5 Friday Favorites: It's 2019?!

Happy 2019 from snowy Virginia!

Well, it's been a minute, huh? I'm actually finding it kind of scary to sit back down here again because after being away for over a month from this space, it seems I've done a lot of wondering. Wondering if all my words have dried up. Wondering if this blog has run its course. Wondering if the social media algorithms are so weird now that no one who used to see my blog post links will even see them anymore or really, if they'll even care to see them anymore. Wondering if it doesn't matter anyway because maybe everyone gave up the internet for their New Year's Resolutions and wondering if that might not be the best idea I've ever heard.

There's also been some other kinds of wondering. Wondering why I always have to carry a pair of tweezers around every single place I go now. Wondering why just sleeping has suddenly become a dangerous activity with the potential that I might "sleep wrong" sending me to spend all my money on chiropractors and copious amounts of Advil. Wondering how my boys will ever be resilient enough to make it in the world having never had to memorize a phone number or had the patience to wait for their favorite song to be played on the radio so that they could put their tape recorder up to the stereo speaker and push the record button.

It seems there's been lots of wondering in the past month since I was here. And that may very well be because I turned 50 years old in the time since I last posted. Half a century. 5-0. FIF-TY. Or Fiddy if you happen to be a rapper. Which sadly, I am not. And now I'm wondering if the ship has sailed on my becoming a rapper.

Anyway, when one turns 50 years old I think she's supposed to be compelled to look back on her life and evaluate some things so maybe that's cause for all the wondering. And when you turn 50 right in the throes of all the New Year madness where everyone is shouting at us to change every single thing about our bodies, our closets, our mindsets, our cooking habits and the ways in which we organize our sock drawers so as to spark joy it can cause some looking forward as well.

What I'm saying is simply this: My mind is a difficult place to be right now. There's a whole lot going on in there. If you were living inside my head right now, you'd probably need a strong drink and maybe a puppy.

So it occurs to me - as it has many times in my life - that one thing I know is that when my mind starts exhausting me, I need to write some words. I've been writing a lot for my church lately. I've written some devotionals and some short sermons and that's been great and fulfilling and a wonderful opportunity. But it seems that the best way to keep my mind from getting on my last nerve is to write here as well. I need to write some lists, some stream of consciousness nonsense, some deep questions and some silly questions, too. So now that we've got to the end of this 6th paragraph today, I do believe I'll keep blogging and I hope you'll keep reading.

In keeping with the random nonsense and since it is Friday which is traditionally 5 Friday Favorites around here, we'll start 2019 with a look back at some things from 2018 that have made me super happy.

Favorite Pajamas of 2018

These Jijamas Women's pajamas from Amazon are seriously the softest, best quality pajamas I can remember having in a very long time. And I fancy myself a pajama expert which clearly makes me not very fancy. Steve got these for me for Christmas and it appears that they have tons of different patterns to choose from. They are a little pricey, but they are worth it if you spend as much time in your pajamas as I do.

Favorite Books of 2018

I read a lot of books in 2018 and I had a lot of favorites, but I think by far my favorite was Educated: A Memoir by Tara Westover. It was fascinating. I highly recommend it.

My favorite fiction book was Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens. The language was beautiful, the story was compelling, and you will fall in love with the main character in seconds.

Runner Ups: Listening to Your Life: Daily Meditations with Frederick Buechner, Eat Cake Be Brave by Melissa Radke, The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

Basketball Season

As you know, based on the title of this here blog, I watched and loved a whole ton of baseball games over the last year. However, I have to choose basketball as my favorite for this year because of the fact that this season is potentially my last as a basketball mama. I'm not sure if Drew will play in high school next year, as his main sport is baseball, so I have determined that I will not miss a second of Kyle's senior season and it's been pure joy. Win, lose, foul, or swish, I am enjoying the fire out of watching Kyle and his teammates. I love it with my whole heart and I'm just trying so hard not to count the days until it's over. It's coming quicker than I want as all of these endings seem to do, so I'll keep sitting in the bleachers, mumbling about the refs, and trying hard not to embarrass anyone by being "that" mom yelling "AND ONE!" every two seconds.

Favorite Podcasts

2018 was the year of the podcast for me and I have to say, it might have become a problem. I've got some favorites that I do not miss each week. Honestly, this makes me have to work real hard to find silence in my day since I tend to have someone talking in my ear buds all day long if I don't fight against it.  One of my very favorites is Dax Shepard's Arm Chair Expert. His podcasts are really long, but I have learned so much from so many of his guests. He interviews celebrities, but also authors, philosophers, and philanthropists. This is not a podcast to listen to with little ears around, so beware, but there are some fascinating people on each episode.

The Big Boo Cast goes a totally different direction and is just like being on the phone with two of your best girlfriends talking about make up, movies, books, college football and snacks. It is hosted by Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson who are two authors and bloggers that I've been following for years. They are delightful and hilarious.

I never miss The PopCast with Knox and Jamie for "educating you on the things that entertain, but do not matter" where you can learn any thing and everything you never needed to know about pop culture. I frequently have hit pause on this because I'm laughing so hard.

Runners Up: The Bible Binge, Jen Hatmaker's For the Love Podcast, The Happy Hour with Jamie Ivey, Off Camera with Sam Jones, and That Sounds Fun with Annie F. Downs

Favorite Beauty Products of 2018

I feel it's appropriate that in my first post back in a month we should end on a very shallow note. The turning of 50 causes a girl to have to explore some new options in the beauty product realm.

Let me amend that, actually. By 50 we are not supposed to care, we are supposed to be grounded and understand who we are and whose we are and we are not supposed to buy into all the marketing ploys telling us that we aren't enough. Yes. All that. I agree. Now, let's move on to my eyebrow situation.

My eyebrows seem to be doing weird things like not having enough hair in certain places and having non-welcome hairs in other places. In addition, there are hairs on my chin and my lip that were not invited to attend my face. So, here are some things that I've had that I've put to good use and some new things I am thinking of trying.

Tweezerman Tweezers

You can see from the photo how important these tweezers are to my daily life. They sit right here on my desk with all of my pens and expo markers.  These are the best and I need a few of them to scatter around the house, in my purse, and in my car because of this unfortunate situation.

Gimme Brow by Benefit

I just bought this brow gel yesterday. I have no idea if it was a good purchase yet, but I have significantly high hopes for all my eyebrow dreams to come true in 2019.

Also, this isn't about brows, but I never used primer before this past year and I still think it might be a hoax, but I've been using this Smashbox Photo Finish Primer for awhile now. It seems to make my make up go on smoother and it just feels good on my face. And now I realize that this is all sounds like it's in my head and I'm likely a big ol' sucker. Whatever. I'm sticking with it.

Well, that's it, Friends. Of course, there were a million other wonderful things about 2018. My friends and my family and my wonderful church and my amazing God all top the list. They were far superior to my tweezers, but I can't link to them on Amazon. ;-)

I wish you an amazing start to your New Year with no weird facial hairs and a lot of love and laughing. I'll be back here again soon!

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