I’ve got a round up of my September Favorites for you today.  It’s been a while since I’ve done one of these, but I haven’t found anything worth sharing with you until now!  These roundups typically include products or services that I’ve enjoyed using over the last month, and you can see other recommendations from past months by clicking here.

I have struggled with drinking enough water for most of my life.  It’s just not my favorite beverage.  If I could live on coffee, I would.  I know that water is incredibly important though, so I go through phases of working on drinking more of it.

I saw a lot of people using the Yeti, but when I found out how much it cost I thought it was ridiculous.  Then my husband decided he needed one, and now I’m a convert.

If you’re not familiar with the Yeti, it’s a stainless steel cup that keeps your drinks cold (or hot) for hours.  Like really really cold.  When it was still pretty hot outside, I left it in my car in the garage with water and ice in it.  The next morning, there was still one small piece of ice left in the cup!  The cup doesn’t sweat either, which is an awesome feature in my opinion.

I’ve done much better with my water intake this month.  Something about the really cold water makes it more palatable.  I also love to put lots of lemon in mine for a really refreshing change from plain water.  Obviously, I could be putting lots of ice and lemon in a regular cup, but because it’s a “to go” cup I carry it around with me more, it doesn’t sweat, and as I mentioned it stays cold for a really long time.

If the cost is prohibitive for you, I have family members who bought knock off versions and they love them.  They do recommend buying a Yeti brand lid though.  We got ours at Dick’s Sporting goods, but I found it on Amazon cheaper!

Are you into adult coloring books?  I’ve always really liked the idea of them.  I loved coloring as a kid, and while it does feel like I could be doing something more productive with my time, we all need some down time, right?

Another reason it took me so long to jump on the coloring band wagon was the coloring book options.  I just wasn’t into woodland creatures or intricate medallions.  Then when I was in California earlier this summer, I found the perfect coloring book for me at Chateau Sonoma.  (Their online store is now open too!).

I will forever be a Francophile, so the French theme of Paris Street Style was so appealing.  Coloring clothing sounded really fun too.  There are some patterns and florals too that were more my style than others I had seen.  So if you haven’t given coloring a try, or think it’s kind of strange, maybe you just haven’t come across the kind of book that appeals to you yet.

I also wanted to mention what I’ve been using to color with.  I started with Prismacolor watercolor pencils.  They are really easy to use wherever I happen to be coloring, without the mess of my actual watercolor paints.  The watercolor gives such a cool look to the pages.

The watercolor does cause the pages to bubble a little from the water, so I also use Prismacolor colored pencils.  This was my first time to use artist colored pencils (although I think I ended up with a lower level pencil because I wasn’t paying attention) and I was pretty impressed with the result.

The typical crayola, kid version colored pencil doesn’t leave a very smooth finish, and tends to leave little white spots that I just can’t quite get to fill in.  The prismacolor pencils are so smooth, you can tell that the pencil is softer and so is easier to get great coverage and even do a little blending of colors.