First, happy birthday to my mom!

Happy Friday! I wanted to share three things I have been loving lately. One is related to food storage, one is related to checking email, and one is not related to health, fitness, or computers at all. But it makes me happy in the head so that is healthy.

1. Ball Jars

Ball Jars have been around a very long time and are traditionally used for canning. That is a process of storing foods in a preserved state. However, Ball Jars are also great for storing anything, like nuts, dried fruits, grains, etc. I have read about lots of food bloggers storing all I mentioned in various sized Ball jars, but you have to buy them in a box of about 15. While they are very cheap (about $1.29 each and $14 for a bunch), I just didn’t have use for so many. I went to my neighborhood hardware store, and they were selling pint sized ones in singles because the box incomplete. My lucky day to try.

Ball Jars are very attractive for storage, and cheap. However, the pint size is still pretty small so I should probably buy larger ones. Anyone wanna share a box of 15 bigger jars?

2. Rapportive

This is a really neat tool for email that I read about on Katy’s blog. She is a fun source for healthy living and social media. All that I’m about too!

Anyway, Rapportive is a free tool you install in your email. I use Gmail, so I installed there. When I get an email from someone, I can see a column of every social media network they’re on, including a picture. I can see their latest tweets, a link to follow them on Facebook or LinkedIn, and I can add notes right in the column. It’s especially great to see pictures of people I don’t know in person.

I haven’t had any problems with this tool, it’s been a really neat addition!

3. My makeup organization station

Perhaps you have picked up on this, and you would definitely know from real life, but I’m pretty neat and tidy. I like things to have compartments, I like to have order. My makeup situation was getting on my nerves, so I fixed it. I now have a clear lucite-ish system where my brushes stand up, all eye makeups go together, and I can see everything so clearly. This set is from The Container Store for about $35. I took out the nail polish rack thing, it wasn’t glued in, just sits there.

It is the perfect size for me, isn’t too tall, and even has room to grow (add more makeup).