The Friday Five

Here are some of the things that I'm loving this week:

1. My sweet ABC-loving boy. 
      Owen is at a really awesome stage right now. He is learning more and more every day and the number of new words he is picking up is crazy awesome. He's also learning more songs. Lately, his favorite thing though is learning letters. He knows quite a few of them now and can recite his ABCs. His name is spelled out on his wall in the nursery so he has definitely learned O, W, E, and N, but he knows several other letters and loves pointing them out on cereal boxes at the grocery store and on car license plates and pretty much anything. Tim bought him some wooden alphabet magnets from Melissa and Doug and we can't wait to get them in the mail so Owen can begin playing with them and learning more. I have a feeling that the first time he sees them, he's going to play with them for a good long while. In the top photo above, Owen is sitting in a small box that we got in the mail. He pretty much knows he's adorable. 

2. Food subscriptions.
        I love trying new foods and snacks. And there are several food subscription boxes out there. Recently, I found a couple coupon codes and promos for two of them and signed up at a discounted rate. The first is a brand spanking new company (to the U.S.) that sends you four healthy, all natural snacks like nut and seed mixes, dried fruits, crackers, dippers, and even chocolate per week for $5. Currently, if you sign up using someone's referral link, you can receive your first box for free. You can do that HERE. The fun part about Graze is that they allow you to rate their snacks as trash, try, like or love so that you can decide which items you never want to receive and which you would like more frequently. There are 89 snacks to choose from. Also, if you stick it out for a month, you will get your fifth box for free too. If you don't like it after your first box, you can easily cancel on their website. Yes, you heard right! You don't have to call some annoying phone number where no one ever answers and when they do, they make it a big hassle to cancel. Just click a button! That alone makes it worth trying for free just to check it out. My first box should arrive sometime this coming week. 
      I also was able to sign up for the February Love With Food box for free this month using a special code. I only had to pay $2 for shipping. I am super excited about getting this box because I bet it will be Valentine's Day themed, and that means chocolate! You can sign up HERE using the code REDTRIVIP to get your first box for just two dollars. If you sign up today (February 1), you will be shipped the Valentine's Day box. If you sign up later, your first box will be the March box. If you decide you don't want to continue your subscription, you can easily cancel your subscription on their website. Again, no annoying numbers to have to call. 

3. The Fault in Our Stars.
     I am currently reading "The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green. It was published about a year ago and is a New York Times bestseller. The book is the story of Hazel Lancaster and Augustus Waters, two teenagers who meet at a cancer support group. Hazel is dying of thyroid cancer and Augustus is recovering from bone cancer. Although it is a young adult book, the language is complex and not dumbed down for ease of reading. The author references Abraham Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and T.S. Eliot's "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock" alongside America's Next Top Model and a bloody video game called Price of Dawn. The story itself is funny and sad and romantic and raw and I am so in love with this book. I just checked it out from the library on Wednesday and I expect to finish reading it today. I highly recommend it. 

4. Muffin tin meals. 
I first saw the idea for this on the blog Ramblings of a Suburban Mom. You basically separate your toddler or preschooler's food into the separate compartments of a muffin tin and let them have at it. Owen really enjoys it and will eat pretty much anything if I cut it into bite-sized pieces and put it in a muffin tin. I have tried several things in the muffin tin meals, including squares of peanut butter sandwich, hot dogs, carrots, celery, cucumber, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, bananas, yogurt, and chicken strips. P.S. Owen still hates bananas. Otherwise, I highly recommend it for toddlers.

5. That KISS!
Spoiler alert if you haven't watched this week's episode of New Girl, but I could not believe what happened at the end of the episode, Cooler. After being forced into a Seven Minutes in Heaven like situation while playing their made-up game True American, Nick and Jess both balk at the idea of having to kiss and what follows is as would be expected - super awkward. While the rest of the gang eggs them on, Nick blurts out "Not like this!" and escapes to the rooftop. Later after everyone has gone to bed, Nick and Jess meet in the hallway talking about Nick's lady trench coat wearing ways ( I won't go into detail, just watch the show). As Jess turns to go back in her room, Nick grabs her and pulls her in for a super hot kiss. "I meant something like that," he says. Swoon! After loving all the Nick and Jess chemistry since the show started, I have been waiting for a moment like this and fully expected the show's writers to draw it out for much longer. I hear by add it to the list of Best TV Kisses Ever. Right up there with Ross and Rachel's kiss on Friends, Kate and Sawyer's jungle kiss on LOST, and Carrie and Mr. Big's smooch on the series finale of Sex and the City.