The Best Bits: My April 2025 Favorites
The Best Bits is a monthly series where I tell you what I’ve been up to! Things I’m doing, media I’m loving, and products I recommend! Here’s a fresh batch of favorites for your reading pleasure!
DISCOVERING | Color Season Analysis
Earlier this month I gathered my two favorite mamas and took them with me to get our “colors done!” We met with a consultant that draped us in all shades of fabric to determine our what each of our seasons were, the goal being to find the colors that look best on each of us. Ultimately it was a really fun day, and we all walked away with a book of swatches in our new color families! I was typed as an autumn, and I’m excited to embrace that color scheme since earthy tones have always been my favorite!
READING | Olive Kitteridge by Elizabeth Strout
This was a book club pick that I was admittedly not that interested in picking up, but I ended up really loving it! The main character, Olive, is a grumpy and difficult woman but I really enjoyed reading the stories that weaved in and out of her life! I think most people can see parts of themselves in Olive, and it is a Pulitzer Prize winning book after all.
WATCHING | Silo
We followed up Severance with Silo on Apple TV, and that has been a great show as well! Both shows have an alternate reality spin to them and involve mysterious authoritarian entities that the protagonists are up against. We finished season one of Silo a few days ago, and I’m looking forward to starting season two!
LISTENING | Many songs… very closely
We’ve starting putting together some wedding day playlists at the request of our DJ. We’ve scoured lists of suggestions put together by friends and family (but bridesmaids mostly) and as I’m sure you know, not every song out there is fit to be played at a wedding 🤣
PLANNING | Daffodil Takeover
Since we moved into our house we’ve kept a running list of the plants that previous owners planted as they pop up each season. We have a climbing rose that needs a better home (like something to climb!), peonies that will need to be placed in a sunnier spot, and daffodils that were planted right up against the wall of the garage years ago and will need to be divided and replanted. This mental to-do list inspired me to dream about what I want the flower bed next to our garage to look like. I’m thinking that come fall I’ll load it up with a bunch of different daffodils, like the Farmhouse and Citrus Sorbet mixes from Eden Brothers. I also have some new peony roots to plant, which should bring us hot pink flowers a year or two from now!
CRAFTING | More Socks!
I started on a second pair of socks as a gift for my best friend, since her birthday is coming up soon! Socks have been so fun to knit, and I love using funky yarn that would feel too adventurous (or even too ugly) for a scarf or sweater!
GROWING | Seed Starts and Native Pollinators
My seedlings have taken off like crazy, and I’ve been so excited to watch them grow! We set up a grow light in our kitchen with some reusable seed trays and planted a variety of herbs, flowers, and most importantly, a large crop of Pueblo chiles! I’ve also been caring for some native plants so they can be sold at a Master Gardener fundraising sale next month.
APPLYING | Herbal Neck Pillow
All this knitting has been making my neck pretty dang sore, so I’ve been using my herbal-ease neck pillow every chance I get. You warm it up in the microwave, it has a lovely chai spice sort of smell, and it really is such a luxurious thing to throw on at the end of the day!
WEARING | Cotton Sundresses
I’ve been paying closer attention to the types of fabric I’ve been buying and wearing lately, because it seems to be harder to find nice quality clothing at affordable prices. There’s so much yucky feeling unbreathable fabric out there these days. Cotton never seems to steer me wrong, so I’ve been shopping around for dresses and skirts in 100% cotton. I found a really great dress at Sam’s Club of all places, and Old Navy has had some really nice cotton options too!
EATING | Banana Bread
It seems like we’ve had a ton of overripe bananas lately, probably because we keep buying them and then going out of town. I’m not afraid of a spotty banana, but there does come a time when a banana is just too ripe for me, and there enters banana bread. I think I’ve finally settled on my favorite recipe, and I’ll be sharing that with you all soon!
SIPPING | Pear Martinis
When you’re wedding planning, you’re bound to get asked about signature cocktails at least once a week! After a few months of hemming and hawing, we finally got our selections boiled down a little. When visiting family, I put together a flight of cocktails to taste test some recipes, and we decided on a good blend of ingredients for a pear martini. We like that it’s autumnal and most folks that like fruity cocktails will drink one!
INDULGING | Yarn Swift and Ball Winder
I finally treated myself and ordered both a yarn baller and an umbrella swift, and wow, what a game changer! I’d previously been winding my yarn by hand, and since the Maryland Sheep & Wool Festival is coming up next month, I knew I’d need to save myself some frustration! If you’re not familiar, most hand-dyed yarn comes in a twisted hank, a big loopy spiral that looks beautiful but isn’t ready to knit with. You have to unwind it and wind it into a ball first, or you’ll end up with a tangled mess. Since I love supporting indie yarn dyers and tend to pick up special skeins here and there, I was long overdue for this purchase! I got my kit from Knitpicks and I highly recommend it!
ADMIRING | Stonecrop Gardens
A few weeks ago I took a jaunt around the garden center and found myself enamored with the large variety of sedum plants they had in stock. They’re cold hardy succulents that barely need any care whatsoever! Some are large and bloom in bright colors, others spill over the edge of their pots, and some have leaves that have an interesting fluffy texture. I have dreams of filling a big terracotta bowl with them and using it as a centerpiece on the table on our deck!
OBSESSING | Home and Landscape Design
I think it’s a mix between spring cleaning and hitting our stride as homeowners, but I’m really loving digging into design inspiration for our house these days! I’ve moved around some furniture here and there, have been working on implimenting new systems and structure for problem areas (looking at you, utility closet!) and just generally feeling stoked about the potential of our house! I even finally painted the weird, dark hallway that leads into my office! It feels like the dust has settled on our new house apprehension and we’re finally really able to call it our own.
CELEBRATING | Finishing my Master Gardener course!
This month I finished up the education requirement for my Master Gardener certification! I gave a presentation on tea gardens and how to grow tea plants and other herbal ingredients for tea blends. Now I’ll just have to finish my volunteer hours and I’ll be really official 😜
What are your favorite things this month?
