Texas - part 2

 Good morning.  Earlier, I recapped my afternoon in McKinney, Texas.  It was so good to see this cute little, but big town.  Thankfully, we made it driving through some rough weather to our Air BNB in Greenville, Texas.  There were tornadoes in East Texas Friday night, but we were safe.  

When we woke up Saturday morning, the weather was beautiful.  We went to the local hamburger place and it was fun to hear all the locals.

InTexas fashion, there was a fiddle festival on Saturday!  We listened to the local music and it was quite entertaining, especially watching the locals come out and dance.  Notice in front of the stage in both pictures below, there are couples dancing.  

We drove into the Deep Ellum area of Dallas and my goodness, I think I had the best briskey of my life. It was so tender.  I also had some turkey that was so well seasoned and perfect fried okra.

We also stopped by Emporium Pies.  They have a location in McKinney (& a few others too), but we had already eaten so much there, we tried this location.  It was delcious.

We had a great weekend visiting with our friend and eating good food.  

Sunday, we ate Mexican food then we went back our seperate ways.  

It was a lovely weekend and will be time for another weekend before we know it.

Friday in McKinney

 Good morning friends.  We went on our last weekend get-a-way trip last weekend and headed to Texas.

We started the journey on Thursday night to get a few horus down the road.  We stopped at Cracker Barrell for dinner and bought the extra long Twizzlers.  We weren't in Texas yet and already everything was bigger :)

We made it to the well known land of McKinney, Texas for lunch.  We had plans to meet up with some friends, but they got sick and had to cancel.  I also have a friend who I graduated with from high school who lives here, so I do know a few people personally who live here.  

We met up with our friend from San Antonio who we spent the weekend with exploring.  We started by eating at The Yard.  This really is a cool place.  It was drizzling at the time we ate, so we sat on the back porch, but the uncovered area looked fun too.

We were able to walk around the square and went in several stores, especially as the rain picked up to be pretty heavy.

We actually spent a little time in the ski shop and even made a purchase here!  They have lots of outdoor wear here as well, not just ski gear.

The rain picked up like crazy, but not before we visited the cookie store and bought desserts to snack on for the weekend.

Since the weather got so bad Friday afternoon, I stopped in Spoons, which was another restaurant on my list and picked up dinner that we took back to the Air BNB.

Before leaving McKinney, we also rode around a few other areas of the town.  We even visited the infamous Starbucks!

I would love to spend more time in the town and it is true, there are so many restaurants that looked good, but literally there was a tornado warning in the area.  I did manage to buy a t-shirt though :).

I will be back tomorrow with some more from the Texas weekend.  I just thought McKinney deserved its own post!  

Currently ~ November 2022

 Happy Wednesday!  Today I am linking up with Jennifer for the Currently series.  This month, we are writing about what we are currently borrowing, buying, planning, prepping and reading.

Borrowing

I am a little stumped on this one...I am not currently borrowing anything at thie time that I can thinkof....other than an Air BNB  on my upcoming trip to Texas!

Buying

I have bought a few clothing items for myself lately and am also beginning to purchase some Christmas gifts.  I also bought a few holiday items lately.  I found a few fall items on sale at Hobby Lobby and picked up some outdoor Christmas lights.  I stocked up on some Christmas wrapping paper, boxes, tissue paper, tape and ribbon from Dollar Tree.

Planning

I am always in trip planning mode :).  I have most of my Texas trip planned and am working on some things to do while in New York City at Christmas time.  Currently, I have tickets to a play and the Rockettes.  We would like to ice skate and see the window displays.  If you have been there at Christmas, do you have any other ideas?  The last time I went at Christmas was close to 30 years ago.  I have been lots of times since then, so I have done most of the normal tourist things.

Prepping

I have done some breakfast food prep lately to make up some breakfast burritos.  I scrambled eggs and added the eggs, shredded cheese and bacon bits into a tortilla.  I freeze them, then have warm them up in my airfryer!   I would also like to make up some egg muffins to have on mornings I go to work for some protein to start my day.  

I am also trying to do some organization in closets and cleaning to prep for Christmas decorating in a few weeks.

Reading

I am currently in a bible study and we are reading "What's She Doing Here:  The Messy Women in Jesus' Genealogoy". 

I am also reading "Hold Me Tight:  Seven Conversations for a Lifetime of Love".

Prime Purchases ~ October 2022

 Welcome November....My favorite month of the year!  And, it is time for Prime Purchases with Tanya.

ONE

 

I purchased these shower steamers with a lavendar scent.  I have used these at different times of the day, not just at night and they do have a good smell.

TWO

I am late to the game, but finally purchased a Ring Doorbell on the most recent Prime Day.  It has been helpful so far.  Ours is pretty basic, but it still seems fancy to me!

THREE

I ordered this ladder for my husband to use with his van.  He received a shade awning for his birthday and this ladder helps to install it.  The ladder is telescopic so it folds down in a compact way.

FOUR

I ordered these no show socks from a recommendation from Amy at Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa. I like how they are low cut...now the only challenge is not to lose one in the dryer!

FIVE

We need some new outdoor lighting for our home so I have purchased this set. I opted to not get a solar kit because we don't get a lot of sun in our front yard to probably keep lights on for very long.  I have not installed these yet becuase I wanted to wait until I put up some new stake Christmas lights outside.

SIX

I am trying to organize a few closets so I ordered a set of these fabric collapsible cubes for a good deal.

I will wait on sharing some other purchases until after Christmas since some of those will be gifts for family members.

Hope you have a great November 1st Tuesday!  Yay for new beginnings!

Friday Favorites ~ 10/28/22 Savannah

This week, my Friday Favorites is a re-cap of last weekend, which carried over into this week.  This week was just adjusting back to reality, but the real favorite was a trip to Savannah. And here is an overload of pictures to prove it!

We took an early morning flight last Friday....we watched the sun come up!

It was all worth it to see this one!

I had shrimp and grits tacos for dinner.

We found mechanical bull riding on the Riverwalk!

My in-laws were also there for our first night in town.  The guys went fishing and the girls (me, my daughter, her roommate and my mother-in-law) went shopping.  

The 25th Annual SCAD Film Festival began this same weekend too, so there was a lot of happenings!

My in-laws left town and just the 3 of us drove to the cutest town, Bluffton, South Carolina to a local pizza place.

Sunday morning, we visited a church, went to a local breakfast place for lunch, the local art store, a coffe shop, drove the beautiful streets and was back at the SCAD Film Festival area where Ron Howard was receiving an award and there was a screening of his movie "Thirteen Lives", which is so good.  Go watch it on Amazon if you haven't already!

I cried harder this time leaving her than from move-in day.  Something about leaving your child behind and flying away.  It just did something to this momma's heart.  But, she is doing well and it was great and Thanksgiving is just a few weeks away!

Enjoy this fall October weekend!

Monthly Musings ~ October 2022

Good morning!  I am linking up with the Monthly Musings to talk about Thanksgiving Prep.

 1.  Do you host Thanksgiving or go elsewhere?  This year we will go to my parents house.  All my siblings and our kids will be together.  We can't all be together at Christmas, so this will be a fun time.

2. What dishes do you make or contribute?  I usually bring a dessert and a side dish, like a vegetable/starch...butter beans, corn, mac-n-cheese or something like that.

3.  What is your favorite Thankgiving recipe?  This isn't a typical recipe, but it looks like a fun appetizer to bring.

4.  What are your Thanksgiving traditions?  The first thing that comes to mind is watching the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade!  The past 2 years, I have put out my Christmas tree and decorations the weekend after my birthday, which is 11/11, but I have waited to decorate until Thanksgiving morning when my girls are home and we do this while watching the parade.  I do most of it, but I ask them to put up a few for me.

5. Stuffing or dressing?  I love a good cornbread dressing!

6.  Pumpkin, pecan or apple pie?  I'm going to say neither....I would prefer a cheesecake or something chocolate.

7.  Casual dining or set the table?  I like a pretty table decoration, but also love causual dining and am totally okay with eating off paper plates, but do prefer real silverware.

8.  Favorite beverage to serve with Thanksgiving dinner?  Iced tea or water for our family

9.  Do you shop Black Friday?  I do!  Well, back in the day, I use to go out early, but now I do it from a computer.  I usually like to grocery shopping on this day because it is a day where the stores aren't too crowded.

10.  Holiday movie or football games?  Football may be on in the background during the day, but as a family, we would come home and watch a movie.