Favorite Things Friday

Its another “favorite things Friday”. Welcome! Any one else participating? If you want to join in, please do and leave a comment with a link so we can see what some of your favorite things are too.

Here we go (in clockwise fashion):

Oil Lamps: I only have a couple, but I do love oil lamps. Dear friends of ours that now live overseas (hi Jason and Kristen!) gifted us a large clear one before they left. This little amber glass one was a $2.00 find recently and a perfect fit into the growing collection.

Meal Journal: When Mike and I moved to Orlando a decade ago (oh my gosh…I totally just dated myself!) I started this meal journal. It’s a simple little leather bound journal I picked up somewhere random with really no purpose for it. But the pages now chronicle meals we share with friends. I write in the date and what we served and who we had over. It’s a great way not only to remember those times but it has, more than once, been a great resource when I need to bring together a meal quickly for guests and am stuck for ideas.

Mighty Leaf Tea: My green tea obsession is apparent to all who know me well. My daily tea is just a basic Bigelow Organic Green Tea. Nothing too spectacular. But in my cupboard I have a box of really amazing tea that I treat myself to on occasion. On occasion because the small box is a whopping $10.00! Ouch! My neighbor, Toa, turned me onto this tea. This is what she and her husband serve at their amazing Thai restaurant, Thai Orchid Café, here in Lexington. She spoiled me with it one day (she often spoils us with Thai goodies) and it is definitely one of my favorite things nowadays.

Thai Spoons: Speaking of Thai food, here’s another of my favorite things. Thai spoons. Well, maybe that isn’t their correct name. I’m not sure what their proper name is. But here at the Smith Homestead they are Thai spoons. Two of our dearest friends, Michael and Rachel, bought us a set years ago and they are the go-to spoon for soups, stews and curries. I love these things.

Kathe Kruse Doll: 9 years ago, my sister-n-law bought this little lavender doll for our first born, Canaan. It smells divine and is so soft and smushy. 9 years and 3 boys later we still have this little doll and it still smells like lavender. And believe it or not, that isn’t because its been sitting in a drawer, untouched. This little doll has been carried around, slept with, tossed around and sat on for many years. I am so happy its made the journey. Now that our littlest one isn’t so little anymore, I think it is now my duty to keep good watch of it for the grandkids, right?

Letters: I am an avid fan of correspondence. As convenient as emailing and texting are, I am incredibly thankful that I grew up in the pre-computer, pre-cell phone era. In my younger years I would spend hours writing to friends I had met at summer camp or cousins that lived far away. Some of the most precious letters are ones that were written between me and a dear friend during an extended trip overseas. Throughout those months, I would run to the mailbox daily, hoping for a letter describing adventures in the wilds and trips to remote villages. I love that I still have those letters to hold and read. Memories that are so many years ago yet feel like yesterday.
Nowadays having a clean email box ranks pretty high on my overachiever list so everything eventually gets trashed (that sounds terrible). I guess I should print off letters and keep them.

But oh, how I miss running to the mailbox for a letter.