This month marks the tenth anniversary of Nicole’s Favourite Things! A whole decade of writing about beauty products, clothes, food, and the occasional gadget. Two things: a) wow, I have been writing this blog for a very long time, and b) looking back at my very first Favourite Things, I still have all of those tops.
Ah, summer. I have been working very hard for this past year to really Embrace The Season, but here we are in my actual favourite season, so no hard work is needed. I love summer. I often idly wonder if I would actually miss seasonal changes if I lived somewhere like Maui, where it’s just one long summery paradisiacal day after another. Maybe I would? But it’s hard to imagine.
In my first Favourite Things, I expressed my love for summer clothes, and summery beauty products, and produce-heavy salads for dinner with berries for dessert. I still love all of those things and I probably always will! If I lived in a place where it was always summer, would I miss my sweaters and boots? Would I miss hearty winter meals and moisturizers for chapped skin and lips? Like I said, maybe, but it’s hard to imagine.
Anyway, that’s neither here nor there. The point is that I am Embracing The Hell Out Of Summer. When it’s sunny and warm, I just want to be outside all day long, and feel mild resentment when I have to go indoors. I have been like this my whole life; maybe I’m solar powered.
Nicole’s Favourite Things: The 10th Anniversary Edition
Non-Psychologically-Scarring Skirts and No-Bra-Required Tank Tops
In honour of my first Favourite Things, I am going to talk about skirts with shorts attached and yoga tanks with built-in shelf bras. These are Enduring Favourite Things, and I have many of the same skirt and top but in different colours and patterns. What can I say, if it works, it works. Listen, living in Calgary there are, annually speaking, approximately 20 days total in which wearing light summery clothing is appropriate. That’s probably a high estimate, actually. The upside of this is that good summer clothing can last forever, as the chance to wear it out is limited. The moment the temperature rises above a certain point, which would probably be considered chilly for my Southern friends, I don a skirt. I think they are cute, and they are very practical with the shorts underneath; I never have to worry about accidentally psychologically scarring random passersby or, more likely, my own children when the wind picks up.
I also love a good yoga tank with a built-in shelf bra; this is a thing that works for me mainly because I am, how shall we say, not exactly overly gifted in the chestal region. I wear these year-round, as a layer mostly, but on warm days they can stand alone.
Talk To Me Goose
My love for Top Gun is well-known; I have loved it since I walked to the theatre with my cousins and older brother in Estevan, Saskatchewan, in the summer of 1986. To this day I remember my outfit on that sweltering prairie night: jeans and a pale pink, tie-dyed, off-the-shoulder short sleeved sweatshirt, despite the heat. I was smart enough by that time to realize that the one theatre in Estevan boasted air-conditioning, and let me tell you, they wanted you to know they had air-conditioning. It was always freezing, and if you were naive enough to wear summer clothing to an evening show, you would be blue by the time the movie ended. Anyway, back when Hannah, Allison, and I cowrote a fun nostalgic blog (HI HANNAH HI ALLISON), I wrote one of my favourite pieces ever, about Life Lessons From Top Gun.
All of which is to say I love Top Gun, and I love the NEW Top Gun as well. Do not ask me to tell you which one is “better.” That is an impossible choice akin to the one Sophie made, and I will not make it. In any case, my husband bought me this shirt, and I love it so much:
It must be worn with aviators. It’s a law.
Pedicures and Sandals
In the summer I swap my boots for sandals, but because I am 47, my sandals need to be of the utmost comfort. Who has the energy for painful footwear anymore? I have found Skechers sandals to be the cutest and most comfortable of all the sandals. These are my favourite, and they are good for walking too:
But I also love these sparkly slides, perfect for the days at the lake:
I have heels for the rare occasion that I need them:
I keep my feet groomed throughout the year; being a yoga teacher my feet are on display constantly, so regular pedicures are a must. I used to exclusively do my own pedicures, but there is the cutest little nail salon just down the street from me, and their prices are fabulous. With each pedicure they give a hot stone massage AND they exfoliate using orange slices, which I love. I still touch up my polish between pedicures, but I definitely go to the salon more frequently in the summer.
Lettuce Pray and Flower Power
There is a great line in Sorrow and Bliss, when the husband acquires a plot in the community garden, and he says that they will now be self-sufficient, in the area of lettuce. I feel seen. I am currently self-sufficient, in the area of kale, as we just had our third cutting. I’ve also had two cuttings of Romaine, and although my leaf lettuce has been very very slow to grow this year, I am expecting to be able to cut it next week. At least, I hope so. Harvest time! I get so much joy out of gardening, it’s unbelievable. It feels like a superpower: do you like this salad? I GREW IT MYSELF.
The first of the roses bloomed – I grow John Cabot climbing explorer roses, explorer roses being the only ones I think are sufficiently hardy to survive our winter temperature fluctuations. This is always exciting as the first one is quickly followed by a wall of blooms.
Let The Spinning Wheel Turn
This week marks my two-year anniversary of the arrival of my Peloton! It was, without a doubt, my very favourite thing to come out of 2020. I know the bar is pretty low, but still. On the actual date of my first ride – which is this Sunday – I plan to revisit the same class I did then, a 45 minute disco ride with Leanne.
It has been a really fun way for me to increase my cardio fitness, and it is measurable: that first 45 minute ride, my output was 277. My usual output these days for a similar class is around 400. If you know, you know! Do you have a Peloton and want to be Peloton friends with me? If the answer to that is YES, my leaderboard name is NicoleBoyhouse.
Wistfulness and Avocados
I have two favourite links this month, both summery in their own way. The first is from my longtime, beautiful, smart, and all-round lovely bloggy friend Suzanne (HI SUZANNE). Suzanne wrote about how you can’t go home again, and the piece, like her, is beautiful, smart, and all-round lovely.
My other favourite link is from a newer blog friend, Jamie (HI JAMIE). Jamie wrote about toxic diet culture, body acceptance, taking up space, and avocados as a metaphor for our bodies. I love a good metaphor and I love a good avocado, but most of all I love her message, particularly in the summer when we are inundated with images of “beach bodies” and “bikini bodies” and what have you.
There’s so much to be grateful for in the summer, there is so much to love, but I particularly love and am grateful for YOU, my dear readers, for being here and for listening to a decade of Things that are my Favourite. xo
You know, I have never seen Top Gun.
I imagine Calgary summers to be like late spring and early fall here, the best weather. As I get older I have less tolerance for the heat of summer and you know how snow stresses me out in the winter, but I think I might miss the rhythm of the seasons if i lived somewhere with constant weather. Hard to say.
Your garden is doing better than ours when it comes to producing edible food. We have a lot of harvestable herbs and some promising-looking green tomatoes and carrot tops, but the greens, eggplants, cucumbers, and watermelon are all struggling.
Steph, you’ve never seen Top Gun! Wow! It was such a formative movie for me, so I can’t imagine this, but then again there are many movies I haven’t seen…
So, for context, right now we are having a “heat wave” and the highest temperature is forecasted to be 32 degrees C, which is just under 90 F. That’s very unusual for here, and our nighttime lows will be in the 50s, if that gives you context about what a Calgary summer is like. Also, we have very little humidity. So pretty much the opposite of your temperatures!
Haven’t watched the second Top Gun movie either. In my head, fighter jets are linked to bombs… so that kind of ruins it all for me.
Solar powered 🙂
You always look so cute, no matter the season. I love skirts with built in shorts as well and have found some from Talbots and Amazon that I am enjoying this summer. I want to see the new Top Gun so bad now!
Oh, I loved it so much – if you liked the first one you will LOVE this. Skirts with shorts are just the best!
I’ve never watched Top Gun either. Hanging my head in 80’s shame.
I enjoy getting pedicures as well. I get them once a month, all year. Taking care of my feet has evolved into a form of self-care that I never regret. I also love my sandals.
Xoxo
You’ve never…Kari, I…what…
Yes, pedicures are just so lovely!!! It makes me feel great, and plus I’m supporting a local business! Win win. xo
I’ve never seen Top Gun, either, but I feel like I have. My roommate in college even had a Top Gun poster up with Tom Cruise on it.
I wear sandals and flip flops basically from May through October, even when I should wear regular shoes. I can’t quite convince myself to get pedicures on a regular basis, but I do get them three or four times a year. It seems like quite an indulgence! However, if I were teaching yoga classes, I would definitely make sure my feet looked good since everyone would be looking at them!
Ooooh, I had a poster too! Say what you will about Tom Cruise, he is still a very good-looking man!
I can only wear sandals for a couple months of the year because it’s just too cold here. I mean, some people do it, but I’m all about comfort.
I love your summer clothes and shoes and LOOK AT THAT LETTUCE!! Fabulous! Thank you for the shoutout and the kind words. * blush *
Also I think I need to find that Talk to Me Goose tank top. It’s amazing.
Okay, I just read the Top Gun Life Lessons and it is all excellent advice! The personal hygiene one made me giggle.
Slider, you stink!
Yes you do, then we could be twins!!! Thank YOU for such an excellent piece of writing!
I was nodding my head like a bobblehead the whole time I was reading this post. I love both Top Gun movies but I will make a choice: I love the 2nd one more! I have seen it 3 times: the first time with my best friend from high school, the 2nd with my boys (husband and son) and the 3rd with my husband and his dad last week. I enjoyed watching it all 3 times. We like to go to the Navy base where that volleyball scene was filmed and I always get a kick out of it thinking, “that’s the beach we like to hang out in when we’re there!” Little things…He he he!
I love my skirts with built in shorts, too! It’s like I feel more girly with a skirt and yet I also feel like I can move more freely (what I didn’t like about wearing skirts is the “be careful so as not to show my undies” part) because of the built in shorts. My niece noticed my skirt with shorts last month and admired it and asked where she could buy. I have 4, but unfortunately only in black and gray; one set has the stripes down the sides and the other set none. I like the one with no stripes better because the stripes do opposite of what they were meant to do; I thought they make you look slimmer but it doesn’t work on me. Ha!
I have the same top issue as yours, not gifted. Nice way to put it! LOL I really like that first picture because it looks like a regular tank top, with the wider shoulder straps. I don’t think I’ve ever seen those with built in bras; I need to look.
I wear flipflops year-round…I even ran with my Clark’s flipflops chasing my dog for many blocks when he accidentally got out of the garage when I was by myself (no boys to help me). I did have those Skechers heels (the first pair on your pictures) a few years ago because my coworker wore them and I admired them.
I love this post; I love your summer look, your very nicely-toned arms and bod and the summer garden/harvest! I’ve already written such a loong comment so I better stop here; I’ll go and read your very first Nicole’s Favourite Things post now. 🙂
Oooops…football, not volleyball, since I’m referring to the 2nd movie. Got my 2 Top Gun movies mixed up.
That is just SO cool that you live there! Amazing. That seems glorious! If I lived there I would probably wear sandals year-round too. Alas. It’s too cold to wear them 10 months out of the year here!
Happy 10th Birthday to Nicole’s favorite things! My next move is going to be checking out what Sketchers can do for me in a pair of sandals. I’m totally with you that ain’t nobody got time to be wearing uncomfortable sandals.
Birchy, they are SO comfy. They have them in all kinds of styles, including “walking” sandals that have straps around the heel, so they don’t slide.
I love the skirts and shelf-bra tanks! I, too, can get away w/ wearing tank tops w/ a shelf bra as long as I’m not pregnant or BF’ing – and I will never do either of those things again so I need to get more shelf-bra tanks for our hot summer days. We have similar winters to you but our summers are waaaaay more intense so I need cute tanks. I usually wear capri leggings when I am out and about w/ the boys but you might have convinced me to buy some cute skirts like the ones you are wearing!
I wonder about the year-round summer weather, too. I think CA would be such a great place to live for me, weather-wise, since there are mountains nearby so I could get some colder-weather by going to the mountains. My sister lives in Tucson and she looks for an excuse to wear jeans and sweater since it’s SO HOT there most of the year! So I think I would miss fall sweater weather but not the subzero temps!
Yes, I can totally see that – mild fall or spring temperatures, but I can’t imagine missing -30!
HI NICOLE, thank you for the kind words!
Thank you for such a great post!
Wow, 10 years, congratulations! These are all wonderful things. Here in the “south” (as compared to Canada, not the US) I go through summer clothes much faster, because I sweat through them daily and they get washed so much more. I’m at that point where I am sick of them – I think living in Hawaii you’d have to have some sort of random wardrobe exchange date so you’d have something to look forward to.
Hmmm…solid point! I do get pretty tired of my winter clothes after like 8-9 months of them, so maybe I’d get tired of my summery things too…
*snort* “solar powered” – you and me, Nicole!
As someone who moved from an area where we had exactly two seasons – hotter than hell and tepid – I do enjoy the changing of the seasons…but after 20 plus years, I am done with winter. Completely. Particularly if snow and/or (more commonly hear) ice is on the menu.
Skorts (what we call shorts with skirts)! I love them! Particularly, if they aren’t obviously shorts with skirts, they are great for the office in the summer. You feel like you are getting away with something. Tanks with a shelf bra…oh how I wish, not that I am “generously” endowed by any means but it’s still not something I can get away with sadly.
Top Gun – I’m sure I’ve seen it but (sorry) don’t even really remember anything about it; thus have no desire to see the new one.
And on Suzanne’s post…I LOVED it SO much!! So thank you for sharing it with those who may not have seen it.
I loved that post of Suzanne’s so much, and I’m glad you did too! I feel like I could happily leave winter behind as well – but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards for me.
Love the solar powered line too. You are a clever one, and always dressed so cute. I love summer too and I have 4 skirts, all similar – all with shorts built in. Love those. Congrats on 10 years of favorite things. Well done, you. The Top Gun t-shirt is great. I cannot believe you remember what you wore to see Top Gun. So funny! I love that gardening is a super power for you. Great looking salad. I look forward to reading the life lessons from Top Gun and the other links you shared. Great post.
Thanks Ernie! It’s like the night I saw Top Gun is BURNED ON MY BRAIN!!!
Congrats on 10 years of your favorite things! They are such fun posts 🙂 I still haven’t seen the new Top Gun but I really enjoyed the first one. How can you not love cocky airmen? They’re just charming 😉
I love your spinning set up. I have a spin bike but it’s not a peloton, boo. I have one that connects to iFit, but I haven’t found a spinning class that I like on there yet… so I usually just do my own thing. Which works for me because I’m not super athletic and ANYTHING is better than nothing in my book.
I hope you have a great weekend!
If you liked the first Top Gun I think you’ll really like the second! Just so good!
Wow! A decade of blogging – that is huge. You’ve got a lot of good favorites this time. I LOVE those Skechers sandals and will be running right out to get some. With my “difficult foot” situation, I’ve been wearing running shoes almost all the time and I’m so sick of it. I really need some cute, comfortable sandals.
I’m extremely envious of your home-grown salad. Here in South Florida gardening is… challenging. Our soil is very sandy and the climate is obviously hot. Winter is really our growing season, and we’ve tried. I guess I should try again. I want to be self-sufficient in the area of lettuce!
Yes, the bar was pretty low for 2020- but Peloton is turning out to be one of the greatest things ever. And I don’t even have a bike! But I’ve been using it almost every day for strength, yoga, core, and now barre… just think how much I would get out of it if I had a bike… maybe someday.
You really are embracing the hell out of summer, with your sandals, cute outfits and garden. Enjoy!
Well, technically it is 14 years of blogging – I started it in 2008! – but 10 years of Favourite Things!
I know, the Peloton is SO great! I love it. I never thought of winter as a gardening season but of course, that makes sense!
What a fun post! I went back and read your first one and noticed a few things there that I still use and love! It’s nice when things can stand the test of time.
I too love skirts with shorts under them. Do you ever refer to them as skorts? That is all I call them and I live in them most of the year.
Unlike you, the Peloton looks like a torture device and I have zero desire to join you. However, I’ll join you for a walk or a stroll through the garden while wearing our skorts and sensible sandals.
I love your t-shirt, Goose!
I would LOVE a stroll with our comfy sandals and skorts! Love that word!
So many things to love about this post (and thanks so much for linking to Suzanne’s stellar post on childhood homes). But I keep coming back to… how adorably CUTE you look in that first pic! It’s like a skater/flapper dress (but I love that it’s actually an ensemble).
Aw, thanks Maya!
While I do not envy your climate in Calgary, I do very much wish we could experience SOME cooler weather here in Florida. We get a few months where it’s not blazingly hot and MAYBE we could turn off our AC for a week or two, but I wish I could experience Actual Fall and get to wear all the cute winter clothes that I don’t get to wear. I’m glad you’re getting to enjoy the weather and wear skirts/tanktops after such a long winter!
I have never seen Top Gun! I wasn’t even born when the first movie came out, lol, and I wasn’t a huge Tom Cruise fan as it is so I didn’t see the point. But with everyone raving about how good the new Top Gun is, it makes me consider watching both movies. Maybe someday!
It’s too bad we couldn’t split the difference between our climates! It’s dry and cold here, so if we added a little heat and humidity…it would be perfect! If you visited here in say August, you could definitely get that fall feeling. That’s usually when the weather starts to chill, particularly in the mountains.
You’re so young! Top Gun was a Formative Movie for me! I still love it.
I’m late to the party here, but I had to read this post. 10 years of doing anything consistently deserves applause. I am not sure that I’ve ever considered that there might be a No-Bra-Required Tank Top, as I’ve been busty since forever. I am all about the comfy sandals and a pedicure though. Kind of suddenly feel the need to zhoosh up my toe color. Been doing the pale thing lately.
I think I have had red toenails since I was about 16, and every time I think “I should switch it up” I don’t. I just love a good red! Remember Revlon’s Love That Red? It was my signature lip/ nail colour back in the day. Now it doesn’t exist but I still like to channel that feeling.
I love seeing your style – you always look so put together (Down to your toes! literally!). And, I love that some of your favorites from 10 years ago are … still your favorites. When something works, it just…. works. 🙂 Here’s to (at least) another 10 years! <3
Congratulations on your two-year anniversary of owning your Peloton. I started with the app in August of 2020 and then bought my bike a year later, so my Pel-versary is coming up, too. And I still love this bike and the platform and community so, so much (as you know). I hope to catch you on a ride on of these days. When do you usually ride?
I love that you’re growing your own veggies and lettuce. I wish I was more dedicated to my garden, because while things grow pretty well here in California, it’s so hot in the summer that you really have to have your garden plot and watering schedule figured out. My strawberry plants died when we were on vacation and I am trying to revive a couple of other plants. It’s so satisfying to serve something for dinner that you grew yourself!
San, I usually ride early in the morning, starting sometime between 6-7 am. I think you are in a time zone an hour earlier than I am, so if you’re ever up early…but on Saturdays I tend to ride a little later, like 9.