favorite

fa·vor·ite:  [fey-ver-it, feyv-rit]

~NOUN:  A PERSON OR THING REGARDED WITH SPECIAL FAVOR OR PREFERENCE~


the first of (hopefully) many 2013 friday favorites.

*  black-eyed peas and cabbage:  as a born-and-bred southerner, it has been instilled in me that every new year's day you must eat black-eyed peas and cabbage for luck and prosperity.  last year, we did not do this.  this year, i was not taking any chances.  i absolutely l-o-v-e these veggies, but my marylander husband was not so convinced.  so, i did a little magic in the kitchen.  seasoning them, not in a necessarily traditional way, but a way in which would be pleasing to the hubby as well.  guess what?  he loved them!  score one for the wife!

*  the tv show, parenthood:  if you aren't watching this show, you are seriously missing out.  they manage to tackle some very serious material, which is often heart-wrenching (i've cried during the last 4 episodes), but you most always seem uplifted at the end.

* a nice, new day planner for 2013.  while i am on a computer all day and do have an iphone, i still love a good, old fashioned day planner.  i religiously use the lilly pulitzer monthly planner.  while the print i'm sporting this year is no longer available, they do have 2 cute prints remaining, which just happen to be on major sale through tomorrow.  you can find them here.

*  my first pair cowboy boots that my husband got me for christmas, with an assist from my 2nd cousin, sarah.  i am in l.o.v.e.  speaking of 2nd cousins....

*  two of my 2nd cousins got engaged over the holidays!  i'm so excited for both of them and i'm really glad that i began to deepen and strengthen my relationship with my 2nd cousins over the past few months.  of the first generation cousins, i'm the youngest by about 10+ years, seeing as how my mom is the youngest of four.  as i got older, i really started to develop a close friendship with some of these ladies and we began looking at each other as friends, instead of just "me" as the baby and "them" as my older-cousins-who-used-to-change-my-diapers.  as the second generation of cousins started coming into the world, i realized i would probably have a very similar dynamic with them.  over the past few months, they've come to tailgates, flown in from florida to visit, had sleepovers at my house, and we've exchanged lots and lots of texts and facebook posts  (it brought tears to my eyes that the 2 girls who got engaged thought to send me an individual text, even before my mom, their aunt, got the news).  i can't wait to be in attendance at their weddings (i'll be the one doing the ugly cry) and i'll try my hardest not to talk about what it was like to change their diapers, but i'm not making any promises.  :)

happy friday and hope you all have a lovely weekend!

xoxox-