5 Friday Favorites: August 28, 2026
It's time for my Friday link up with A Little Bit of Everything and Momfessionals.
On Fridays I share things that made me happy from the week - a photo, a song, a quote, a beauty product, a recipe, a pair of cute shoes, etc. If it's a product, sometimes it's something I actually own and sometimes something I just saw online that gave me a smile. Sometimes it's serious and sometimes it's silly. I suppose I believe that God is in the simple details of life and yes, I can even find Him in a tube of lipstick.
Hello. I’ve been a little under the weather this week, so Friday Favorites is coming in late today. Also, someone tell me where the term “under the weather” comes from. I’m too under the weather to google it.
Actually, I’m fine and I’m sure I’ll be over the weather soon. Here are some favorites of the week.
1. The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff
The Bright Years is a beautiful story that follows a family of four generations as they deal with addiction, secrets, loss, redemption, forgiveness and acceptance. I appreciated the author’s honest and kind perspective on addiction - especially the way she was able to write her characters in a way that showed that a person who struggles with addiction should not forever be defined by it.
2. Old Navy Large Preppy Bucket Bag
I actually saw this bucket bag on the Today Show yesterday. It looks like it would not only fit a laptop, but also every other thing a girl needs to throw in for the day. It comes in three colors.
3. I Believe by Charity Gayle
Since we moved to the Lake Anna, Virginia area, we are in search of a new church. We’ve attended the same one for the past two weeks. The worship team sang this song on Sunday. I feel like I might have heard it before, but this is the first time I started weeping like a fool within the first two lines. Such a good reminder of the fact that no matter what new season we find ourselves in, our God remains the same.
“From the beginning, you’ve been unchanging.
Age to age, you stay. Constant you remain.
Every mystery and the questions I’ve carried
Are safe within your will so I trust you even still.”
4.Game Day Dress
We are one week away from the most wonderful time of the year: college football season. So it’s time to consider a game day ‘fit whether you’re attending the game or watching on TV. I can’t tell from the photo if this dress is more for the Tennessee girls than the Texas girls, but I’m thinking on it. There are lots of solids and stripes available for whatever your team color needs are. Or you could get a white one and add a scarf in your team colors. Would be cute with tennis shoes or boots. Hook Em.
5.Dolly
Based on all my social media feeds, I wasn’t the only one who has spent the past four days compulsively reading Dolly Parton posts and watching Dolly Parton videos and listening to Dolly Parton music. I was a little bit taken aback by how sad I felt at the news of her passing. I don’t remember the last time I gasped and felt tears form so quickly at the loss of someone I didn’t know.
It seemed that Dolly was woven into the fabric of our lives no matter our age. She was someone that was simply always there and it seemed she always would be. I can picture singing “Here You Come Again” with my sister at the top of our lungs in the back seat of my mom’s lemon yellow Cadillac. I was eleven when my mom took my friends and me to see 9 to 5 for my birthday - which seems a bit problematic for eleven, but it was a different time. After the movie, we went to the Magic Time Machine for dinner. (Shout out 1980s Dallas) Perhaps more problematic: my brother reminded us this week that our grandmom took us to see The Best Little Whore House in Texas which seems enormously problematic and very unlike my staunchly conservative, religious grandmom. I suppose that’s yet another indication of how beloved Dolly was and my grandmom was a big fan of taking us to the “picture show”.
After days of watching all the tributes, my friend, Nancy, sent me this clip from Jimmy Fallon’s show yesterday. This one might be my favorite. What a gem of a human.
Rest in peace, Dolly Parton. Thanks for all the music and all the movies and all the memories. But thank you especially for being the most defiantly and unapologetically bright light in a world that is stubbornly determined to focus on darkness.
That’s all for today. Have a great weekend, y’all.
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