Hello and Happy Friday to you! I am bringing you my top five favorites from this past week by linking up with my friend Erika.

First favorite:

Mad Hatter’s Tea Party

Yesterday I blogged about the Mad Hatter’s Tea Party. It is a fabulous event put on by the Dallas Women’s Council every spring and benefits A Woman’s Garden at the Dallas Arboretum. This year I am helping my friend and event chair, Linda Spina, by serving on her committee to make this event amazing. I hope you will read all about the fun we have by clicking here…and then consider attending the tea party with us on April 27th.

second favorite:

I purchased a new calendar at Barnes and Noble over Christmas and can I tell you how much I love it???????????? (And yes, I use a paper calendar instead of the one on my phone. I don’t need yet another reason to look at an apple product during the day.)

In order for me to love a calendar it must meet these criteria:

Aqua Blue

No spiral. It must be bound like a book–spirals break or come undone or bend. Can’t deal with that.

It must have a month lay-out over 2 pages.

It must not have weekly pages.

It needs to be one full year, not 18 months. Why would they give you a calendar that starts in August of 2016 and ends in December of 2017???

A ribbon book mark that is attached to the binding.

Note pages in the back.

All of these criteria are met with my new calendar made by Gallery Leather Co, Inc. I am currently trying to track down a small version to use for the official TAOLB calendar. 🙂

third favorite:

Trader Joe’s 21 Seasoning Salute

I bought this last week at Trader Joe’s because I was curious. It is a combination of onion, black pepper, celery seed, cayenne pepper, parsley, basil, marjoram, bay leaf, oregano, thyme, savory, rosemary, cumin, mustard, coriander, garlic, carrot, orange peel, tomato granules, lemon juice powder and oil of lemon. EXACTLY 21 THINGS!

21 Seasoning Salute is a favorite!

fourth favorite:

Patrizia Montanari

My favorite photographer on the planet is leaving McKinney and headed to the Pacific Northwest for her husband’s new job. I wrote about our friendship and what she means to me on the blog earlier this week. She will always always always be a favorite.

You can keep up with Patrizia by following her on Instagram.

fifth favorite:

Lunch bunch with my favorite mamas.

Once a month all the moms from my old neighborhood get together for lunch. There is never any pressure if you can’t make it, but always an open chair if you can. On Wednesday we met at Rye on the Square. Lunch topics included who is currently conversing with a certain Lady of London on Instagram, gluten, transitional kindergarten, Spring Break trips and encouraging your child to never start a fight but to always finish it. #shanna

Can’t wait for next month ladies!

We head to Austin today for my cousin’s wedding. Congratulations to Callie and Joseph!! xo

-ciao for now-

lauren