2018 My Favorite Things - Some local, some not.

Holiday season again... Oprah's list of her favorite things always gets me thinking about my favorite things. Here is my 2018 list.

HAIR PRODUCTS
I bought this product early in the summer because I am always trying to find those natural summer curls that used to come so easily. Alas, for the most part my curls evaded me. However! A couple of months ago I wondered if I used this product then styled my hair like I always do if it would give my hair more body. Um. Yes. It did. It is as it's called an In-Shower Styler. Once you wash and condition your hair, you work a somewhat generous portion of this through your hair and then quickly rinse your hair, but super quick. Voila. Instead of letting hair air dry like the bottle says, I put other products in my hair that are part of my regimen then blow dry and I absolutely have triple the body I normally have. I barely need to spritz my hair with hair spray. My hair stays full all day. I bought mine at Ulta, in store and recently on-line, but it is available in other places too. Here is a link.




WOW is the name not just the reaction. I saw this product advertised as Hoda Kotb's new favorite thing for smooth hair. As referenced above my hair has "some" curl in it, but it just shows as frizz unless I take the time (read: I am not that patient) to slowly blow-dry my hair with a round brush and completely remove the frizzy curls from my hair. So I tried this product as it is stated, but my hair went from having a ton of body to being super slick, super smooth and flat on my head. No amount of hairspray would keep my hair styled through the day. I have read raves on this product, but as an all over product I think one would want super flat hair or have super curly hair to start with and this tames it a bit. A couple of weeks ago instead of using it on all of my hair, I just use it on my bangs/side bangs. With a quick blow dry, all the frizz is gone with this product. It really is amazing. I have used several other high quality no frizz products and nothing has come close to the results this product has given me. Here is a link.

HOT AND COLD DRINKS
My favorite hot and cold drinks are available locally in Abilene at Big Country Coffee. Same as last year my favorite cold drink is the Turtle Power Smoothie. Kale, Spinach, Lemon, Frozen Peach, Apple Juice. I scoop in some of my favorite VEGA protein powder and my meal is perfect! My new favorite hot drink as of this morning is called London Fog. It is a steamed milk, to keep it vegan I asked for almond milk instead of regular milk, it is flavored with a lavender and earl gray tea bags, and sweetened. If you are a lavender fan this is pure delight.

SKIN-CARE PRODUCTS

Everything Deborah's Collection in their skin-care line is my go to favorites. Give me ALL the aloe and slather it on my skin. The quality of the aloe vera with Deborah's is unlike any other aloe I have ever tried. I have used these products consistently for 10 years and love them just as much today as I did then. I use the cleanser, moisturizers (day and night), the body wash, the body butter, the facial lift system, the enzymatic facial peel, and their uh-mazing lip balm. My two favorites!! The Essential Lift Collection is crazy, I rarely use this product and don't have someone ask me about how my skin stays looking young, and the Enzymatic Facial Peel keeps my face super fresh looking. Rebekah and Deborah are super helpful. While this is a local Abilene business they also ship. If you order from them please tell them I sent you!

You-Tube Tutorials  
(a.k.a. how the heck do I style my hair/put make up on?)
One day I was 29 years old and I knew how to do my hair and make up and dress cute, then I had kids and for several years lived in survival mode. Between 3 kids under 3, then one child with a cancer diagnosis, then finishing my degree,... I kind of got my life back in my mid to late 40's and wanted to pay attention to my own self again. I want to be the best me. Nobody else. Just me. The me I was, was someone who loved fashion, liked to look healthy, have fun hair, fresh looking make up...could I find all this again in my mid to late 40's? I muddled my way through for a couple of years, but then this last year one of my friends introduced me to you tube videos for those of us not 29 any more and I learned some new tricks of the trade. My absolute favorite tutorials come from Dominique Sachse, she is a journalist, has won Emmy's, and has taught me how to blow dry my hair...ha ha, and put on make up. I just started following her on IG. She is lovely. I love that she is not being paid for recommending certain products and helps you use what you already have, just making it work better for you. I will take one order of her fabulous hair to go, please. I noticed on IG that she is using the Wow product from above, as well.

Vegan Website

While there are lots of great Vegan recipe websites out there, I find that That Savory Vegan has the most consistent dishes that I would actually cook in my kitchen. I subscribe to their weekly email and find myself perusing their site when wanting to cook something yummy.

Keeping Warm
Winter comes around EVERY year. I absolutely love it, but the older I get the harder it is for me to stay warm. Last week my husband and I had a date night. Came home, got ready for bed, climbed under the covers, and all of a sudden Rob says, how could we have been at the same place for the last 5 hours and you are like an icicle and I am not even cold? My new favorite blanky is a thermal throw blanket I bought from Kohl's, I can tote it with me anywhere, on the couch, on my bed,...and I even use it to warm up my side of the bed so when I climb under my covers they are toasty warm. It's light enough, unlike our heavy thermal blanket which we haven't put on our bed yet this winter, that I can just flip a switch and toss it off the bed once I am toasty and warm and don't want the extra blanket on me at night.

Tamales
I think this was on my list last year, but here it is again. Give me all the Vegan Tamales ;) I love tamales, and missed them desperately when I became vegan. Not any more thanks to Two Many Tamales a local (and seasonal) business here in Abilene. They make mostly traditional tamales, which my family can not get enough of, but my favorites are the Vegan tamales, so yummy. She is still taking orders for Christmas.

Farmhouse Style - Or should I say Joy?

Room by room I am simplifying and redecorating in my home. I am slightly obsessed with farmhouse style, the color white, barn wood, did I say simplifying? One of my good friends (who is so smart and creative - she is slightly a freak of nature) has found her niche in woodworking, styling homes for realtors, making her house look like it was out of a magazine for pennies on the dollar using lots of reclaimed, recycled, re-purposed items. Her name is Joy and you can find her at Pennyworth Market. Follow her for inspiration and laughs. I went with her to the recycle center, on a frigidly cold morning to peruse, collect, bottles for her to use in decorating. She could spot a needle in a haystack. I stood there looking at colored glass and the only use I was - was pinpointing the type of liquor bottle it was formerly...whiskey bottle, wine bottle, vodka bottle...I know my liquor bottles... ha ha. Notice one of the bottles to the picture on the left that was picked that day at the recycle center, with my expert overseeing going on.

Candle Holders she made ;)

And my favorite item I have bought from her is my farmhouse chalkboard. It's made of barn wood and the surface is more rough than a store bought chalk board. Super rustic looking. We redid one of our bedrooms and made it a guest room, I have a chalkboard from Pennyworth with chalk that I can leave greetings of welcome to our house guests.
She is on FB and IG @ Pennyworth Market.


It is fun thinking about my favorite things. There are so many more, but this is what I will share now. Be sure and share your favorite things with me! I want to know all about them.