives.” – The Dalai Lama tweeted this, this morning

I love this thought that we are “tourists” here, experiencing a short lifetime. When we go touring to places other than where we live, we are usually excited, happy, curious and respectful. We are utterly captivated: trying new activities, and learning about different things than we are used to experiencing. Other than a few jerks, when touring, most of us are open-minded, reverential to others’ sacred things and places, and cognizant that we are a representation of where we are from, and so we behave accordingly.

Fridays are a particularly easy day to be in “tourist mode”, right? If there was ever a day that matched the giddiness of heading out on vacation, it would be Friday. As my regular readers know, Friday is my favorite day of the week. On Fridays, I discuss my favorites: songs, websites, books, products, foodstuff, etc. Today’s favorite works right along with my travel/tourist theme. Last week, my husband and I went to an “indie flea”. (They had me at “indie.”) An indie flea, is a flea market for artsy types. There was eye candy everywhere – the artful products, the interesting vintage finds, the gorgeous, fashionable people. Anyway, at the indie flea, I purchased a teeny, tiny adorable, colorful pair of scissors, which is my favorite for today. The seller told me that they are TSA approved (meaning that I don’t have to dig them out of my purse before travelling, in fear of them being confiscated). There are so many times when travelling that I have wished that I had a pair of scissors with me. Now I do. And you can, too! Just go to Amazon or Etsy and look up TSA approved scissors. You will be shocked at all of the options!

No matter where you are this weekend, even if it is just at home, remind yourself that you are tourist. Behave as if you were visiting a beautiful, intoxicating, ever-unfolding, foreign land full of amazing things to see and to explore. Believe that you are taking the trip of a lifetime that you have been anticipating taking, for a long, long time. And realize that all trips come to an end, so take full advantage of the experience while you are having it. Bon Voyage!

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

Put a Ring On It Friday

Happy Friday!! Happy Best Day of the Week!! On Fridays, I don’t think deeply (thus, I don’t write about deep or meaningful things). Or if I do, I quickly shut it down. Here on the blog, on Fridays, I discuss my favorites: things, songs, products, websites, books, u-name-its. Please share some of your favorites in my Comments section, so we all can even more fun this Friday.

Before I mention today’s favorite of mine, I want to gift you iPhone users, a bonus favorite. Text “pew pew” to some of your favorite people who also have iPhones. Fun, right? If you hold down the send button when you text someone on your iPhone you will find that you have all kinds of options, to add pizazz to your text messages. (my favorite option is the “Invisible Ink” option) Thank you, my dear friend (you know who you are) for teaching me the “pew pew” skill. Have you come to regret it, yet?? Pew pew. Pew pew.

Today’s favorite is a time saver. Shinery Radiance Wash washes your hands and your jewelry, all at the same time. It adds a gorgeous sparkle to your engagement ring without you having to take off your rings to clean them, and risk losing them. It’s wonderful stuff, and it can be purchased on Amazon. Speaking of lost wedding rings, we are having to replace my husband’s wedding ring for the second time in our almost 28 years of marriage. (Thankfully, he only loses his wedding ring when he is with me.) When we were on our honeymoon, my husband lost his first wedding band when we were snorkeling, because it was too big for his hand and it slipped into the water. A trip to the jewelry store in St. Martin was the first stop of the next day, because as a young bride, it was important to me for my husband to “keep a ring on it.” Last weekend, we were boating with our daughter. During the pandemic lockdown, my husband had his wedding ring made a size larger, because, as you may intimately know, the pandemic and weight gain went hand-in-hand for many of us. My husband has since lost his pandemic weight gain, and the ring was too big. Guess what came off in the water, again? So today’s date excursion, is a trip to the jewelry store. Why? Because as a middle-aged bride, it’s important to me for my husband to “keep a ring on it.”

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

What a Week Friday

I hope that by reading my daily blog, you get a little taste of what it’s like to live through a hurricane. There are several days before the hurricane of anticipation, concerns, worries, preparation, tough decisions, and battening down the hatches. Then you experience the lockdown of about 2-3 days of weathering out the actual storm. Finally, the storm passes, and luckily, most of us don’t have to assess too many damages. We can now breathe out, before we take up the task of driving home in heavy traffic (for those who evacuated), and putting everything back and away that we put up and brought in, to prepare for the storm. Hurricane Ian has literally been the focus of my life for more than a week. It’s been sort of a “lost week.” And I am one of the lucky ones, who didn’t even end up losing power. My heart breaks for the many whose lives are forever changed by this horrific storm.

My main point is, I am so happy that the storm has passed and I am so grateful that it is my favorite day of the week – Friday. Friday is devoted to my favorite frivolous things, TV shows, books, products, beauty items, foodstuff etc. on the blog. Each Friday, I discuss a favorite that has made my life better. It might makes yours a little more fun, too.

My favorite for today is a little snack I discovered when purchasing a coffee at Starbucks one recent afternoon, Starbucks Bacon & Gruyère Egg Bites. These delicious little treats are only 300 calories and are full of flavor. I think I even prefer them to the coffee, dare I say it? When you need a little pick me up in the afternoon, it is worth waiting in line, at your local Starbucks, for these delicious, hot delicacies.

I think the biggest lesson for the week, is don’t take your favorites for granted. When you see how easily one act of nature can wash everything away, your favorites are all that more sweet and satisfying. Have a restful weekend. That’s my plan.

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

Mad Respect Friday

John Cena has set a new record for most wishes granted through the Make A Wish Foundation. He has now granted 650 wishes to critically ill children — more than anyone else in history. (Tweet sent this morning by @Goodable)

Happy (Favorite Things) Friday!! Happy Best Day of the Week. Today, my favorite is John Cena. He is my favorite wrestler of all time and I have never even watched a full wrestling match in my lifetime. When my youngest two children were little, they were big fans of wrestling. They bonded over it. Earlier this summer, my youngest son showed me a news story where John Cena surprised one of his biggest fans, a Ukrainian boy who has Down Syndrome and is currently a refugee, by surprising him and spending a whole afternoon with him. When they had to leave Ukraine, due to the war, the young man’s mother told him that they were going to look for John Cena, as it was the only way to get him to leave their home. When John Cena saw this story on the news, he decided to make the young man’s mother’s words, the honest truth. What a wonderful, big-hearted man!! John Cena’s catch phrase is: “Respect: Earn It!” John Cena, you have earned our respect.

Have a fabulous weekend! Respect yourself. Respect others. Show respect and appreciation to those who have earned your respect. The way to make the world a better place is just to work on being a little bit better, ourselves, each and every day. Those little bits add up, sometimes even to Guinness World Records.

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

Frizzle Sizzle Friday

Friday is wonderful. It is a day so full of relief, yet excitement and anticipation. Friday is full of the world’s most fabulous feelings, even though technically, it is just another day in the work week. Happy Friday! On Friday, to keep those fabulous feelings flowing, I focus on my favorites. (Say that sentence, three times in a row, quickly. I dare you.) Every Friday, I list a favorite thing, or book, or song, or website, etc. that helps to make my life more interesting and fun. Today’s favorite is this:

This is “Curly”, a succulent plant known as Albuca Spiralis, or “Frizzle Sizzle.” I love this plant’s delightful curls! She looks just like curling ribbon. You can purchase the likes of Curly from sellers on Etsy, along with many other rare and unusual plants and succulents. Plants make amazing pets. This baby is the “poodle” of the plant world.

Have a wild and wonderful weekend, friends. See you tomorrow!

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