Tag: favorite things Friday

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.

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

-Jonah Lehrer

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.