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!

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!

 

Friday Favorites ~ February 6, 2026

Good morning! The week held some warmer temperatures, but there is still quite a bit of white stuff on the ground at home.  The sun and weather today should help that a lot though. 

I was happy on Monday to finally be able to drive to my parents house and check on them after all the bad weather here.  I also went by my sister's house and it was good to see her again. I had dinner with she and my brother-in-law. On the way home, the moon was fabulous!  I love seeing the moon.

Speaking of the moon, did you hear about this:

Artemis 2 will be the first mission to carry humans toward the moon since NASA's Apollo program ended in 1972. 

Artemis 2 is the second scheduled flight of NASA's Artemis program and the first to fly astronauts aboard the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft. The mission will send four astronauts on a looping journey around the moon and back to Earth, testing the systems that will eventually return humans to the lunar surface.

The roughly 10-day mission is currently targeted for launch no earlier than March 2026, pending final testing and integration milestones. It had originally been slated for Feb. 8, but issues arose during the fueling tests.

I went back to work Tuesday.  Afterwards, I went to a middle school's basketball games and went to dinner afterwards with a friend.  It was fun to be able to say yes to an impromptu night and be with people after the week prior!

I took off Wednesday to see my oldest daughter. Once I arrived, we went to one of her favorite burger places.  I had a burger with bacon, guacamole, onions and pimento cheese on top of lettuce with sweet potato fries. This was a delicious meal!

I loved being able to be with her on the morning of her birthday! 

I spent the night before helping her decorate and spent 3 hours making these paper chains for her.  She had friends over the night of her birthday so she was decorating her house. I was able to help her with a few other house things along with a trip to Walmart for some food and things.  Is it really a trip to see your child if you don't take them grocery shopping, ha?  It was a quick visit, less than 24 hours with her, but always good.  

A hard part of the week is that a member of our church passed away unexpectedly and left behind his wife and 3 daughters.  It has hit our church community hard.  Life is short friends.  Love others well.  Live for Jesus. 

Friday Favorites ~ January 30, 2026

 Oh boy.  Friday favorites....It has been such a different week being snowed/iced in, but I still have a few favorites and a recap of the week.

I have cooked more than I have in probably 2 years, ha!  First, were these 2 pretty loaves of sourdough!

For lunch this week, I had some pork loin, veggies and sweet potato fries.

But then these were 2 of my dinners this week...

a bowl of Honeycomb cereal

and popcorn and M&M's

Because I had ingredients leftover, I made this apple dip to eat as a snack.  It is cream cheese, covered in caramel sauce with a heath/toffee crumble topping.  It is delicious with apples!

Being inside for 4 days alone wasn't a favorite, but I honestly did better than I thought I would.  I kept busy with a little work from home, tv shows and I am currently working my 3rd 1000 piece puzzle this week. I finally finished Sullivan's Crossing and High Potential. 

A few other favorites....

-having help getting the ice chipped away outside my garage.  Several times this week, I drove back and forth from my garage to the end of the driveway to make tire tracks (I have a long driveway).  

-a facetime call with Brook

-dinner out

-driving to Target when the temperature finally got above freezing for one day (it is back below freezing day & night until Monday)

-sweet texts from blog friends checking on me living alone during a snowstorm, which honestly has been one of the things I dread the most.  

This is my street Thursday afternoon.

A mug I bought at Target

And these sweaters are maybe the Valentine clothes I need.

Thankful for this group & to call them real life friends!

And not to be forgotten or taken for granted, having power and plenty of food are favorites from my week and I am so thankful for both.

Hope you have a warm and safe weekend!

Friday Favorites ~ January 23, 2026

 Happy Friday friends!  Are you ready for a cold weekend?  Now the South is predicted to have snow, so we know its going to be cold!!  We usually do get a good snowfall every year, but usually just once :).  That is about all we can handle in the south.  Our cars/roads are just not prepared for it. Here is a little Friday update....

Monday, I spent the afternoon at my parents helping them do some housework and then was able to stop by my niece's house and see some greats for a little bit.  That night, I went with Jenn to her friend's house for the football national championship game.  I was glad Indiana won and there was also good food!

I have a flip calendar I have had for around 4-5 years.  I pulled it back out this year and was already a few days behind.  Tuesday, I flipped it to that date and it was just what I needed to read. Right after my former husband left me, I read Isaiah 54 every day for 2 months.  I quickly claimed this verse! 

Tuesday morning, Anna and Elsa joined us at the hospital when we served breakfast to families.

Another favorite was dinner at a friend's house Tuesday night.  I am so thankful for my dear friend Lori! We go back about 15 years and our daughters are best friends.

I received this plant for my birthday and it is finally in full bloom!

The calendar came through again for me.  This was a great reminder to read before the weekend:

Speaking of the weekend.....

I survived the grocery store and made this impulse buy! I haven't bought a box of cereal in years.

I made a late night stop at Wal-Mart last night. There is no bread, milk or eggs. And apparently, we want our cheese in the south too.  Okay my Northern friends, I am guessing this doesn't happen every time it snows there?

Lastly, this is quick random recipe I made last week.  It is basically an "upside down" pizza.  I put some  pepperoni in my small black skillet then layered some slices of mozzarella on top. I added a tortilla on top and let that cook for a few minutes.  I flipped it and then added some sauce.  Once it cooked together for a few minutes more, I rolled up the tortilla and cut it into rolled up bites for a quick meal.

Stay warm my friends and thanks for reading this week!