Five Favorite Things Friday

1. The First Day of Summer Break! Carla is done with school – done with elementary school, in fact, which boggles my mind; doesn’t it feel like just yesterday I was leaving cryptic messages announcing my pregnancy? – and now we are officially on summer break! The first day was a perfect day and I hope we have many perfect days just like it ahead of us. We slept in until eight o’clock, which felt decadent but also not too slothful. We ate breakfast and planned our day. Then we took a drive to Target for some provisions (a sun hat for me, a new pool toy for Carla, some popsicles for the garage freezer) and then to Home Depot for some additional planting supplies. We had all the car windows wide open while we drove and we picked summery songs to add to a summer playlist. We were both GIDDY with the promise of summer. Then, after lunch, we invited the neighbors over for a swim and the kids alternated eating snacks by the pool and swimming. (Note to self: everyone always thinks they want Cheez-Its but no one ever finishes a bag except the gluttonous ants.) While watching four children swim is not relaxing in any sense of the word, it was still a wonderful way to spend the day. 

2. Cherry Smoothies. I have been drinking cherry smoothies for breakfast for months now, and I am not tired of them yet. They are SO GOOD, y’all. Not too sweet, and 33 grams of protein without protein powder. I also enjoy the lovely purpley pink color. 

3. My Cuisinart Stick Blender. Smoothie-relatedly, I am loving my stick blender. I am still very fond of my Ninja blender, which has its own smoothie cup perfect for making smoothies. But since I made a smoothie daily, sometimes the Ninja isn’t clean and I need another option. (The versions of the blender available now come with TWO smoothie cups, those lucky ducks.) I love this stick blender because it came with a nice, big carafe that I can use for the smoothies AND it came with a little food processor attachment that is perfect for salsa and dressings and other small-batch things not worth the hassle of my enormous food processor. 

4. My Indoor Plants. I’ve already gone on and on about my outdoor plants, but my indoor plants are THRIVING. My orchid – which I got when Carla was in pre-K – is blooming again, the anthurium is blooming happily, two of the succulents that are leftover from Carla’s tenth birthday are still alive. I am a teeny bit concerned about Carla’s orchid cactus – it’s sprawling all over the place and seems happy, but from my limited research it might not be getting enough sun? Well. I don’t know if there’s a sunnier spot, sweetheart, so we’ll have to see what happens.

5. A Comfy Summer Schlub Dress. I bought this dress on a whim and I am loving it. It’s my ideal summer lounge-around-and-go-to-Target dress – very casual, so soft it feels like jammies, but cute enough that I feel like I’m making an effort. Also, it has pockets. 

What are you loving lately?

Read Full Post »

Favorite Things Party

A few weeks ago, San linked to this article about how to host a Favorite Things party, and I have been thinking about it nonstop ever since. The gist is that you and a bunch of friends get together, and, after agreeing on a budget, each of you buy enough of one of your life essentials to give to each guest. (The article lists suggestions for how to do this with a big vs. small group. It also suggests going with a theme – kitchen, beauty, etc.)

Yes, I know it’s very off-brand of me to want to host A PARTY, because that’s just not my jam. But I have three or so friends that get along with one another who might also think it’s fun. I am so not ready to have real live people in my real live house, but I am maybe warming myself up to the idea. 

In the meantime, I keep thinking about what I might bring as my Favorite Thing. What would you bring?

This kitchen tool. I use this ALL the time. Mostly for breaking up ground beef, to be sure, but it also comes in handy for scrambling eggs or doing a chunky mash on things like potatoes or avocadoes. Sometimes if I have frozen vegetables I am using in a soup or something I will use this to break them up in the pot, too. It’s versatile and dishwasher safe and I use it all the time.

A cooling eye balm. This costs more than the suggested budget, but I love love love this eye balm. It has a cooling element that I find very refreshing, plus it adds a much-needed glow to the saggy smudged undereye area. 

Olive juice. Okay, okay, this is kind of a niche product, so maybe it wouldn’t go over that well at a Favorite Things party. But I love this stuff! It makes for really tasty dirty martinis, which is the only kind of martini for me. I also get a chuckle out of the name, despite the fact that I have never and will never go by Sue.

Cat slippers. My daughter got me a pair of these several years ago and I wore them to shreds. They just made me so happy, to look at their cute little cat faces. (They also come in llama or pig or sloth, if those are more your style!)

A stylish outdoor wine tumbler. I got this as part of a Fab Fit Fun box a few years ago and for some reason, I get such a kick out of it. It’s pretty and portable and makes me feel like A Fancy Lady.

Wearable reading light. This isn’t technically something I use – at least, not very often – but my husband uses it and it (usually) prevents me from waking up when he climbs into bed to read at one or two in the morning and therefore it is high on my list of favorites.

The best foot cream. I credit Nicole for the hot tip about this foot lotion. It is The Best. I put it on my cracked, dry feet before bed and they feel all soft and happy the next morning. MAGIC. You have to get the exfoliating kind, though – the regular kind is fine, but it doesn’t have magic properties.

Korean street food snack. My husband and I bought a package of garlic Tteokbokki when we made our date-night trip to the Asian grocery store. While the description isn’t wildly exciting, at least not to me (“rice cakes with red chili and garlic sauce”), the actual snack is SO tasty. Slightly sweet, slightly spicy, with a texture unlike anything I’ve ever had before. Kind of like if you were to cook penne pasta but not all the way through, so it’s somewhere between chewy and crunchy. I fear that this description might be a deterrent, which is the opposite of my intention. In any event, this stuff is SO GOOD. Oh, it is also extremely easy to make. 

Packable reusable bag. I have a million reusable grocery bags that I keep in my car, but I keep one of these in my purse, folded into its little square pouch. It comes in handy ALL the time, if I’ve popped into Trader Joe’s for “just one thing” without a grocery bag and end up buying too many items to carry, if I need an extra bag at the airport, if I’m out with my daughter and she finds eighty perfect rocks she cannot live without. Also, it’s machine washable which I love.

Matcha whisk. I love a nice soothing cup of matcha in the morning, and this whisk really does seem to eliminate lumps and clumps. It’s inexpensive enough that I could possibly even pair it with a little bag of matcha; Trader Joe’s has smallish bags that aren’t wildly pricey. 

Ice roller. My husband got me one of these last year and I use it for my feet. I LOVE IT. You can remove the little green portion and put it in the freezer, and then pop it into the handle, and voila! cooling and soothing foot rolling action. I think this tool is intended for faces, but I have also used it for bruises, like when I bark my knee against the corner of the bed, or for bug bites, to which Carla is extremely sensitive and which develop into enormous golf ball sized welts. There’s something about being able to roll the frozen part over the affected area that makes it more comfortable than dealing with an ice pack.

Okay, those are some of my favorites. Now I want to hear some of yours!

I am kinda sorta attempting to complete NaBloPoMo, with the full expectation that life will make it impossible any day now. If you want to follow along, or join the fun, check out San’s blog here. 

Read Full Post »