Family Friday Five: Happy Things!

It’s Friday. And on this particular Friday I feel beat, torn down, by all the negative news and negative chatter and negative talk surrounding me. I feel like America is on the verge of a great reckoning and it makes me sad and anxious. Watching Hurricane Laura reminds me of our own (recent) experience with hurricanes and tropical storms and my heart aches. The protests, the anger, the injustice… And I simply feel beat today.

Do you feel the same? Am I alone in this feeling?

I go back to my ways to fill up online; I go back to my inspirational books; I continue to work out at home because I believe moving helps me so much. But, also, I am allowing myself to be a little sad.

I am also trying to step away from social media and news. So there are a lot less (read as: none) news links below. Just fun, happy stuff.

Our Favorite Instagram we’ve shared on FamilyTripMag:

View this post on Instagram

“Heaven is under our feet as well as over our heads.” —Henry David Thoreau An impromptu early morning adventure today, and I mean early since if were going I wanted to beat any potential crowds. And we did, we had some of the space to ourselves, and it was magical. This entire experience was STUNNING and pictures can’t do it justice. This is an adventure during which I took A LOT of photos. These are my two favorites. In the first, the bottom is actually a crystal clear lake that perfectly mirrors the ceiling, creating a mind-bending image. But please feel free to scroll through my instastory for more. It was hard to pick. I hope you had a great family adventure this weekend! #cave #caves #caverns #cavern #luray #blueridge #luraycaverns #lurayva #nature #travel #travelblogger #travelgram #familieswhotravel #naturephotography

A post shared by The Family Trip (@familytripmag) on Aug 16, 2020 at 3:59pm PDT

Note: There are some affiliate links below, and you can read our disclaimer here.

Our Family Friday Five picks this week include:

1- This family teams calendar is amazing. Huge, nearly comically so, but also very helpful for our fall family organizing. We are now all on one page (and it’s a very, very large page).

2- In other “getting organized for the new school year” news, I bought a new planner for myself. (My second bullet journal from this summer has already been completely filled up!) I am really excited to try this one out.

3- I am having the healthiest house plants EVER the past year, and I swear it’s due to this stuff.

4- I started this book, and I know it is wildly popular, but I just don’t know you all given my current mood if it’s a healthy choice… However, this one here did so much for me. I highly recommend the Audible, as well.

5- Finally, I am *super* close to buying this dress. I have had it in my cart for awhile. But I can’t quite commit because I fear I am going to look ridiculous in it. Plus, it isn’t as though the website imbues a lot of confidence. Thoughts? (By the way, to follow up on another fashion question from another Family Friday Five, this dress has been awesome!)

From the archives:

Ways to Help During a Natural Disaster

Easy Back to School Lunch and Snack Ideas for Kids

I hope you all have a good weekend. I hope you can fill up, enjoy your family, and come back on Monday ready to go. Have a great trip!