Friday Favorites ~ February 20, 2026

 Woo hoo!  Happy Friday friends!

A favorite of mine from last week was spending a morning last weekend with my sister. We went to a bakery and enjoyed a variety of croughnuts (a hybrid of a croissant and a donut) and then went to a coffee house too.

After working from home Monday morning, I spent the afternoon visiting with some of my greats.  There is nothing like a little face running to meet you at the car.

The middle 3 of this crew wanted to ride with me to go see my parents.  Needless to say, they (their great grandparents) were so happy to see these little faces too. I was so thankful I could say yes when they asked to go with me.  

Before leaving, I got to hold their baby sister, my newest great born last fall.

We also went by to see my other nieces and this one is so full of life!  She just turned 1 year old in November.

When I went to drop off the other kiddos, their sweet momma (the one who made me an aunt) invited me to stay for dinner.  I left afterwards and these two loved running alongside the car as I was leaving.  I felt loved getting a strong welcome and a loving goodbye! The sky was so pretty too!

Wednesday afternoon, I got a massage, which is always a favorite.

Work has been more stressful for me the last few weeks, but I did receive this sunshine Jellycat from co-workers.

Other than the afternoon with my greats, it has been a really quiet, kind of boring week so I have been alone a lot and going to bed early.  Either way, I am always glad for a weekend!

Hodgepodge ~ February 18, 2026

 Hope your week is going well so far friends! I am linking up with Joyce for this week's Hodgepodge.

1. The Hodgepodge lands on Ash Wednesday, which is the first day of Lent. Do you mark this season in some way? Will you be giving something up or adding something to your life in this Lenten season? 

I don't abide by the Lenten season yearly, but I do think it is an honorable practice.  In the past, I have given up something, usually a food or drink.  I do love the idea of adding something to your life instead.  I read about this a few years ago on Erika's blog and it always stuck with me.  This year, I plan on adding something positive to my life. 

2. Pancakes...are you a fan? Syrup or no syrup? Plain, blueberries, chocolate chips, bananas, or some other add in? Are pancakes on your menu this week? 

I do like pancakes, but if given the choice, I would choose a waffle.  It has probably been several years since I have eaten pancakes.  I eat plenty of other breakfast carbs (enter sourdough...), but pancakes isn't a go-to for me.  I do like syrup, but not drowning out my food.  I also would love some strawberries for garnish if you're asking :).  No pancakes are on my menu this week.  But maybe, breakfast for dinner?

3. Tell us about a time recently when you felt 'spread too thin'. 

This is not something I deal with too much anymore.  I often have a lot of little things on my personal to do list, but most are not on a time constraint.  I do feel this some at work because it seems all things are "urgent", but usually the pressure comes from others instead of within myself.  

4. What's your favorite jewel or gemstone? In terms of your wardrobe would we find more gem tones, pastels, black and white, or primary colors? 

My favorite is for sure topaz, which is the November birthstone. I am a November birthday!  I do like gem tones in my wardrobe along with black and white.  I am learning to throw in a little red in there too though.

5. What responsibility do you think is hardest about being in charge? 

I take so much personally so if something goes wrong. Not only do I feel responsible for the issue, but also I feel like it all falls on me to fix the problem. This applies to the little things and bigger things.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I had lunch last week with a family friend and it was great to catch up with him.  He is from North Carolina, but was our pastor & on our missionary team when we lived in Bogota', Colombia (we all served with the same organization).  He and his wife and their kids now live in Norway and he leads an international church there.  He was in town speaking at a missions conference.  Sunday, I went to my old church to hear him preach Sunday morning and went back Sunday night too.  It was such good services and I also loved seeing so many old dear friends.  He brought me some Norwegian candy that is the equivalent to a Kit Kat in the USA. 

Enjoy your Hodgepodge of a Wednesday!

Talking About it Tuesday ~ Galentine's Day/February 17, 2026

Happy Tuesday friends!

 I know yesterday was Monday, but I didn't want to talk about Valentine's Day as the theme of the weekend since I wasn't with a guy or my kids.  This is one my boundaries where I can't spend too much time reading about these things. I was not on social media much at all over the weekend.  I am happy and I hope one day I will have this, so in the meantime, my Tuesday talk is all about Galentine's Day, celebrating friends!

I hosted a Galentine's party at my house Friday night and had bought this heart pasta at Aldi.

It was fun to decorate for Galentine's! Behind my table, is a string of old Valentine cards from my childhood.  They are from my parents, grandparents and even one from my brother.

I assembled a mixture of strawberry chex mix, a candy mix of popcorn, cookies and pretzels, and then I added a bag of red/white M&M's.  It was such a good mixture.  I ate so much of this over the weekend.

I also made red velvet M&M brownies and used my heart cutter with them.

Here are other pictures of some house decor...

I made sourdough foccacia bread, which turned out so good.  This is my favorite variety of sourdough.

I ordered a fun set of Galentine games (all paper games so we didn't have to leave the table :)) & we all started a little bit on creating ideas for a vision/bingo board for 2026.  In the background of these things was a great Galentine's playlist I created with the help of their imput on Spotify.

Kendra gave us each a gift, which was so cute and thoughtful. It was a fun night!

Friday Favorites ~ February 13, 2026

Happy Friday!  I have been a bit more scarce on the blog this week, but it has been a super busy week back home this week.  There have been some ups, downs and emotions this week, but I definitely have some sweet favorites too!

First, Happy Galentine's Day!  You ladies are my favorites!  

Like seriously, look what I received this week...

Carrie from Northwoods Scrapbook blog had a giveaway a few weeks ago and I won one of the gifts. She has been so encouraging and kind. I loved getting this package!

This is a paper rose bouquet...perfect for Galentine's Day!

I also received these thoughtful cards from Maria and Joanne.  Love these ladies!

I enjoyed eating these bags of popcorn from this local North Carolina company, which is women owned!!

Piles of dirty snow still are all over town, but they are slowly all melting. Melting snow and ice is a favorite!  

I got a hair cut this week from my former neighbor.  It was a little strange to go see my old house for the first time in 3 months.  I stayed and showed her how to make sourdough. I am wearing my new sweater from Shein I received this week.  I love it!

My daughter's boyfriend came by the house to pick up a few things before he left to go visit her.  I am so thankful for this kind man who has come into our family's lives.

Speaking of kindness once more, my precious co-worker/friend gave me this personalized pen and the sweetest note yesterday at work.  The timing was good as it wasn't the best day at work for me.

I am looking forward to lunch with a friend and a Galentine's celebration tonight.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend!

Much love and thanks for reading!

 

Hello Monday ~ February 9, 2026

 Well, my Hello Monday is now a Hello Tuesday!  Better late than never, but here is a re-cap of my weekend.  Hope you all have a great day and thanks for reading!

After visiting my daughter, I proceeded to drive to North Carolina for the weekend.  I saw some dustings of snow on the mountains.  It was a pretty drive and thankfully, the roads were clear.

The first stop was meeting up with one of my best friends who drove over from Charlotte.  We started with dinner...appetizer was these macaroni and cheese balls!  Oh my!

That was followed with a burger topped with cheese, bacon and onions on lettuce with a side of grilled veggies.

We also enjoyed their specialty cocktail drink.

After a full and delicious meal, we walked on the treadmill at the hotel for an hour and it was good to catch up while walking!

The next morning, we went to Biscuit Head, a great place to eat breakfast in Asheville. I had fruit, scrambled eggs, maple bacon and of course tried the biscuit.

We did a little shopping.

Of course, found frozen yogurt!

We picked up a friend from the airport and went back to the same burger place.  I had more burgers last week than I think I had all year in 2025!  This time, I got the burger with gouda on lettuce with a side of onion rings.

Downtown Waynesville, NC is a darling place!

This was the AirBNB where I stayed the next 2 nights.

Enchiladas were a delicious dinner cooked at the cabin.

It was great to catch up with this old friend we've known for the last 20 years.

I had a pretty drive home.  Western NC is one my favorite areas of the country.

And being at a Buc-ees before 11am is wonderful so I can enjoy an egg brisket taco.  So good.

It was great to spend time with friends over the weekend!

Happy Tuesday!