Today I’m sharing just a few of the things that I’ve been loving this winter!
AQUIS Lisse Hair Towel. I may or may not be writing this favorites post purely because I want to tell you about how much I love this hair towel. With the exception of adding the AVEDA Brilliant Damage Control (another game-changer) about a decade ago, my hair care routine has been pretty much the same since about 7th grade. Needless to say, I absolutely didn’t expect a hair towel to be a complete game-changer product.
I know that it’s a lot to spend on one towel. But you will appreciate it every single day that you use it, and it makes such a big difference. Using the hair towel has made my hair texture much softer. It helps it dry faster and with a near blow-dry appearance. I also find that I shed less hair. Let me be clear that I have long hair that still takes a while to dry and that does shed. But the difference is significant. The towel itself is extremely lightweight and dries quickly.
Snack Factory Everything Pretzel Crisps. We’ve been eating Snack Factory pretzel crips for years and regularly buy several of their varieties. Somehow I didn’t try the everything flavor until very recently. It’s a new flavor? The local grocery stores didn’t start carrying it until last year? I don’t know. But of course, it’s everything seasoning, so it’s amazing and in the regular rotation now.
Alouette Parmesan & Basil Soft Cheese Spread. I have mentioned the Alouette cheese spreads in past favorites posts. I still love the toasted everything and garlic and herbs flavors. They just rolled out parmesan & basil in stores late last year, and I can’t get enough of it.
Chobani Vanilla Greek Yogurt with Cashew Butter. Have you tried the new Cobani nut butter yogurt flavors yet? I’ve tried a few of them and keep coming back to vanilla Greek yogurt with cashew butter.
Veggie straws. Tommy has been a fan of veggie straws for a while and always eats them at other people’s houses, but I hadn’t bought them until recently. Now he and I both snack on them regularly. I like the 1-oz. size bags I’m linking here because it’s so easy to throw a couple of them in my bag for church, playgroups, etc.
Mellani bed sheets. We needed new bed sheets this fall, and I decided to give the Mellani bed sheets a chance. We have the spa blue color. So far I’ve been really happy with the sheets. They’re really soft, and the color is holding up well. We only own one set of sheets for the master bedroom, and I wash them every week. So I don’t expect this set of sheets to last forever. But I’ll be curious how the Mellani sheets hold up over the next few years.
Mrs. Meyer’s Honeysuckle Liquid Hand Soap. I know, Mrs. Meyer’s hand soap is a ridiculous early 2020 favorite. Hasn’t everyone already been using Mrs. Meyer’s products for years? I’m late to the game as always but such a big fan of this hand soap now, especially this scent. I’m really picky about hand soap and lotion scents, as I find most of them to be too strong to use multiple times per day. Honeysuckle is perfect. It smells amazing but isn’t overwhelming at all. I use it in the kitchen, and it definitely isn’t as drying as many hand soaps.
On that note, my intensive hand lotion pick for this past winter has been Kiehl’s. It’s more intensive than something like Vaseline lotion, the scent isn’t too strong, and it isn’t greasy at all. Even with a great rotation of hand products and my new addition of daily flaxseed capsules, I still struggle with dry hands, especially when the temperature is below freezing. However, one thing that has really helped is going right for Kiehl’s on bad days. I routinely use it in the morning and at night. Sometimes by mid-afternoon, my hands are really dry. Instead of hitting them with a ton of Vaseline lotion, I just go for Kiehl’s. It isn’t perfect, but it’s better than anything I’ve done in previous winters. I’ve also been shamelessly using a ton of pure Vaseline on my knuckles at least one or twice a week, which has helped considerably on the worst days, too.
Jake and I have finally been watching the third season of The Crown. Claire Foy was absolutely amazing in the first two seasons, and I wasn’t sure how I’d feel about this newest season. But Olivia Colman is amazing, too, and the range of plots they cover this season is among the best of the entire show thus far. Otherwise, my only TV watching has been the most recent season of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee and re-watching Friends From College. (I’m definitely a little bummed that there won’t be a third season of Friends From College.)
The highlight of my recent reads has been The Rosie Result. I absolutely loved The Rosie Project, and it remains one of my favorite fiction books. The Rosie Effect was good but not amazing. It was also tainted by the fact that I read Graeme Simsion’s Two Steps Forward during the same period, which was truly mediocre. He finishes out the Rosie trilogy as strong as he starts it, though. The Rosie Result has some of the strongest plot lines of the entire series, and the writing is amazing.
Duolingo Latin. It’s a little known fact these days that I studied Latin through college. My brother, sister-in-law, and mom have been using Duolingo French regularly since my brother and sister-in-law moved to Paris. Duolingo rolled out Latin in beta within the last few months. It’s been fun revisiting my Latin skills, and I love this concept for an app. It’s such a great stress-free yet productive activity when you have a few minutes to wait somewhere or just want a little break during the day.
Finally, I have to mention that Nordstrom has the Thread & Supply Double Breasted Peacoat back in a couple of colors: olive and maroon. This Thread & Supply peacoat is one of the best coats I’ve ever owned. For the fit and quality, you absolutely can’t beat the price point. I own it in charcoal and beige, and it’s taking all of my willpower not to buy one of the currently available colors.
[Disclaimer: There are a few affiliate links in this post. Thanks for your support!]
