Today is Valentine’s Day, which also feels like a fabulous time to treat yo self! These are 9 of my favorite things that I’m loving these days! Best of all, most of these are things just for you, so if you’re looking for a little something extra for yourself, you’ve come to the right place.
- I’ve tried a whole bunch of letterboards and Jut Made Boards are hands-down my favorite! I love that they’re a little different and that they’re highly customizable–there aren’t any lines and the boards/letters are magnetic, so you can do so many cute, creative things with them! Not only that, but they have adorable design packs and you can even get your last name (like I have here) or your company logo by following this link! Even better, you can get 20% off your order if you use the code BITES20 when you check out!
2. I have tried just about every protein bar out there. I am a protein bar (and protein shake) snob. I’ll be upfront, I don’t like very many of them…they all taste fake and too sweet and it feels like the artificial flavors are covering up something terrible. So I mean it when I say G2G Bars are amazing and delicious and worth every penny. I don’t know how they do it, but they somehow taste like cookie dough but have 18 grams of protein. My favorite flavors are peanut butter coconut chocolate and peanut butter chocolate chip, but I recommend ordering the variety pack for your first order so you can figure out what you want. I ALWAYS have these in my fridge (and yes, they’re expensive, but I eat one for breakfast or lunch almost every day and figure that’s about what I would spend, if not less, on those meals.) My kids are banned from eating them except in the most dire of circumstances. If you use the code KATEBITES, you can get 20% off your order!
3. So I’ll be honest. I’ve always thought face masks were fun, but I’ve never actually noticed a difference in my skin. Until I was gifted this Bliss Mighty Marshmallow Mask from Target a little while back.
and everything changed–I can actually see a visible difference in my skin when I use it, plus the texture is absolutely dreamy. Be sure and use these…
4. Facial Mask Brushes to apply it (for no other reason than it feels really good to use a soft brush on your face, haha.)
5. If you love folksy music like old school Mumford and Sons and The Avett Brothers, I bet you’ll love The Ghost of Paul Revere.
Runners up include The Tallest Man on Earth, The Oh, Hellos, Gregory Alan Isakov (you might remember one of his songs from this commercial, which makes me cry every.stupid.time.)
If you want something a little more funky, I wholeheartedly recommend St. Paul and the Broken Bones.
6. I ordered this State String Art after we came home from our Utah vacation last year. I realized after I ordered it that it was coming from Russia and I have very low expectations, but it arrived sooner than some things I ordered from the US, it was absolutely perfect, and the shopowner was fantastic to work with. She even has patterns if you or one of your kids is interested in doing string art.
7. I get lots of questions about the TV shows I’ve been watching. One that I discovered not too long ago was Atypical on Netflix. It’s about a teenage boy on the autism spectrum who decides he wants a girlfriend, but it’s really more than that–it’s about growing up, families, betrayal, forgiveness, and love. It’s a little mature–maybe in the TV14 range, not really a FAMILY show (but maybe for teenagers.)
8. My youngest and I have started reading the Harry Potter series together, which is a rite of passage in our family and is giving me all the feels all over again. As someone who’s quite prone to anxiety and worrying about the future, I found this beautiful watercolor print with one of my favorite Hagrid quotes on it.
9. Okay, I’ve been very hesitant to put Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on this list because it is in NO way family-friendly and I wasn’t really up for the judgy emails. So let it be known that a) it takes a lot to bother me when it comes to language…I was an English major, which, by the end, meant reading plenty of books with plenty of f-bombs by the time I graduated, even though I was attending a religious university. I realize that other people are more sensitive that I am. My warnings and the Amazon ratings are legit. This makes Mad Men look like Sesame Street. That said, it is easily the funniest, most well-written, best-constructed TV show I’ve watched in a long, long time. It’s from the creators of Gilmore Girls and I feel like they’ve learned from the past and have made the good things (rapid fire, smart, hilarious dialogue, storytelling, endearing and flawed characters) without the bad things (self-indulgent storytelling, overly long and drawn-out seasons.) It’s about a woman in the late 1950s who had it all…and then everything fell apart, at which point, she discovers she’s a natural stand-up comedian.
Okay! That’s it! Happy Valentine’s Day, my friends! Now go and treat yo self!!
Kate, did you know Costco is carrying those protein bars?! I have hated every other protein bar I have ever tried, I’ve tried a few and always been disgusted and returned them or let my husband eat them if he so desired. But these, I totally agree, taste like cookie dough! I LOVE them! I have been eating one for lunch everyday lately and they are just perfect. The box at Costco is quite a bit less! They always have the peanut butter chocolate chip, so that’s what is in my fridge all the time, but a few weeks ago they had a special and had the coconut ones in the store, they were SO yummy!!!
We don’t have a Costco ????
Thanks to you and everyone else for the Netflix recommendations! If you’re not too terrified of an occasional (or not so occasional) f-bomb, check out Derry Girls. It’s about a group of teenage friends growing up in Londonderry in the mid-90’s. The episodes are Diet Coke-spewing hilarious! Also, my theory is that if a curse word is spoken (or written) with an accent, it’s not offensive. ? #totallyrational
Very much agree. ??
Everything on this list – especially Mrs. Maisel is the BEST! but let’s talk those bars…. what is the texture like? I’m very sensitive to those gaggy protein bars that you have to chew for 20 minutes to get one bite down… are these like those?
Not at all like that—I’m the same way. It’s a lot like cookie dough with oatmeal in it. In fact, if you don’t keep them in the fridge, they can be too soft. My favorite is to keep them in the fridge, take one to the gym, and eat it after my workout—the texture is perfect!
I appreciate your honesty about Maisel…. I love and miss her very much! Going to try atypical tonight 🙂
I went to the JUT site, bit don’t find the black board with the metal frame like the one you are showing. Love that look.
Thanks
Oh, that’s actually my couch! ?
My friend recommend Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, too and I guess I should read it after seeing your post.
I love Marvelous Mrs Maisel so so much. I also hesitate to recommend it to people because of the language and stuff but they are so missing out. Also like Atypical. Thanks for sharing all your favs, makes me excited to try some new things.
I’m trying to imagine Mrs Maisel’s comedy routines without the cursing and just laughing at the idea. Does VidAngel bleep over it or replace with a different word? And how do they handle the one bit of nudity in the first episode? If they removed the scene you’d miss a pivotal moment for the character. Maybe it just focuses on cursing?
Anyway, it’s such a funny show and the costumes are to die for. So much color!
TO. DIE. FOR.
And I have to say, one of my laugh out loud moments was when Susie finally got a phone and it rang while she was asleep and she had some things to say. It wouldn’t have been the same… ??
Love love Mrs Maisel!!! It’s the real thing! Thanks for all your favorites! Love the recommendations!
Love MMM 1st season but 2nd season was a huge disappointment in my opinion. Anyone else feel that way?
I am so excited to try some of these things!!! We watch Maisel and don’t you just want ALL of her clothes?! Not that I could pull that off in suburban Utah but it’s a fun thought.
ALL HER CLOTHES. ???
Wow, you had time to name your 9 favorite things. You’ve opened a whole new avenue of thought. I’m going to try your 9 favorite things. What else do you do on a snow day?
Love the list! I just wanted to put in a plug for VidAngel if any readers see this and want to watch The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel sans-F bombs! It edited out the stuff I didn’t want to hear perfectly and I LOVE LOVE LOVE that show. Seriously the best TV show I have seen in a long, long time!
You’re my spirit animal, Kate.
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I just love it when you share your favorites. I tried to go to the Hagrid water color quote and the link doesn’t work. I too love that quote. Maybe they don’t make it anymore.
Yikes! Try this link!
https://etsy.me/2P3OIYV
I watched Marvelous Miss Maisel with Vidangel too and loved it! I feel like there are so many shows now that they want to have an MA rating so they throw 40 f words in per episode just for the heck of it. Vidangel has easily doubled the amount of shows I can watch.
I just finished Atypical and am in that angry lonely stage after watching the last episode and not realizing it was the last episode. Can’t wait for more of those to come out. Also, I haven’t shared any of my Netflix favorites for the same reason you were hesitant to share The Marvelous Miss Maisel haha. Two others I love are Friends from College and Good Girls.
Good Girls was on ABC and was supposed to come back for a second season but never did. I don’t know what happened but I like it too.
I was hoping Netflix would pick it up and add another season but who knows!
Good Girls returns Sunday, March 3rd at 10pm!
Good girls us coming back in March! 🙂
Thanks for the new music recommendation! I am a huge fan of Gregory Alan Isakov so I’m excited to give Ghost of Paul Revere a listen. You might also want to check out Reed Foehl. He and Gregory play a lot together, at least in Colorado.
I find it more endearing that you watch something with swear words and own it. That’s just me…
Thank you! Someone who gets me! ???❤️
I love the Marvelous Miss Maisel. I run it through Vidangel to screen out some language or whatever I want and love it too. I also despise protein bars usually -I’d rather be hungry – but your recommendation means a lot so maybe !
Oh, wow!! To be honest, I didn’t even know vidangel was still around! That’s awesome!
And yeah, these protein bars are amazing. ??
VidAngel now pairs with Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, EVERYTHING! We started using it again and it’s actually super awesome.
me too! love Vidangel!