4 Things Friday (May 17, 2019)

Happy Friday! It’s looking like there will be some cooking and cleaning in my future this weekend. It’s been a really busy week, so I need to catch up on things at home. Here’s this week’s recap of Amy’s podcast, 4 Things with Amy Brown. Go listen to the full episode if you haven’t already, and be sure to subscribe to the podcast!

1. Progress instead of perfection. Life coach and therapist, Kim Anderson, was back this week to talk about perfectionism, and I was especially interested to hear this topic, because I can be a perfectionist in some areas of life. Kim said toxic perfectionism (when it affects everything you do) gets in the way of our confidence and leads to anxiety. It’s important to reset your mindset, and remember that failure is part of life — we’re not supposed to be perfect — progress is more important. She said one thing that trips up a lot of people is people pleasing and worrying about what others think, so we have to give up both of those.
2. Motivational quotes. Amy read a couple of quotes she recently saw on Instagram and liked, and one was, “Either run the day, or the day runs you.” She thought this was a good reminder that we need to take charge and make a plan of action every day in order to get things done.
3. Enneagram wings. Enneagram expert, Hunter Mobley, was back to discuss the enneagram wings, the numbers on either side of your enneagram number. For example, I’m a 6, so my wings would be 5 and 7. The wings merely inform you why your behavior may look a little like those numbers at times. Hunter said that for the first half of your life, you have characteristics of one of those wings, and then for the second half of your life, you tend to have characteristics of the other wing. I think it just goes to show that we’re always evolving and changing.
4. Benefits of hot showers. Amy recently talked about the benefits of cold showers, and today she went through the benefits of hot ones since that’s probably what most of us normally take. The hot water is relaxing and can help you sleep. Because it relaxes muscles, it can relieve menstrual cramps. Hot showers also help with migraines by aiding in expansion of blood vessels, ensuring proper blood flow. So, whether you take a hot or cold shower, there are benefits. Plus, you’re getting clean!

Here are the 4 things I’m loving most this week.

• Peach and tomato caprese salad. If you’ve been following along, you know I recently went to pick peaches (sadly, I’m all out now and the season is over). I mostly just ate the peaches plain, but I saw a recipe on Instagram that inspired me to try something new. I make regular caprese salad all the time, but had never thought to add peaches. At first, I wasn’t sure how the combination of peaches and tomatoes would be, but it was amazing! I just halved some grape tomatoes, chopped my peaches and some fresh basil, then added a little salt, pepper, some olive oil, and balsamic glaze.

• U-pick fruit and veggies. Last weekend, I went to a couple different u-pick farms and picked black eyed peas, corn, and blueberries. This is one of my favorite things to do, and the produce tastes so much better than what you can buy in the store.

• Method ginger mango laundry detergent. I’ve been loving this laundry detergent, and even bought the fabric softener and dryer sheets, too. It smells amazing and works really well, while being a “clean” product. Anything I can use that’s safer and without chemicals is worth trying in my opinion, and this stuff doesn’t disappoint. I picked mine up at Target, but I’ve also been seeing it at the grocery store.

• Wawa Reserve Guatemela coffee. I don’t frequent Wawa, but my coworker keeps up with them and thought I would like this new limited edition coffee they introduced on Monday. It’s a medium roast with hints of dark chocolate and honey, so I was definitely interested in trying it! She offered to stop and pick up a cup for me, and we both tried it and loved it! It’s really smooth and delicious. If you have a Wawa nearby, give it a try before it’s gone!

Thanks for reading! Enjoy your weekend, and see you back here next week!