Summer Favorites

Once upon a time, I used to watch Oprah Winfrey. Not anymore. Another post for another time. But I have been recently inspired by her "Favorite Things" show and also my complete lack of anything interesting to post.

So I said to myself, "Hey Mandy, why don't you post some of your favorite things of the summer, since you have nothing interesting to post?" I think "Favorite Things" are supposed to be objects that inspire other people to run out and buy them. But my favorite things are not necessarily that. They are simply my favorite things at the moment. 

Cinemark Summer Kids Club. Every Wednesdays and Thursdays, the kind people at our local Cinemark hosts Kids movies. They play a several-year old kid flick (we saw Open Season this past week), and charge a dollar a head for admission.Or you could by all 10 weeks worth of movies in advance for 5 dollars.

Or you can go to church with me and get the tickets for free that have kindly been purchased for us by our Children's Ministry. 10 free movies for me and the kids?  Yes, please.

Vera Bradley pocket folders. Does anyone else store their tax information from previous years in cute pocket folders? No? Well, these are the cutest. I never would have paid for them at the WalMart, but I bought them while on vacation, so that sort of justified spending $14 dollars on 4 pocket folders. I was out of town, people. And aren't they cute?

Miguel and Paulo. Miguel is my yard man, and Paulo is the man I have hired to do lots of out-of-my-league home repairs and such around the house, since Brandon is not here to convince me that these are minor repairs that he can do himself. You know, in all that free time he will have in October. I do not think I could survive summer without them.

Gap Outlet favorite Lip Balm. I am a chap stick aficionado of sorts. And this stuff has almost made me forget that Bonne Bell discontinued their peppermint flavored Lip Smacker back in 1998. Almost.

Gap Outlet polo shirts. If you have ever seen a picture of me, or spent more than a day with me, chances are you have seen me in one of my half dozen Gap Outlet polo shirts. They fit perfect and are long enough no one has to worry about catching a glimpse of my wobbly bits when I raise my arms or bend over.  Too much information.  Sorry.

These guys:

Red Box. Has anyone else discovered this? At several of our local McDonalds and WalMarts, these big red boxes sit. They are filled with a selection of new release movies. Just slide your credit card in, and out pops the movie of your choice. The clever people at red box charge you $1 per night for every night that you have their movie. When you are done with the movie, you just return it to any Red Box. It doesn't even have to be the one you rented it from. Genius I tell you, genius. I have watched 3 movies this week and only paid 3 dollars.

As you can see from this list, I am a very deep and insightful person.  Movies and yard men and chap stick and cute folders are very important to me.  And Jesus, of course.  Not "movies and yard men and chap stick and cute folders are very important to Jesus", but rather, Jesus is very important to me as well.  

More than even the chap stick.

I'm sorry if this last paragraph offended any of you.  It was an example of sarcasm.  And also an attempt at self depreciation and a mockery of my apparent shallowness.

So, what are some of your summer favorites?