Friday Favorites Archives - Page 2 of 3

Friday is Good For U

“When you meet someone who is good for you, they won’t fill you with insecurities by focusing on your flaws. They’ll fill you with inspiration, because they’ll focus on all the best parts of you.” – Colleen Hoover, All Your Perfects

My daughter joined a sorority yesterday. When she was going through rush, one girl told her to pretend that she was lounging on a couch. The girl told my daughter to ask herself, “With what group of girls could you lounge on that couch, and feel most comfortably, happily and easily yourself?” My daughter told me that she found that perfect fit. She found her space on the right couch. And as a woman who is still extremely close to her best seven friends from her own wonderful college sorority, this makes my heart swell with happiness and hope. We women will always need other good women to paddle through life together. It’s in our DNA.

The emphasis here is of course on “good women“, and women and people, in general, who are “good for us.” As the quote says above, the people who are good for us won’t be judgy and overly critical. The people who are good for us will help us to discover our own very best gifts, and how best to utilize these gifts for ourselves and for our world. Judgmental people put up big blocks in relationships. The judgers cause people to get defensive, to shut down (for fear of more criticism), and they encourage others to start honing in on the critical person’s own flaws. (because none of us are flawless) For this reason, judgers often end up being extremely lonely, angry people. The people who are good for you, are just the opposite. These people will cause you to open up, and to bloom, and in this way, they will make you see the beauty in their own lovely, loving, wonderful characters, as well.

Okay, I get it. I’ve gotten off course. I’ve gotten a tad serious for a Friday post. My apologies. As my regular readers know, Fridays are devoted to the frivolous here at the blog. On Fridays, I list a favorite item, website, book, product, etc. that has made my sensory life nothing short of delightful. Please check out previous Friday posts for more of my favorites and please share your favorites, too. We can all have some of the same favorites. Todays favorite: Garlic Expressions Vinaigrette This salad dressing was supposedly created by a “legendary” supper club in Ohio. I love anything that contains garlic, but somehow this supper club encapsulated garlic in the most dreamy, light, liquid form imaginable. I got my first bottle at the Fresh Market, but I noticed that you can also order a bottle on Amazon.

Have a fabulous, frolicky, garlicy weekend! Spend time with the people who are good for you!

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

PinkLionDog Friday

Happy Friday to my wonderful friends and readers!! Welcome to the best day of the week. Fridays are frivolous and fun here at the blog. On Fridays, I discuss a product, or a website, or a song – a whatever that has added sparkle to my own life. In short, Fridays are about the things which have helped to make my own life more interesting and intriguing. Please check out previous Friday posts to find out about some more of my favorites. Who knows? Perhaps some of my favorites, could become some of your own favorites, too!

Today’s favorite is a Florida artist whose art I totally adore! And I am not the only one. Paige Gemmell has done partnerships with stationery companies (Caspari), Spartina, Anthropologie, and she even has her artwork printed on lingerie! Go check out prints you can buy, and other products that have her artwork printed on them, at her wonderful Etsy store: PinkLionDog

https://www.etsy.com/shop/PinkLionDog?ref=simple-shop-header-name&listing_id=51607158

Make this Friday a grand entrance into a fabulous weekend. Make this Friday simmer with excitement, anticipation, expectancy, and sultry suspense. Make this Friday one of the best of your life. You have that power to steer your ship in that direction. Do it.

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

Friday Fun and Stickiness

Happy Friday! Happy Friday Favorites!! On Friday, I keep it light and superficial on the blog and I discuss my favorites, such as products, beauty items, books, movies, websites, games, etc. It is the sensual stuff in life which makes it fun, so on Friday, I talk about the stuff that make my senses happy. Please check out previous Friday blog posts, for more favorites.

Before I get to today’s favorite, however, I have “a no horse pucky” story to tell you. Long time followers of the blog, know that I occasionally interject “no horse pucky” stories into the mix. (search up “no horse pucky” for more weird stories on the blog) These are stories that are so ridiculous and incredulous, you might think that I am pulling your tail. But I am not. Everybody has these crazy stories that happen in their lives every once in a while. These unusual events are so much fun to experience, and to retell.

Yesterday, our eldest son sent me a strange text. For background purposes, our eldest son is a tech professional who was attending a conference for his company in Boston earlier this week. My eldest son is a tall, gregarious twenty-six year-old man, who has curly red hair. (I only note his hair color because redheads/gingers can never be anonymous. They are rarely forgotten, primarily because they are so rare. Ask any ginger you know. This is the truth. When we took our son to Puerto Vallarta Mexico, when he was a toddler, the older village folk treated him like he was a god. They kept touching his hair for “good luck.”)

Anyway, the first line of the text said this: “Hey Mom! Random question for you, do you remember that apartment complex we moved into when we first moved to Charlotte (NC)? Was there a Colombian family there you gave a Steelers ornament to?”

Me: “Yes. Wow. Why?”

Our family moved from Pennsylvania to North Carolina in 2002, when our eldest son was six. We stayed in corporate housing apartments for three months that summer, until our house was ready to be moved into. While we were living in those apartments, we befriended a very nice Colombian family. They had just relocated to North Carolina from Columbia, because they wanted a safer place to live. Despite being well-off, educated professionals, and middle-class citizens in Columbia, they lived in constant fear of being kidnapped for ransom. That was a common thing in the early 2000s in Columbia. They said that they lived in terror, if any of the family members were even five minutes late coming home from work and appointments. We had a couple of enjoyable dinners together. I remember that they had lovely heirloom furniture and the wife introduced me to the wonders of cooking with capers. However, when we moved out of the apartment at the end of that summer, we lost touch and we never spoke or contacted each other again. We were never friends on social media.

Bottom line, it turns out that their son holds the same exact tech job, for the same exact company which my son works for, except that their son resides in Washington, D.C. and our son lives in New Jersey. Both young men happened to be at the same conference in Boston. Their son thought that he recognized my son (20 years after seeing each other at the age of six!) after they were talking and they realized that they had both lived in North Carolina as children.

Our son: “He told me his family kept that ornament for like ten years. LOL”

No horse pucky. In my opinion, coincidence is God being anonymous. This story brightened our day.

Okay, on to my favorite for today. It’s been a stressful summer, full of change and trepidation for our family and for our extended family. I have been looking for more items and objects to help me with mindfulness. On a whim, I purchased a Brain Games Sticker By Number book at our local grocery store. This book is like painting by numbers, but easier and less messy. The only skill that it requires is a steady hand. It’s such a satisfying, meditative activity and the end result is always really cute. I’ve already finished putting all of the stickers on that one particular book, and thus I have purchased three more of these Brain Games Sticker By Number books from Amazon. Try it. You’ll like it. You’ll relax doing it.

Have a great Friday! Go discover a new favorite to enjoy!! Don’t be afraid to play with stickers, no matter what your age!

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

Friday Favs

Hi friends. I’m not in my usual light-hearted Friday mood. Sorry. We are having to deal with a loved one’s serious health issues in our extended family, and all of the emotions and fears and decisions that this entails. Prayers and good vibes appreciated. This, too, shall pass . . .

Following in the tradition of Favorite Things Friday, my favorite for today has been around for a while, but for some reason I just finally stumbled upon them. I’ve always appreciated that when staying in hotels, they give you make-up remover wipes in individual packets. The typical make-up removal pads which are sold in big plastic blocks, tend to dry out, and the blocks are certainly not a convenient item to carry around in your purse. It turns out that Neutrogena sells bags of Make-up Remover towelettes, in individual, single-use packages. They are perfect and fragrance-free! I am thrilled to have finally discovered them.

You can find the towelettes at Target or Walmart or at this link on Amazon:

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

Friday Caan

RIP – James Caan

James Caan is my favorite for today on Favorite Things Friday. Any time I went to a movie, and I found out that James Caan was in it, I’d be glad. I loved his expressions, from the crazy temper of Sonny Corleone in The Godfather, to the smirky-ness of Walter in Elf. I loved his confident, macho, wise-ass demeanor.

The quote above by James Caan, is all that any of us parents are trying to do, right? We don’t get a degree in parenting from esteemed universities. We pretty much get on the job training – sink or swim. We try our best to carry on the traditions that we love from our families of origin, and we try our best to make the changes that would have made our own childhoods better. It’s not easy, but the loving part is in the earnest trying to be better, and to do better, in the hopes that our children will do the same, and improve upon us, so that the generations ahead will move forward towards a goal of loving, parental perfection. This is perhaps an unattainable goal, but at least it’s a point in the horizon worth pointing our ships toward.

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

Dog, It’s Friday

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.

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

Friday Props

Happy Friday, friends!!! Happy Best Day of the week!! My daughter starts college in a week, as she opted to start her university experience, during a summer session. (I keep telling her, and myself, that she’s really just going away to summer camp. 😉 ) I drive a teeny convertible and we went shopping for dorm stuff yesterday. If I showed you all of the stuff that we were able to cram into said convertible (with the top up, mind up – it’s been crazy hot here the last few days), you would believe that clown cars are real, and not a trick. Seriously. I now believe in clown cars.

On Fridays, here at the blog, I don’t delve deep. I don’t want to think deeply on Fridays. Do you? On Fridays, I stick to the superfluous stuff in life. I list a favorite thing, or place, or book, or website, or movie, or beauty product. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites and please share your favorites with us in the Comments section. Sharing is caring.

Today’s favorite of mine is for the beach. I am one who likes to lie on my towel versus always being propped up in a beach chair. I like to feel the firmness and the heat of the sand underneath my towel, contouring to my body. That being said, I’ve often thought it would be nice to sit supported, while still being able to feel the firmness of the sand underneath the towel. So I was delighted the other day to find a beach pad that folds up for easy carrying ability, but has a rod so that you can sit up, or lie flat on the sand. This product at Kohl’s is similar to what I purchased:

https://www.kohls.com/product/prd-640029/picnic-time-beachcomber-beach-mat.jsp?skuid=90987225&CID=shopping15&utm_campaign=SUMMER%20FURNITURE&utm_medium=CSE&utm_source=google&utm_product=90987225&utm_campaignid=9733267174&gclid=Cj0KCQjwzLCVBhD3ARIsAPKYTcRGzc5MqUwwEixfiudqckKSaY8jepvspVfV3qBScW7YpiDyADfePAIaAtisEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds

That’s what I love about new inventions. They don’t have to be high tech and they always make you think, “Duh, now why didn’t I think of that?”

Hope you are enjoying a great summer, friends!! Stay hydrated!!

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

Spooky Friday

Friday the 13th quotes for work Friday the 13th funny quotes quotes mystiekevrouwen | Dogtrainingobedienceschool.com

Hi friends and readers! Welcome to the best day of the week! On Fridays, I keep it surfacey. I typically list three favorite books, products, websites, songs, etc. and I strongly encourage you to share your favorites in my Comments section. If you are curious about more favorites of mine, please look at my previous Friday posts. Without further ado, here are today’s favorites:

Safflower Seeds – If you are like me, and you really enjoy having all sorts of birds in your yard, but you could live without the squirrels visiting, (they torture my poor Collie, Josie), then fill your bird feeders with safflower seeds. According to the experts, birds loves these seeds, but squirrels can’t stand them. I have two “squirrel proof” feeders in my backyard, but that doesn’t stop the squirrels from doing all sorts of Olympics-level acrobatics on the feeders, trying to “break the code.” This really sets off Barky, I mean Josie. I am hoping that these safflower seeds will finally send the squirrels packing.

Adam on Twitter (@adamgreattweet) – This guy is a resident physician in Georgia, but he is also one of the best “curators” of funny on the internet. I love most of his own funny tweets, but he also has a knack for finding other really funny tweets from so many different sources. (I don’t know where he finds the time to practice medicine.) Warning some of the tweets are a tad raunchy, but many of them are just plain funny, especially the ones that comment on parenting. Here is a sampling from a few of his recent tweets/retweets:

do i struggle with gaining weight? no, i do that pretty easily thank you. (Dadman Walking)

Growing up in the 80’s made me believe I’d need to “stop drop and roll” a lot more (Midge)

And here’s one of Adam’s originals:

them: i’m tired

me: hi tired, i’m

them: of your jokes

me: oh

“Peace is a practice.” – I read this recently and it has become my new favorite mantra. A wise person once said to me that you don’t go into a gym, look at the really buff people and ask yourself, “Why are these really buff people here at the gym?” The buff people are at the gym because the gym is where they got buff, and the working out at the gym is how they maintain the buff. Our peaceful minds work the same way. You have to find the ways that help you to gain and to maintain your inner peace and clarity, and you have to implement these practices on a daily basis. Unfortunately, just like good bodily health is not a “one and done”, neither is good mental/emotional health. “Peace is a practice.“

Have a great weekend, my dear friends and readers!! See you tomorrow!

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

Bless You, Friday

I’m kidding! It is actually Friday, the best day of the week!! Happy Friday, friends and readers. On Fridays, I keep everything surface level and I typically list three favorites of mine: songs, or books, or products, or food items or whatevers, and I strongly encourage you to add your favorites to my Comments section. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites to try out. Here are three of my favorites for today:

Suspender Earrings – My friend texted a video of Tina Fey chatting with Jimmy Fallon the other day. Being the hilarious people that Tina and Jimmy are, the video was hysterical, but what really kept distracting me, was the unusual earrings that Tina was wearing. They were sparkly rods that seemed to hook into her middle ear. Today’s earrings are full of edginess, and are worn all over the ears (my daughter really likes wearing ear cuffs). These suspender earrings fit into just one pierced hole on your ear lobe, but loop up on the bottom of your inner ear, giving your ears an unusual, unique, modern look, without having to get any extra piercings. Of course, I had to get a pair for myself, and a found a beautiful set on ebay, at an affordable price.

Jobe’s Fertilizer Spikes – My friend has the most beautiful magnolia tree in the middle of her front yard. It is one of the most blooming-est, full of itself, fabulous trees that I have ever seen. Our little magnolia tree, on the other hand, leans on the side of “pitiful.” I asked her the secret to her tree’s gorgeous vitality and she said that she hammers these Jobe’s spikes all around the tree, two times a year. We have started doing this with our tree, and the level of “perky” for our magnolia, is going right up. Interestingly, my husband pointed out that there is a ring of darker green, thicker grass around the tree, where he had placed the Jobe’s spikes. (the proof is in the pudding) You can order a package of these on Amazon.

Bless You Tissue Box – I love this tissue box (also found on Amazon). I keep it on my desk, alongside my adorable, favorite knick-knack, my gorgeous marble goldfish. (unfortunately, this is the only goldfish which I have ever successfully kept “alive” for years) I once went to a yoga class, where we had to do about fifteen minutes of movements to the chant, “I bless myself, I bless myself. I am, I am. I bless myself, I bless myself. I am. I am.” At first the wording felt strange, and indulgent, and perhaps even audacious, but after a while, the chant became very soothing and comforting. It served as a wonderful reminder of all of the power that lies within each one of us. How can you feel comfortable offering “bless yous” to anyone else, if you don’t have the ability to offer yourself blessings?

Bonus, if you are so inclined, here is the I Bless Myself chant:

Many blessings to all of you and yours this weekend!!!! See you tomorrow.

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

Feeling Friday

Hello my dear friends and readers!! We made it!! We made it to Friday. In my life, a lot of “my people” have gone through some challenges this week such as crazy, busy workloads and deadlines, huge snow storms, and scary health challenges. Somehow, though, here we are at Friday, and everything feels like its going to be okay. I am happy to report that two of my dear friends got the vaccine this week. They had no reaction to the shot, other than big smiles on their faces. That makes my heart, happy and hopeful. My regular readers know that I love Fridays and I typically list three favorite products or songs or movies or food stuff that make life a little more fun and eventful. I strongly encourage you to put your favorites in my Comments section. Share the love, friends!! Here are my favorites for today:

Hunt for the Wilderpeople – This movie was written by Taika Waititi, the same man who created JoJo Rabbit and The Mandalorian. The movie features a young man who is a foster child in New Zealand, and his adventure with his “uncle.” What I love most about Taika Waititi’s creations is that he shows his stories through the innocent, hopeful, resilient eyes of a child. He makes it okay to laugh through extremely difficult experiences. I always fall in love with the characters (even the supporting cast) in his movies, and I always feel a little expansion in my heart and in my smile, after watching. I highly recommend this delightful film.

Mineral Fusion Lipstick – One of my favorite things in life, is to find an “old favorite” which I have forgotten about. I was cleaning out my little cross-body, dog walking purse, and underneath the poop bags (unused, of course), the dog whistle, the hand sanitizer, and a few random dog treats, was my metallic orange tube of Mineral Fusion Lipstick (shade – Intensity). I forgot how much I like this lipstick for its brightness and staying power. The older I get, the more faded out I seem to look, and a nice, bright lipstick always does the trick, to perk me up a little bit. Lately, one of my friends (a somewhat conservative English teacher), has taken to wearing red lipstick every day and she looks so gorgeous on our Marco Polo videos that we share we each other, in our friend group. Lipstick is our friend, ladies! (Peony is another shade that I like from this line.)

I was reminded of one of my favorite biblical verses today, from Tim Scott’s (senator from South Carolina) Twitter. Tim was raised by a single mother who worked sixty hour weeks as a nurse’s aide to support her family. Tim Scott has said that his mother always saw what he was capable of becoming, well before he did and he quoted this verse, as he wished her a happy birthday today. Those of you, who also believe in mystical numbers, can appreciate that this verse is number 11:1. Keep the faith, friends and have a wonderful weekend! (Go Buccaneers!!!)

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