Friday Favorites ~ July 29, 2022

 It's been a minute but I'm joing in for Friday Favorites, counting the small, but a few special things from the week for which to be thankful.

ONE

My daughter attended a reception with me hosted at the hospital for their volunteers.  It was fun and we had good food.  Afterwards, we visited with a friend who has a baby in the hospital.

TWO

I celebrated 1 year working part-time at my job this week.  This is me at my desk a few days a week.  I am thankful for this opportunity.

THREE

My soon-to-be 2nd college student and I visited IKEA for a few dorm items.

FOUR

Rain....we got a little rain yesterday with more predicted today!  I know we are not alone in needing the rain this summer season.  And this also means the temperture is dropping to the 80's and that will basically feel like fall for a day or two.  I'll take it.

Have a great weekend! 

What's Up Wednesday ~ July 2022

Happy Wednesday! Oh, I am not sad to see July in the rear view mirror.  Here is the monthly recap and looking forward to a new month!

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

Monday - leftover BBQ

Tuesday - meal at work event

Wednesday - Chick-fil-A

Thursday - salmon burgers

Friday - frozen pizza

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

3 years ago.....What I would give to go back & redo some things....but somehow skip the pandemic in there. Here are pictures from July 2019.

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

I am loving any time I can get with my soon to be 2nd college daughter.  Thankfully, we don't leave until after Labor Day so I have a little extra time with her. Her school is on the quarter schedule, so they start and finish later.

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

Every day is a little different and just trying to keep up with all the things.  I often think about living on a cruise ship for a few weeks to escape :).

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

Bills...

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

I am trying to keep up with the blog, but it seems my time is college prep from tuition due and looking at all the checklists.

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

I am excited about travel this fall....Savannah, Virginia, Dallas and New York City

What I'm watching/reading..............

I am excited to be watching the new season of Virgin River.  

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

I am still keeping up with my podcasts - Office Ladies, Don't Mom Alone, In the Face of Illness, I Hate Green Beans, Jesus Over Everything, The Big Boo Podcast 

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

I am wearing and rotating through all the dresses as the weather has been continually hot it seems.

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

It is suppose to be a little cooler and hopefully some rain, so that is exciting to me!  I don't have any plans, but I'm sure it will be catching up on things around the house.

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

We have tickets to a play, but honestly, there is not a lot of other big plans on the calendar and I'm okay with it!

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

I am hoping to go see Where the Crawdads Sing movie soon.  Has anyone seen it?  I have seen Top Gun and Elvis in the past month, which are both great movies.  Movies are expensive, but they are fun to go to in the theater.  The only other down side is that I want to eat all the snacks during a movie....Milk duds, popcorn with M&M's, twizzlers and a diet coke.  That would be a lot to have all at once, but any combination of things would be temporarily good :).  Any movie snack favorites for you?

Have a great Wednesday!

 

Weekend Wrap-Up ~ July 25, 2022

 Good morning.  I am doing a quick wrap up of my weekend.

Friday night, my husband, daughter and I ate dinner at McAlisters.  Because the restaurant was cold inside, we sat outside where there was a little breeze and it wasn't too hot, thankfully.  Afterwards, we watched a few episodes of the new Virgin River series on Netflix.  So far, I am liking this season.

Saturday morning, my daughter and I went to my sister's house, who lives about 45 minutes away, to swim.  Her daughters and their families were there so I was able to see some of my greats.  This always is good for me!  It was a laid back day.

Sunday, we went to church and spent the most of the afternoon at friends house and hung out in their pool.  It was pretty relaxing and amazing how much you forget about the heat when you are in water.

Sunday evening was spent watching baseball, as my husband is a big baseball fan, so we usually have that on tv most nights at some point.

The weekend was definitely full of the small things, but I will take it.  

Happy Monday!

Weekend/Life Lately ~ July 18, 2022

Good morning.  It has been a minute since I have been here....just a lot going on honestly so blogging has taken the back seat, even though I have missed it for sure!

Here is a little bit of the weekend and life lately.....

1. Work - I have been trying to keep up with all going on at work and stay on top of things there.  I am thankful for my part-time job!

2.  Visits - We had a family stay with us last week for a few days and it was so fun!  I had not seen them in 5 1/2 years, so it was great to catch up again.  They served 9 years in Bogota leading the international church there and are preparing to move to Norway to plant a church there.

The second night of their visit, our oldest daughter came home so it was fun to have her here for a few nights.  We also had another couple join us for dinner as we served Memphis BBQ and talked about church planting and mission work.

3.  This doesn't rank high on blog post excitement, but doing business stuff of life has been busy. I am shopping for new car insurance. Does anyone have a favorite?  I am researching to change to hopefully find a better price.  I am also in crunch time of getting 2 daughters ready for college.  The oldest will be a senior and the youngest a freshman.  Crunch time includes payments and the check list of things for our freshman.

4.  It is hot.  This heat and bugs are not my thing.  I would rather have fall, winter, spring any other day of the week.  We do have some friends on vacation this week and have been invited to swim at their pool anytime this week.  In the midst of the heat, I am reminded there is beauty by this simple photo I took in my yard last week.

5.  My weekend consisted of watching a random movie Friday night, catching up on some shows Saturday night, college and trip planning, a little bit of swimming and I got in a trip to the grocery store and Costco.  It was uneventful, but I got a few things done, so that felt nice. 

6.  I had a few random purchases the last week or so with the Nordstrom sale, Prime and Target days.

I will work on sharing those items soon.

Hope you all have a good start to your week & thanks for reading!

 

Cincinnati ~ July 2022

 It is Friday!  And it is hot.  I don't mind the heat from time to time, but the consistency of heat makes one stay indoors as much as possible.  However, I did get some time outside on a quick trip to Cincinnati this past week.  It had been 30 years probably since I had been there.  I liked it then and still find it to be a nice town. 

There were so many murals around town.

Went to see the Reds play the Mets....the Reds lost, but it was good to be back at a MLB game

The next day started with a delicious breakfast from a place called Taste of Belgium.  I love a Belgium waffle....and fries too, but I went with the waffle and omelet.

After breakfast, next stop was the Creation Museum, which was really well done.

This picture below explains how they think the Earth is approximately 6000 years old.

The museum was followed up with Cincinnati chili.

The next day was a visit to the Ark Encounter.  It is an actual size replica of Noah's Ark that you can walk through and see how the animals and Noah and his family lived.  It was also well done and the construction aspect of it is quite impressive.

On the way home, this was a unique restaurant in Lexington where we had lunch.

I hope you have had a good week and stay cool this weekend!

Currently ~ July

Happy Wednesday!  Currently, I am link up for the July Currently series

 This month's topics are: 

Enjoying

I am enjoying a few days away for the 4th of July holiday and will be back at work tomorrow. 

I also am enjoying have a little shorter hair, just by a few inches, this summer.

 Having

We have been having house guests recently.  We had some friends from NC stay with us a few nights and during that same stay, our Texas friend spent the night after his flight was cancelled back to San Antonio.  

This month, we have a family we met in Bogota staying with us several nights as they prepare to move to Norway to be missionaries there.  I haven't seen them in 5 1/2 years, so it will be good to spend time with them.

 Hoping

I am hoping it cools off a little and doesn't stay this hot all summer.  This is the earliest it has been so consistently hot in the last few years.  I am not a fan of bugs and heat.  I have decided summer is my least favorite season, but am trying to make the best of it.

 Picking

I am working on picking my words a little more careful these days and trying to take every thought captive to Christ.

"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ." 

2 Corinthians 10:5

 Using

This one left me thinking of something creative to share, but I'm left with the daily things I use....my phone, computer, dishwasher, car and make-up!

Happy Wednesday and hope you all are having a good holiday week!