May Recap

Hello and thank you for stopping by. It's time for my May recap. I can hardly believe this month is almost over. This year is nearly half over! May was pretty much a whirlwind...and the highlights can be seen on my Instagram account but I know a couple of you aren't on Instagram so I will share a few pictures here and tell you what I have been up to. 

I have been enjoying my plants. This little succulent has really grown since I repotted it. 

My angel face rose bloomed again. It is just so gorgeous!

My gardenia decided to burst into bloom over Mother's Day weekend and was full of open blooms when we returned from Miranda's. If you have never smelled a gardenia, you're missing out....they smell so good!

I have tried to enjoy my porch as much as possible because the heat and mosquitoes will prevent that from happening soon.

I spent a few hours at the springs with my sister and nephew as well as some family that was visiting from Utah. It was a beautiful day.

Joey and I took a mental health day off from work and went out for lunch and shopping. I had to admire this gorgeous mural depicting some of Florida's beautiful waterways.

Teacher Appreciation week was celebrated and we were spoiled at school with lunches and treats. I got a couple sweet gifts from students...this was one of them. So cute!

Joey, Dakota, and I went to Miranda's for Mother's Day weekend. We had a great time and I got to spend a bit of time on the beach. 

I was happiest having my family all together though. Blessed!

After that weekend, it was crunch time finishing up things at school. My last day was Friday and that was just for the District Luncheon honoring retiree's. I got my 15 year pin...hard to believe it's been  15 years already!

This past weekend was spent in Panama City with Miranda and Slade. It was an impromptu trip and my sister, Nancy went with me. It was a rainy weekend but we had a great time in spite of the weather. Here's a pretty shot of downtown Panama City...I love the historic part of town. We went to the sweetest little coffee shop.

Any time spent with my beautiful Miranda is time enjoyed. She is my heart. 

We had a great time visiting the local winery in Panama City Beach. Miranda and Slade are planning to purchase wine from them for the wedding and she wanted us to do a tasting. This was a first for me and it was such fun. This winery specializes in wine made with other fruits. They were all so tasty! I will be returning in the future. 

I have spent the past couple days running errands and getting some cleaning done. I got my hair cut earlier today and am now enjoying a little downtime before I get started again. I hope you all had a lovely May and are looking forward to June. Have a wonderful week and thanks again for dropping by. 

Good Intentions

Hello friends...when I last blogged in January, I said I was going to do my best to post more often this year...at least once or twice a month. Well, I posted once in January and have been trying to post for a couple weeks now and finally decided to just get it done before February is gone. Can you believe tomorrow is the last day of the month? 2018 is flying by!

I decided to share some things I have been up to so far this year. I never shared my 2018 Word but this year I chose...

Intentional

I have been trying to be more intentional in every aspect of my life. 

Keep scrolling and I will share.

At the beginning of January, I joined Weight Watchers. I have been needing/wanting to lose weight for years now and decided it was finally time to get down to business. Something I haven't shared on the blog is my choice to become a vegetarian last October. I won't go into detail but I will say it is a personal choice due to the inhumane treatment of animals raised for consumption. I have never been a meat lover so this was a pretty easy transition for me. Around December, I decided to switch to Pescatarian which means I added fish and seafood back into my diet. I was having a difficult time consuming enough protein and it was also very difficult to find something I wanted to eat when we dined out. I don't eat fish or seafood every day, usually 2-3 times per week. I also only purchase fresh seafood or wild caught frozen. I do not eat farm-raised fish. Anywho, in addition to this lifestyle change, I am now doing Weight Watchers Freestyle and absolutely love it. I eat so much more fruit and vegetables and have learned to make smarter choices with all foods the majority of the time. The great thing about WW is that nothing is excluded. I can eat anything as long as it fits into my points. I definitely eat the rainbow these days as you can see in the photo collage below. The bottom center photo is a meal I had at Ikea. They have veggie balls which are like meatballs but made with veggies. They are quite tasty and Joey even liked them. They also sell them in their market so I purchased a couple bags for the freezer. I am enjoying eating mostly whole foods. I eat very little processed food these days which is a really good thing.

I have also been intentional with my 2018 goals this year...one of which is to read the bible this year. So far...so good. I am right on track. Another goal was to rise earlier each morning and have time to do this before work and also just have more time in general so I don;t have to rush. I am doing great with that goal as well.

I have been enjoying bringing some live plants into my home. I have started with succulents and an air plant in my kitchen window. I bought a large plant to hang which I will share soon. I am ordering a macrame plant hanger for it before I share.

I try really hard to live a hygge lifestyle...see below. I have always lived this way but didn't realize there was a name for it until a year or so ago. 

I replaced my glass desktop with this one from Ikea...I love the top part with the drawers! I have already rearranged things since I took this photo. :)

Speaking of Ikea, I bought these lanterns the day I bought the desktop and Joey hung them for me. I love how this wall turned out. We still have to hide the cords, but I love it.

And my candles with timers give my room a very hygge feel in the evenings. 

I have spent time with my furn babies. Rooster is such a lover. He needs snuggle time every day. 

I have been very intentional with my planning each week. I set goals and check them off. I make lists of things that need to get done and try my best to get them all done. I use my planner to plan...imagine that!

I have been walking a lot over the last few weeks. I usually walk with a teacher friend who is also doing WW and we walk between 2.5 and 4 miles as many days as we can each week. 

We walk the trail near work. It goes over the Suwannee River. This is the old train trestle over the river. It;s a beautiful place to walk!

I walk from home occasionally. Rooster likes to drag me along...lol!

I have been more intentional in spending quality time with family and friends. This is my friend Heather's fire bowl that we enjoyed sitting around a couple times lately. By the way...for those of you who prayed for Heather (she's the one who had stage 4 cancer) she is doing great and is cancer free. I pray she stays cancer free forever!

I celebrated Valentine's Day with my firsties and made them these crayon hearts. They loved them!

I went down a size and haven;t been in this size in nearly 30 years! I was over the moon excited about this. I have lost 19 pounds so far and feel so much better overall.

Joey and I went to the beach for a quick little getaway. We are trying to do something different each month. Last month it was the trip to Ikea, Not sure what we will do in March. We went to Saint Augustine and spent the night in Crescent Beach. It was such a great weekend.

Excuse the grey streak in my hair...I really need to color it again. :)

We had such a great time together. We did a lot of walking. I was thrilled to find this beauty. It came home with me. 

I enjoyed some reading time while listening to the wind and the waves crashing. I have been trying to be more intentional in reading for pleasure. This is something I used to do more of. 

I have started visiting thrift stores again...I'll explain why in a few minutes, but in doing so, I found a few baskets to add to me basket wall. This is my latest decorating project. I am tweaking me living room and will share when I finish it. I am adding a little boho flair to it....or my idea of boho anyway. 

I have been intentional in enjoying my porch. I love to sit on it and even eat out there occasionally. Speaking of eating...this is a favorite of mine...avocado toast. I like it different ways...with salsa...pesto...tomato and onion, you get the idea. It's so yummy!

Sadie and Rooster like eating on the porch too. Of course, they like eating anywhere...anytime...anything. LOL!

And I saved the most exciting news for last. I know many of you have already seen this on Instagram, but for those who haven't, Miranda is engaged! Slade proposed to her a couple weeks ago. They had tickets to go see Phantom of the Opera (which is one of her favorite things) and he proposed before the show. She's on Cloud 9 and I am so excited for them both. Isn't her ring beautiful...it's rose gold, another one of her favorites.

This brings me to the reason I am hitting up the thrift stores again. We are using mismatched china and glassware for her wedding reception so I am on the hunt. I already have quite a bit but will be collecting over the next several months. She wants some boho flair in her wedding and reception and I am excited to bring her vision to life. 

We want to do something similar to this with the glassware. 

And, that my friends is the end. I am sorry this turned out to be a long, rambly post. If you made it to the end, thank you so much. I have enjoyed catching up and letting you know what has been happening with me lately. I hope you are having a lovely week. Hopefully I will be back soon...I am trying to be more intentional with blogging too. 

Until next time.....

A Little Red, White, & Blue

Hello there and.....

I spent a while out on the porch today, cleaning and sprucing it up a bit for summer. Yesterday, after my chiropractic and massage appointments, the hubby and I went to Kohl's so I could see what children's books and stuffed characters they were featuring. I wanted some for my class library and was lucky to find they were featuring Golden Books and characters. I will share those soon. As we were walking to the shoe department to look for hubby some shoes, we passed  a rack full of Americana decor for 50% off. There were many pretty things, but I decided to pick up this metal welcome sign to use on the porch for June and July. It was normally $19.99 but I only paid $10 for it which I thought was a great deal.

We went to lunch after we left Kohl's and Miranda met us on her lunch break. It was good to see her as I have been so busy lately that I haven't had a chance to do any visiting. We enjoyed a delicious lunch at Square 1 and then we parted ways. Miranda went back to work and the hubby and I headed to Rack Room shoes since we didn't find any he liked at Kohl's We had success at Rack Room and then we went to Target. I picked up these two stars for $3 each to hang on the door. 

I went to Target to look for some shorts for my trip next week. I bought one pair and then we went to Old Navy where I purchased two more pair. My shorts from last year are too big now so I had to have some new ones. We stopped by Publix on the way home and picked up a few things and that was our day. 

I need to find my box of Americana decor in the shed to see if I have anything else to add to the porch. I did find my little red wagon in the decor closet and added it to the table.

 I want to find some flowers to put inside instead of the aloe plant but it works for now. I'm hoping to find some when I run to Wal Mart tomorrow to pick up last minute items for my trip and groceries for the hubby and son while I am gone.

This Americana porch seems fitting since I am leaving Monday (my birthday) to head to Washington DC with our Safety Patrol group. You may remember me going last year as well. My nephew is going this year and I am his chaperone. We leave at 4:30 am and will arrive that night. We spend Tuesday and part of Wednesday in DC and then head to New York City Wednesday afternoon. We will eat supper in Times Square and see a Broadway show Wednesday evening! I believe we are seeing Aladdin. I am excited since I have not seen this show yet. I have been fortunate to see Phantom of the Opera, Lion King (on Broadway), Wicked, and Beauty & the Beast. I love Broadway and am super excited to see my second show in NYC!

We spend the following day and Friday morning touring NYC. We depart the city around noon to head back home. We will be driving through the night. If you would, please say a prayer for safe travels for us. We will be traveling in a charter bus. 

I have been too busy to get excited about the trip but I am sure it will be fun once I get there. This will be my fourth trip to DC and second trip to NYC. I've seen and done most everything already but my nephew Riley hasn't so this will be an awesome trip for him. 

I actually celebrated my birthday in NYC several years ago and this year I will be celebrating while traveling to DC. 

We still have lots to do to the porch but I am so enjoying it. The hubby has been working on the skirting around the front. I am looking forward to planting some things and landscaping around it. We are also hoping to lay sod soon.

So much to do and so little time to do it. It will all get done though...eventually.

I hope your Sunday is a restful one and my your week ahead be blessed. 

As always, thank you so much for taking time to stop by and visit. I appreciate your visits and kind comments so very much. 

Until next time.....