A few of my favorite things....

A few weeks ago Andy and I went to a dive in movie at a friend's house.  If you have never gone to one, it's basically where you go swimming and watch a movie.  This friend is one of Andy's partners in his firm and he and his wife are so much fun to be around!  I don't think I've ever not laughed (a lot) when we've been together.  Well, apparently he thought it would be funny to start off not playing our feature movie (which was a surprise) so we could groan and complain and roll our eyes.  The problem was he chose a movie I love The Sound of Music.  So as the music began my heart leapt with excitement, until I realized that we would only get to see and hear about 60 seconds before it was turned off to reveal the feature film Rock of Ages.  I must add, I have yet to see Rock of Ages, because I chose to spend my time chatting away on the porch with some fun ladies.  :)  But, hearing the Sound of Music for a minute made me think about a few of "My Favorite Things".

 

Beauty Products

This first item is a lotion my sister-in-law got me for a birthday a while ago.  As you can tell I have been hanging on to the very last bit of it.  I love it because it smells great, goes on so smoothly, and really makes my skin feel moisturized.  I had been holding onto the bottle so that I could ask my SIL where she got it so that I could pick one up on one of our trips to Ocala.  I then had a light bulb moment last week and realized that I'm sure I could find it on amazon.  I'm not sure why it took me this long to think of that, but you'll be happy to know that my new bottle arrived this week and so my old bottle is on its way out.  :)

 



 

I discovered this lip balm at a store on one of our date nights when we were shopping for new flip flops.  I love the way it smells, feels, and glides on so smoothly.  It's my every day go to, when I'm not wearing lipstick.

 

 

Several years ago I went to a MAC make-up how to class, and the next two items are my favorite products I learned about there.  I'm not usually one for "extras" but I really love these products.  The first one is Prep and Prime and you put it on after your face moisturizer and before your foundation.  Just a squirt is enough to spread across your nose, cheek, and forehead area.  It really does make my foundation go on much smoother and seems to help keep it in place for a longer time.  I definitely notice a difference on the days I don't use it. 

 

 

 This is a paint pot in the Painterly color.  I apply this (almost daily) to my eyelids before applying my eye shadow.  It's a creamy texture and can be worn alone, which I sometimes do.  But, mostly I use it as a foundation to keep my shadow on, and it does a great job of that!

 

Shoes/Accessories

I love shoes, but I feel like the last several years I just haven't come across many I just "had to have".  I did buy both of these in the past year and wear them all the time.  Not only do I love how they look, they are extremely comfortable.  It's so hard to know that until you buy a shoe, but when I do find that shoe they will be worn often. :)

 

I had been looking for a good pair of wedges and came across these Jessica Simpson ones.  They are camel colored and I feel like they go with so much.  I've worn them with shorts, dresses, and jeans.  I feel like they are an extremely versatile shoe.  FYI- I do wear these mainly on date nights and to church or a special event.  I do not wear these going to the grocery store or to the park.  I'm definitely a flip flop kind of girl.  I am so glad I live in Florida so that I can wear them 80% of the year.  :)

 

 

I saw these booties on a blog last year and loved how they looked on the girl wearing them.  I wasn't sure if I could pull them off since they are so different than what I have typically worn in the past, but I went and tried them on and fell in love.  I wore them so much this past winter, I definitely got my money's worth.  Again, they are Jessica Simpson, and very comfortable.  You can wear them without socks, but I found these little bootie socks at Kohl's and usually wear them with those.  Most of the time, I ended up wearing these with jeans.

 

 

 A few Christmases ago Andy got me this necklace and I absolutely love it.  I wear it all of the time!  It's one of my favorite gifts I have ever received because it involves the kids (who are some of my VERY favorite things). :)  I love any opportunity I get to tell someone that I am a mom.  It's been one of my greatest blessings and wearing their names around my neck is something I am very happy to do.  (Fyi...I think Andy ordered it from Restoration Hardware)

 

You can't really see it well in this picture, but this is how it lays when I wear it.  I tease the kids that my favorite kids name is on top, so I try to mix it up some times in case they ever check in.  Only Drew seems to be concerned with that. :)

 



 

Before Ellis was born I made a ton of headbands for her to wear as a newborn, but as soon as she began to get more hair I was in search of the perfect bow.  I finally found these at Hobby Lobby.  I like that they don't lay too flat and that they are on a clip that easily slides into her hair.  She pretty much has them in every color they make.  I also have some of the smaller size for when she wears pigtails. 

 

 

 

 

Books, etc. :)

I love to read;  I always have.  As a young girl, my dad and I would go on a "date" to the Gainesville library.  I would head downstairs to the kids section and collect the many books that I wanted to take home for the month and then find a cozy place to begin reading as I waited to my dad to collect all of his books.  Those are some of my fondest memories.

 

I still love to read, and I love that I married someone who also loves reading.  Although, we do not share books often.  My books are usually Christian fiction, and his books are some kind of boy books.  I don't even really know.  I do know that one time when I didn't have a book to read I asked him for a suggestion and he gave me one of his books to enjoy.  Aside from not having much of a feel good point to the story, it was also hard to follow with many confusing plots and story lines.  It made my head hurt trying to follow it.  We usually do most of our reading at night before turning out the lights.  To me it's the perfect way to wind down and relax before falling asleep.

 

My very favorite book is Redeeming Love.  It's a story I've read and re-read.  Here's is a part of the description found on amazon that puts it perfectly...

 

"A powerful retelling of the story of Gomer and Hosea, Redeeming Love is a life-changing story of God’s unconditional, redemptive, all-consuming love."

 

If you have not had the opportunity to read it, I highly recommend it!

 

 

This is one of the first "sets" of books I received from my parents.  I think I was in about 6th grade.  I remember reading them and immediately loving them.  It's been years since I have read them.  I keep wondering if I will read them sometime soon, or save them as something that Ellis and I will read together.  Of course, now there's a few movies based off of this series and the series continues beyond what was originally released.  Janette Oke is a wonderful author and I have enjoyed other books from her as well.

 

 

As an adult this is one of the series that I first discovered and loved on my own.  As I read these books, the author, Karen Kingsbury, did such a great job writing them, that I felt like I was a part of this family.  I rejoiced with them and cried with them, and couldn't wait until the next book was released so that I could find out what was happening with this family.  These were so widely popular that there were several off shoot series that were tied to this original set of books.  I recommend (and own) :) them all.  Although, the original 5 books are probably my favorite.

 

This is not Fiction, but is the life story of a singer, Keith Green, that my dad listened to as we were growing up.  Keith Green lost his life, with 2 of his children, at a young age, and he was completely sold out for Jesus.  You will see that if you get a chance to read his story.  As I read this book it brought back wonderful childhood memories of listening to his music.  (I currently have his CD in my car as I still listen today.) Reading it challenges me and spurs me on to want to live "radically" for Jesus as Keith Green did.

 

 

As I mentioned a few posts ago, Jon Courson is one of my favorite pastors.  This is the set of CDs I listened to when I first heard him preach.  I have never seen him in person, but I do watch him or listen to him on-line.  He came and did a Men's Retreat at our church years ago, but we weren't in town the Sunday he was there.  One of my best friends lent me their copy of the retreat CD's and when I listened to them, I knew this was a teacher that would remain in my life.  I almost saw him one other time when I joined my friend to attend a Children's Ministry retreat in California.  He was to speak our last morning there, but we needed to get to the airport, so we had to miss.  :(  I seriously considered missing my flight, but I don't think our husbands would have appreciated that.

 

I own all of Courson's commentaries and they are a great resource for me when I want to dig in a little further.

 

Last, but certainly not least...

Yummm!!!  Enough said. :)

 

 

 

Comment and let me know some of your favorite things.  I have always believed that the best form of advertisement is word of mouth, and I'd love to have some new favorite things to add to my list. :)