Five Things Friday (#41)

Happy Friday, y’all!

It’s been a pretty good week around these parts. My 4th wedding anniversary was yesterday!

It’s been a year full of unexpected challenges, but I feel so blessed to be tackling it with this guy at my side.

This weekend I’m going to Disneyland for the first time in MONTHS (that’s a long time for me) to celebrate my birthday early with some friends. Oh yeah — it’s almost my birthday!!! Expect some navel-gazey posts about my advancing age next week.

Here are five things making me smile this week:

1. This dress on Amazon

It’s soft, it has pockets, it’s long enough for work, it’s under $30, and it comes in a bunch of colors and patterns. Why haven’t you bought one yet?!

2. Criminal 

This podcast is my life right now. Phoebe Judge, the host, is THE BEST. She has the most soothing voice and a very charming and empathetic manner. Criminal is interesting, varied, and thought-provoking, and really has something for everyone, even those who don’t generally enjoy grisly true crime podcasts.

Some of my favorite more lighthearted episodes are:

• The Editor: The story of an inmate who teaches himself to read — so well and so much so that he finds an error in an encyclopedia and embarks on an unlikely friendship with an editor at Merriam Webster.
• Triassic Park: An exploration of the theft of petrified wood from the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.
• Carry A. Nation: Memories of a woman who called herself “a bulldog running along at the feet of Jesus, barking at what He doesn’t like.”

And some not-so-lighthearted episodes that have stuck with me:

• Angie: A victim of a gruesome murder finds an unlikely avenger in a soccer player determined to solve her case.
• The Job: Musings on the death penalty from the man who wrote the manual on lethal injection for the state of Oregon.
• Cold Case: A stay-at-home mom determined to solve the murder of her college roommate proves the lengths to which she’ll go to find answers.

This podcast makes me think, laugh, and occasionally cry, and I really can’t recommend it enough.

3. Sweet and Lovely on Etsy

All of her pins and assorted miscellany are, as advertised, sweet and lovely and occasionally sassy. Also, relevant to the above dress:

 

4. Tom Hardy and Riz Ahmed Teach You British Slang

This is nothing short of delightful.

5. This comic.

I start crying every time I look at this, but it’s not necessarily a sad cry, just an emotional one. Leave room in your heart for your after, my friends. It’s going to be good.

See you next week!