Friday Favorites ~ August 28, 2026/Amtrak

 Happy Friday.  My week has been good overall, but has seemed a little slow.  Since my trip, I have kept up walking every day, which has helped me feel better.  I try to walk outdoors most evenings, but have also walked inside on my walking pad a few days.  I am thankful for some shade and evenings that have not been too hot to walk. This is my first favorite!

A few other favorites:

I had lunch with a former travel agent co-worker that I hadn't seen in at least 2 years this week.  We sat for 2 1/2 hours and it was so fun to catch up with her! 

 My apartment complex had a paint night so we went to paint little flower pots one night too. When I came home from work yesterday, they had left me a small gift at the door for coming.  I love where I live!

Now I am going to jump back into my trip from last month.  To end my time in Canada, I took an Amtrak from Vancouver to Seattle, Washington early one morning.  The train stations are so pretty.

I bought the business class ticket, which is not too much more than coach and it was 100% worth the extra cost.  I felt like I had my money's worth before I even boarded simply by being in a shorter line!

This was my chair for the 4 hour ride, but I did have someone sit across from me, but that was okay.

The scenery along the coast was so pretty to see.  

Then I arrived back in the USA in Seattle, Washington.

I had a view of the baseball stadium from the train station.  I walked a few blocks this time with my luggage to the Seattle ferry station. I felt like I utilized planes, trains, automobiles and the ferry a lot in my first week!

It is so pretty to see the sights of Seattle from the ferry!  

I will do a post on Bainbridge Island and Seattle next week.

I hope you have a great weekend and thanks for reading friends!

Monthly Musings ~ August 27, 2026

Happy Thursday!  I am linking for this month's Monthly Musings all about cleaning and life hacks. 

Are you good at managing the weekly laundry at your house or do you need help?

Yes, laundry is pretty easy here at my place.  I live with my daughter, so it is just the two of us with laundry.  I do a load of clothes midweek and sheets/towels on the weekend.

Best tips for containing the kitchen and dishes chaos.

Clean as you go, or at least put items in the sink.  That allows for the countertops to get cleaned and you can load your dishwasher at night or the next morning, whatever your preference! For casual meals with guests, paper products are nice to use so you are only cleaning up serving and cooking dishes.

What grocery items do you always have on hand to make a quick meal? 

I always have cooked meat in my freezer.  I bring home some food from some of my work events, but have always had cooked chicken and ground beef in the freezer that I can defrost to use for recipes.  

 

Best tips for saving money on groceries.

As probably most of us do, clip the coupons online from your regular grocery store and stock up on frequent products when they are on sale!  

Cleaning service. DIY or is house cleaning overrated?

I think there is a time and place for it.  For people who aren't working full time, I honestly haven't understood the need for that expense.  Those who work or have some physical disabilities, it seems like a more practical need, but to each their own.  I think it is nice to gift someone a cleaning service, especially if it is before or after an event or company.

Favorite cleaning products?

I still use a Thieves for cleaning my countertops in the kitchen.  I also use Lysol wipes.  

Do you try to use "green" products in your house?

Thieves is a clean product that is purchased through Young Living.  The bottle lasts forever and I mix it with rubbing alcohol and water to make my own cleaner.  I also have Five Guards, which is a much affordable option.

Do you schedule certain tasks for certain days of the week?

I try to wipe down my countertops most days and clean my bathroom as needed.  Laundry, as mentioned before, I do once during the week and once on the weekends.  The rest I do as needed! 

What is the most overwhelming part of your week that you think you need help with right now?

 I live in a relatively small space and love it, so from a cleaning/organizational standpoint, I am at a good place.  Moving twice in a year helps to consolidate items, especially when you downsize.  I do need to organize some papers and recipe pages, but that may be a fall project.  

What part of your week do you think you excel at?

Excel is a strong word, but I think I do well in spending a lot of time at home by myself.  I have come to accept, embrace and enjoy it for the most part.  

Linking up with Patty

Hodgepodge ~ August 26, 2026

 Hi!  I am joining Joyce today for our weekly Hodgepodge session.  Love these days!

1. How do you feel about the transition from lazy summer days to a busier fall routine? 

Well, my schedule honestly doesn't change that much from summer to fall.  My work routine stays the same.  I do enjoy the break from traffic on the days I drive into the office though!  I still like the lighter feel of summer, but I also am ready for fall by this time of year too!

2. Your favorite cookie? 

I love a homemade chocolate chip cookie!  

3. What's something you've learned from a culture different than your own? 

Oh my goodness, I feel like there are so many little things I took away from living in South America for 3 years.  If you are new here or have forgotten, I lived in Bogota, Colombia for 3 years.  I loved getting to know the people, the language and the food. 

I have written about Edwin here before, but he became a part of our family while we lived there.  He lives in Australia now with his beautiful wife, whom we also love.  This is the couple I drove to Dallas to see last December for a few hours.  Edwin spent a Christmas Eve with us and we had so many fun memories with him.  He helped us so much with learning the language and culture.

The other person who was so instrumental for our time there was my language professora.  She was so much more than this.  She was a dear family friend and I love her dearly. I will always be thankful to her for all she did for us.  

Brook calling a taxi for us!

This was from my first day of Spanish class!  She was in our apartment for 4 hours a day, 5 days a week, so we spent a lot of time together that first year!

My favorite juice was made from the lulo fruit, which you drink but don't eat.  We also enjoyed empanadas, platanos, arepas and my favorite soup, which is not pictured below, ajiaco.  This is made of chicken and four different types of potatoes served with an avocado and rice.

4. Food critic, film critic, book critic, art critic...which hat would you most like to wear? Tell us why. 

I would choose food!  I participate more in eating food than I do the other options, ha!  

5. What's a small, random thing from your childhood that you still remember clearly? 

I remember Christmas traditions of seeing Santa, posing in front of the Christmas tree with presents, and Christmas mornings.  I also remember lots of fun times at my grandparents house. Below is a childhood picture along with an updated picture of my siblings, but this second picture was probably 7 or 8 years ago.

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

Sweet Maria sent me this song this week and I have loved it.  I relate to it so much and am so thankful to feel hope again!

It Might Be Hope 

by Sara Groves

You do your work the best that you can

You put one foot in front of the other

Life comes in waves and makes it's demands

You hold on as well as your able

You've been here for a long long time

Hope has a way of turning it's face to you

Just when you least expect it

You walk in a room

You look out a window

And something there leaves you breathless

You say to yourself

It's been a while since I felt this

But it feels like it might be hope

Fashion Files ~ August 25, 2026

Good morning!  My post today is short and sweet with a little bit of jewelry fashion.

But first, here is a photo from the sunrise I saw yesterday morning.  I am spending Monday mornings caring for my mom so I am leaving my house early on these mornings. 

I am sharing a few jewelry pieces that I got on my vacation.  The Alaska state flower is a forget-me-not.  I was drawn to these because I love blue jewelry, but also the blue forget-me-not is also a major part of the tv show, Outlander.  It is present at the stones when the characters time travel.  They symbolize eternal love, loyalty and remembrance.  I bought this set of earrings and the charm, which I put on a necklace I had back home.

While on the cruise portion of my trip, I got interested in the charms the ship offered. I added a white forget-me-not, which symbolizes purity and innocence.  I ordered this charm bracelet once I returned so that I can add other charms to it.  It also is very easy to put on and off by yourself.  Some of the other bracelets I tried first had clasps that would require a second person to help put it on, so I am glad I found this one that works!

While I was on Bainbridge Island in Washington, I bought these new earrings.  One of my gold hoops bit the dust on the trip, so I bought this new pair to wear on my trip.

That's all for today!!

Hello Monday ~ Weekend & Whistler August 24, 2026

 Good Monday morning to you!  I have a quick weekend update and then I am recapping my time in Whistler, British Columbia Canada. 

 

Friday night, Jen and I went to dinner and she came over afterwards.  We had fun laughing, crying and catching up.  Saturday morning, I made huckleberry pancakes with a mix my oldest daughter bought for me.  Wish she could have been here to enjoy them!  I spent all of Saturday at home catching up on little things and then hung out with a friend that evening.  Sunday was church and more time at home. I went walking later in the day and then stopped by Jen's for a Sunday night visit. I am so thankful we live close!  I am so thankful I am still able to walk to church and not be knocked out by the heat.  It was a tad cooler Sunday morning and I didn't even use my fan while on my walk!  It was a lovely weekend.

I am sharing some pictures today from Whistler, British Columbia Canada and a few other side pictures from my drive a few weeks ago.  Whistler is a little under 2 hours north of Vancouver.  I highlighted my time in Squamish on Friday, which was the best day.  Thank you for all the kind comments!  It was truly spectacular!  I arrived in Whistler that night after visiting Squamish, and my goodness, this ski town is darling. This was the view from the balcony of my hotel room.

It was quite cool and a little rainy, but I had the best time walking through Whistler Village.  

I stayed at the Hilton Whistler and enjoyed sitting in the lobby that evening by the fireplace. My room actually had a wood burning fireplace, but I opted not to use it.

The next morning, I walked over to Olympic Park, which is a part of the Whistler Village. There are several gondolas that take you to the mountaintops, but I opted not to spend money doing those because of the cloudy weather.  Walking around this area was so fun!

Hilton Whistler

These door signs made me giggle.

On my drive back to Vancouver, I pulled over at every stop I could.  I mentioned this Friday, but the views kept blowing my mind.  I would think, okay, this is the prettiest view ever.  Then I would go around the corner and the next prettiest view would open up in sight.  Y'all, I could make that drive every week!  I did stop at this park to take a short walk to this waterfall where I had someone take my picture.  Traveling alone, most of my pictures are selfies! These were pictures were later on day 4 of traveling alone and I was still having the time of my life!

Some of my driving views.....

I said a few times that it isn't fair to the rest of the world just how much beauty is in this area!  God's creation is showing off beautifully there!  However, I love seeing the beauty of creation all around me.  

Hope you had a good weekend and may your Monday be beautiful with whatever is around you! Thanks for reading!