5 things I love right now.

1. Hanky Panky thongs. I'm sure most of you are familiar with these, but if not, get with the program! These are absolutely the best thongs ever. You don't get that lovely I've-got-something-stuck-up-my-ass-crack feeling with these. I had a drawer full of various thongs - probably 30 or 40 pair - and once I discovered these, I tossed ALL of my old ones. I'm not really a fan of wearing thongs, but sometimes you just gotta. And when you gotta, it's Hanky Panky all the way. They are one-size-fits-all, so they make a great gift. And they come in a huge rainbow of solids and also some fun and funky patterns. There are regular and low-rise varieties. The solids retail for $18 and the patterns are usually about $20. Lots of places carry them... Nordstrom, Bloomies, and any other nice department store... Anthropologie... lots of gift shops carry them... I've seen them everywhere. I'm cheap when it comes to undies, but these are worth every penny. Plus you can find them at discount stores for around $12. I've found them at Loehman's and Last Call Neiman Marcus. Give them a try - you'll see what I mean.

2. E.l.f. Body Butter. I've always been a fan of body butters, but I don't like paying a lot for beauty products in general. So like $16 a tub at The Body Shop always made me cringe even though I love their product. But then I saw that Elf had come out with a line of bath products, including their own body butter... for $4. Y'all know I love me some Elf, so I gave it a try. I have the peony petal flavor sitting on my nightstand and it is just awesome. Same size tub as The Body Shop's too... So let's see, $16 or $4? Sorry, Body Shop.

3. Birds Eye Steamfresh Singles. What better way to look good in your Hanky Panky's then getting your daily veggie servings? Hehehe... Well actually I am a little OCD lately about monitoring how many fruit and veggies I get each day and I am loving these new Singles steamfresh packs from Birds Eye. If you can't do fresh, frozen is the way to go with veggies because they don't have all the preservatives that canned ones do. We're big on frozen veggies at our house because our schedules are so crazy... it's hard to plan out meals to where I can buy a lot of stuff fresh. Half the time we end up throwing stuff out because it spoils before we get to it. I keep a big bag of these in the freezer at work and usually add one to my lunch. They're only about 50 calories each and hello - it's a vegetable. I'm all about quick and easy, so these get an A+ from me. I just want to see more varieties come out soon! They're sold in packs of 4 and can be found next to all the other frozen veggies in your grocery freezer.

4. Bertolli Complete Skillet Dinners. The hub and I keep a few of these in our freezer at all times. We do actually cook, I promise. But we like to have these on hand for a quick meal at home - and especially so we can't use the "Oh we have nothing to cook - let's go out" excuse. There are a ton of different varieties and we've tried many of them. They've all been really good - I'd say exceptionally good for a pre-packaged grocery store freezer item. And I'm not usually a fan of prepared stuff like this. Some varieties are definitely more fattening and higher in calories than others, but they generally range between 350 and 600 calories a serving. Now I could easily throw down the entire package myself, but the portions are sensible. I usually add a green salad or some veggies on the side to complete the meal. Yum-o!

5. My new iPod touch. This is a toy I never would've picked out for myself. I'm just not a gadget person like the hub is. I never even had an MP3 player till now. So, bestest, you were not the last one to get one - I was! I actually won this randomly at our office Christmas party. Which was a fun surprise given that I walked away with a $25 Starbucks card last year. So I got all into itunes and learned how to download music and stuff. You know - stuff everyone else knows how to do but me, apparently. But this particular iPod is so fun because it has a touch screen, internet access, plays videos, has games, and all kinds of other stuff I've yet to discover. The hub also got one for Christmas from my parents - so we both have one. Mine has a pink case though - so we don't get them mixed up, you know. I keep it by my bed and every night I log on to my banking site and check my accounts one last time (this is part of my control freakness - and I'm loving that I can do this all cozy in bed instead of running down the hall to the 'puter). And then I play a game of solitaire on it before drifting off to sleep...