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!!!)

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

Jojo Friday

“Let everything happen to you / Beauty and terror / Just keep going / No feeling is final.” – Rainer Maria Rilke

Okay, friends, first of all, Happy Friday! Happy Favorite Things Friday! Second of all, time for me to gush. I love a lot of things in life. I adore my family and my friends and my pets and my experiences and my home and books and driving in a convertible with the top down and adventuring in unknown places and delicious spicy food and writing and music and hiking and candles and throw pillows and perfume and art and fashion and good lighting and jewelry and nature and the mystery of all things spiritual and the sound of rain and our adorable three baby pineapples growing out back . . . . I could go on and on, but I also adore good movies and last night, during Thursday’s “Family Movie Night in the Living Room”, we watched (even my eldest son in New Jersey, Facetimed in, for this one) one of the best movies that I have seen in a long, long time. I was, at first, very hesitant to watch a film that was supposedly a “comedy” featuring Hitler, but when I saw how well this satire was done, I sank into the delicious experience of watching it and I could watch it again and again. The poem above is featured in the film, which will be the first of today’s Favorite Things. New readers, please see previous Friday posts for more favorites and all readers, please post your favorites in the Comments section. Let’s focus on our favorite things today, friends, not those things which we detest, such as nasty, nasty, ugly viruses.

Jojo Rabbit – This film puts me in mind of a darker A Christmas Story (also one of my all-time favorite movies). The acting is incredible, the filming is all together charming, and the painful winsomeness which all we feel, when we are going through dark times (such as now), is captured perfectly in this innocently honest, coming of age tale. I LOVE this movie! I found it to be entertaining, poignant, funny and raw. If you like Wes Anderson type movies, such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, you will like Jojo Rabbit, as much as I do.

Sea Bunnies – When Zooming with my high school-aged mentee yesterday she showed me her excellent artwork which she is working on. She drew a postage stamp with these adorable little creatures called “Sea Bunnies” featured on the stamp. I said to my genuinely genuine and authentic-ly refreshing mentee, “Those are so adorable, I wish that they were real!” She said, “They are real. Look them up.” And so to you, reader, I say, “They are real. Look them up.” If you want delightful eye candy (eye candy has no fat nor calories), look up “sea bunnies.”

“I Did Not Touch The Food” video – I don’t think that I have ever seen more conviction in a denial of the truth than from this adorable toddler, Lily. This video does not get old for me. I love the forcefulness she uses to profess her “innocence.” If you want a giggle, watch the video. I dare you to try to only watch it once.

https://videos.dailymail.co.uk/video/mol/2020/04/22/4327567503805953879/640x360_MP4_4327567503805953879.mp4

Enjoy chewing on some grapes this weekend! See you tomorrow, my wonderful friends and readers!

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(Scene from Jojo Rabbit, featuring Scarlett Johansson)