10 Shows Netflix Needs

I have a confession. I don’t have cable. I don’t even have any way to watch local channels, (Remember the box you could get to replace your bunny ears a few years ago? Yeah, I don’t even have one of those!) but it doesn’t bother me any time except during The Olympics. Why not? One word:

Netflix.

Favorites of the Month: April

It’s officially May, and we can hardly believe it. If your weather is anything like ours, it’s basically already summer! Muggy morning, hot afternoons, and the sun’s setting later and later, which we love.

So check out a few other things we’ve been loving this past month…

Favorites of the Week

Well, another weekend has come and gone. And we’re almost done with February already too! Hard to believe. But, as we’re getting into the swing of another Monday and another week, we thought we’d share some of our favorites of the moment with you.

Deborah’s loving:

• Love What Matters: This Facebook profile is one of my favorites! It’s nothing but pictures and videos connected with stories that help restore your faith in humanity. Stories about people paying it forward, helping animals, and just being generally decent human beings. Almost every story brings a tear to my eyes.

Image credit: StellaCoffees.com

• French Press coffee: My husband has spoiled me. If you’ve never had a French press before, stop right now, and just go ahead and buy your own press. Because, once you’ve gone French press, you can’t go back. In my opinion, a French press has a smooth taste and is less acidic than regular drip coffee. It does take a little longer, but it’s worth it. I also like to use the press overnight to make concentrate for my cold-brew coffee!

 

• Stressed Out by twenty one pilots: I first heard this song on the radio a few weeks ago, and I didn’t really care for it because the verse is kinda weird lyrically. It doesn’t rhyme or have a steady rhythm (which is the point, if you listen to the lyrics). Now it’s hard to sit still while I listen to it. Definitely one to crank up in the car! Also, the chorus is pretty much how we all feel these days…

Wish we could turn back time
To the good old days
When our momma sang us to sleep
But now we’re stressed out

-“Stressed Out” by twenty one pilots

Sarah’s loving:

Image credit: Google Play.

• “When Calls the Heart”: As a little girl, I loved reading the novels of Laura Ingalls Wilder and watching countless episodes of “Little House on the Prairie.” My love for the pioneer stories only grew with my age, as I discovered Christian romance novels from authors like Lori Wick and Janette Oke. So, I was especially excited when I discovered “When Calls the Heart” from the Hallmark channel. The show is based on Janette Oke’s book of the same title and it takes place in Canada. It tells the story of a wealthy school teacher who moves from the big city to a small mining town to teach the children there. She, of course, learns to adapt to a simpler, more primitive lifestyle, while falling in love with a handsome Mountie. It’s a classic pioneer story, filled with love and drama, and it’s quickly become a favorite of mine. You can watch seasons 1 & 2 on Netflix or catch season 3 on the Hallmark channel. (The first episode debuted last night!)

• “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up”: I finally started reading this book last week. It’s incredibly well-written and offers a fresh perspective on tidying (or de-cluttering) your home. Marie Kondo is very passionate about teaching people the proper way to organize and maintain their belongings. She insists that it’s better to tidy by category instead of location and that we shouldn’t do a little at a time, but attack one category to completion to avoid the endless cycle. She also says it’s important to only have things in your home that bring you joy. This appeals to my desire to be more minimalistic and deliberate in the things I choose to surround myself with. I can’t wait to read the next section and get into the specifics, like clothing and books!!

Image credit: The Dating Divas.

• The Dating Divas: I recently came upon this website and can’t believe I haven’t heard of it before now! It has a ton of great resources for married couples, from date night ideas (for at home and out) to marriage advice. Not to mention, some super cute, FREE printable love notes to send to your sweetheart. And, if you sign up for their weekly newsletter, you get their 7 Days of Love Program, which is an excellent way to learn more about your spouse and have some fun in the process. Let me know if you give it a try!

Those are just some of our current favorites! We want to know—what are you loving this week?

Favorites of the Week

Hello, again! We hope you all had a wonderful weekend! Did anyone else watch the NFL Playoffs? Holy cow, were those games intense or what?! We can’t wait to see what happens next week!

Anyway, it’s Monday and time to talk about everything we’re loving this week!

Deborah’s loving…

• The Matched Trilogy: When I went to the library last week, I picked up books for the challenge, but I also found a book I’d been wanting to read for awhile now: Matched by Ally Condie. It’s a dystopian novel about a world where The Society chooses everything for everyone, including your Match. A girl named Cassia gets matched with her best friend Xander, but, by a fluke, she is also matched to another friend, Ky. What follows is the obvious love triangle, and raging against the man. But I still like it. 🙂

• M*A*S*H*: I love watching old shows that are fully on Netflix, so when I dug up M*A*S*H*, I was in luck to find all 11 seasons of it! It’s about an Army hospital camp during the Korean War. With memorable characters like Hawkeye, Trapper, Radar, and Klinger, it’s a classic. The doctors have quick wits and even quicker mouths. From tying to get with all the nurses to complaining about being drafted, Hawkeye and Trapper lead the gang through all kinds of craziness!

• Cracklin’ Oat Bran: Despite my huge sweet tooth and love of junk food, my favorite cereal has always been Kellogg’s Cracklin’ Oat Bran. Actually, my whole family likes it, so it never lasted long in our house. Andrew knows how much I love it, and he bought me a box for Christmas. 🙂 It’s about the little things. A box runs about $5 at Publix (where I usually shop), but I found it at Wal-mart for $3.69, so I’ve decided to treat myself a little more often this year!

 

Sarah’s loving…

image credit: amazon.com

• Dark nail polish: One of my favorite things about winter is the shift to darker colors in my wardrobe. I’m pretty fair-skinned to begin with but, in winter, I’m flat out pale. So when the temperatures drop, I embrace the deep tones of gray and navy, black and burgundy. I also love incorporating these colors into my makeup routine, namely in the form of dark nail polish. Check out Nemesis 195 from Covergirl’s Outlast Stay Brilliant Nail Gloss.

image credit: pexels.com

• Tulips: The easiest way to breathe life and color into your home is by adding fresh flowers–and tulips are my favorite! They started showing up in stores about a week ago and I can’t wait to get some!! One of the best places to get fresh flowers is Fresh Market. They have a great selection at reasonable prices and their flowers seem to hold up longer than those from any other grocery store.

• Sunny Health & Fitness Exercise Bike: Last Sunday, my husband and I became the proud owners of an exercise bike! To be honest, I never thought we’d own a piece of fitness equipment, but it was definitely a good decision for us. A couple of years ago, we gave a gym membership a try and hardly ever used it. We just couldn’t get motivated to actually make the drive to the gym. Having the exercise bike changes all that though. It’s set up in our bedroom so it’s pretty hard to ignore and there’s no reason not to set aside time for a 30 minute workout. (I usually ride the bike for 20 minutes and do some strength exercises, like push-ups and sit-ups, for another 10.) In the first week of having the bike, I exercised 4 out of the 7 days. Yay me!! 🙂

What a great batch of winter favorites! Books, old TV, exercise, with still some flowers to keep the color around. What are some of your favorites this week?

Current Favorites

Ah, Monday. It keeps coming back… We hope you had a great weekend, though! Here’s a few things we’ve each been digging lately.

Sarah is loving…

• Adele’s new single, “Hello.” That’s right. Adele finally has a new album coming out, November 20, and I couldn’t be more excited! I know all of the words to her previous two albums and shamelessly sing along at the top of my lungs (when I’m alone, of course). The video for “Hello” released Friday, and I’ve already watched it several times over. That girl can SING!! Check it out.

• Toasted Graham Lattes at Starbucks. Goodbye pumpkin spice, hello toasted graham! (Face it, PSL. You and I were never that close, anyway.) The toasted graham latte has been out for a while now but I just tried it for the first time and it’s delicious! Not overly sweet, with fewer calories than my usual go-to, the White Mocha. It’s the perfect treat to warm you up on a cool, fall day. So, I plan on enjoying it, at least until December, the season of peppermint. 🙂
• She Reads Truth. Joining this online community of women studying God’s Word together has really helped to strengthen my faith and keep me renewed. She Reads Truth provides reading plans to take you through the Bible, book by book, chapter by chapter. I subscribed to their daily emails and now I start every morning reading and reflecting on scripture. It’s so awesome to think of all of the women around the world who are reading the same words and focusing on the same truth as I am. Talk about being “like-minded.” SRT even has an app, if you are so inclined. My favorite feature is the Weekly Truth, where readers are encouraged to memorize a scripture each week. I especially love this week’s verse and hope it encourages you, too.

Deborah is loving…

• TGI Friday’s Endless Apps. When I lived in Jacksonville, Friday’s was a common hangout for Sarah and I. It’s where I discovered the Pink Punk Martini (a martini poured over cotton candy!) and where we watched many college football games on Saturdays. I went to the one across town this past Tuesday with the ladies from my church, and I discovered that the Endless Apps is back! It’s only $10 for one type of app, but for another $2, you can try any of the apps as many times as you want! The only downside is that you can’t share, unless the other person is willing to fork over $12 as well. Didn’t really work for my ladies lunch, but it’d be perfect for watching the game with your best friend!
• My [mostly] clean house. My parents moved recently, so I finally had to get the last of my stuff out of their house. Unfortunately, there wasn’t anywhere at my house to put it, until Andrew finally gave the final shove and we actually figured out where to put most of it. While we were at it, we cleaned a lot all over the house. We no longer have that random pile of clothes on the floor of our bedroom, and it’s great. It makes it much more relaxing to walk into at the end of the day. The living room and the kitchen have also been de-cluttered, and it actually makes me want to do stuff in both rooms. I used to come home from work and be slightly overwhelmed, so I’d just kind of ignore it. Now that it’s clean, I want to use my kitchen and stretch out on my couch.

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• STAR WARS!!!!! Oh yes, tickets for The Force Awakens have officially gone on sale (and almost immediately sold out in some places!). The December 18th release will be prime time with the holiday season being in full swing. People will need a break from the shopping and visiting, and what better place to take that break than in a galaxy far, far away. Andrew and I are reviewing the previous six episodes by renting each disc from Netflix, and we started with Episode I – The Phantom Menace on Saturday. Nothing says good date night like our Ninja and some good sci-fi.

What are some of your favorite things right now?