Tag: favorite things

Wellness Friday

credit: @BethFratesMD

Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!!! On Fridays, I discuss the stuff of life that makes it fun to live. Today’s favorite is for those of you out there, who sadly, like my husband, are down with a nasty cold. Did you know that Starbucks makes a “Medicine Ball” drink, sometimes shown on the menu as “Honey Citrus Mint Tea”? However, if you order a “medicine ball” the baristas will know what you are talking about. It’s a popular drink at Starbucks, particularly in the winter months. If you prefer not to get spendy on trendy drinks, you can make this delicious, soothing, comforting drink at home using these ingredients:

  • Jade Citrus Mint Tea
  • Peach Tranquility Tea
  • Steamed Lemonade
  • Hot Water
  • Honey

I’ve made a couple of variations at home myself, using creative substitutions of kombucha, real lemon and different flavors of tea. Stirred with love and care, you and your loved ones will be on your way to feeling better in no time!

Get well! Stay well! Be well! See you tomorrow!

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

Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

1775. Who do you feel is your kindred spirit?

All Around Friday

Good morning!! Happy Friday!!! Happy Best Day of the Week!!! I saw this posted on X and I decided that our dogs, Ralph, Josie and Trip will definitely want to send a snail mail Valentine card to these adorable children. I know that I have some fellow “snail mail” lovers who read the blog. Will you join me? Don’t our precious children need to know that “Love Makes the World Go Round“?

I got pretty deep on the blog this week, but on Fridays, I don’t go deep. On Fridays, I go fun. Maybe life is really just one big giant amusement park, right? There is so much good stuff out there to experience, enjoy, utilize . . . .So today’s “favorite thing” on Favorite Things Friday are these hilarious, over-the-top, “I really shouldn’t be laughing at this, but these are so damn funny, I’m almost peeing my pants” cocktail napkins. I stood in front of the DRINKS ON ME display in a local gift boutique, making a fool of myself cry-laughing at their snarky, colorful napkins, coasters and cards. If you want to start your weekend off with some belly laughs, go to their website, stat!

https://drinksonme.com/

Here is one of their tamer coasters:

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

Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

1523. Describe your “poker face.”

Furry Friday

Today we are going to a wedding. I always scour a couple’s wedding registry for something that I believe that the couple will have for a long, long time. I look for an endurable item. I think that it bodes well for the marriage, to use an item, or to see an item, and to remember your special day every time that particular item meets your eye. My parents’ friends bought us this large, unusual, beautiful salad bowl for our wedding and to this day, it sits out on our kitchen counter, holding apples and oranges. We’ll be happily married for 30 years in October.

I only bring this up about “special items” because on Fridays on the blog, I discuss the “special items” in life which make life more interesting. Favorite Things Friday is here! This Friday’s favorite I learned about from our dog groomer. She groomed Josie, our rough collie, the other day in about half of the time that it usually takes. (Josie is probably related to wookies. Her hair is similar to Chewbacca’s. Josie has A LOT of hair.) Anyway, our groomer said that she started using a new brush that has become a game changer for her business. It was invented by a Doodle breeder. The brush is called The Doodle Brush. You can buy The Doodle Brush on Amazon. I purchased one and haven’t used it much yet because the dogs were just groomed, but I trust my groomer. She knows her stuff. At $55, the brush is not inexpensive, but my groomer insisted it’s worth every penny. If you live with a furry critter (or two), this is a brush that you must check out.

Have a delightful weekend, friends! See you tomorrow!

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

Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

520. How modern are you?

First Friday!

Hello! Happy Friday!! Happy First Friday of 2024!! Welcome to the best day of the week during the best year of your life!! (don’t doubt it, make it so) On Fridays, I discuss my favorite stuff which helps to make life more fun. Today’s favorite is a last minute extra Christmas gift that I purchased for each of our four kids who all moved into new apartments last year. These portable Acacia Wood sofa arm tables make a stable place to put a drink or a small meal or the remotes and they include a holder for your phone or your iPad. They are made of hardy acacia wood and are movable to any kind of arm, on any kind of chair, due to the spring action of their holders. This is the modern day version of TV trays. You can purchase one of these handy tables on Amazon for $30. Here is a link:

www.amazon.com/dp/B0BQRJZVYF?psc=1&ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_product_details

Have a fun first weekend of the year! Here is the question of the day from 3000 Questions About Me:

2166. When you lose touch, what snaps you back into reality?

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

Friday Fire

On Thanksgiving evening, a few friends and I were texting and it turns out that we were all doing the same thing in different places, from all of the way up in Massachusetts, down to Virginia, and finally all the way down to here in Florida. We were all outside, sitting around fires with our families and we sent each other pictures of our families, with everyone’s faces glowing in the beautiful, flickering firelight. I love beautiful, intriguing fires. I am a Sagittarius, which is a fire sign. My husband is a fire sign. Five out of six of our immediate family members are fire signs. (Yes, things can get really loud and bold and igniting at our house, really quick. I do sometimes feel sorry for our poor little less combustible Cancer son, who does his best to put the fires out.)

So with firelight in mind, my two favorites for Favorite Things Friday on the blog, involve fire. My husband reads the paper version of the Wall Street Journal every day, so he decided he would make use of the paper, by making newspaper briquettes to burn in fires. So every once in a while he sits with a pile of newspapers and a bucket of water and he uses his heavy steel newspaper briquette maker/newspaper log maker, to make bricks/logs to help fuel our mini-bonfires. You can find different models of these ” newspaper brick makers” on Amazon. Ours is made by a company called “Bits and Pieces.” To get the fire started, I like to use Maxwell’s Mystic Matches. These matches are admittedly a bit of a splurge. They are wide, thick sticks of Palo Santo wood that when struck, make an enormous, immediate flame. I love the smell of the Palo Santo as it burns. To start the fire with flames from these matches, makes the fire seem extra special and almost “sacred” in a way.

I hope that you enjoy a warm, passionate weekend, with the homefires burning! Happy Friday! Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow, fireflies!!

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

That Friday Look!

Happy Friday!! I’ll get right to my Friday Favorite for today because Ralphie and Trip are modeling them for me. (Josie, our rough collie, has too much mane to don an original Daisy’s Dog Collar) Our boys are looking fancy with their new seashell collars that we recently purchased for them at a local beach fair. These cowrie shell, patent-pending woven collars are unique, attractive, waterproof, guaranteed for life and such a fun conversation starter with other dog lovers and enthusiasts. The owners of Daisy’s Dog Collars are recent empty nesters from New Jersey, who sold everything and now sell their collars at various venues all over the United States. They also give a portion of their profits to animal rescues all over the States, as well. Good product. Good cause. Good people. Good looks. Good dogs!

You can get your favorite canine a Daisy’s dog collar at their website:

https://daisysdogcollars.com/

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

Nutty Friday

Friday is the day for surfacy, lightness on the blog. Fridays are for favorites. On Favorite Things Friday, I share one of my favorite things and I ask you to share your favorites. Before I actually get to sharing one of my favorite physical things, I want to share a great quote by the author Byron Katie:

Don’t be afraid to question your own beliefs. Make sure that these beliefs are truly yours, and that they from that all-knowing, wise, comforting voice from inside of yourself and from the depths of your own heart.

My favorite for today is Skinny Dipped Almonds. They are chocolate covered nuts which are thinly dipped with just a light covering of chocolate. They are just the right mix of sweet and salty. In my mind Skinny Dipped Almonds are amazing-tasting-candy-with-less-guilt. My favorite flavor would be the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter variety. So good!

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

    Kind Eyes Friday

    So, if you clicked on the Google Doodle this morning, like I did, you will see they are celebrating the posthumous birthday of this man, Mihaly Robert Csikszentmihalyi. Dr. Csikszentmihalyi is the professor and the psychologist who coined the term “flow” which is that state of being we get into when we are completely focused and immersed and creative and productive. When we are in our “flow” it is almost like we leave our bodies and become one with our projects. The first thing that I notice when I looked at pictures of Dr. Csikszentmihalyi are his beautiful, soulful eyes (Robin Williams had these same kind of “kind eyes”). His eyes seem to come out from something deep and soulful within himself and then they penetrate something deep and soulful into whomever he is looking at with a soft, knowing intensity. When glancing over his Wikipedia, this information intrigued my interest:

    “One state that Csikszentmihalyi researched was that of the autotelic personality.[19] The autotelic personality is one in which a person performs acts because they are intrinsically rewarding, rather than to achieve external goals.[21] Csikszentmihalyi described the autotelic personality as a trait possessed by people who can learn to enjoy situations that most others would find miserable.[22] Research has shown that aspects associated with the autotelic personality include curiosity, persistence, and humility.”

    I honestly believe that if you can live your life with an autotelic personality, you will achieve true peace. Live in the moment, and notice everything. The process of living is its own reward. That’s really all there is to it.

    Okay, I know that this is a little deep for my Favorite Things Friday blog tradition. Sometimes my “inner deep” just keeps seeping in. On Fridays, I usually keep things light and I talk about the tactile, sensory stuff in life that makes “the process of living” wonderful. So without further ado, my favorite for today is a device I purchased from my acupuncturist to help with pain and discomfort in my neck. My favorite for today is called the CranioCradle. You can buy a CranioCradle on Amazon. It seems pricey for a firm piece of foam, but so far, I’m finding my CranioCradle worth its price. I’ve used it for about a week now in various positions on my back and my neck, mostly at bedtime, and I do find it helpful and enjoyable and relaxing when using it. My acupuncturist also recommends using the CranioCradle in the car.

    I hope that you have a wonderful weekend – one that is full of flow, friends. May the eyes of life look upon you kindly and may you seep it all in. See you tomorrow!

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

    Pumpkin, It’s Friday

    Hello!! Happy Friday!! On Fridays, I keep it on the surface and I discuss the stuff that I like. Fridays on the blog are all about my favorites. Please add your own favorites to my Comments. We all love the joy of finding new favorite things to help us to enjoy life on an everyday basis! It’s all about the little things, isn’t it?

    Sadly, we don’t have a Trader Joe’s close to us, but we were visiting my daughter at her university last weekend and she and I could not resist a visit to one of our favorite shops. True to the season, Trader Joe’s is not immune to the pumpkin craze. There was pumpkin everything, everywhere you looked. So, my daughter and I loaded up the cart with pumpkin stuff (and even an actual, real pumpkin for her balcony). My favorite out of this lot (and my daughter’s, too) is Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Body Butter. Surprisingly, this body butter does not smell like pumpkin. In fact, it has very little scent. The secret ingredient, however is the pumpkin seed oil, on top of coconut oil and shea butter. These ingredients combined make this cream easily absorbable, long lasting, and particularly emollient. As usual when it comes to Trader Joe’s, this big jar is a bargain at only $4.99!

    Have a great weekend! See you tomorrow!!

    Credit: Courtney W. May, Pinterest

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

    Friday C.R.A.P.

    credit: THE-KEEP-CALM-O-MATIC

    Here’s a couple of really good perspectives, for going into the weekend:

    “When things are at their worst, you are at your best.” – what the extraterrestrial said about us humans, after visiting Earth, in the movie Starman

    “Only put off until tomorrow what you are willing to die having left undone.” – Pablo Picasso

    Happy Friday!! Happy Best Day of the Week!! On Fridays, I keep the deep thoughts for Jack Handey. (If you ever need a deep belly laugh for laughing at a statement that shouldn’t be funny, look up some of Jack Handey’s deep thoughts. They are hilarious and ridiculous and easily a favorite of mine, when I’m in the right snarky mood for them.) Anyway, today’s favorite is a technique I heard about in a podcast. It’s a way to get rid of your negative thoughts and worries and ruminations, devised by people who study neuroscience. It’s called the C.R.A.P. board. C.R.A.P. stands for Conflict/Resistances/Anxieties/Problems. If you write all of the situations down in your own life that would fall under any of these categories, on to a piece of paper, and then do a few relaxing things like yawning, stretching, deep breathing, while looking at your C.R.A.P. board, supposedly this tricks your brain into believing that it can stop ruminating on, and trying to fix all of your C.R.A.P. because your C.R.A.P. is “stored”, and really not such a big deal. The three minute video below by the creator of the C.R.A.P. board, Mark Waldman, goes into more detail with it. I’ve only started mine this week, so I can’t attest to how well it works, but it was a worthwhile experience for me, just to put my own C.R.A.P. into perspective. For instance, lately I have been telling myself and anyone who is willing to listen to me, just how “stuck” certain things have been in my life. Interestingly, though, when I took a relaxed, detached look at “the stuck list” which I had written on to my C.R.A.P. board, I noticed that nothing there on the list was truly stuck. Every situation on the list is progressing, just not as quickly as I deem it should be going. The experts on the podcast I was listening to, kept repeating the idea that our beliefs and our stories that we tell ourselves are just thoughts that we keep thinking repeatedly, until they become embedded as our beliefs and stories about ourselves and life in general. Making a C.R.A.P. board can help you to find and weed out some of the faulty belief systems you may have programmed into yourself with your repeated, unexamined negative thoughts.

    https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=10153317002418658

    Get rid of your C.R.A.P. and have a great weekend, friends!! See you tomorrow!

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