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.
Happy Friday, dear readers!!! Happy Best Day of the Week!! I just read this quote from tut.com:
“From where I sit, it is a mystery to me, how so many can look back on their past with pride, yet frown with disappointment at their present. Somehow forgetting that back then, they were just as self-critical . . . “
Just for this weekend, don’t allow yourself to be self-critical. Nothing is nearly as important as it seems. Last night at dinner, my husband, our youngest son and I were laughing so hard as we were recounting the different times in which he and his siblings had gotten into trouble with us, when they were little kids and the various “punishments” we served. I am sure, that at these times, our kids were probably literally sick to their stomachs, and I was my own judge, juror, and executioner about my mothering skills, but now these recollections have all turned into silly, funny, and perhaps even “fond” memories. As I have been told many times in my own life and I will now repeat to you, “Lighten up!” Friday is an easy day to lighten up.
On Fridays, I stay lightened up by sharing a material favorite of mine, whether it be a product, a website, a service, a game, a book, etc. and I ask that you share your favorites in my Comments. I used to list three favorites on Fridays, here at the blog, but that got hard on a weekly basis, so I have whittled it down to one favorite, although today I am going to share one favorite, plus a bonus favorite. Without further ado:
The Umbrella Academy (Netflix) – I typically avoid comic book/super hero/apocalyptic type movies/TV shows as if they were COVID themselves, but for some reason, my husband and I got to watching episode one of The Umbrella Academy and now I am hooked. I like the character development, the unusual story line, and the visuals. It’s a show that makes me want to be more imaginative and creative in my own life and thoughts. It inspires stepping outside of the box. If you are looking to shake things up in your own preferences and psyche and everyday life, I recommend giving this show a look.
Bonus favorite: Fresh Market’s Almond Amaretto Coffee – Even if you don’t drink coffee, buy a bag of this stuff and liberally sniff the bag all day long. I’m not sure that there is a better smell on earth, other than newborn babies. And if you do love coffee, this is taking coffee to a whole new level. If you drink black coffee, this is a calorie free dessert. What could be better??
Have a fantastic weekend!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Happy Friday!!! Happy Best Day of the Week!! For the fun of it, I googled “Why is Friday so great?” I like this answer the best, coming from an article published by Popsugar in 2015:
Why is Friday the best?
“You’re a bit willing to take more on: Fridays are the day for saying yes to anything, because you’re just ready for the week to be over. And sometimes you find yourself agreeing to something you might not usually try, which turns into a fun adventure. Friday night!” (credit: Sarah Lipoff)
Sarah had me at “fun adventure.” For some reason Fridays make you feel more open to “fun adventures.”
On Fridays, I am about the fun adventures that the stuff in our life creates for us. On Favorite Thing Friday, I list at least one material item that has made my own life better, more interesting and/or fun.
Today’s favorite I’m honestly still on the fence about, but for those of you who sleep with white noise machines, you will love it. It is small, has six different sound options, a sensitive volume control, and a timer function. I have never been a fan of white noise machines, but my husband and I recently stayed at a hotel that had one and we decided to try it. We liked it so much that evening, that we decided to purchase one for our bedroom. The rain sound is the one that I have found to be the most soothing so far. HoMedics White Noise Sound Machine can be purchased on Amazon for a little over $20. This same hotel had lofi music playing in the background at breakfast. It was a lovely way to start the day.
Have a fun, adventurous Friday, and a soothing, soulful night of sleep! See you tomorrow!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning!! Happy Birthday to my second eldest baby, whose amazing curiosity and intellect and talent is only overshadowed by his huge, caring heart. I love you, G.
Friday is here!! It’s my favorite day of the week. I only discuss superfluous stuff on the blog on Fridays. We all need just one day of the week to just “Let it all be and just have some fun!” On Fridays, I mention one of my favorite things or songs or products or books or websites, etc. and I ask you to share your favorites in my Comments. (You guys tend to be a little stingy with your favorites. What gives? 😉 )
When I was in college, my sorority would hold a yearly event called Destination Unknown. I loved it. It was one of my favorite events of the year. We would all get into a travel bus and head out to an event, not knowing where we were going to end up. The social chairs were excellent at keeping the destinations top secret. My husband and I are going on a road trip, starting tomorrow. Completely against our typical Type-A style of going about things, we haven’t even made hotel arrangements. Where we end up landing, will be up to our divine intuitions (hopefully our intuitions will be in sync). I can’t wait for the adventure! Try to do a Destination Unknown sometime soon. (even if it is just for a day trip). Destination Unknowns actually tend to help you to get to know your own self, a whole lot better. The seat of your pants is stronger and more interesting than you ever thought to explore. Trust me on this.
My favorite, for this Friday morning, gave me the lovely image posted above. I follow Gregorio Catarino on Twitter, and he posts absolutely beautiful and fanciful artwork from all sorts of artists every single day. He makes my Twitter feed look like an Art Gallery. I highly recommend that you check him out. Interspersed with so much interesting, thought-provoking fodder and written brilliance that work as writing prompts for me, I also make sure that my Twitter feed has plenty of artwork and animal videos to keep me even, and mystified, and full of awe.
Have a wonderful holiday weekend, friends!!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
It’s here!!! The best day of the week is here!!! Who doesn’t love Friday?!? Fridays on the blog are devoted simply to my tactile, sensory favorites: favorite books, songs, items, websites, beauty products, foodstuff etc. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites. (I used to list three favorites a week, but that got to be too much, so now I narrow it down to one favorite a week. I would be thrilled if you would list some of your favorites in my Comments section, though – 1, 3, or 8000 of your favorites. We all need to add to our lists of Favorites!)
Today’s Favorite:
Frances Valentine’s Small Ruffle Crochet Hoop Earrings – I think that they had me at “crochet”. My beloved grandmother loved to crochet. Actually, I lucked into getting Frances Valentine catalogs sent to me, and they are beautiful catalogs – like pieces of art. I love the overall style of Frances Valentine. These earrings are honestly the first items which I have ever purchased from this beautiful retailer, though, and let me tell you, the earrings are so gorgeous and full of quality and uniqueness. I love these earrings!! They are hoop style, colorful and fun. Perfect summer jewelry!
Okay, now it’s your turn! Share a favorite!! And more importantly, have a fabulous weekend!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Happy Friday!! Happy best day of the week!!! On Fridays, I give “the deep feels” a break, and I just try to have some light-hearted fun. On Fridays, I discuss “favorites” – the tactile, sensory things in life which make our lives such an interesting experience. Please check out previous Friday postings for some more of my favorites, and please share some of your own favorites in my Comments section.
Today’s favorite comes from another favorite of mine, which also comes from another favorite of mine. The Fresh Market (one of my favorite grocery stores) creates a $25 dollar family dinner deal (one of my favorite bargains) every single week, and this week’s meal featured a delicious dessert. Matilde Vicenzi Tesoro Chocolate Cream Filled Puff Pastry (they also come in vanilla cream) is incredibly delicious. I could eat a whole package in one sitting and still beg for more. Supposedly the Vicenzi family has been making pastries in Italy since 1905. Obviously, to be in business this long, they know what they are doing. If you don’t have a wonderful Fresh Market around you, I feel sad for you. Still, you can order these delicious Vicenzi delicacies on Amazon, or you can find them at the World Market. Squisito!!!!
Have a wonderful weekend!!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning! Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Thing Friday!! I’m not going to write a lot today. I am currently with one of my favorite people in the world, my daughter, and we are adventuring, which is one of my all-time favorite things to do. Last night I experienced one of my favorite feelings – the giddiness of happy people from all over the world, convening happily together. (We are currently at one of the “happiest places on Earth.” 😉 ) Whether or not it truly is behind us, the pandemic felt like a giant afterthought last night, and it was wonderful. It was a healing moment.
Today’s favorite of mine is a phone game which I play all of the time when I need to get my mind off of things. I usually go to sleep after playing it for a while and it helps to lull me into a peaceful, healing sleep. The game is called Rings, and it is a mix of tic tac toe and color matching and for some reason it is one of the most satisfying games which I have ever played on my phone. It is the only phone game that I haven’t bored of yet. Download it today. You won’t regret it.
Have a wonderful, free spirited, happy weekend!!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning! Happy Favorite Things Friday! My regular readers know that Fridays are devoted to the frivolous, here at the blog. There is nothing wrong with frivolity. We are meant to enjoy pleasures in life, big and small. Today, I am still getting my ducks in a row since returning from my trip. (We all bring home mountains from wherever we go, mostly Mt. Laundry and Mt. Chore Pile-up.) Therefore, today I will only be sharing one favorite. I purchased BuDhaGirl bangles from a wonderful boutique when I was away, and I am in love with them. As a woman with a small wrist, I have always loved the looks of bangle bracelets but they have rarely worked for me. They tend to be too big and too jangly and noisy. I discovered these bangles and I am sure that I will be purchasing even more in the near future. They are quiet, comfortable, beautiful and weather proof! The bangles come in three different sizes, plus they even have children’s versions. Here’s a description of the bracelets from their website:
“Handcrafted in Thailand by our team of really nice people. Each Plume All Weather Bangle is made by a team of 20+ artisans, each bangle is hand made, each is a labor of love. Plume All Weather Bangles® (AWB®) are made with organic products, at times a slight color differentiation might occur, this is only natural as humidity and temperature conditions do affect the outcome. Our Serenity Prayer Bead is made with uncoated brass which as time goes by, might develop a verdi-gris patina. Our point is that Plume All Weather Bangles are a product that will age, develop character, and will remain beautiful…just like our BuDhaGirls.
BuDhaGirl Plume All Weather Bangle bracelets are made of polyvinyl carbonate tubing that is a semi-flexible material, so there is a little give when you slide the bangles over your hand. The key to deciding your size…how the bangles go over your hand, not the size of your wrist.”
Here is a link to a particularly pretty set, but frankly, they are all pretty:
It is not going to be a wild Friday night here at our household. My daughter got her bony impacted wisdom teeth removed yesterday morning, and in solidarity with her, in order to just want to veg on the couch together, I got my booster Shingles shot yesterday afternoon. We are both doing alright, but we are played out, to say the least. A lot of life events have been happening this week, and my whole family is a tad drained, physically and emotionally. We need rest and healing.
So, on that note, as much as I love Fridays and I love posting my “Favorite Things Friday” favorites, today I only have one favorite to share before I crawl back on to the couch next to my sleepy little Chipmunk Cheeks. This week, I tried this fabulous new hydration drink. It’s called Lemon Perfect Water. Lemon Perfect Water’s motto is “It tastes like you are drinking vacation.” And that is the absolute truth. These waters are sugar-free, and they taste fabulous. They remind me of a healthy version of those fresh-squeezed lemonades that you buy at state fairs. They come in many flavors and they only have 5 calories in each bottle. Go to the store, buy your vacation in a bottle, and drink up!!! Have a great weekend!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I’m a big believer in trying to make every day a good day, but come on, on Fridays, “the good part” just doesn’t take much effort, does it? Friday is my favorite day of the week, mostly because I love the feelings of freedom and anticipation. On Fridays, here at the blog, I list my favorites. Typically, I try to list around three favorite products, or books, or TV shows, or whatevers that have helped to make my life interesting and enjoyable. Please share some of your favorites in my Comments section. It’s always fun to discover new favorites.
My favorite reading this morning:
“We cannot wake up and know who we are, as we are always building it. Much remains unreconciled, an indication of being alive.” – Holiday Mathis
Friends, we are all works in progress. That’s the joy and the process of living. Cut yourself a break this weekend and just experience the experience without judgment. Please, don’t take yourself so seriously. Be grateful that you have all of the ingredients: mind, body, and spirit, in order to fully experience the awesomeness of living a life on Earth. That’s honestly all there is to it.
My favorite story of the week:
My friend asked her mother-in-law if she believed in “love at first sight.” “Absolutely!” her mother-in-law replied. “It’s happened to me 14 times!” I imagine that there was a pregnant pause at this moment. I know that my eyebrows were raised listening to my friend tell her story. I thought to myself, “Wow, now that’s what I call a romantic!”
My friend’s mother-in-law continued, “The first time that I laid eyes on my three sons, and my eleven grandchildren and great-grandchildren, I completely experienced love at first sight. No doubts about it.”
Some people are just so awesome to their very cores, aren’t they???
My second favorite story of the week: (This time I was eavesdropping at my physical therapy session. My regular readers know that I do this. Tsk. Tsk. It’s a bad habit of mine, but you must know, we writers tend to eavesdrop. Facts.)
The young male physical therapist was lamenting to his older female patient about how much his young sons fight and argue. The woman mentioned that her own sons are now in their forties, but when they were young and they were fighting and fussing, she would take two chairs, sit them down and make the boys face each other. She would then say, “Compliment each other, until I say stop!”
Now, the woman admitted that this activity never went the way that she had planned. One boy would start with, “I really like how ugly your hair looks today.” And then the other brother would try to creatively top his brother’s “compliment” with something even better, like, “I really like how you keep proving to me that you are even stupider than I thought you were . . . ” The woman told her PT that the boys got a big hoot and holler out of this activity and they would end up in fits of laughter, and they would be buddies all over again in a matter of minutes. The brothers would bond over clever and witty insults disguised as compliments. (As a mother of three sons, I know that this has to be a true story. Boys get a charge out of insulting each other. I’ve never quite understood it, but it does create a bro-bond like nothing else does.)
When I hear stories like these, I always think to myself, “Why didn’t I think of that???” It almost makes me want to go back to mothering young children. (“Almost” being the key word here.)
My favorite product of the week:
My husband and I went to the grocery store together to pick out a pile of junk food to enjoy while watching the Super Bowl last Sunday. Russell Stover chocolates were “buy one/ get one” at our local Publix. How perfect, his and her boxes of chocolate, even before Valentine’s Day!!! After devouring two boxes of Russell Stover Assorted Milk Chocolate Covered Nuts this week, my husband and I both agreed that we have been way too snobby about Russell Stover candy. I wish that I didn’t love this candy as much as I do. I wish that I was still a chocolate snob who hadn’t eaten 26 pieces of Russell Stover chocolate this week. My husband even noted that the candy was not perfectly molded to the point that it almost looked like it was homemade. Go get you some Russell Stover chocolates today, if there is any left. It is sure to be on sale after Valentines Day.
That’s all from me for today. Remember that favorites come in all different packages and many favorites are absolutely free. List your favorites today. This activity will bring a smile to your face. I promise you. This activity is one of my favorite things to do because it brings the joy of my favorites bubbling up to the surface, all over again.
See you tomorrow! Have a great weekend!!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
