Monthly Musings ~ October

 Today I am joining up with Patty and Holly for the October Monthly Musings.

1.  What are your Halloween traditions?

The past few years, we have gone to a friends house for trick or treating and snacks.  Typically, I make chili and cornbread for dinner that night/weekend.  When the girls were little, we loved dressing up and trick or treating in our neighborhood.

2.  Favorite fall activities?

There are many that sound great, but honestly, I don't really participate in them.  Somehow, especially without having little kids at home, the season just gets away from me.  I wanted to go to a corn maze this year, but it isn't open.  I love the idea of buying/painting pumpkins & a hayride, which are some things we did when my girls were younger.

3.  Favorite fall recipe?

This is my favorite fall recipe....Chocolate chip pumpkin bread! I actually do make some substitutions to make it a little healthier.....I use applesauce instead of oil, I use sugar free chocolate chips and I use a substitute for white and brown sugar and use lite orange juice.  It is still a very tasty breakfast or snack and the substitutions save a few calories along the way :).

4.  What beverage makes you think of fall?

Hot chocolate!

5.  Favorite fall fashion staples?

Boots and cardigans are my favorite fall fashion staples.

6.  Do you decorate for fall?  Halloween?  Both?

Primarily, I just decorate for fall.  For October, I do set out black placemats, but that is as far as the Halloween decor goes for me.  Here are some pictures from this year....

And here is the switch of my placemats...

7.  Bonfire? Cornmaze? or Hayride?

I like all 3 of these! 

8.  Apple pie or apple cider?

I like apples, but would graciously decline on either of these apple flavored items.

9.  Favorite type of apple?

I typically purchase Gala apples, but also enjoy the Honeycrisp.  I do try to have apples on hand and we eat them most days.

10.  What are your Thanksgiving tradtions?

We are going to be home this year for the first time in 4 years and are looking forward to it.  We honestly don't have any big plans though.  I'm sure we will do something with my family here.  In the past few years, we have spent the holiday with my in-laws, which is always fun, and then we spent one year just the 4 of us in Helen, Georgia. 

The first tradition that comes to mind, other than eating turkey, is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.  I am looking forward to the downtime with both my girls home.

Thanks for reading along and always a fun link-up!

What's Up Wednesday ~ October 2021

 Happy last week of October and time for another edition of What's Up Wednesday!

What we're eating this week...............

Monday - dinner out with my in-laws who were in town

Tuesday - spaghetti

Wednesday - church

Thursday - out with friends

Friday - something simple at home since we have an event

Saturday - maybe I will get inspired and cook!

What I'm reminiscing about...................

I had a great month with 3 different trips.

1st trip - Nashville to see Harry Styles in concert with my girls

2nd trip - College visits to Georgia...We visited Atlanta, Athens, and Savannah.

3rd trip - Girls trip to Columbia, TN for the live podcast of the Big Boo Podcast

What I'm loving....................

Cooler temperatures!!!! 

What we've been up to.................

Traveling :)

We also celebrated my daughter's birthday this month

What I'm dreading..............

Still a few personal things going on that I am dreading, but also knowing the Lord will see me through this. 

What I'm working on.....................

I am busy with both my part time jobs these past few weeks. I am also working on booking a trip for my daughter's senior trip.  I need to work on organizing files and paperwork that have been stacking up for a while.

What I'm excited about...................

My college girl will be coming home for Thanksgiving.  I haven't seen her under our roof since July.

What I'm watching....................

I am beginning to watch the Hallmark Christmas movies!  I have just seen the first 2 so far and liked them both.  I am also watching my regulars....Hoda & Jenna, The Voice, and Ted Lasso.  We are close to finishing that and I just finished watching the recent season of Cheasepeake Shores.  I also just watched the most recent movie in the series of Signed, Sealed, Delivered.

What I'm listening to...................

Currently, the World Series!  Baseball is the norm in our house, especially in October.  

For podcast, I am listening to my normal favorites....The Big Boo, The Office, The Bestie Breakdown, The Open Door, Don't Mom Alone and The Naked Marriage.

What I'm wearing...................

I am just excited to start bringing out my boots and putting away those open toed shoes! These are my favorite Ugg boots I bought almost 7 years ago.

What I'm doing this weekend.................

I am hoping not much of anything specific after all the travel earlier this month.  I still need some time at home to get some things done. We may go to a friends house to celebrate Halloween.

What I'm looking forward to next month.....................

November is my favorite month!!!  Why??  Temperatures are cooler around the country.  People begin to count their blessings a little more as we celebrate Thanksgiving.  Also, Christmas season officially begins.  And, I celebrate my birthday!

What else is new...........................

We closed on the house we lived in when my girls were little.  We moved out of this house 8 years ago and it has been a rental.  The time was right to sell it.  I brought Brook home from the hospital to this house and thought we would take another picture together in front of it.

Happy midweek to you and thanks for reading!

Friday Favorites ~ October 22, 2021

Today I am linking up for Friday Favorites.  Where did the week go?  And I'm looking at you October, just flying right on by us! 

ONE

My first Friday Favorite is actually throwing it back to last weekend's girl trip to hear the Big Boo Podcast live. 

We started with some eating and shopping on the square. This cute pair of pants was as tall as I am!  I did like them a lot though.

This was such a fun night! And they are so right on their podcast...the venue was beautiful inside!

TWO

My newborn baby girl turned 17 this week!  We went to dinner to celebrate and came home for a few gifts.

(So Melanie Shankle wore a Run DMC t-shirt Saturday night at the Podcast.  It inspired me to find my old concert t-shirts.  I, of course, picked this Huey Lewis t-shirt from his 1985 concert & wore it with black jeans and a sweater to dinner.)

THREE

I attended a fundraising banquet last night for Life Choices. This is a great organization and we went with two other couples, which made for a fun night out.

FOUR

I am just going to go ahead and declare a Friday night at home as a favorite.  I have been traveling the last 5 out of 6 weekends since Labor Day.  While they were all so fun and I am thankful for them, boy am I looking forward to a weekend at home.

I hope you all enjoy your weekend!

Tuesday Talk ~ Big Boo Podcast / October 2021

 Good morning! I am sharing some highlights from another weekend trip.  This time, I went to see the Big Boo Podcast live.

I headed out Friday with a friend and two of her friends, who I had not met before to Columbia, TN.  We got settled in and then went to dinner in the small town. That night, we exchanged some of our favorite things.  We each brought 2 gifts of the same favorite thing.  I brought several items and even part of my gift packaging was part of the gift....Buc-ees insulated bags!  I received a nail gel set and a lip mask.

The next day we shopped in the area and it is a cute downtown.  There are lots of little cute shops and places to eat.  

As mentioned here before, I listen to the Big Boo Podcast with Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson.  They hosted their live podcast and Travis Cottrell was their special guest.  He came out to play an 80's trivia game with them, which Melanie won, and then he spoke about Compassion International.

It was a fun night to laugh with them and see them in person. I came home Sunday afternoon and enjoyed the time away.  On a side note, before attending the event, I had purchased the Grace Upon Grace journaling devotion for my teenage daughter.  It looks to be a good one and I gave it to her as a birthday gift.  So, if you need a Christmas idea for a teenage daughter, this is a good one.  It can be orered through Amazon, Lifeway or I'm sure other places as well.

Enjoy your day!

Happy Birthday Brook! ~ October 18, 2021

 It's a happy Monday morning as we celebrate my youngest daughter's birthday today! 

The weekend was a great one.  It started with my newborn baby having her senior pictures. Where did the time go???  Then, I took off on a girls weekend trip to see Melanie Shankle and Sophie Hudson's live podcast show.  It was so good and I will blog about it later this week.

Today, I just want to give a shout out to my youngest, Brook.  She turns 17 today.  She is my senior in high school.  She began school as a homeschooler, so she was able to start at a young age, so she is a young high school senior.  She is my artist.  She is my Harry Styles loving girl.  She is thoughtful and caring.  She is one of my deepest joys.  I love this girl so much. Since she will be at college next year, this is my last year to decorate with her at home. It is giving me all the feels.  I decorated last night and she had two friends from church come over after they went out for dinner and to the park.

Our birthday tradition is to hang streamers from the door on your birthday.

We will celebrate tonight with a birthday dinner.

Y'all enjoy your day!

Linking up with Heather

Friday Favorites ~ College Tour Edition / October 15, 2021

I hope this Friday post finds you all doing well and enjoying this month of all things fall.  In the south, we are loving our cooler temperatures!  Speaking of cooler temperatures, we had perfect weather for our recent trip and was so thankful.

This week was fall break for my daughter's high school, so we took off on a college tour trip.  I posted about part 1 here, which consisted of touring SCAD in Atlanta and visiting Athens, GA, home of the University of Georgia.  This post picks up with part 2 of that visit and then onto Savannah, GA.  

We did our official U of Georgia tour and saw the famous arch, which is the landmark of the school.  This tour was outstanding.  Our guide was amazing and I told my daughter they must train their tour guides at the same place of customer service as Chick-fil-A.  Everything was well done, considering the campus is 740 acres!  And I finally met a Marilyn younger than me!  I have always joked saying I am the youngest Marilyn, but at last, someone named their daughter that so there is a college student here who was our amazing guide.

After the tour, we headed over to Savannah, GA.  I let Brook take the wheel for a while and of course, we listened to some Harry Styles!

Savannah is a beautiful town.  We stayed downtown and walked the riverwalk.

The next morning we took our official tour of SCAD Savannah.

This room below had a paint by number wall!

We posed by the famous fountain in a park in town.

I am so thankful for this time with my girl.  We had lots of car time and also some good clarity.   I may be a crying mess next year having both my girls far away from home.  

And of course, we ended the trip with another visit to Buc-ees!  

I spent a day at home catching up with all the things, a date night with my husband (we saw the new James Bond movie!), and now getting ready for another weekend trip.

Happy Friday and weekend friends!