Five Loves on Friday

Happy 1st Friday of April, friends!  How exciting is that?!  Getting closer to those spectacular spring flowers, and summer sunshine isn't far behind!  *happy sigh*  Ok, on to what you popped by for today, five lovely loves coming right up! . . .

One  //   A Special Evening with Little One

Saturday night Princess went to stay with her Great Aunt Ednah to help with some things around her house.  Despite having another very fun invitation that night, Little One said, "It's not every night I get my parents all to myself!"  I was tickled pink that even when given the freedom to decide how she'd like to spend that evening, she picked to enjoy the time alone with her daddy and I!  She chose dinner from Raising Cane's Chicken and a movie from Redbox.  We stopped halfway through to whip up mid-movie milkshakes, and followed the flick with cookie baking and eating!  The evening concluded with her and Jason side by side, each with xbox controllers in hand, gaming to their heart's content!  (Like father, like daughter.)  The next morning she requested an early wake-up time so she could soak up every bit of our time together.  What a treat to lavish all our attention on her!  

Two //  Lake Trip Booked!

Many of you have heard me talk about our annual summer trips to Lake Okoboji.  I grew up going there with my family every summer.  When Jason and I started a family of our own we kept up those visits, taking Princess for her very first vacation there.  Our memories made at Iowa's Great Lakes are some of my favorites!  

Last year while looking into booking a stay at the #1 rated resort in the area, we noticed that Jason's birthday falls under their "off season" rates!  After scoring a half price reservation and thoroughly enjoying oodles of complimentary amenities there, we quickly decided that a birthday trip would be our new family tradition!  Last night we booked our upcoming stay.  Let the countdown to sandy toes and sunny lake cruisin' begin!

Three  //  Kate Spade Goodies

I've been wanting to get back to more (pen to paper) writing and this pretty pink leatherette notepad folio was calling my name...

Kate Spade New York (She Wrote The Book On It)  // Kate Spade Gel Pen ...because I couldn't resist this pretty pen either!  The clicking between colors reminds me of favored pens of my youth!

I scored this loveliness at 25% off with free shipping during Kate Spade's Nearest & Dearest Sale, making it a beautiful bargain that will be enjoyed for many years to come! 

Four  //  Adding to my Snail Mail Stash 

Kate Spade New York Telephone & Address Book  // Kate Spade Gel Pen  //  Botanical Art Stamps  //  Lily & Val Greeting Cards

Oh, how I love snail mail!

After following Valerie McKeehan and her hand-drawn loveliness at Lily & Val on Instagram for quite a while now, I placed my first order from her shop last week.  There was a mix up and they sent me the wrong cards.  When I emailed customer service I was so pleased with the care they responded with.  They got back to me super quickly, apologized, told me they'd send me the correct cards and instructed me to keep and enjoy the ones I received by mistake.  A few days later the correct cards arrived with a sticky note of apology from the gal who'd put together my first order.  I completely understand that mistakes can happen and the way companies handle them makes a huge difference to me!  I couldn't have been more pleased with their small business's customer service or their product!  

Five  //  Amazon Prime Music

This week YouTube recommended a vid about benefits that Amazon Prime members may not be using.  I was super curious, and now I'm so glad I clicked play!  Like many people, we signed up for a free 30-day trial of Prime at Christmastime solely for the free 2-day shipping.  However, come January we decided that between the speedy free shipping and Amazon exclusive tv series we were already hooked on, we couldn't cancel. Was there more to enjoy?  Sure enough there was something I knew nothing about and was super interested in, free Prime Music!  I immediately downloaded the app on my phone and have been using it since!  The albums offered may be a bit more limited than say Spotify, but I've found several of my favorites.  Unlimited skips, any song, any time, ad free.  Yes, please & thank you!  
If you're a Prime member, you're going to want to download this app asap!  If you're not, they offer free trials so you can try out their streaming movies and tv episodes, music, free shipping (& more) for a month without spending a dime.  ...and if you do so clicking through my Amazon affiliate link pic above it's a total win/win for both of us! ;)

*Full disclosure:  While sharing my favorites I include Amazon affiliate links to items you can buy through their site.  If you click through to buy and enjoy goodies through such links a small portion will go to supporting Chatting Over Chocolate at no additional cost to you.  Thank you!

Thank you so much for stopping by today!  It's a joy to have you here!  Wishing you the loveliest of weekends ahead!