2019 Year In Review

Hope it was a great Christmas for everyone!  I will post a recap of the holidays later this week. Meanwhile, this is a such fun post for me and that I enjoy reading of others.

Welcome to my 2019 Year in Review!

JANUARY

Ringing in 2019 at a friend's house 

Playdate with this sweet girl who turned 2

FEBRUARY

Brunch Valentine date 

Isabella turned 18!

MARCH

Avery & Isabella went back to Bogota for a visit and saw 2 of our favorite Colombians! 

While they were away, Brook and I went to the Pioneer Woman Mercantile and lodge tour in Oklahoma.

APRIL

One of my best friends got married!

Easter Sunday

We had the most awesome time celebrating Isabella at her graduation party with family and friends. 

MAY

We all went to church camp, a yearly favorite. 

Isabella graduated from high school.

How thankful we are to have had both set of grandparents attend.

JUNE

We attended college orientation with Isabella.

Brook and I joined friends to see the Ariana Grande concert in Nashville.

Swim time with my greats at my sister's house 

My best friend from Bogota came to see me!

JULY

We went to see Hamilton! 

July 4th pool time with the greats again 

Baseball game date night

Reunion after 30 years with my college suitemates!

Dinner with our dear friend, Larry, before he moved to Texas

AUGUST

We moved Isabella to college and had lots of facetime talks!

Brook started 10th grade

SEPTEMBER

Labor Day weekend college football game

Shopping day with greats

OCTOBER

We went to dinner to celebrate Brook's 15th birthday 

This cute guy turned 3! 

Brook's Halloween costume :)

NOVEMBER

Met up with Crawford then my parents for a birthday lunch to celebrate #49! 

Weekend trip to Nashville and met up with Isabella, Leah and Lucas

Family Thanksgiving trip to north Georgia 

DECEMBER

Christmas decorations

Brook's art design won the Christmas Card chosen for her high school

Anytime with these 2 is a highlight and Christmas Eve was so fun! 

We know of so many people who have lost loved ones this year.  So thankful for my family and friends we were able to enjoy holidays and other fun memories with this year.

Now to begin 2020 with a clear vision!

What's Up Wednesday ~ December 2019

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

Monday - pork loin, rice, green beans

Tuesday - pizza

Wednesday - leftovers for the family...I have dinner plans

Thursday - ???

Friday - ???

What I'm reminiscing about.....

Our Thanksgiving trip to North Georgia

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

Christmas decorations!

I posted our home decorations here.

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

Work and school....Basically, we are still doing normal day-to-day life, but just add in a few Christmas things.

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

Putting up all the Christmas decor

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

In addition to still working full time, I am working on Christmas cards and I need to start wrapping presents!! Right now it is bare.

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

Christmas Eve and Christmas morning are always exciting.  Even though my girls are older, I still love Christmas morning with them.

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

I am reading through my devotion book, New Morning Mercies, by Paul David Tripp and watching Hallmark movies.  I also like to watch the Christmas classics this season....Charlie Brown, Frosty, Rudolph, and Santa Claus is Coming to Town.  

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

Christmas music!  I am listening to local radio channels, Hallmark music channel, and my own playlist. Our most recent favorite Christmas music the last few years is Gwen Stefani.  I do still enjoy some of my other favorites....Josh Groban, Steven Curtis Chapman, Kenny G (I love this for background music), and R&B Soul Christmas.  So yes, I like a variety :).

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

the comfiest clothes I can these days :)

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

I hope to do a little cooking, organize meals for the next week and go look at Christmas lights.

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

Hopefully snow!!

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

My great nephew was in a fashion show and did great. 

Also, if you struggle with anxiety, please check out this website for a new journal which leads you to find rest in scripture to deal with anxiety.

Christmas Decorations ~ December 2019

Happy Tuesday!  Today I am sharing some of our Christmas decorations 2019.

Some years I think, I am just going to simplify decorations.  Then I see a Christmas movie and I think, I need to string garland and lights over every doorway and have a tree in every room.  Between the two, I am more on the side of simple, but our home feels Christmasy :).  I do have a list of a few things I hope to get after Christmas to add to next years decorations though.

My front door wreath is here.  We do a few lights outside as well. I like this wreath can stay on until I transition to Valentine's Day in February.

Entry way is pretty simple with a winter drawing by my daughter and a basket of our Christmas cards. 

Our dining room is pretty simple as well.

I have a winter decor in my dough bowl on a winter themed table runner.  I also like that these are winter and not Christmas so I can also use this through spring.

I do have some garland on our light fixture and you can see our lighted wreath and reindeer in the window.

This is one view of our kitchen with a winter wreath and Santa/Christmas mugs on our tray...along with everything else we use every day....coffee, vitamins, and daily fruit!   

Above our breakfast area, I also have some garland on our light fixture, but it is a little hard to see here.   

This is for sure one of our favorite views of the house.  

We are still loving our Christmas tree we got last year. Until then, we always had a real tree, but with me working and the girls in school, this simplifies our Christmas season!

My new favorite ornament this year from my spring visit to the Pioneer Woman mercantile.

And something to remember our Thanksgiving trip to Georgia.

A little back door craft made by my youngest daughter a few years ago

These are old real Christmas bulbs in the base of my candleholder.  I love having something old and classic!

This is the first Christmas with our cabinets.  I hung some childhood artwork of the girls on them. 

This side table has my nativity sets on it.

This year, I added some garland to our bannister, but kept it pretty simple.  I do like the concept, but I would like to change this next year and add to this design.  Christmas just came so fast this year with Thanksgiving being so late!   

I also enjoy my Christmas pillows and a few other touches on our coffee table.  

Last but not least, I have a small tree with a few little things on my desk to see when I am working from home.  

That is the simple tour of 2019.  I have loved seeing these posts from others and getting ideas.

Y'all, Christmas Eve is just one week away!!

Still Feeling Thankful :)

Here we are mid-way through December, with Christmas so close, and I am just blogging about Thanksgiving.  I am the behind blogger these days!  With Christmas, work and other life, this is how it goes these days for me.  But, I still enjoy having a place to share a little bit of life here.  

I took off several days, along with the Thanksgiving holidays, and we spent the holiday just the 4 of us in North Georgia.  It was great to have simple, fun down time with family.  We watched movies, took walks and went out to eat, along with eating in at our Air BNB as well.  Here are the photos:

We stopped in this cute town to walk and eat lunch and it is the site of a Hallmark movie! Below are a few more pictures from this town. 

For Thanksgiving, we had a good, but simple meal after streaming the Macy's parade!

This turkey was perfect for our small crew and was really good. 

We brought our own festive plates and napkins :)

We took an afternoon walk in the town.

We actually came here for Isabella's first Thanksgiving in 2001 so it was only fitting to take her picture in front of this sign!

The next 2 days, we took some walks, saw some waterfalls, and lots of clouds!

 

It was a restful time away and I am thankful for this crew!