…and Blue Sky

Happy Friday, friends! This week’s Friday Favs post is brought to you by the giant Hershey’s Special Dark bar that’s currently giving me life, and the tiny kitten asleep next to me. (She’s like 6 months old now, but still smaller than the aforementioned candy bar. I should probably name her at some point, I know.)

1.  Last weekend I went to Bath & Body Works to use the freebie coupons I got in the mail before they expired. I mentioned to the girl helping me that I had one for hand sanitizer that started in a few days, and that I was totally excited to use it on this pumpkin scented one. (I get excited about stuff.) She taught me something new! There’s a 3 day grace period on these coupons, so you can use them 3 days before the official start date or 3 days after they expire! HOW did I never know this?? (And yes, I picked up some lotions to use for another giveaway next month! YAY!)

2. My cats love when they get to review kitty food. They like it even more when I just assume a bag of cat food is kitty-proof, leave it out on the kitchen counter overnight, and get to find one of them nose-deep into the big hole they managed to tear into it, nom-nom-nomng away. Lesson learned!

 

I submit Exhibit A to the court.

We got the chicken and salmon flavor, but Chewy carries quite a few different varieties of Stella & Chewy’s raw freeze dried foods for both dogs and cats.

You’re technically supposed to add water to re-hydrate it, but I my cats preferred it straight from the bag. (The info sys that’s fine, as long as they have plenty of water available to drink.) I kept thinking about how perfect it would be for travel since it’s super lightweight and not messy. My kitty Tennyson is convinced that he’s moments away from starvation about 80% of the time, so I took to giving him two or tree pieces of this to tide him over between meals. Easy peasy!

3. I started watching Bojack Horseman on Netflix and I’ve flown through like 3 seasons in a week.

As a MSNBC nerd, I obviously love the MSNBSea stuff, especially since Keith Olbermann voices the whale host.

4. I didn’t realize until I sat down and tried to write this post that it’s been a ROUGH week. Nothing catastrophic,  nut it’s been cold and rainy (can not deal with – I’m a solar powered person), I’ve felt icky and tired, and it’s been impossible for me NOT to comment on news stories that keep emerging, which has led to some of the worst humans on Twitter saying lovely things to me. (I feel like we all need a month off for self care after the election.) I guess the “fav” here is that at least 2016 is almost over, and there’s no way 2017 can be quite so nuts, right? …RIGHT?

5. I love the Bad Lip Reading videos SO MUCH, so I was super excited when the newest one came out! (Can’t wait to see what they do with the 2nd debate, since it had some, uh, interesting visuals.)

And a bonus that’s not exactly a favorite but I wnted to share anyway… I kinda got sucked into the rabbit hole of looking at bookends on Target.com. I don’t even *need* bookends. I mean, who has extra space on a bookshelf?? But I kinda want them all.

Which is cuter – llama bookends or cat bookends? Both? I do have a lot of books.
My weekend plans involve hiking if the weather can ever get its act together (there’s a waterfall trail I’ve been wanting to do that should be great after all the rain we’ve had), and hitting a yard sale at the local senior center tomorrow in hopes of scoring cheap old lady dresses that I can alter into something awesome. Yay.

Friday link-up time!

 

Last day of September! Someone wake the guy from Green Day up?

Before I get into this week’s Friday Favs, I have sad news. My kitty Butt Butt (started as a kitten nickname and it stuck) got sick last week, and since 4 of my cats have been to the vet with a virus in the past year, I figured it was the same thing again. I made sure he was drinking, picked up some extra yummy kitty food that I could also syringe feed him when he didn’t want to eat, turned the bathroom into a steamroom to help clear congestion, and generally snuggled him 24/7. Over the weekend, however, things got worse so we were at the vet right after they opened Monday morning. They hospitalized him and did their best, but he didn’t make it. The vet found evidence of Bobcat Fever in his bloodwork (basically the most evil parasite ever), so while we can’t be 100% sure that’s what caused it (there’s a small chance he was carrying it without getting sick), tit has a 70% fatality rate, so there’s a pretty solid chance. I’ll still always wonder if going to the vet last week when he first started feeling icky would have made a difference (if it was the Bobcat Fever, probably not. Even with extensive stuff like blood transfusions, home is dim), and I’ve just basically been trying to get through the rest of this week. He was only 1 and a half, so I’m trying to remind myself that the life he DID have was very full of love and playtime and a big family of kitties to play with.

And now a weird request after all of that – As much as I appreciated all of the love and condolences I got from friends about it, every time I got a new Facebook notification that someone else had commented on it, I knew I was about to cry again. So while I wanted to share what happened, I’d rather avoid comments about it if possible, since I know they’ll just bring the pain back up to the surface again.

So, with that terrible life news out of the way, here are the things that have made this week suck less:

1. I really need to do a whole post about the podcasts I love, but there’s a new one I had to share called Buffering the Vampire Slayer. It’s about Buffy (obviously) and they’re only 3 episodes in so far, but I’m loving it.

2. OMG you guys, Graze Box.

I’m working on a review of my first one, but in the meantime I have this link that you can use to get your first box of snacks for free. I’m super cheap when it comes to spending $ on subscription boxes (or anything, basically), but I’m totally ordering another one of these! (Request that Peach Cobbler thing I got. It’s awesome.)

3. One of the eight billion e-mail newsletters I receive (thanks to entering giveaways and being too lazy to unsubscribe to most) alerted me to this $9 nude eyeshadow palette that has almost 2400 positive reviews on Amazon.

I’ve been trying to save my Amazon GCs for new house stuff when I move, but I think I’m gonna have to give in and order this one! (And yep, it’s eligible for free Prime shipping!)

4. 

I guess Odwalla changed up their protein shakes (I haven’t seen them in the store for ages, and now they look and taste totally different.) I grabbed one on a whim and I’m hooked. They taste kind of melted vanilla milkshake-y, and contain all kinds of vitamins and stuff that my poor vegetable adverse self needs.

5. My riding instructor from when I was like 18-20 sent me a whole envelope of photos she came across. They’re so cringe-worthy it’s awesome.

I have so many questions about this. Why am I wearing mom jeans? I know it was like 2000, but…

And why am I riding English? And that’s not even my horse. (I totally remember this guy – he was a 2 year old Fox Trotter and totally adorable.) I’m also annoyed that I was a better rider at like 19 than I am now.

 

It’s supposed to be super fall-ish weather here this weekend (like 73 for a high), so I’m hoping to get some fun outdoorsy time. Anyone have awesome plans for the weekend?
Linking up for Friday awesomeness with…

Happy beginning of Fall, y’all! Tis the season of pumpkin spice and… pumpkin spice.

My original plan for this weekend was to participate in my town’s citywide yard sale, but I was sick part of the week and thus didn’t get much done, and it’s supposed to be 90 degrees the next couple of days, so…. no thanks. I’ll wait for early October so I can actually be prepared and not die of heat. Win-win!

Friday favs time!

1. My top favorite this week is awesome people.

Earlier this week, I was on my way to visit mom for dinner. I had to run some errands first and made a mental note that I totally needed to stop and get gas, and then totally forgot. Oops.

Luckily/Unluckily, I ran out of gas at the bottom of the hill that leads up to mom’s nursing home. The “luckily” part of that is that it’s way better than it happening in the middle of nowhere, especially since I know pretty much everyone who works there.

The “unluckily” part of that is that beyond the obvious suckiness of running out of gas, the hill I was at the bottom of is MASSIVE. It’s close to 1/2 mile long, and pretty much straight up. (I used the altitude filter on SnapChat to check, and it says it’s only a 100 ft difference in elevation, but I’m pretty sure it’s actually 100,ooo,ooo.) And it was 88 degrees. And I’d been super sick the day before, so my body was already pretty unhappy with anything that involved moving. I was sweaty and almost in tears by the time I made it to mom’s room, and my mood got worse when I realized I left the dinner & coffee I brought her in my car.

One of mom’s nurses not only drove me down to my car to grab the food and make sure I’d locked it, but she called her in-laws who live nearby to see if they could run me to a gas station. Not only were they totally fine with taking like half an hour out of their day to help some person they’d never met, but they already had a gas container, so I didn’t even have to buy one.

#1 Friday Favorite status well earned.

2. Is ANYONE surprised by this? Didn’t think so.

This was the first time I’ve logged into Pottermore in forever, btw, and if you’re the same, I seriously suggest doing so just to read the article about Ilvermorny. #SOGOOD (I might have cried.)

3. Alice & Olivia at #NYFW

4.

Once Upon a Tee is one of my favorite recent internetty discoveries! They release a new series of t-shirts each week, and they’re just $12 each, or 4 shirt collectons for $25! This Starry Hobbiton design is my fav! Other shirts this week include GOT characters and Nightmare Before Christmas. New designs come out Monday!

5. This video might be even better than the viral one Joss Whedon made. The last line is GOLD.

Don’t forget to enter my Bath & Body Works giveaway!

Linking up for Friday awesomeness with…

Happy Friday, all! I don’t know about you guys, but I’m personally sitting here wondering why I’m not two weeks into classes at Hogwarts right now. Muggle life is the worst.

I have been so absurdly busy with ALL THE THINGS. I really need to pick ONE to focus on and actually knock it off my to-do list instead of jumping back and forth only making minimal progress on everything and feeling like none of it will ever end. (Cheerful!) Next weekend is my town’s citywide yard sale, so I’m digging through closets and slapping price tags on anything that sits still long enough. I’m also like 12 hours into a freelance project editing a dentist’s website. Nothing says fun like correcting the grammar on a post about gingivitis! #partyhard I think I’m going to put it all on pause today and just spend like an hour browsing NYFW runway shows!

Here’s what I’m digging this week!

1. All of the Halloween Things! I stopped in Target earlier this week and was smacked by the Halloweeny goodness of the Dollar Spot as soon as I walked through the doors. So many Halloween things and I need them all!

Why is @Target selling statues of my cats? For worship? pic.twitter.com/DuHPCUYrhF

— Crystal Ward (@Crystal11) September 13, 2016

2.

It’s summer in a glass, y’all.

(And yes, I just made this image by scanning the bar codes on the bottles in front of me with the Target & Walmart apps and screenshotting the images. Putting technology to excellent use.)

3. This guy documented his first few days working at Target. Hilarious!

4.

Wasn’t going to share this until I hear back, but decided to include you guys in my nervous anticipation. I’ve been waiting for a great seasonal role to pop up, and this happened, so… ????????

A photo posted by Crystal Ward (@crystalward11) on Sep 11, 2016 at 1:14pm PDT

I’m still waiting to hear back, but just the hope of getting this is fueling me right now.

 

5. Finally, a super important political issue that I think we can all agree on.

 

A video posted by Chris Hayes (@allinwithchris) on Sep 15, 2016 at 6:09pm PDT

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