One of the blogs I follow is Tina over at Carrots N Cake, and she has this feature every few weeks about products she has found, songs she likes, or books that she’s reading that she is loving. I totally love that feature because it showcases awesome everyday things that are cool that I might like too. It’s like a post full of mini life hacks, and I decided I would love to share things that I find awesome. So sorry Tina, I kind of stole your idea, but only because I love it so much!
Bumble and Bumble’s Save the Day – Daytime protective repair fluid.
My friends know that I’m in love with most products that come from Bumble and Bumble. They make such great hair products that leave my hair looking like a million bucks, and the Save the Day repair fluid is the best of the best. My hair stylist suggested BB a couple weeks of years ago and I’ve found a number of things that are great. The Save the Day Daytime Protective Repair Fluid with camellia oil is a great heat and UV protective that I work into my hair before blow drying and styling it. It doesn’t take much, just a nickel size or slightly larger for my whole head does the trick. It leaves my fine hair soft and silky without weighing it down and being greasy. I can’t get enough of this amazing product, and it smells heavenly!
Avia Compression Capris/Leggings
I just love both the leggings and the capris versions of these compression pants. The whole Avia line fits my body shape so well. A nice wide waistband keeps the stomach in without riding down when running or working out, and they come in great colors and prints. The absolute best part? The POCKETS! Certain models have pockets on the side of each thigh that is perfect for slipping my phone into without fussing with digging into the back of my pants during a walk or run. (Which I must say, looks embarrassing to any onlookers. “Why no Ma’am, I’m not digging into my underwear for anything sketchy, I’m just trying to get my phone out from it’s poorly designed pocket.” AKWARD.) I love these leggings so much I’ve gotten every pair that I could get my hands on. They are at Walmart and they don’t cost an arm and a leg, only around $15, so I don’t feel guilty buying 2-3 pairs. These will be my go-to pants from fall to spring until it gets too hot to wear capris.
“I Got This” by Jerrod Niemann
I keep on getting this song stuck in my mind after every time I hear it on my Sirius XM. It’s just so catchy! “Got this Gibson tuned to half-step down just right…” Every time it comes on I find myself turning up the volume and my head bobbing along to the beat.
Backup camera system
My new (to me at least) car didn’t come with a built-in backup camera system. I’ve always wanted one, but in my old car, it wasn’t such a big deal because the back window was large and the car wasn’t huge, so maneuvering around wasn’t too hard. My new car is bigger and I don’t like how the back window is quite small in comparison, so it’s really hard to see things behind me, especially down low. I looked into backup camera systems but they all were rather expensive and or required me to replace the rear view mirror which has the BlueLink capability built into the factory standard one. I then found a system at Costco that had a 5-inch monitor that wirelessly connected to the camera that sits over and underneath the license plate. With the instant rebate, it only came out to $100. Not bad at all! It’s not quite as nice as a built-in, and it’s a little big and sticks out a little, but for the price, it works well and even has the color-coded lines to help gauge the distance and infrared lights for nighttime.
Song Sleuth app for iPhone
I like to birdwatch when I can, and sometimes I can’t even see the bird but can hear it call or sing somewhere nearby and I wonder, “What bird is that?” Before finding this app, I would have to go through my regular birding app and listening to different songs and try to figure out which was closest and then identify the bird that way. Once I found Song Sleuth, however, that all changed. Now, I just open up the app, press the record button as soon as I hear the bird I want to identify and press it again when the song is finished. The app “pre-records” a few seconds in advance so it catches all of the song even before you press the record button. It then analyzes the sound wave signature and shows a couple of different options with a sound clip for you to compare to your recording. It’s usually pretty accurate on the first try and I’ve been able to successfully identify birds without ever seeing them. It even has range maps and everything so I can make sure the bird it’s suggesting is in the correct area, and it also uses GPS to make sure it’s not suggesting a bird that’s only found on the East Coast while I’m in California. If you’re a birder, this app is a must, and it’s only $9.99, not bad for how well it works. It’s almost like magic.
mulled thoughts...and cider 