Friday Favorites #21: Herbs, Piglets, and Feeling Alive

Happy Friday! While the work week was short with Memorial Day it is feeling plenty long due to an overwhelming number of sad cases at work. Thank goodness for sweet and healthy patients in-between that help to balance the tough moments. Initially I wasn't planning on writing a Friday Favorites post this week (I'm thinking about cutting back or discontinuing them), but after a sad week it's always helpful to reflect on some of the things I'm currently loving. As always, I'd love to hear what's making you smile this week in the comments. Thanks for stopping by. <3

Fresh Herbs in Salads

Do you want to kick your salads up a notch? Throw some fresh basil or mint leaves in with your typical salad greens and BOOM. Flavor explosion. It's fresh and delightful and as long as I have herbs in my garden that I haven't killed my salads are going to include them. It really adds another dimension to the flavor profile of the salad in the best way. I feel like that's really all there is to say here. You won't regret trying it.

Baby Pigs

I guess if you want to get technical we can call them piglets. Regardless, this was probably my greatest obsession this week. I mean...LOOK AT THAT PIGLET. I can't even...

I helped at a charity event called Heroes Helping Humans last weekend. The event raised money for the Lake Norman Humane Society and Project K9 Heroes and featured service dogs within the community. It was an awesome event complete with demonstrations of service and police dogs, goat yoga, a bounce house, local vendors, and more including a petting zoo. That's where I met this little guy and fell in love. And decided I needed a small pig. For Jameson. It would obviously live inside and wear sweaters in the winter, bow ties in the summer, and Jameson, Little Pig, and I would go for walks together through our neighborhood. Pretty sure my HOA would be totally cool with it.

After some research, my obsession with getting a little pig is calming down a little (my husband will be very relieved to read this). But spending a little time with this cute little piglet was definitely a high point from the week. I mean look at that face. I die.

What makes you come alive?

This question...I love it. A Cup of Jo (a blog that always has interesting and thought provoking content) recently had a post about this. The question immediately caught my attention. How often do we really stop and think about this? And how often do we actually prioritize those activities and moments that make us feel alive over all of the mundane daily tasks and things we "need" to do within our typical routines.

As I finish Mindful May, I've been thinking about what I want to focus on in June. One thing I know is that I'm going to be more mindful of the activities and moments that make me feel alive. And I'm going to work on seeing how I can incorporate more of those moments in my every day routine. Does reading Facebook or Instagram make me feel alive? No.

What does make me feel alive is the story telling with family and friends that makes me laugh so hard I can't breath. Or going on a breathtaking hike that's both challenging and therapeutic. Trying a new activity like surfing in Hawaii that's a little bit scary but also really fun and exciting. Not being able to resist dancing when a great song plays in the middle of a workout. Watching baby pygmy goats jump (or mini pigs sprint throughout the house I learned this week). Or doing a random act of kindness. These are what I need to prioritize more of in my life. Maybe this is a little too idealistic, but I think if we all spent a little more time incorporating activities that make us FEEL our world would be a little bit happier. Food for thought. <3

What makes you feel alive?

What are you favorite ingredients to make a salad epic?

Should I probably get a pig?