Friday Five

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1. One of my Christmas gifts from D's parents was a whoopie pie pan. I think the cold wintry weather forecasted for this weekend may be an excellent excuse to bake up my first batch of from-scratch whoopie pies! Do I start with the standard chocolate and marshmallow fluff pie, or go straight for the stars with a red velvet recipe? Oh, the decisions!

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2. D's Christmas gift to me was a Kindle Fire. So far I am absolutely in love with it. It came in quite handy during our recent road trip to Florida, and it's a great way to bring things to read on the road without having to pack a big pile of books and magazines. Thus far I've accessed digital issues of Sunset, Glamour, and Self magazines. (The digital editions of which are included as part of my print subscription.) I've also started subscriptions to Martha Stewart's Whole Living and Everyday Food magazines as well as Oprah's O Magazine. In order to not break the bank (because it's way too easy to buy books and magazines with that thing!), I've also started to borrow ebooks from Philadelphia's Free Library. I love that I can get recent books on my Kindle (for free!) from the library.

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3. I totally joined the blogger bandwagon and picked up a tube of Nars lipstick in Heat Wave during a recent trip to Sephora. This color is touted as being a bright red-orange that can be worn by people with a variety of skin tones, and I do believe it works for me! It's definitely a "wow!" pop of color, so I wouldn't wear it everyday, but it is a fun shade to wear to shake things up for a night out on the town.

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4. My favorite souvenir that we brought back from our trip to Florida was several bags of Florida citrus fruits. We picked up a bag of orange and grapefruit at Publix in Lakeland, and then picked up a couple more bags of each at a fruit stand on our drive back north. D and I have really been loving the addition of a glass of freshly-squeezed orange juice to our morning routines. (More to come on that next week!)

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5. It's official. I'm obsessed with Downton Abbey. I watched the first season on a marathon-viewing of episodes on Netflix last year. (I was literally up until 2 a.m. watching episodes; I just couldn't cut myself off without knowing how it all ended!) The second season just started on PBS this past Sunday, and so far, so good! I've become completely intrigued by the time period, and found myself watching a documentary on World War I on the Military Channel last night. I cannot wait to find out what happens next!