Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!! On Fridays on the blog, I discuss the stuff that makes life fun. I don’t go deep on thoughts, just steep on stuff. Today’s favorites include my new favorite pens (and I’m a pen addict. Ask my husband. We have a multitude of pens) Our youngest son supported my addiction by buying me these pens over Christmastime and now they have become my latest favorite, go-to pen (and I have written about others of my favorite pens over the years on the blog).
Zebra F-301 Ballpoint Stainless Steel Retractable, 0.7mm, Black Ink, Combo Pack of 6 BLACK INK Metal Pens with 3 BLACK INK REFILLS, 0.7mm fine point pens with Pen Refill can be purchased on Amazon at this link:
I have honestly never enjoyed handwriting with a smoother pen. I don’t practice my handwriting nearly as much as I used to do (and it shows), but when I do (mostly for shopping lists or reminder post-its), these are my go-to pens!
And as a bonus Friday favorite, please check out The Tourist series on Netflix. It’s a thrill a minute and it constantly keeps you guessing what could be next. The Tourist has some great comic moments, too.
Have a wonderful weekend, friends!!
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:
1583. The quickest way to make you feel crazy is . . .
I have a thing for dragons. (But after Game of Thrones, don’t we all?) Happy Friday! Happy Best Day of the Week! Friday is such an easy day to feel carefree and excited and fun, isn’t it? My favorite for today for Favorite Things Friday, on the blog, involves dragons. I honestly have become even more entranced with dragons when Ancestry.com recently sent me my enhanced DNA results and it turns out that I have a large percentage of Welsh in my heritage. The Welsh Dragon is the symbol of Wales and it is a beautiful, ferocious red (my favorite color). This is also the Chinese Zodiac’s Year of the Dragon. And so of course, there are a myriad of dragon products available to buy, from everywhere, already. My favorite dragon purchase so far this year, is this wonderful salad bowl from Sur La Table. At $30, I think that it is a steal (and a treasure)! Here is the link:
For as much as I like to shop, I never go out shopping on Black Friday. I hate crowds. However, this is not to say that I won’t veer into window shopping on the internet today. Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!! My favorite things for today are my Merrell hiking boots. We got a pair of Merrell hiking boots for each of our family members, five years ago, before we were embarking on a trip out to California that we knew would entail a lot of hiking. Since then I have clocked hundreds of miles on my same pair of Merrells in all kinds of terrain, in the United States and abroad. They have never let me down (nor let me fall down), and my Merrell hiking boots are in good enough shape to wear, for quite a few more rocky trails, for sure. I look at Merrell hiking boots as an investment, and a good one.
Black Friday is a good day to get yourself a pair. Merrell is even putting their best sellers on sale for 30 percent off. If you have made having more outdoor adventures for yourself, a solid resolution for the new year, you NEED a nice pair of Merrell hiking boots. Show the Universe that you mean business.
www.merrell.com
Hope you are enjoying a wonderful, relaxing Thanksgiving weekend with your loved ones!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Happy Friday!!Happy Favorite Things Friday!!! Josie, our collie, “helps” me to make our bed every morning. She has this innate sense when I am doing it (there’s no set time – I’m all over the map in the mornings) and she considers it her sacred duty to rush into our room in order to help me to complete this task. It is a big bonding time for us (without her male counterparts). I don’t know what I would ever do without her help (and this has nothing to do with making the bed). Dogs will always be one of my ALL TIME FAVORITES.
My favorite item for this particular Friday is the Bamboo Trading Company beaded club bags. These lovely pieces of art are reasonably priced, they come in an enormous variety of styles and themes, and they are the perfect sized, crossbody bags to carry your phone, keys and wallet for a day of walking around town, without breaking your back. For the attention to detail, and the massive variety available, these bags are reasonably priced and addicting to collect. And you feel good about purchasing these items because this is the Bamboo Trading Company’s mission: “We work with communities around the world to lift families out of poverty. In the process we create on-trend, affordable fashion that is collectible, fun, and inspiring.”
You can buy your own Bamboo Trading Company beaded bag (or 12) at their website, on Amazon, and you can find them at many smaller gift shops around the States.
Happy Friday!! Yay!! Friday is here. On Fridays, I keep it on the surface and I discuss stuff that I like. Today’s favorite comes from living in Florida long enough to realize that the hot Florida sun is tough and intense on everybody and everything that it shines upon. When we first moved here from North Carolina, twelve years ago, I brought with me this adorable little white decorative wooden rabbit who had sat and adorned our North Carolina yard for several years. In less than a year in Florida, the white paint on the rabbit completely disappeared (seemingly vaporized), and the rabbit looked more like a misshapen brownish gray blob. Through trial and error, we figured out that our best bet for outdoor furniture in Florida is made out of Polywood – my favorite for today. Polywood is a hard, durable, heavy plastic that dares the Florida sun to “Bring it!” We recently bought some more Polywood outdoor furniture, and it is so well-made and solid and comfortable and attractive. A man at my husband’s work also recently bought a Polywood table and chair set because when he was at his friend’s house, he complimented his friend’s bright white outdoor furniture and asked if it was brand new. “No!” his friend laughed. “We’ve had that furniture for over a decade.” We started with Polywood adirondack chairs and they still look as good as the day that we purchased them a few years ago. Polywood has a plethora of styles to choose from and they deliver your order quickly.
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.
Happy Friday!!! I am not going to spend a lot of time with my favorites today because I am enjoying my time with some of my longtime favorite people. My favorite for today is my mouth guard which I resisted for years and thus paid to repair many a cracked tooth. My biggest fear, that as a claustrophobic person, I was concerned about anything that felt to big and clunky and “choke-y” in my mouth. And I certainly didn’t want to pay hundreds of dollars for it. And so my practical, kind, hygienist suggested this inexpensive, no frills, no-need-to-boil, dainty nightly mouthguard. It works. I love it. I no longer wake up with sore teeth or a sore jaw. I’m grateful to have finally broken down, and to have tried it, and at a $20 pricepoint, there is no reason not to try it. You can get this at any local drugstore or Walgreens: SleepRight Select-Comfort Dental Guard
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.
Happy Friday!!! Happy Best Day of the Week!!! Happy Day to play with all of your favorite stuff!! On Fridays, here at the blog, that’s all I discuss – my favorite stuff. We weren’t given five senses for nothin’. Today’s favorite involves perhaps my favorite sense: Taste. My daughter was home from college visiting us last weekend, and we went to her, and mine, and her dad’s favorite store: Costco. My daughter begged and pleaded (Okay, huge exaggeration. My daughter suggested them, and I, without hesitation, nodded enthusiastically to throw them into the cart) for us to buy a bag of Trü Frü frozenchocolate covered strawberries. Oh! Wow! Let’s just say that the enormous bag of Trü Frü did not make it to this weekend. These luscious frozen strawberries are first coated with white chocolate and then they are dipped in milk chocolate. And these juicy babies trick your brain into believing that they are healthy, because you know, they’re fruit. Supposedly, three of them are less than 100 calories. . . if you can keep it to three.
Don’t fret. You can buy Trü Frü in many different food stores besides Costco. You can even purchase all sorts of varieties of Trü Frü fruit snacks on their own website. (I know where you are headed next.)
Have a fabulous, yummy weekend!! See you tomorrow!!
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 most Fridays, I try to keep things light and frivolous. On Fridays, I discuss the fun, material stuff in life. On Fridays, I list a favorite product, or book, or website, or whatever, that has added some zest to my own life. Please share your favorites (if you are so inclined) in my Comments section.
On an aside, my aunt recommended the movie Genius to me, which is about the relationship between the writer Thomas Wolfe and his longtime editor, Max Perkins. (who also was the discoverer/editor of F. Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway) I watched the movie last night and I enjoyed it greatly. The reason why I bring it up today, here on the blog, on “Frivolous Friday” is that at one point in the movie, Thomas Wolfe laments about how ridiculously unimportant and frivolous his job as a novelist is, in light of the horrors of war, and of The Great Depression. Max Perkins tells Thomas Wolfe that he believes that it was the storytellers, around the fires of ancient men and women, who kept the tribe feeling safe and focused and occupied, while dangers lurked all around them in the way of wild creatures and harsh weather. In that way, perhaps the storytellers helped to keep the tribe inspired, cohesive, and distracted, (and maybe even alive) when they needed to be. The point being, perhaps nothing really is frivolous in life, right? Everything has its meaning and purpose. Nothing is important, and everything is important, all at the same time.
So in getting back to today’s “frivolity”, my favorite for today are “shackets“. I’ve noticed many people wearing them around, particularly as winter is slowly morphing into spring. Shackets are shirts that are heavier than most shirts, so they double as jackets, but they are not so heavy, as to be needed to be taken off when worn indoors. Shackets are usually flannel and they make a lovely, convenient compliment to an otherwise plain outfit of a turtleneck and jeans. A shacket is a must-have for every wardrobe.
And a bonus favorite: I have moved on from my once, tried-and-true favorite Eucalyptus Spearmint Bath & Body Works wallflower plug-in refill scents, after years of trying all different aromas. My new favorite: Sun-washed Citrus. It smells amazing and it is actually long lasting! If these refills can make a room, where two sweaty young men housed their dirty clothes/shoes (and God knows what else?) for their entire teenhoods, while their huge, loyal, earthy smelling Labrador retriever slept with them every night, now smell like a beautiful, refreshing orchard that you actually want to spend a fair amount of time in, Bath & Body Works Sun-washed Citrus Wallflower Refills, are nothing short of aromatic miracles.
Have a fabulous weekend, friends! See you tomorrow.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Hi readers and friends. We have a lot going on in our family right now. After a long, protracted, difficult decline, my mother-in-law passed on yesterday. That’s our sad, bad, terrible news. Our happy news is that today is my birthday, and I am receiving the best birthday present that I could possibly ask for at this time. Our youngest son is graduating from college today, a semester early. My longtime friends and readers know that we went through pure hell in the fall of 2021, as our son’s epileptic seizures were not being controlled by medication. He was suffering at least one major seizure a week, for several weeks in a row. We spent a lot of time in hospitals, and we had a lot of teary, distraught conversations about what to do next. Our youngest son talked about dropping out of college more than once. But, he persisted. We persisted. His wonderful doctor persisted. And we found a combination of three medications which have kept our son seizure-free for over a year now. (Do you remember that part yesterday when I wrote about the clouds always, always passing? . . . . they do. They do. The clouds ALWAYS pass.) And today, our youngest son becomes a college graduate! And I am so utterly grateful for this turn of events. God/Life/Universe: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Family/Friends/Readers, for your kindness and support and prayers and love: Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.
Please bear with me these next few weeks. Writing is therapeutic for me, and I fully expect to continue to write my daily blog. I’ve written on the daily for years now, in my normal times, and in my not so normal times. I have written this daily blog from different states, and even being in different countries. I have definitely written this blog in so, so many, many different states of mind (which you probably can tell). The bottom line is, I love to write, and I love the connection that I have with all of you, my beloved readers. And I am a big one for consistency, reliability, dependability, devotion etc. Still, I’ve got a lot going on. Things are pretty bittersweet here with my family. I may not be as consistent or as “level” as I would like to be in the next few weeks going forward, so please just bear with me. I always bounce back. And I need you.
Okay, I know. This is a lot for a Friday post. I have readers who tell me that they only check in on the blog on Fridays, to read about my “favorite stuff.” They don’t want to go all deep and philosophical and that’s okay by me. Believe me, I get it. I love my stuff. Stuff is the stuff of life. Today, I will still share a favorite with you. My favorite for today is a chain called StretchLab and I adore this place. It’s like doing yoga that’s carefully assisted. It’s like a combination of yoga and a massage. You don’t have to get undressed, and you feel so damn good throughout the whole experience. (Come on baby, make it hurt so good!) If you have sore spots on your body (who doesn’t?), this is the place for you to go to experience some real relief and to get reacquainted with your physical body.
Okay, all. I love you. Happy Friday! Happy Birthday to me! I hope to “see” you tomorrow.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
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.
