35 Days of Favorites

Wow,  seems as though I just did 34 Days of Favorites not that long ago! I guess this year has gone by quickly!

Alright, so here’s the deal, for those of you who weren’t around for all the fun last year:

When I was a little girl, my mom would always make a list of our favorite things, usually food! Since the first year I started this blog, I’ve continued the birthday tradition, and shared a list of my favorite things.

Last year, I decided to see if I could come up with as many favorites as the number of years I was celebrating, and asked my lovely blog readers to share their favorites with me. At the end of it all, I entered the names of everyone who had commented during the series into a draw for a prize. Judging from the number of visits and comments on my blog during that time, it seemed as though people enjoyed it, so we’ll give it another go.

My birthday is on July 11, which seems a really long way off, but in order to post 35 favorites, my calendar tells me I need to start today! (I’m not going to post on weekends.)

Here we go – the first favorite…

I was having trouble deciding what to start with, so I checked to see which favorite was the most popular last year. The winner was…Most-Used Gift!

For this year, I must confess that my most-used gift was…a “stolen” gift! Maybe “borrowed” sounds better…

This last Christmas, Anika was given an iPad, which was quite a big surprise for our family.

iPad

Now, there are a ton of awesome things for people of all ages to do on an iPad, and we use it a fair amount for homeschooling. But fairly early on, it became clear that Anika was in need of sharing her iPad, so we had a long talk about it, and labelled it “The Family iPad”.

I did not think we needed an iPad. I had never imagined myself using an iPad. I had most definitely never imagined myself becoming very attached to an iPad.

But it happened.

Oh, my goodness, is that thing ever wonderful!

It puts children in bad moods, so that part is unfortunate, and we’re pretty careful with it, but most of the time, you’ll find our iPad in our kitchen.

iPad

I LOVE using it for recipes. Pair an iPad together with Pinterest, and it’s a cook’s dream. The screen gets splattered with food all the time, but other than that, it’s perfect.

So surprising.

And I really love seeing Ben browsing Pinterest on a pink iPad. Well…I guess he’s not technically “browsing” Pinterest. He’s the pancake maker in our household, and so he’s learned how to get around Pinterest to find all our favorite recipes.

There you have it. The shocking, stolen gift, used and loved by someone who doesn’t really like technology very much….I’ve been won over.

But that’s my Most Used gift. If I were to share with you my Most Loved gift from this past year, it would have to be this simple little item from Anika:

rock

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Alright, time for some comments. What’s your favorite gift you (or someone close to you!) have received? What do you use and love? Any surprises? Something you were given that you would never have bought for yourself, but when it was given to you, you were hooked?

Aaaand…. today is your last day to leave a comment letting me know what your favorite book is! I’ll announce who won the free copy of Naked Spirituality on Monday!

Some Items of Business…

Alright, there’s a list of things I need to pass on to you on this beautiful Wednesday morning:

1. Enter the draw! If you’re wanting to win a free copy of Naked Spirituality (which I wrote about in these posts), all you need to do is leave a comment, telling me what your favorite book is right now. You have until this coming Friday!

2. Everything is fine now. Since I publicly complained about my discomfort in this post, I thought I should let you know that the new vehicle has been bought, the nasty splinter has been removed, and I am even having rare moments of thinking that maybe, possibly…I might not mind my bangs…very much.

3. “35 Days of Favorites” starts this Friday. What??! Yes, that’s WAY earlier than last year, but here’s the thing: I did “34 Days of Favorites” after my birthday in July last year, which meant that I spent my whole summer blogging like mad, and felt like I couldn’t write about all the summery things I wanted to write about.

So we’re going to switch things up this year, and do “Days of Favorites” before my birthday, and end with a big bang on my birthday. Or something like that.

Which means I now have to come up with an awesome list of favorites, completely different from last year’s list of 34! Oh, my goodness, I’m glad I’m not turning 60! This project could get considerably more difficult as time goes by…

And that is all. We’re all caught up now! Have a wonderful Wednesday!

Weekend Favorites: Real Life, Enhanced.

Well, that was a wet weekend, hey?!

My sister asked if I was going to post pictures from this weekend, and I said I probably wouldn’t, just because everything would look so grey and dreary and slightly depressing.

But then she said, “That’s what is real. It rained all weekend – that’s the way it was.”

I knew she was right. And when I got home, I was once again pleasantly surprised by what a little photo editing can do.

Not to change reality. Just to…enhance it a little bit.

So. Here’s my enhanced reality of this holiday weekend:

dirty dishesDirty dishes in the sink before leaving for the cabin. (And that’s a lovely shot of the new house going up next door. We need to plant some trees….)

partyA bit of a thrown together “Rapunzel” party for our soon-to-be birthday girl. (With Amber’s face completely hidden by flowers! Oops!)

cupcakes

Ben and KayliaGiddy about presents and birthdays and being at the cabin, in general.

with GrandmaReading stories in bed with Grandma.

And no, I have basically no pictures of Anika this weekend, because she disappeared with her cousin, Amber, and I barely saw her all weekend. I think they had loads of fun.

Next time, I need to stick my head (and camera) into their bedroom, and get a photo of them, too!

There, now, doesn’t that look like a lovely weekend? Because it was, even if it rained the entire time.

Enhance the good stuff, just a bit.

I wish you a lovely week, full of very wonderful, real moments!

Some Good Reads and a Give-Away

Hello, Friends!

I’ve been coming across so many great articles and blog posts this week, I feel the urge to share some of them with you!

A little extra reading for what looks like a rainy long weekend:

I’m Still Here: Back Online After a Year Without the Internet : Turns out, distractions are everywhere, even without the internet…

Have American Parents Got it All Backwards? : Some interesting observations on parenting techniques from other cultures….

When You Feel Like Everybody is Bigger, Better, Smarter… : “She would make her life small.” For everyone trying to lay it all down for Jesus…

And because I’ve got a shiny new gift card, here are the books I’m eying these days:

Zero Waste Home: Reusable fresh produce bags, and countless other ideas on how to save money and consume less? I’m in.

Clean Food: A Seasonal Guide to Eating Close to the Source: My friend says it’s amazing, and I’ve been loving Clean Start.

God’s Favorite Place on Earth : “Bethany was the only place on earth where Jesus was completely received.” I love this observation, and it sounds like an awesome book!

The Gift of an Ordinary Day: The very thing I’m so passionate about! This mother writes about savoring the moments we take for granted.

gratefulsource

Finally, because my sister is awesome, and knows the way to my heart, she is providing me with a free copy of my current favorite book, Naked Spirituality, to give away on my blog!

So excited!! Here’s what you have to do to enter the draw:

Let me know what your current favorite book is! You can only enter one favorite, and you have until next week Friday.

Make my gift card decision a little more complicated!