these are a few of my favorite things

Guess what???  It’s my birthday week!  Yep, on Tuesday I turn the big 2-5 and birthday week has begun (technically it started last night with a birthday dinner with my in-laws and will continue through next week with a birthday dinner with my parents/brothers, but we’re just going to call it birthday week to make it easier).  In honor of my 25th birthday I thought I’d share with you 25 of my favorite things.  Sadly, I’m not rich like Oprah and can’t give you all my 25 favorite things (but I would if I could!) so if you see something that interests you you’re gonna have to go get it yourself.  Anyway, without further ado here are 5 of my favorite things:

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1. my KitchenAid mixer – If you’ve been a reader a while you know how much I love my mixer.  I use it for baking (of course!) but also for shredding chicken and mixing bread dough.  I’m convinced it could even fold my laundry if I put it on the right settings. I just have the basic attachment, a bread hook, and a whisk (I never use the whisk) but you can also purchase attachments that can be used to grind meat (or grains or coffee, I think), make pasta, and use your mixer as an ice cream maker.

(mine is brown and pink but I couldn’t find a picture of it)

2. my North Face coat – I got this as a Christmas present three years ago.  I almost took it back since it was such an expensive coat so I could use the money to buy a cheaper coat plus other stuff.  However, I decided to hang on to it and I am so incredibly glad that I did!  I’ve barely worn it this winter but the past two winters it was a life saver, especially in the mornings driving to work in my freezing cold car (the worst was when we lived in our apartment and so my car was out in the open all night – that was when I was most thankful for my coat!).  My legs, feet, hands, and face might get cold my my arms and torso stay so warm. If/when something happens to this coat you better believe I will be forking over the money for a new one because it is so worth it (but three years later my coat still is in great condition so I’m hoping not to have to do that anytime soon!).

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3. Olay in-shower body lotion – I’m lazy and I don’t like to have to put lotion on after I shower.  When I discovered this shower lotion I knew I’d found the cure for that.  It’s awesome, you just rub it on in the shower, let the water rinse off the excess, and then your skin is all lotion-y smooth.  It also leaves a nice shimmer on your skin.  I haven’t seen it in stores in a couple of years but I have found it online (I bought 10 bottles online so hopefully I’m all stocked up for a good long time now!).

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4. Harry Potter – I know, I know, the books have been out forever and the movies are all done but I have to mention it just in case you’ve been living under a rock for the past 15 years.  Plus, this is a list of my favorite things and Harry Potter is certainly on that list so I just have to mention the books.  I was around 11 when the first book came out, so my brothers were around 9 and 6.  I had no interest at all at first.  I remember Mom reading the Harry Potter books to Brendan and Riley but I thought they were science fiction-y, which I had no interest in.  Sometime after the 4th book came out and before the 5th book was released, I picked up the first book one day when it was sitting there on the couch and read the first page – I was hooked!  I read the first four and then joined the rest of the world to wait for the 5th, the 6th, the 7th, and the movies.  I love love love these books!

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5. Reeses – Specifically the eggs, hearts, trees, and pumpkins – they have the best ration of peanut butter to chocolate out of all the Reeses options (I don’t care for the hard edges on all the Reeses cups and just eat the middle – these shaped ones are like having lots of middle and no edges!).  If you know me in real life or have been a reader for a while then this is no surprise to you, but I absolutely adore Reeses.  They are by far my favorite food in the whole wide world.  Yum!

That’s all for today – tune in tomorrow to see five more of my favorite things (note: these are not in any order – I’m just writing them as I think of things that I love)