Five Things Friday: Healthy Things

Some of the blogs I love (Cashmere & Cupcakes, Slender Kitchen, This Healthy Endeavor) do some version of Five Things Friday. I'm not committing to it, just trying it out this week and I had some relevant content! This week I give you the healthy things I'm loving! 

1. Bolthouse Farms Creamy Yogurt Salad Dressings -  I love salads, but salad dressings can be a calorie killer for something that should be healthy. Most brands do well with low-cal vinaigrette style dressings, but the creamy ones are normally mayo based and loaded with calories. These aren't! So far I've tried the Chunky Blue Cheese and the Caesar Parmesan and they are super yummy! New staple.

2. Avon Therapeutic Cracked Heel Relief Cream - Your eyes aren't deceiving you, those are my fingers and not my toes or feet and yes, this product is for feet. HOWEVER, if you ever find your fingers covered in as many hangnails as mine were this week, this stuff works! It's also good for your heels, but it is the only product that helped my damaged cuticles at all! I tried every hand cream, even an online suggestion of chap stick and this product healed it! (If you would like to buy this, or any Avon product and don't have someone you buy from, you can order from my Aunt's Avon page! It ships to you, not her. AND it's actually on sale right now!)

3. Williamette Valley Granola Company Granola Chips - These caught my eye in the grocery store and I had to try them. I was also hungry, and it's hard for me to say no to things that catch my eye while hungry in the grocery store. One day I'll learn that rule, you know the don't go to the grocery store when hungry rule. BUT, this is one impulse hunger grocery store buy I didn't regret! They are full of healthy things: oats, barely, quinoa, and more. I tried the Vanilla Bean flavor and they're great just by themselves or dipped in peanut butter! 

4. Calendar Journaling - This still fits my healthy theme! My whole life I've heard that journaling is healthy, helpful, a good thing to do, etc. I've tried a million times and failed a million times, never having consistency. I'm OCD, so I like the daily thing, but sometimes I lack words so I'd miss a day, then two, then a week, then a month and never finish. I happened upon this idea of calendar journaling on Pinterest. It intrigued me, so I made a New Years Resolution to try it out. I have successfully filled out every day of January and February (and the 1st day of March)! I missed some days here and there, but it was easy to go back and fill in the space. It's just a small box so the pressure is off to write huge paragraphs or pages. I hit highlights and have a symbol system. It has helped me SO much! I've been able to notice so many negative patterns and figure out the source of many struggles by doing this. This one act has been healthier for me than the six weeks of boot camp I've had so far! And guess what else? Doing this gave me a desire to write my prayers in a journal too. My times with Jesus have been completely transformed! If you've ever struggled with journaling, DO THIS! It helps track grief patterns and sin patterns. It reveals right before your eyes that the good days far out weight the bad, and that does tremendous work for my life and attitude just by itself. I can't talk this up enough. DO IT! Next year I'm going to go with one of the calendars that has lines for each day and not just boxes. Genius idea Pinterest! 

5. Manager's Special Labels - Kroger has these. I'm sure other grocery stores do as well, but for sure Kroger does. I've become obsessed with finding these, it's like a treasure hunt! When things are still on the shelf and about to expire, sometimes they'll mark them down at least to half price with these little labels. This week I got fresh rosemary for 99 cents! I also got this Asian Chopped Salad that is normally $3.50 for less then $2! I was able to eat the salad twice for lunches and I'm still finding ways to use up the rosemary! Also a little plug for fresh rosemary, IT'S SO MUCH BETTER THAN DRY! Dry rosemary, though tasty and fragrant, feels like pieces of pine straw in your mouth. Fresh rosemary is just so perfect and tender! Someone teach me to grow an herb garden?? 

What are you most excited about for this weekend?