My Favorite Things

I believe this is the fourth installment of "These are a few of my favorite thiiiiiings."  I wanted to include the following items but decided not to due to their absurdity (but if I'm being truthful, honorable mentions go to):  jean shorts, ceiling fans, chocolate chip cookies, and sleep. 

Here we go! I hyperlinked all of the items in case you're interested.

1. OluKai Paniolo Leather Flip Flops
One would never use the word "comfortable" while looking at my shoe collection.  I do own some flats but for the most part I prefer heels.  That being said, it finally dawned on me that 1) It is summer and 2) I am pregnant and 3) Comfort is slowly passing fashion.  When I was in Florida I realized I needed a pair of comfortable shoes.  I tried on several and while my feet were in heaven, my brain was screaming, "Take them off right now--they're hideous!"  And then I saw the OluKai Paniolo flip flops. They were (in my opinion) the absolute best of the worst.  I tried them on and birds sang as they reminded me of my Birkenstocks, circa 1997.  I now wear them 5+ days a week and love them.   While they aren't cheap, I believe they are worth every penny. 

2. Clarisonic Mia Sonic Skin Cleansing System
When I worked at Nordstrom a few years ago the Clarisonic Mia was one of their bestsellers.  My in-laws gave this to me as a birthday gift this year and it is absolutely fantastic!  While my face doesn't look 10 years younger, I do notice a difference and my face actually feels clean after I use it.  It can be used at the sink or in the shower and it comes with a charger.  Once again--this is not uber cheap, but very useful for those of us who worship the sun.

3. MAC Lipstick - See Sheer (coral-orange)
You know how most women can go to a makeup counter and the employee excitedly shows them what colors look great on them?  I am not one of these women.  Each time I say, "I'd like to find a new lipstick that works well with my skin," they point me to the 1000 lipsticks and saunter off.   I either buy the same color I've always worn or leave feeling discouraged.  For some bizarre reason the employee listened to my request on my last visit and stayed by my side.  He examined my skin, my hair, and my eyes, and then pointed to a color that was "so me" and "on trend" (I hate that phrase by the way).  I never would've picked out this color for myself but I love it and it makes me feel very... on trend (ugh). 

4. Babylit Board Books
I can't remember where I first saw these but I thought they were THE cutest baby books ever.  I showed Michael and he agreed so we're now building a small collection for our future literature junkies. They're obviously very basic and innocent (for example (SPOILER ALERT): no one dies in Romeo & Juliet) but if we can limit the number of times we have to recite, "Brown bear, brown bear what do you see? I see a monkey and I want to punch it in the face (or whatever the words are)" we consider it a huge success.

 (Inside page of R&J)

5. The Newsroom
This is Aaron Sorkin's new drama on HBO and holy cow.  We adore it.  It is a behind-the-scenes look at the people who make a nightly cable news program.  It's very smart, very fast-paced, and very, very good.  We always have plenty to talk about after each episode and are still talking about it the next day.  And if you need another reason to subscribe to HBO, it's called Game of Thrones.



6. Of Monsters and Men - My Head Is An Animal

This cd has been on repeat in our cars since April.  If Jude and Sloane do not come out singing one of their songs I will be shocked.  Their folksy sound is similar to Mumford & Sons and Edward Sharpe & The Magnetic Zeroes.  I love this album because I can start on track one and listen to the entire thing without skipping around.  And they're from freaking Iceland, so that's cool too.  Below are two of their songs.  (The MP3 download is a whopping $4.99 on Amazon.  Buy it.)

King and Lionheart


Sloom