Share Our Lives ~ A Day in the Life/Summer Edition

 Good morning!  I am joining up with fellow bloggers for this month's Share Our Lives series.  

Today is highlighting a Day in the Life/Summer Edition.  I highlighted a Tuesday, which is a typical go to work day for me.  Honestly, this looks pretty similiar to a Tuesday any season of the year!

Starting the day with a great reminder, "The battle belonds to the Lord" 1 Samuel 17:47.

If I am up early enough, I try to read some blogs in the morning, but often, I don't get around to reading blogs until later in the day. My alarm goes off at 6:45, but I usually awake prior to this time.

This is my usual breakfast...a Built bar, which is often followed up with either/or fruit, sourdough bread, or yogurt.

I try to light a candle most mornings as I am getting ready for the day.  It is a new habit I have formed this year.

My brief morning routine is to wash my face with water, roll over my skin, add serum, under eye cream and moisturizer.  Afterwards, I applied makeup and a simple hair brush and style.

I had a long day ahead of me, so I wore my sneakers with this dress to work.

I took my morning vitamins...

and then I unloaded the dishwasher.  With Brook home, I run the dishwasher 2-3 times a week.  Running and emptying the dishwasher is not a daily task, but I had time this morning to unload the clean dishes and left some out to finishing drying.

I left for work around 7:15.  Normally during the summer when traffic isn't as bad, I leave a little later, but I had some work to get done early this morning at the office.

I listen to podcasts usually on my way to work.  I will actually be blogging about those later this week!

This is my 2nd breakfast, lunch and snacks for the day.  I had yogurt, banana, apple, Simple Mills almond flour crackers, grilled chicken, and a protein drink.

Here is one side of my desk.

And here is the other side.  I have a candle warmer and a fan on my desk!

A part of my job is ordering things for hospitals and random things for our office, so I get lots of Amazon packages at work too!

Because I had a lot on my to-do list this day, it didn't take long for my desk to look like this!

We have a weekly staff meeting and early afternoon, I recorded a podcast.  Part of my job is the recording part and scheduling our guests.

Typically, I am off mid afternoon, but I stayed until 5pm this day because I  had my last night of volunteering to serve dinner to campers and staff at SOS, the ministry I mentioned a few weeks ago. It was better to stay out all day than drive home and back to the dinner.  In between work and going to volunteer, I stopped by Smoothie King to get a drink for dinner.

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I headed to SOS and helped serve dinner.  

Afterwards, I had some trouble going to sleep with my mind racing, but finally was able to get some rest after a long day.

Thanks for following along!

I will be back tomorrow with a brief weekend update!

Friday Favorites ~ July 5, 2024

 Good morning.  I hope you all had a safe and good 4th holiday.  This week has felt heavy for several reasons for me. However, getting hugs from little ones sure helps a girl's week.  Here are a few favorites.....

I picked fresh flowers from my yard this week to brighten up my day.  This is a random assortment, but it did the trick!

I painted my nails a little patriotic for the holiday!

This is my only decoration for the holiday I used this year other than my flag flying on the front porch.

My daughter had other plans for the holiday, so I went to my sister's house.  This little 2 year old boy is so smart and so funny!

There was an abundance of food and yummy desserts! I made the cookies in the basket.

Gosh, I just love this picture.  This is me with most of my greats.  One little one was inside and I have one that was born this summer who lives in Richmond.  

These 2 little cousins were at my side for most of the day and I wasn't mad about it.  Since Brook wasn't there, they both wanted to hold Aunt Marilyn, sit by Aunt Marilyn and hug Aunt Marilyn.  I didn't refuse any of it.

I enjoyed the time with the kids, seeing my parents, my sister and her family.  It was a hot day so it was fun to spend some time in the pool.  For the first time in years, I jumped off a diving board in the pool.  Usually, I just wade around, but it was fun to be all in with the kids.

I came home and watched fireworks on tv and also my neighbors shooting them outside.  

I was a little down by the time I laid down in bed, so I listened to some praise music while writing this.  Hearing the reminders of God's faithfulness is just what I needed to hear. I am thankful for another day off tomorrow and hope to be a little productive.

Happy Friday friends!

Share Your Shelf ~ July 2024

 Happy 4th of July!  I hope it is a fun day celebrating our nation's birthday and freedoms.  I have always been thankful and feel that even more so after living out of the country for a few years of my life.  

I am linking up with my friends Joanne, Jennifer and Tanya for this month's Share Your Shelf and we hope you will join us this month!

Regarding my own readings, I honestly admit, it was a halfway, skip around books for me.  I started several books, skipped around and didn't finish any of them.  Oh well.  I do have 2 books though already on my list (recommended by my fellow bloggers!)  for July,  one of them that I am already halfway through! 

So, if you are interested in my halfway finished books from June, here is the short list.  With the exception of one, they are all topical books.

 The New Menopause: Navigating Your Path Through Change with Purpose, Power and Facts

by Mary Claire Haver MD

Fast. Feast. Repeat.

by Gin Stephens

Life in the Fasting Lane

by Jason Fung, Eve Mayer and Megan Ramos

Clearly, I was trying to learn more about menopause and fasting.  There was a lot of science and facts and numbers in these and I honestly lost interest in some of the deep waters of these topics.  It was interesting to learn how some people approach these subjects I hear a lot about at this stage of life.

The last book was Becoming Us, by Robin Jones Gunn.

I think this is a great book, but it had a few parts that just triggered some emotions for me, so I didn't finish it.  

I hope you all get some good book recommendations for your summer reading and maybe I will have completed a few more by next month's post!

Go enjoy the holiday!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Currently ~ July 2024

Good morning! I am joining up with Jennifer for July's Currently series and with Joyce for Hodgepodge.

This month for Currently, we are talking about what we are loving, looking forward to, savoring, celebrating and remembering.

Loving....

I am loving to have a day off work tomorrow! I am thankful to live in a country with so many freedoms.  

Looking forward to......

Next weekend is another wedding and I will be able to see my older daughter as well, so I am thankful for another chance to see both girls at the same time.  These weddings have provided a lot of these opportunities this summer for me! I am also looking forward to the possibility of a dear friend who is coming in town this weekend.  

Savoring......

I am savoring every bit of time with Brook.  I know I've said that many times, but that is just how much I am savoring the time.

Celebrating.......

We celebrated last weekend at a wedding and enjoyed the festivities! We were invited to the afterparty of the rehearsal dinner.  This was held at a rooftop bar of a newer hotel in Memphis.  The vibe is very cool and these are some interior shots of the hotel and the bar area.

There were a lot of people from out of town, so an Elvis impersonator was hired to give the New Yorkers a fun Memphis experience!

Brook and I were pretty exhausted because we had spent the week with my great niece, I went to work Thursday, served dinner at the hospital, then went to this event.  As we were leaving the house at 8:30, we definitely said this is rare for us to arrive at an event at 9pm!

Friday morning, I worked from home then later that afternoon, we went to the wedding. Below are some pictures of the recption venue, me and Brook and the mother of the groom. She is one of my dearest friends.

Remembering.....

Last week, Brook and I spent 4 nights and 5 days at my niece's house.  Her older 3 were with their grandmother (my sister) for a cousin camp.  We stayed with the little 2 year old so her parents could get some time away.  She definitely missed her parents and siblings more and more as the week went on, but we loved our time with her!  She is the sweetest little girl.  And I promise I'm not exaggerating!  She is truly the kindest little girl I have ever met and Thursday night while Brook and I were driving to our event, all we did was talk about how much we already missed her sweet little voice and smile.  I am so thankful and honored we had that time with her.  This girl stayed in her "bayee" (her word for ballet) dress most of the time and we watched a lot of Pooh Bear and other new to us videos!  She hugged me so tight the last morning when I had to leave for work.  

Now for this week's Hodgepodge

1. It's a big week in the US of A as we celebrate Independence Day. Do you have any special plans? How will you mark the day? BBQ? pool-lake-beach time? fireworks? homemade ice cream? If you're not an American you can tell us what's happening in your corner of the world on Thursday. 

I am not sure what I am doing Thursday yet.  I will enjoy a day off work and will either go to my sister's house or just take time to get a few things done at home (maybe :)).  I do like to watch the festiviteis from Washington D.C. and New York City on tv that night.

2. What's your favorite 'All-American' dessert? A strawberry pie

3. Does that patriotic feeling come easily to you, or are you having to work for it more these days? What's something that makes you proud to be a citizen of your country?  I am always thankful to live in a country with the freedoms we have.  I don't usually agree with a lot of things from the White House or even on a local level, but I am still thankful to be a citizen here.  It is home.  

4. Your favorite 'patriotic' movie? Favorite patriotic song? No movie comes to mind and I like all the patriotic songs!

5. One simple pleasure on your July 'bucket list'? A simple pleasure will be seeing both my girls 2 weekends in a row due to wedding season of so many of their friends.

6. Insert your own random thought here. Perhaps it is with the upcoming Amazon Prime sales, but I notice more and more Instagram accounts highlighting Amazon deals and DIY accounts.  It makes me think back even 10 years ago, we were all just doing our own things at home with magazines being my guide to what trends were out there.  Does anyone even get magazines anymore?  I still get Southern Living, but admit, I am behind on reading them.  Random thoughts for you!

Tuesday Talk - July 2, 2024/Weekend Recap

 Good morning!  It is another hot week, however yesterday was cooler and we have a cooler than average morning. Today I am sharing highlights of the weekend, with more photos to come tomorrow!

Friday was work, a little bit of rest, and a late night wedding and recption!  There was a beautiful sunset, the reception venue was beautiful and we enjoyed the food.  A trend at weddings now is to bring out a late night food.  Around 10pm, the wait staff came and served everyone hamburger sliders and milkshakes.  It was fun and a delicious treat!

Saturday morning, we started the day with Chick-fil-A chicken minis.  I had free coupons which expired today, so Brook and I got breakfast and headed to an estate sale & a yard sale.  Look at this cute board, which I plan on painting, that I got for $1!  

Our neighborhood always has their 4th of July festivities the Saturday before the holiday.  There was a fishing rodeo and door prizes at the lake Saturday morning.  We just went for the door prizes and I won some movie passes and snacks!

Our neighborhood also has a mailbox decorating contest and a boat parade contest.  This was one of the mailboxes we saw in the neighborhood that caught our eye.

Saturday afternoon, I stayed inside and watched Sweet Home Alabama, which I mentioned on the blog last week.  Brook and I also started a project on the kitchen table.  I just saw this brand advertised online and bought this small kit from Retique.  This brand is a liquid wood and we grained the table after painting it.  The original table...

After 2 coats of primer and 1 coat of stain...

This was after the first "graining" of the table....

The table work continued through Monday, but here is the finished look.

 Sunday was church, baking sourdough, laziness at home, & then a dinner with friends at church that night.  It was a social weekend, which made it fun, yet there are hard parts to that sometimes as well.  I am thankful for friends who hug me along the way. Makes me think of the quote Clarence wrote to George in the movie It's A Wonderful Life..."No man is a failure who has friends".  

Today is a busy day, but hoping for a good one and same to you as well!

Prime Purchases ~ June 2024

 Happy 1st day of July and time for highlighting last month's Prime Purchases.  This month, we have Prime Days, along with similar days at Target and Wal-Mart.  Once again, it was a busy month for me and Amazon with lots of little things.

Conair Rollers

I am in the search of different ways to curl my hair, so I went back to the 70's and ordered these.  So far, they work to give my hair some body, but I still haven't figured out what will work to give my hair some curl.

Dress

I had been eyeing this dress for a while and finally ordered it.  I really like it, but I think it is just made for taller people.  I looked lost in it, so I returned it.

Dress

However, this dress, was a winner.  I have worn it once and love it.  It has pockets too and comes in so many colors!

Little Women Devotional Book

This is a devotional book that goes along with each chapter of Little Women and I bought it for Brook as an end of the year of school gift.

Cutter Backyard Spray

This was sprayed in the backyard and it has helped so far. Other than going outside to weed eat once a week, I honestly don't go outside much in the backyard due to the heat.

Lighter

I purchased a second rechargeable lighter to have one in my bathroom.  This is one of my all time favorite Amazon purchases!

Retinol Eye Stick

I really like this product so far and use it in the morning after I rinse my face to brighten under my eyes.

Stainless Steel Straws

I ordered straws last month and didn't care for them, so I got this package this month and so far, I am hopeful the stainless steel will hold up better.

Disposable Gloves

I bought these to wear when I am trying to clean the grout in my shower and other deep cleaning around the house.

Shower Caps

I bought these to use to cover my bowl of sourdough as it rises.  This was a tip I read on a sourdough website.  I hope to post about my sourdough journey soon!

Nail Dryer

I just got this last weekend to use when doing nails at home.  It is small, but it alternates between a blower fan for regular polish and a UV light for gel polish.

Whoa, that felt like a lot. I wonder if next month will be any more with all the additional sales?

Hope it is a great Monday and I'll be back tomorrow with a weekend update!