Hello Monday ~ Weekend trip part 1/September 15, 2025

Good Monday morning!  I took a little weekend trip, which I will share part 1 of today.  I left after work Thursday and drove to see my oldest daughter.  I was thankful to have a few hours with her that night.  I stayed with her where she was house sitting and taking care of a teenager.  The 3 of us played cards, which was fun.  She loves playing cards, so that is something we usually do together. 

Friday morning, I was able to meet Joyce from the blog world.  It was so nice to meet her in person and I was thankful it worked out with both of our travel schedules. She is delightful!

I had an amazing breakfast, which was a base of brisket covered with egg, french fried onions and pimento cheese.

I spent the rest of the day driving through some NC towns and it was fun to stop along the way at random places.  Western NC is one of my favorite areas of the country and certainly the south.

In a change of events from my original travel plans, I stayed with a friend who lives in Brevard, NC. It is a lovely small NC town.  They have a beautiful home with gorgeous, peaceful views!

Saturday was spent enjoying the view from their back porch watching college football, walking the town, and taking a hike to see waterfalls. I loved all of it!

I saw this in a store and it for sure caught my eye!

This was an interesting light fixture in a store.

A few more views from their home

We had a fabulous dinner and a great view overlooking the golf course with tons of deer you may be able to see on the right hand side of the picture along the path.

I was so thankful to enjoy cooler weather this weekend when it was warm again back home.

I will post tomorrow about the rest of my weekend trip.  

Enjoy your Monday!

 

Hodgepodge ~ September 10, 2025

 

1. What gives you energy? What takes it away? 

Good music, hugs from my daughters & greats & laughter with friends gives me energy.

The sting of divorce in my life takes away my energy.

2. How often do you shop for clothes? What accessory do you always wear?

I shop for a special occasion or really when I see a good deal.  I follow a few influencers who are always posting deals (sweetsavingsandthings; the_broadmoor_house).

The accessory I always wear are earrings.  These are my go-to earrings. In the rare case I forget earrings, I keep a spare pair in my car.  I usually try to wear a bracelet, but I always have on earrings.

 

3. What's something free that you feel grateful for? 

Hugs!

4. Breakfast, lunch, dinner...which meal of the day do you enjoy most? What's your go-to comfort food? 

I probably enjoy breakfast because I am ready to eat when I wake up each morning. My go-to comfort food?  Any ideas?  Well, my go-to comfort snack is frozen yogurt.  My go-to comfort food is something like a grilled cheese, sourdough bread, or a good casserole.

5. This week the world remembers the tragic events of 9/11. Do you mark the day in any way? How do historical events shape your perspective on your personal challenges? 

I always wonder where the survivors are today and about the many children who lost parents that day.  The museum in NYC is a must see if you haven't been.  9/11 has definitely changed the way we all travel.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I had a hard reality Monday afternoon, but was thankful Jenn made dinner and invited me to come. I am looking forward to the next few days and won't blog again until next week.  So on that note, Happy Wednesday and enjoy your weekend!

Hello Monday ~ September 8, 2025

Happy Monday this morning to you! Here is a recap of my weekend.

I worked Friday, ran some errands, then met Jenn that night for a night of live music. We listened to a cover band for Heart and also a cover band for Huey Lewis and the News.  It seemed like the perfect night to bring out my 1985 Huey Lewis concert t-shirt.  Y'all, I bought this shirt 40 years ago from his concert!

The dinner was excellent.  I had the brisket stack and brussel sprouts.  Delicious!  I asked for my egg to be scrambled on the side instead of fried on top. I would order this again.

These ladies were awesome!  Heart was such a powerhouse female rock band & they had so many amazing hits from the 80's.  

Next up, was the Huey Lewis cover band.  I loved the music and knew all of those songs too.  Collectively, I think the talent was better for the Heart cover band, but I did love the Huey portion.  It was all great & it was fun to watch people on the dance floor too.

I met one of the band members and he was interested in my knowledge of Huey Lewis and came to me after each act to see what I thought of the show.

I was up early Saturday morning to go to my sister's house to help her keep her grandkids/my greats.  Only 7 were there Saturday, but they are all 8 and under, so extra hands are always appreciated!  They were sweet and precious as usual.

Lindsay, they are all Georgia fans!

After the kids left, my sister and I went to get some Mexican food then visited the local cheesecake store. I had an individual cheesecake called Therapy, but they all looked so good!

I read this Saturday and it made me laugh.  

Sunday morning, I kept the nursery at church and then one of my best friends invited me to lunch with she and her husband and son.  It meant a lot to me since this is my first weekend without Brook at home.  Sundays can be hard and lonely days for single people, especially since I am not dating anyone.  I spent the rest of the afternoon at home alone watching some episodes of Sullivan's Crossing and did some random cleaning.  I have plenty of little things to keep me busy at home and a list of things I want to watch, so I am thankful for that.

Enjoy your day and thanks for reading!

 

Friday Favorites ~ September 5, 2025

 Happy Friday and 1st week of September!  I am always happy to look back at the week and find some favorites!

I went back to work Tuesday and met up with Jenn for dinner at Salad Station.  It had been a week or two so we were both missing our salad and visit there.

Wednesday, Brook made a key lime pie and it was delicious!

I decided last minute to join Jenn and Kendra later Wednesday night for some live music and a drink. It was fun and I was glad to get out for a bit.

Look what Jenn gave me!  I haven't started reading it yet, but I have flipped through it & was excited to receive this.  

Because I am known to eat my snacks at work in the morning as opposed to afternoon, my co-worker printed this out and put it by my desk.  We all got a good laugh from this!

Seeing a butterfly at the mailbox

I ordered some new nail polish.  Have you tried this brand?  It stays on a few days for me without chipping, which is rare these days in my experience.

My sweet Brook had a long drive back to her university.  It was time to return and I know I will be okay.  But I will admit, it has taken me a little bit of time to get out of my car.  I will sure miss seeing her.  Yes, that is an Elvis cardboard statue in the garage. 

 

My favorite, of favorites, getting Disney hugs from daughter.  This is what we call it and that means she has to let go first.  

Have a good weekend!

Currently Hodgepodging ~ September 3, 2025

 Happy Wednesday.  Today I am joining in with my favorite weekly Hodgepodge post and monthly Currently post. 

1. Next Sunday is Grandparent's Day. Share a favorite memory, photo, recipe, or something you learned from a grandparent. 

Oh, I adored my grandparents!  I just said last week the best man I ever knew was my grandfather, who I lovingly called Pop.  He passed away when I was a sophomore in college.  

Here is my sweet grandmother, who lived 19 years later without Pop by her side. She was an amazing woman as well.  

My other grandfather passed away when I was just a year and a half, so I don't have any memories of him unfortunately, but love hearing stories about him.  His wife, my grandmother, was also an amazing woman.  I don't have a picture here to show of her.  She passed away a few months after I got married so she never knew my kids.  

I am so thankful for the Christian legacy my grandparents left me by setting an example of loving Jesus and their families well.

Here are my parents as grandparents to my girls. Obviously, this picture was from quite a while ago!

And it has been so fun to see my parents become great grandparents!

This is also a picture from years past, but these are my in-laws, with my girls.  I am thankful my girls are blessed with knowing all of their grandparents.

2. What's a quote from a book (besides The Bible) that has stayed with you? 

These are not from a book, but two quotes that I say often are "Behavior is a language" and "Put on your own oxygen mask first".

3. What's your number one food pet peeve? 

Using raisins instead of chocolate chips in cookies?

Adding nuts in brownies?

4. What's one thing about you that is still the same as it was when you were young? 

I have always loved concerts and music!  Elvis was my first concert at age 5!  That was followed by the Osmonds & Shawn Cassidy.  Then I got into my teenage concert era in the 80's.  We always had music playing in my house. My girls now are familiar with a lot of older music! 

Posing with "Elvis" at a wax museum above and Graceland below.

I have seen Huey Lewis and the News more than any other performer, probably 10 times at least.

The 3 of us have been to see Harry Styles twice and he puts on a great show!

5. September is National Preparedness Month...does your family have an emergency plan? Do you have some sort of preparedness kit you keep on hand? If so, tell us one thing that's kept there. 

I have a an emergency fire blanket and a few fire extinguishers in my home.  The fire blanket is something I added in the last few years.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

My random thoughts lead into my Currently post.....

Here are the the things I am currently loving, beginning, ending, picking, and posting.

Loving

I am loving the cooler weather.  Even when it is still a little warm in the afternoons, the mornings and evenings are wonderful.  Now I just need to get outside more!

Beginning

I hope some work is beginning in the next few weeks to complete some punch list items that need to be done at my house.  

Ending

I am ending my summer with Brook.  She leaves tomorrow to return to her university.  This momma is sure going to miss a daily hug & seeing someone in my home. 

Picking

My first thought when reading this prompt is picking my battles.  I try to do this and the other thing I am picking is me!  I am picking me and trying to take care of myself.  Pick you my friends!  It will help you be a better person to those around you I believe.  

Posting

I try to do a monthly social media post on highlights from my month in pictures.  I sometimes will re-post something else or share an event/birthday online.  I am active on social media, but don't post every day.  I aim to blog 3 times a week, but as life goes, sometimes it is more or sometimes less. 

That's it for today!  Thanks for reading and enjoy your day!

Tuesday Talk/Hello Monday ~ September 2, 2025

 Happy September!

I hope you are all enjoyed the long weekend from work.

I was thankful to work from home Friday and get a few things done at home for the afternoon.  Friday evening, I went to dinner with Brook, her boyfriend and his parents.  I met them last summer and wanted us to all have a dinner again together this year too.  They are such sweet people and I am thankful we all get along so well!  We ate at our favorite Mediterranean restaurant.  I had chicken schwarma with hummus and pita chips.  They have the best pita chips and hummus in town and it was delicious!

Saturday morning, I made breakfast for Brook and I so she could have a homemade breakfast before returning to school.  I made the homemade biscuits Tanya linked to last week.  I told Brook I would make her "real" biscuits.  I grew up with a mom who always made homemade biscuits.  In the last few years, I began making healthier biscuits with almond flour.  I told Brook I would make biscuits with real flour.  I did use my sugar substitute since I don't keep real sugar in the house and I used almond milk instead of whole milk, since that is what I keep on hand.  The biscuits turned out great and we had scrambled eggs, bacon and strawberries too.

I spent some time cleaning up my back porch and then ran some errands with Brook. I spotted my favorite fall candy, Brach's autumn mix!  I am going to buy some in a few weeks for a road trip.  If I had bought it Saturday, it would have been gone by Sunday.  After errands, we got some frozen yogurt, but from a different place from my normal Menchie's.  

Saturday, I had some college football playing some and then also watched the move "The Life List" on Netflix, which was pretty good. My Saturday afternoon and night were very low key and I stayed at home. There wasn't much excitement for this single girl. I slept terrible Saturday night and was up by 3:30am. Some nights are like this and I think there is just so much going on in my head and no one to really process it all with sometimes.  

Sunday morning was church, then errands with Brook and cleaning my garage. Last minute, Jenn came over and we visited for a while.  It was good to see her as it had been a week since I had seen her.

For the Labor Day holiday, I didn't have any plans and it seemed like it was going to be a quiet day at home by myself.  I drove to my sister's house and visited with her and my nieces and greats for a few hours.  

Brook and I went to dinner together and went to bed early.

Now it is back to the work week with lots of plans for the next few weeks for me.

Have a great day & thanks for reading!