Eruption at Mount Edna (Sicily) gives the illusion of a Phoenix in the sky (credit: @fastworkers6, Twitter)
What an amazing world we live in! In a matter of ten minutes (after studying this amazing picture above which was taken in May of this year), I watched a video of a newborn calf who was born at 3 a.m. last night, a lecture given about marketing by the late Steve Jobs, and a fabulous dancing video of the late Carmen Amaya, who is considered to be the greatest woman flamenco dancer who has ever lived. All of this greatness, arrived at the touch of my finger before 7:15 a.m. Why is this ability to see and to experience, and to learn about so much, so easily, so taken for granted? I remember the days of having to painstakingly research everything that I was curious about, utilizing card catalogs and microfiche. Don’t get caught in ruts, friends. Don’t watch the same news channels, droning on the same negativity every single day. Broaden your horizons. This world is incredible. Put your focus on what puts you into the state of awe.
Happy Friday!! Happy Favorite Things Friday!! What’s my favorite thing for today? I live in Florida. Hair and humidity do not mix. I finally found a hair product that helps to keep my hair in relative form. It’s not perfect, but it is better than any other product I have tried thus far. Paul Mitchell Fast Drying Sculpting Spray is effective, relatively inexpensive, and available in travel size at your local CVS, in order to try it before you purchase the large size. (that’s how I originally discovered this gem of a product)
Please check out my previous Friday posts for more favorites, and do something this weekend that will put it on the list of one of your favorite weekends of all time!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
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 ByNumber 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.
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.
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 stay on the fluffy side of life and I discuss any favorite item or book or song or TV show that has made my life more interesting, easy, fun, etc. Please check out previous Friday posts for more favorites and please let us know some of your own favorites.
Today’s favorite is perfect for those of us who do not want to own our own shredders. (I already own plenty of dust collectors already.) I have become more nervous about throwing away paper items with personal information on them, than ever before. I read in a magazine about Guard Your ID ink blotters, which is a simple tool that basically blackens out any information which you do not want shared with any identity thief who might come across your private papers. It works tremendously. It dries quickly, and it affords you peace of mind, so that you don’t have to allow piles of papers to build up, to warrant a trip to the shredder. It is small, easy to keep in a drawer, and I purchased the “Plus” version which is extra wide. It can be purchased from Amazon for around $10.00. Worth every penny. Can you put a price on your peace of mind?
Have an enjoyable weekend, friends! I’ll 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 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.
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)
Don’t worry. I won’t do a repeat of last year’s April Fools pranks. I got a little too much flack for that one. Plus, I think that you all might be too prepared this year. 🙂
My weekend is pretty filled-up with quite a few fun activities, so my blog posts will likely be a little shorter than usual for the next few days. Please forgive me if I seem distracted. As always, though, thank you for your support and validation. I love the connection that we have here at the blog. It is a constant in my life (and hopefully yours, too). I treasure my blog and I treasure you, my readers.
With that being said, today, I only have one favorite to share. My husband and I were recently at one of our favorite local hangouts and they had hired a singer, whom I found to be particularly good and soothing and entertaining. She has one of those deep southern drawls, with a bluesy edge, which is my favorite kind of country singers’ voices. Please give Aubrey Wollett a listen. Apparently, she has a decent following not just in Florida, but also in Nashville. Have a fabulous Favorite Things Friday!! Enjoy at least one of your favorites today or discover a new favorite! This is a precious day of your life.
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
I was watching a video showing Supreme Court nominee, Ketanji Brown Jackson, being asked about how she would inspire children of our nation to reach the great heights that she has reached in her career and in her overall life. She choked up when she answered the senator’s question. Ketanji Brown Jackson made a point that sometimes it is the smallest gestures that make a huge difference in people’s lives. She relayed the story of being a black young lady from Miami, with a public school background, being at Harvard University for the first time, during her first semester freshman year. She was not used to the cold weather of Boston, nor the abundance of prep school kids who grew up with an entirely different background that she had, and she was terribly homesick. She was questioning whether she really belonged there. Jackson said that as she was walking dejectedly on the campus, an anonymous black woman came up to her, out of nowhere, looked her straight in the eye and said to her, “Persevere.” Obviously, she never forgot that moment. Ketanji Brown Jackson was relaying this very story about a stranger, as she was choked up with emotion, to a senator during the hearings to see if she will become the newest justice of The United States Supreme Court, and to be the first black woman ever to achieve this role.
Today, I don’t want to talk about favorite things like I usually do on Fridays. Physical things are great. They make life fun and interesting and creative and tactile and sensory. They evoke happy feelings when we are experiencing using and admiring the things that we love. There is nothing wrong with physical things, particularly our favorite things. But today, I pose this question. What are three of your favorite things that people have done for you that have left a lasting impression on you, and possibly even changed your life??
This morning my friend shared a text of a beautiful jar, created for her, by her daughter for her birthday. It is filled with little pieces of paper saying different things that she loves about her mother. It reminded me of my third grade teacher, who every week, would make a poster with one of us students’ individual names at the top. All week long, the other students would go up and write what was uniquely special and interesting about that particular student. At the end of the week, each student went home with their poster, filled with pride and happiness that their unique qualities were noticed and admired and appreciated. I never forgot that experience. I loved my poster and I was so happy for every “student of the week”, in anticipation of their feelings of joy and connectedness.
Sometimes it is the littlest gestures that mean the most. When my husband and I were first married, we were visiting people, and we ended up having a difficult, tumultuous, emotional time with these people. I was dejected as I got into the shower, anticipating an even more upsetting evening as we were all heading out to dinner. My husband had just showered before me, and as I reached for the soap, I saw that he had carved, “It’s okay. I love you,” into the soap. It is these small, kind gestures that make me fall in love with him again and again.
Use some time of this glorious Friday in your life, to reflect on all of the small but meaningful kindnesses bestowed on to you, and also reflect on kindnesses which you felt compelled to bestow on to others. This is love in action. What are some of your most favorite memories of kindness and inspiration and hope in your life? This will flood you with wonderful, hopeful feelings in this time, in the history of the world, which we so desperately need more of these feelings of lovingness to abound.
(And if you are so inclined, I would love if you, my readers, would share some of your stories about these kindnesses in my Comments section.)
Have a great weekend!!!
Are you passing on love or are you passing on pain? Heal your pain and pass on love.
