Catching Up!

Hello friends! 

Welcome back...I'm glad you stopped by. I've been super busy lately and have not had the time to post. I'm catching up by sharing some happenings from my iPhone photo roll. 

Nothing too exciting happening around here. I am happy to report that I am feeling so much better. I was sick for over a month, even after taking an antibiotic. I still have a cough attack occasionally but for the most part, it is gone.

These photos are from the past couple weeks. The hubby and I decided to go for a 4-wheeler ride several days ago. It was fun...I hardly ever do anything like that.

I went with my sister to see her middle son and his date all dressed up for prom. Aren't they a sweet couple?

I've been enjoying the wildflowers growing alongside many of our highways. The phlox and Black-eyed Susan's are so pretty....such happy colors!

I made a new recipe one night...skinny burrito bowls. So yummy!

This past week was Teacher Appreciation week and I was gifted some sweet gifts. These are the only ones I photographed though. My principal also let us leave for lunch out one day and she paid for it. She does this every year for the entire faculty and staff. She also provided lunch at school on Friday...tacos to celebrate Cinco de Mayo!

The hubby and I saw a beautiful double rainbow after we went out to supper Friday evening.

I'verecedntly  become an iced-coffee fan and am loving the caramel iced coffee from McDonald's. So yummy! The hubby and I sold our Volkswagen rail buggy yesterday and we both got an iced coffee to enjoy on our drive to meet the guy who bought it.

I went by the consignment shop where I sell some of the things I get rid of. I only picked up one thing while I was there. I love this beautiful wreath and it was just $3!

I hung it over the TV in the living room. I am pretty happy with this entire wall now. Sadie says she approves too. :)

I've of course done a little shopping...I found this adorable Creamery piece at Wal Mart of all places. It was super cheap...just under $5. It is perfect in my kitchen. I haven't hung it yet...still trying to decide exactly where I want it.

And speaking of Cream...I tried a new flavor of Halo Top and it is amazing! I love this stuff!

I also found this adorable little cow card holder at the Dollar General for just $1. It is too cute!

I baked a pineapple upside down cake for work lunch tomorrow. My kindergarten team and I along with several of the pre-k teachers take turns pairing up and cooking lunch on Mondays. Tomorrow is my day and this is the dessert I decided on. 

Rooster thinks if he sits pretty he will get a bite...lol!

Over the past couple weeks, I have also been shopping with my sister for baby shower items for a shower I am helping her host next weekend. I scrapbooked all of my April photos from the Collect app on my phone. I've been cleaning and organizing at home and school. I was off this past Monday for my dad's surgery. He had another back surgery but is home now and doing well. I saw him yesterday for his birthday. Mama cooked a delicious lunch and we had a nice visit. I also started going back to my workouts last week after missing a month due to being sick. I have been so sore! I've been slowly starting to wrap things up at school. I can hardly believe this year is over...it seems like it just began! It's always a bittersweet feeling. This week promises to be another busy one, but I'm ready for it. I hope you are ready to tackle a new week as well. As always, thank you so much for visiting. I hope you have a wonderful week.

Until next time.....

 

 

Christmas Happenings

Hello friends and welcome back. Can you believe it? I am actually posting again after just a week!

I'm trying to get back to it, even when there isn't much to blog about. For instance...this post. It's just a few random pictures from life over the past week or so. 

I took this photo for Instagram and thought it turned out really pretty. I am a new coffee drinker and am enjoying trying all kinds of creamers. I love this thrifted Pier One mug I've had for a few years now.

This is the view of my tree from the kitchen. I love how it can easily be seen from the living room, kitchen, and dining room. 

I also love the reflection of the tree in this mirror by my front door.

Over the weekend, my friend, Jeana, my sister, Nancy, and I went to a delightful show at a church in Gainesville. It was amazing....so much goes into this production. This was the display in the lobby. 

Here we are...me on the far left, Jeana in the middle, and Nancy on the right.

I only took a couple pictures because I was too busy enjoying the show to take pictures. This one shows snow falling from the ceiling.

And this one shows one of the live animals used in the production. During the third part of the show, the story of the birth and life of Jesus, when the three kings came in, one came on horse, one on a camel, and one with alpacas. It was awesome...I wish I had pictures to share!

I wanted to introduce you to my new grand dog....Babybel aka Bell. If you follow me on Instagram then you may have seen her already. Miranda and her boyfriend, Slade adopted her. She is absolutely precious!

I mean...look at that face! Isn't she precious in her new Christmas collar?

I wanted to share a picture that is very exciting to me! This load of lumber is the beginning of my soon to be new porch. It's going to be 10' x 32' and I can hardly wait to get started! Sadie was making a silly face in this picture...lol!

Joey and I went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast over the weekend and I had the stuffed French toast...oh my was it divine!

And while I'm on the subject of yummy stuff, I was thrilled to find a new peppermint ice cream this year. I love peppermint and look forward to the ice cream every Christmas. This one is the best I have had! I am about to have a bowl of it when I finish typing this post. I would share if I could!

Since my last post, a few things have happened around here. My mama had surgery on her rotator cuff and is doing very well. It is a slow recovery surgery as the shoulder only heals about 10% each month and the success rate is low, meaning it doesn't always help. We are praying that it will heal completely and she will not be in pain with it anymore.  My Aunt Loretta's (mama's sister) house caught on fire, but my uncle was able to get the fire out. Unfortunately, in the process, he slipped and fell and broke his hip. He had to have surgery and has two huge pins in place and is in a lot of pain. On a brighter note, I attended a fun Christmas party at my sister's house over the weekend. This week at school will be filled with lots of fun. Our Christmas program is Thursday night. The kiddos are always so cute singing  the songs we have been practicing. Sunday, the hubby, Miranda, Slade, and I are going to see Trans Siberian Orchestra in Tampa. I loved it so much last year and can hardly wait! I know Miranda is going to love it too!

I hope all is well with you. Hopefully I will be back soon!

Until next time.....

A Trip to Charleston, SC

Hello friends! I'm here today to share my recent trip to Charleston, South Carolina. This was my first visit but I hope not my last! I am only about 5-6 hours away from this delightful, historical city. The hubby and I, along with Miranda took a short but sweet trip up there a couple weeks ago. We had a wonderful time. We left on Monday and returned Thursday evening but we packed a lot of fun into our trip. We will begin with our first evening in Charleston. We stayed on King Street which is a really popular street in historic Charleston. We looked up places to eat supper within walking distance and came upon this gem. 

Yep, a bowling alley! Not your typical bowling alley fare served here though. Check out this amazing burger I had. I always go for something I've never had...typically with lots of unique ingredients and flavors. I love flavor filled food. This was the Vermont burger. It was a beef patty topped with Vermont white cheddar, thinly sliced Granny Smith apple, bacon, maple mayo, and arugula. It was amazing! I plan to recreate it here at home someday!

After we ate, we walked around a bit. In fact, we walked everywhere we went in downtown and put in about 7 miles per day! I missed my workouts this week but we walked so much and I hit the gym in the hotel one morning to make up for it. 

The firehouse was so pretty!

We got up early the next morning and started walking with no particular destination in mind. We explored most of the historic area that day. There are so many pretty buildings up and down King Street which house stores, businesses, restaurants and such. 

This bookstore was very nice. The front room housed books about SC and Charleston as well as books written by authors from SC. 

It was one of the most dog friendly places I have been. Check out the fountain for adults, children, and dogs. :) Many of the businesses keep bowls of water on the sidewalk for dogs as well. So neat!

We saw pretty parks and fountains.....

amazing old architecture.....

check out that skinny little building with the burgundy awning!

We ate a Greek restaurant for lunch but I had shrimp and grits. I like to try them at different places. None compare to the shrimp and grits from Jonah's (in Thomasville, Ga.) though!

We found City Market and walked through all of the buildings. I believe there were 4 or 5. They are lung buildings with vendors set up along the sides.

 I bought two Christmas ornaments at the market.

I forgot to take a picture when we went in the first building, but this is the last one.

We walked down to the water in search of the pineapple fountain....

and found it! The pineapple is the symbol of hospitality and this city did not lack in that area. 

I was amazed that people were allowed to play in the water. That is usually a no-no.

We sat on a bench in this lovely park where the fountain was located and took a break before we headed back to our hotel. We had walked 3 or 4 miles in 9 degree heat and humidity! The heat index was over 100! I was kind of wishing I had brought my swimsuit for the fountain....lol!

These huge window boxes were gorgeous and overflowing!

More pretty architecture.

Loved this vine covered building!

We stopped in at Woofgang Bakery and bought Sadie and Rooster a treat to take home. 

We were pretty exhausted from all the walking and heat so we ordered pizza in the hotel that night and were lazy!

The next day we headed out on foot again to take a historical coat tour of the harbor. I got a phone call while we were sitting in front of the Aquarium saying the tour had been canceled due to lack of participation. Bummer! But, since we were in front of the aquarium, we decided to go there. Here is a picture from the outside.

There were many different sea creatures inside as well as many SC native animals.

Here's my favorite marine animal.

And here I am touching some type of little shark.

After we left the aquarium, we walked next door to the Fort Sumter Museum and toured inside. 

After we left the museum, we headed back to our hotel to rest for a bit before heading out to North Charleston to see a movie and eat at Boxcar Betty's. We saw The Secret Life of Pets....it was super cute. After the movie, we went to Boxcar Betty's to try one of the famous chicken sandwiches. I chose to add lettuce, tomato, and pimiento cheese to mine. Oh my, it was delicious! I am so glad we drove across town to try it. 

We returned back to the hotel with full tummies for our last night. 

We got up the following morning, got ready and packed to head out to Magnolia Plantation. this is one of the oldest plantations in the US. It is home to the oldest garden and is the place where camellias and azaleas were first introduced to the US. 

While waiting for our trolley tour, we visited the petting zoo. There were a variety of animals to look at and pet. This lazy guy never did come all the way out...:)

A turkey and deer were drinking from the same trough. LOL!

A tiny alligator...about a foot long.

A funny goat!

And a sweet deer who liked to nuzzle your ears. 

There are a variety of flowers and there were several types blooming while we we there.

This is actually a pond covered in something called duck weed. The small platform you see has two small gators sunning on it.

Our trolley tour guide had fun playing with this huge, horned beetle that crawled across a boys foot while we were on board. He stopped and got out to tell us about it. 

Here is the plantation house....so pretty!

My favorite part of the plantation was this beautiful bridge.

A nice lady offered to take our picture together.

My beautiful daughter, Miranda.

Another bridge shot...love the reflection.

And one of me before we walked across.

We enjoyed our tour of the plantation but after three days of extreme heat and about 15 miles of walking, we were pretty tired and ready to head home. 

We had to stop at the most adorable little country store on the way. I had seen it when we were driving in on Monday and told myself I would stop on the way home. It was the cutest thing!

And, since I had not had any special sweet treat while we were gone, I bought a praline and a Cheerwine for the ride home. It was delicious!

We had a wonderful few days and made lots of new memories. I do hope you are doing well and enjoying your summer. Mine is quickly coming to a close. I officially go back to work on August 3rd! We go back early this year due to some changes in our district calendar for the coming year. I am not thrilled about it but I do enjoy having more routine in my life, and I had a great summer so I can't complain. Thank you for visiting, and as always.....