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.
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.
As you all read this, I am likely on my way to taking my youngest baby (out of four) to college. This Friday’s vibe is honestly probably filled with a lot more anxiety and angst than I typically allow myself to feel on a Friday. What is my usual Friday vibe? Life is fun. Life is good. What material things in life add to the good and the fun? On Fridays, I discuss my favorite “stuff”, versus anything deep and yearning. Please check out previous Friday listings for good discoveries under the heading of “Stuff” and please share your own “good stuff” in my Comments section.
Here is my favorite for this Friday:
Rhoback Golf Shirts – I bought three of these golf shirts for my incredibly finicky, picky husband for Father’s Day. And do you know what? He loves them. And so do I. They look so good on him, that all three of my sons decided that they each wanted a Rhoback golf polo as well. Rhoback has created “performance polos” to match the modern man’s need to be active and versatile, in a moment’s notice. These polos are made of high quality, stretchy, cooling material, and they are cut at the perfect length, in order to make them look good both tucked and untucked. Further, Rhoback shirts offer a plethora of patterns, from conservative, to fun and wild. Rhoback shirts all have stripes on the back of the necks to replicate the Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs which these shirts were inspired by – Rhodesian Ridgeback dogs are always active! The men in your life will love these wonderful shirts!
Have a great weekend friends. Stay active! See you tomorrow.
“Deepwater Giant” by Kefan Weng
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning! You have landed on Friday! What a wonderful place to be! On Fridays, I keep it light and airy and on the surface. On Fridays, here at the blog, I call it “Favorite Thing Friday” and I list a thing or two (songs, books, products, foodstuff, etc.) that has made my life more interesting and fun. Please check out more favorites from previous Friday posts and please share some of your own favorites in my Comments section.
I’m feeling really good and lighter this morning. Last night was the high school tennis banquet, and as the de facto team mom, I was mostly in charge of planning and executing. It went really well. It was a warm, special night for my daughter and her coach and her teammates and their parents and we all enjoyed it a lot, and now, it is off my plate and out of my mind. Phew! One of my most favorite feelings in life is that of satisfaction and relief! And I have been cycling through those feelings a lot lately, as my daughter’s senior year in high school is quickly coming to its close. It’s exhilarating and exhausting. Emotional fatigue is real. Thank you, weekend, for arriving just in time!!!
One of my favorite accounts on Twitter is wise connector (@wiseconnector). Today he asked his followers to list instantly recognizable lines from movies. If you don’t think that writing is all that important nor makes much of an impact, that thought will change when you see some of these iconic lines that have become part of our everyday vernacular. Wouldn’t you love to be the writer who whenever he or she hears one of these lines, smiles knowingly to themselves, and say, “Yep, I wrote that line! That was me.” Here are some of these famous movie lines. I am sure that you can come up with plenty more:
“I’ll be back.”
“I’ll have what she’s having.”
“Show me the money!”
“I’ll be your huckleberry.”
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn.”
“You had me at hello.”
“You can’t handle the truth!”
“Life is like a box of chocolates . . . .you’ll never know what you’re going to get.”
“I’ll give you an offer that you can’t refuse.”
“Things you own, end up owning you.”
“Here’s looking at you, kid.”
And here is my favorite material thing of the day. I was in one of my favorite Ace Hardware stores. By the way, I love Ace Hardware stores. They make me feel like I am stepping back in time a little bit. From the people in red jackets that pop out of everywhere and who make you feel like they actually do want to help you, to their beautiful flower selections, and on to their giant, kitschy, impulse item section right by their registers (that area was created for people like me), I just love Ace Hardware stores. Anyway, speaking of the impulse buy section, the other day, they had a whole stand of really adorable, stylish, yet sturdy readers. These readers are made by a company called Optimum Optical. My favorite pair that I purchased (yes, I purchased more than one) is a chunky blue pair of readers that reminds me of the glasses Oprah Winfrey seems to wear a lot. The style of the blue pair is called “Metropolitan.” They also come with a really nice pouch that doubles as a lens cleaner and they were only $16.99 each.
And I’ll end today’s post with this:
” Good Morning, and if I don’t see ya, Good Afternoon, Good Evening and Good Night!” (The Truman Show)
Good morning! Welcome to the lightest, airiest, “okay, now you can breathe out” day of the week! I LOVE Fridays! On Fridays, I list one, or sometimes even a few, of my favorite things. The things in life are what make life interesting, and material, and a tactile, sensory experience. Before I get to my favorite thing for today, I have a little personal story about sea anemone earrings. A while ago, I purchased perhaps the least expensive thing you could ever buy from Scully & Scully, a longstanding, staid, high-end store in New York City, that’s been around since 1934. I think I purchased probably a small set of coasters, or perhaps maybe even just one coaster, but ever since then, I get their catalogs and their online store pops up on my feed. For instance today, some offerings popped up on my Google, showing me a beautiful Meissen tureen for the bargain price of $125,000. (but does it come with free shipping?) Anyway, it’s a fun store to “window shop.” (If you like Herend figurines, they carry the entire line, and some.) The other day, as I was perusing the internet, and Scully & Scully popped up once again, suggesting that I might be interested in a pair of lovely $12,000 sea anemone earrings. They were gorgeous! And so unique! But sea anemone earrings are not what you call everyday wear, and I have two kids in college, and “good earrings” make me nervous because if I lose one, I’ll be sick about it for months, and I am not Kris Kardashian – I don’t have $12,000 to blow on sea anemone earrings, nor would I ever spend $12,000 on sea anemone earrings, because even if I were filthy rich, my ingrained midwestern sensibilities, practicalities and self judgments would intercede firmly and fiercely. But, man oh man, did I want me a pair of sea anemone earrings!! So guess what? I went to eBay, and Mercari, and the like, and I started feverously scrolling for sea anemone earrings and I found a really cute lime green pair made by Betsey Johnson for around $20, and I love them! And if I only wear them three times in my whole life before I lose one, I can live with that fact. And the point of my long winded story?! Go after what you want. Don’t get fixated on “THE one and only particular solution” to anything in life (i.e. job, person, house, college, vacation spot etc.) There are all sorts of “sea anemone earrings” out there, that will please you, and that will suit your particular needs and wants. Be open to what the Universe has to serve! Explore and enjoy!
On that note, I even have another bonus favorite for today, before I get to my real favorite. This is a favorite household tip. (insert my husband and children guffawing – housekeeping has never been my strong suit). If you have a clothes washer that tends to get smelly (ours is one of those. Years of washing six active, sweaty people’s clothes on a daily basis lends to pure stanky smelliness), pour a bottle of Listerine in it and run a cycle. The Listerine kills the bacteria that makes the washer smelly and the smell goes away instantly and you have a fresh, clean washer. I bought a drugstore brand version of mouthwash for $4, ran it in my washer, and it did the trick, after years of wasting money on “magic formulas” made specifically to clean washers which never worked. I found this household tip on one of my days of getting a little lost in clickbait (instead of doing laundry), and it turns out, the tip is a gamechanger. Enjoy!
Finally, here’s my real favorite of the day. I am fortunate to have a wonderful herd of elephants in my life. Actually, I am fortunate enough to have a few herds whom I rely on, when I lose my way. Do you? This is from the website that describes what these beautiful elephant ornaments really mean:
In the wild, female elephants are known as fierce protectors. They literally form a circle around sisters who are hurting or grieving. And often, they will kick dirt up around her to mask the scent of suffering…in turn, keeping her safe from predators.
And yet, we are the same. This is what we do. This is who we are. And this is who we are meant to be for each other. We all have elephants in our lives. Sometimes we are the ones in the middle, and sometimes we’re on the outside kicking up dirt with fierce, fierce love. But the circle remains.
The ornaments are as lovely as their sentiments. You can buy your herds some here as a way of letting them know how much you love and appreciate them:
And that is it for this Friday! Thank you for being one of my herds, dear readers! I hope that I have helped you in times that I have not been hurting and grieving, but feeling strong and positive. You have always surrounded me in times that I need it, and for that I am forever grateful. Have a wonderful weekend!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
Good morning, friends and readers. Welcome to the best day of the week!! My regular readers know that I typically keep it light and fun on Fridays. On Fridays, I list three favorite things, or songs, or websites or books, or life hacks that make my life more interesting and engaging. You, my readers, really like Fridays, at the blog. Interestingly, usually the most popular days on the blog are on Fridays, and on Sundays (the day that I devote to poetry. You never knew that one of your favorite things is poetry, did you? I caught you. ;)) So this tells me that you, my readers, are my favorite kind of people, a delicious mix of fun and frivolous, yet deep and soulful. It’s good to be well-rounded. Bravo!
As many of you know, we suffered another setback with my son’s epilepsy, this week. His new medications aren’t working out, which is deeply disappointing because the side effects of these medications were much more tolerable, than his last medications. We coaxed our baby to come home for the weekend, so I had the best sleep of my week last night, knowing that he was home safe with me, in my safely feathered nest. (I love sleep. It’s definitely one of my favorites.) My youngest son (the son with epilepsy) is obviously one of my favorite people in the world, and it is not just because he is my son. It is also because my son is funny, and smart, and ethical – almost to a fault; he is insightfully (and sometimes brutally) truthful – like no other person I have ever met, and so, so resilient. I admire him greatly. I love him beyond reason.
I’m drained, friends. These setbacks with epilepsy are hard on our family. These disappointments bring all of our fears and uncertainties, back up to the surface. People who live with serious disorders, know better than anyone, just how fragile life is, and how quickly it can be taken. After experiencing a major health setback, and once you calm down from the anxiety, and you let your shoulders drop, you can sometimes find the gift that comes from these painful realities of living with a disease, or a disability that can take your life, at any moment. It brings clarity and beauty and gratefulness for every simple moment of living a life. I can’t tell you how much my heart sang last night, to listen to my husband and my son yell, in unison, at the football game last night, as they have done so many times in the past. I savored that sound like it came from Heaven above. Because it did. Heaven is all around us, if we open up our eyes and connect our watchful eyes to our hearts.
I’m sorry to get so deep on a Friday. You readers don’t like that, I know. You might be thinking, “Lighten up, lady!”, but it’s my blog, and I’ll cry if I want to . . . .
Please always remember that when you are considering your favorite things in life, it’s never really “the thing”. It’s always the feeling that you get from “the thing.” If you think of one of your favorite things, or people, or places right now, you will get those wonderful feelings that those things give to you, seeping into your consciousness right away. Try it. Do it often. Your favorites are really your favorite feelings, and you are capable of dosing yourself with your favorite feelings regularly. They are just a thought away. Stay aware. That’s the only way to live.
Happy weekend, my favorite readers of my favorite blog! See you tomorrow.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
In the summertime, we tend to get a least one hour of rain almost daily, here in Florida, but we also get a ton of sunshine, hence the nickname, ” The Sunshine State.” Last night we got a heavy, soaking rain and this morning the sun is shining through all of the raindrops covering my plants. My plants are sparkling! It’s a beautiful sight to behold.
Fridays are wonderful. Here at the blog, I don’t dig deep on Fridays. On Fridays, I stay at the surface level and I describe things, or books, or websites, or songs, that have made my own life more fun and interesting to experience. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites and please add your own favorites to my Comments section.
Here are my favorites for today:
Guerlain Aqua Allegoria line of perfumes – I’ve mentioned Herba Fresca here at the blog before because it is one of my favorite, all-time, refreshing, uplifting perfumes, but lately I have purchased a few other samples from this line (ebay) and I am blown away. They are lovely and clean and unique scents, everyone of them. One of the most unique, delicious scents from this line, utterly titillates me. It is easily a great Friday scent to wear. This scent from the divine Aqua Allegoria line is called “Ginger Piccante.” It’s not going to be for everyone, and it’s not an everyday scent, but for an essence of intrigue and daring and distinctiveness, give it a try!
Kim’s Pointy Earrings – Kim Wexler, from “Better Call Saul” is one of my favorite fictional characters from a television series, of all time. She wears a signature pair of earrings throughout the whole series, that I fell in love with, almost as much as her character. I think that these earrings subtly say, “I’m attractive, but don’t ever underestimate me. I will cut you, if provoked.” I bought a pair from Etsy (they came from Israel and are well made and reasonable priced) but you can get replicas of these earrings, at every price level. Alexis Bittar makes a similar pair of earrings. On an aside, I admire those of you, who wear the same signature things all of the time: a conversation piece of jewelry, or unique, colorful glasses or a signature scent that you wear every single day. I’m not that girl. I get bored easily, and I change it up all of the time, with my jewelry and perfumes, but I do find a lot of comfort in those of you who find your signature stamps, and stay loyal to these items, throughout your lives. I think that trait shows a lot of confidence in what you like.
Mrs. Bridgeby Evan S. Connell – “Oh Cecilia, you’re breaking my heart, you’re shaking my confidence daily!” (song by Simon and Garfunkel) (Cecilia, how many times have people sung this song to you, while you had a plastered smile on your face, while wondering how long you would have to endure it, as if it were the first time you had ever heard someone sing it to you? I have a very unusual maiden name. I can completely empathize.) Cecilia is one of my awesome readers (I LOVE and appreciate all of my readers, so so much!) who recommended this book for me to read. And I just finished it, and it was heartbreakingly excellent. It is an easy read, and a hard read, all at the same time, because if you are a middle-aged woman, in the middle of facing your own existential crises, you will cringe with self awareness, more than a few times, when reading this book. Mrs. Bridge is considered to be a classic, that never quite gets the attention that it deserves, much like its heroine. If you recall, the movie, “Mr. and Mrs. Bridge” featuring Paul Newman and Joanne Woodward, the movie is partially based on this book. I kept finding myself reflecting on Ordinary People and The Stepford Wives, while reading this thought-provoking, and also feeling-evoking, sparse novel. Thank you for recommending it to me, Cecilia.
Okay, let’s have a fabulous weekend, shall we?? See you tomorrow!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
