Talking About it Tuesday/Savannah, Georgia ~ September 10, 2024

 Happy Tuesday! I went on a weekend trip to Savannah, one of the most beautiful cities!

I decided a few days prior to join Brook on her back to school move in weekend. 

We had a 9 1/2 hour drive plus a quick stop at Buc-ees. We drove 3 hours of 2 lane highways to avoid driving through Atlanta during rush hour Friday afternoon traffic.

Once we got unpacked at her new townhouse, I drove to a friend's apartment for a visit. I have an old friend who lives there & she stored a few of Brook's bags over the summer. It was great to get a quick visit with her.

The next morning, my father in law had come to Savannah to drop off a few more things they stored for Brook over the summer. We had breakfast with him then he drove back to Charlotte. 

Brook & I went antique shopping with her roommate & her mom.

There were these cool first class seats from TWA dated to 1972 in the antique store.

There was a cute soda shop inside this store.

There were so many beautiful doors & windows too.

We went to a restaurant & saw this Memphis sticker!

That evening, I took a walk with roommate's mom & it was nice to get to know her.

Here are a few pictures along our walk.

Sunday was a rainy day, so we stayed in until mid afternoon.  We went to run a few errands and then Brook and I went to a local church that evening.

So many little stories happened at this church, but here are 2 that confirmed we were meant to be there at that time:

1.  Elvis gospel music was playing over the speakers when we walked in the church.  I kid you not.

2.  I got to meet Harrison Scott Key!  He is the author of 3 books, with his most recent one being his most known one, "How to Stay Married, the Most Insane Love Story Ever Told".  He was a guest on the Big Boo Podcast and several others as well.  He has also written "The World's Largest Man" and "Congratulations, Who are You Again?"

After church, Brook and I ate at CAVA.  I really like this place, but we don't have one here.

Monday morning, Brook took me to the airport, but before we left, we took a few pictures. Here is roommate's mom, me, Brook, and roommate. They live on the west coast, so I learned a lot about their different way of life.  

I am so, so thankful I decided last minute to come on this trip with my daughter!

Here are these girls are on their first day of school, junior year of college!

Have y'all ever seen anything like this?  This was at a store in the airport. 

I made it home and turned right around to go to book club.  It was good to join again this month and eat dinner together with others.  

Now back to work today!  Hope you have a great day!

Share Our Lives ~ September 2024

 Happy Monday!  I hope you had a great weekend.  I will be back tomorrow with a weekend re-cap.

 Today, I am linking up with these bloggers for September's monthly Share Our Lives.  

Finding Peace In Your Day

I am finding peace in my days in so many different ways.  Here are just a few that come to mind.....

1.  Worship music - Some of my favorites right now:

First Love by Hannah Nall

I am by Eddie James

and always, Goodness of God by Jenn Johnson

2.  Walking outside

3.  Text/call with a friend

4.  Thanking God for his promises and goodness to me

5.  A hug from a friend, better yet my daughters or greats

6.  Laughter with coworkers, friends, & from Instagram reels

7.  Deep breaths

8.  Thinking of hopeful things to come in my future

9.  Healthy eating

10.  Lighting a candle

Friday Favorites ~ September 6, 2024

Happy Friday friends! I am sharing some favorites from the week.   

After work on Tuesday, I stopped at a local bar at 3pm!  Truth be told, I sat here to place a to-go order from this really nice restaurant because they are known for their key lime pie dipped in chocolate!  I happily sipped 2 glasses of water while I waited :).

But look at this key lime pie!!  

Monday evening, I started the prep working on this cheesy sourdough focaccia bread.

I baked it when I came home from work Tuesday and this is the final result pictured below.  It was delicious!!  Oh my word.

I had put a roast in my slow cooker that morning before work and added carrots and onions as well.

I like to make my potatoes seperate when I cook a roast in the slow cooker.  These are roasted potatoes with garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil drizzled over the top.

I also roasted some asparagus in the oven, which were sprinkled with parmesan cheese and some garlic.

Everything turned out so good and it felt so nice to cook a full meal!  This honestly is probably the first full meal I have cooked since January.  This was Brook's going away dinner and her boyfriend joined us.  We even lit candles on the dining room table.  We asked each other questions and it was good conversation.

After dinner, we all shared a little bit of the chocolate key lime pie and I made a regular key lime pie, using a recipe Jennifer shared with me.  

After a big meal, I went on a walk in the neighborhood & spotted this moon plant.  

Have you seen these before? One of our neighbors in another neighborhood about 15 years use to have one and he gave us one as well.  We would love to see this plant open up at night when the moon was shining.

Wednesday evening, I went to my old church for a recognition of one of my favorite people in the world!  I was able to see so many old friends and felt so welcome. 

I worked from home Thursday and it was good to be available for Brook as she was packing.  She, her boyfriend and I went to family dinner at my sisters.  Most of my greats were there.

I also got this sent to me from my oldest daughter.  Made my day!!

I hope you have a great weekend! 

Thanks for reading!

Share Your Shelf ~ September 2024

Join wtih us today to share the books you have been reading lately!  

Jenny James is Not A Disaster

by Debbie Johnson

This book was recommended to me by Amy.  It was an interesting read about a single mom and her 18 year old son who had a string of bad luck in their lives.  It progresses as she goes on a road trip with her neighbor in his RV.  It is a book about family, parenting, loss and new beginnings.   I enjoyed this book!

After I Do

by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This is the book from this month's book club.  I skipped around in this and didn't read the entire book.  It was not really a book for me right now.

This is by the same author of The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo.

Forgiving What You Can't Forget

by Lysa Turkeurst

The title speaks for itself basically, but here are some encouraging thoughts to share from the book:

~Forgiveness is both a decision and a process. The impact of the facts still affects us much later.

~We can't change what we have experienced, but we can choose how the experience changes us.

~The more our pain consumes us, the more it will control us.

~Forgiveness releases our desire for retaliation, but not from our boundaries.

~Forgiveness is amazing to get, but hard to give.

~Freedom from unforgiveness doesn't mean instant healing for all the emotions involved, but it does mean these emotions will turn into eventual compassion instead of bitterness.

I hope your Thursday goes well and thanks for linking up with us today!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Currently/Hodgepodge ~September 4, 2024

 Here we are with another fun, monthly link up of Currently with Jennifer & Hodgepodge with Joyce!  

We are discussing what we are currently loving, looking forward to, smelling, watching and admiring.

Loving

I am loving the time I have had recently with our hostess, Jennifer.  We are trying to get together once a week if we can.  

I am also loving each time I find something to throw away and clean up at my house.  For example, I found a bin of old tax returns...like from 1996.  I have a lot of papers to shred!

Looking forward to

I am looking forward to so many things!!  I have a busy September and while I am in a hard season of life, I am hopeful for the good to come! 

 Here are some good things:

Not one, but two trips! -  I just booked one of the trips last weekend and it feels fun to book a last minute trip.  The good news is, each trip consists of me seeing one of my girls!

Fall weather & decorating - I was going to do decorate on Friday, but I am delaying it by one week.  And of course, the weather makes me smile when I see lows in the 50's!

Small group meeting - My church is beginning a new fall small group and we will meet once a month, starting in September.

Support group - This may sound strange to some of you, but I am looking forward to a support group for me that I will begin this month.  I think it will be so helpful.

Time with friends - I have a few friends I haven't seen in a while I hope to spend time with this month, or in October.  

Sister night out - My sister and I are going to see a local play one night.

Smelling

I do love the smells of the fall season!  I love the smells of pumpkin & cinammon, whether it be cooking or a candle!   

I also love the smell of fresh baked bread.

Watching

I have a few movies on my list to watch.  Have you seen any of these?

Arthur the King

One Life
Reagan

Twisters - I have heard lots of good things about this one.

The Forge - I have also heard a lot of good things about this one too!

I also plan on watching the first season of  The Golden Bachelorette.  Yep, I am very intrigued by this!

Admiring

I am admiring my girls so much! Just like your kids probably, mine have 2 very distinct personalities, likes/dislikes, and ways of handling life, even though they grew up in the same house.  They have handled the hardest year of their life with such bravery and kindness.  Like me, they could also use your prayers for their future.  They have demonstrated tenacity, courage, & laughter. I am always admiring my girls for who they are!

1. Something you're working on currently? 

I am currently working on sorting through things in my house to organize/throw away/sell.  It is a super slow process for me because I don't stay motivated for very long.  With every little thing, it is such a good feeling though!

2. Tell us something about your first job? Was it a positive or negative experience for you? Did your parents insist you work while in school (either high school or college) or did you work because you wanted to? 

My very first job was working the cash register at a needlepoint store, but I didn't do that for long.  I then worked at a restaurant my junior & senior year of high school.  I worked as a hostess, waitress and on the line as people would order their food.  I literally just found a card on Monday from my boss in 1987 telling me I was getting a raise to $4 an hour! I had a lot of fun working there & wanted to have a job to earn money.

3. Have you ever had a job that required overnight travel? How did you feel about that? Have you ever had a job that required you to wear a uniform? Do you work better in the morning or at night? 

With my current part time job, it requires me to go out of town once a year, but only for 1 night.  The good thing is, I go to where my oldest daughter lives! When I was a travel agent, I did go on a few business trips, but it wasn't very often.

I wore a uniform when I worked at a restaurant in high school (Golden Corral) & also when I was a tour guide at Graceland.  

I feel like I definitely work better in the morning!

4. What's something you bake or cook that is labor intensive? Is it worth it? 

I don't prepare it often because of all the steps, but I love a strawberry pretzel salad!

5. One thing you're looking forward to in the month of September? 

I listed a lot of things above in this post, but the one thing would be my 2 trips!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Just a few more nights with my girl at home.  I am sure, sure going to miss her next week.  Someone check on me!!!!

Such a fun monthly linkups!

Thanks for reading friends!

Talking About it Tuesday/Weekend Recap~September 3, 2024

 Aren't we all feeling just a little better knowing September is here?  Yesterday I shared my Amazon Prime purchases and today I am going back to the weekend for a recap today.  

Frriday, I took my daughter's car for an oil change and to get the tires rotated.  I walked across the street to my favorite yogurt place for a treat while I waited.

Friday was a quiet night at home.  I went through some clothes in my closet and hung out with Brook in her room as she painted. 

Saturday morning, I went to Kroger and Aldi for some grocery shopping.  I bought this bag of treats to bring fall cheer!  Autumn mix is my favorite with the mix of candy corn and the pumpkins. I also love a bag of Dubble Bubble gum! Let's not talk about if any of this is left. :)

I spent the afternoon watching some SEC football, organized some papers and went to Hobby Lobby with Brook.  

Saturday night, Jennifer and I met for dinner at a new favorite place called Salad Station.  I love building my own salad there.  We enjoyed a visit inside and then visited some more outside and the weather felt great!  I'm so thankful for this friendship!  And it all started through the blog world!  The Lord knew we would need each other during this time of our lives.  

Sunday was a low key day, but it was pretty good.  

I made some candied pecans, did some organizing, watched some tv and listened some to a book.

Monday, I spent the day at home until dinner out with my parents, my daughter and her boyfriend.  

I did start the day by taking a walk outside and listening to worship music.  I loved having a day off so I could do this.  I just can't get motivated to do this on a morning I work.  Maybe I can start doing this in the evenings since our weather looks promising, so far, for September.  Yay, go September!

How was your Labor Day weekend? 

Prime Purchases ~ August 2024

Happy September!  Happy Labor Day!  I hope it is not full of too much labor for you today.  

I am linking up with Prime Purchases highlighting my August purchases.  

2 Piece Casual Set 

This casual set caught my eye for this fall.  I hope it is cool enough that I can wear this on a road trip later this month .I liked the stripes on the sleeves and pants.

Gold Apple watch band

I really like the idea of a gold band for my Apple watch.  I tried this one, but I did return it.  I could not get the links/sizing just right.  I may keep looking for something similar that is a little more user friendly :). 

Brown sugar saver

Do any of y'all use these in your brown sugar?  I use to have a round disc, but it was lost, so I ordered this set, which came with 2.

Space saving hanger hooks

I like to organize my closet by outfits.  Using these hanger hooks is a convenient way to hang an outfit together.  It comes with 50, so I have plenty to share!  It could also be used to hang a scarf, belt, tie, or other accessory.

Julep Eye shadow stick

Our favorite eye shadow stick had a one day sale last week, so I got a new color. Our sweet host, Tanya, got me using these over a year ago and it is still a favorite!

Oven Liner

Last but not least, is this oven liner.  This was all the buzz when I mentioned it last week.  I officially have one now in the bottom of my oven and it looks so much cleaner!  I don't think I will be without these any more.  The package came with 2, so that is good.

I already have one thing in my cart for this month, so we will see how my September spending goes.  

Go enjoy the day and I plan on being back every day this week!

Thanks for reading!