Friday Favorites: 4.19.2024.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for today's favorite blog post of the week. How has your week been? Mine has been great! I hope you can say the same, friends. Here are a few of my favorites from this week...

Nashville sights, sounds, and foods were my favorite this week! 

From fabulous bakeries to my favorite prayer space in Franklin and everything in between, it was such a fun weekend away with my blogging friends! In case you missed that post, here's the recap that I wrote on Tuesday.

My Bible reading has been some of my favorite past times this week. I'm reading mostly in 1 Samuel, and going back and forth between that and the book of Psalm, when David was running from king Saul to spare his own life. Just Wednesday morning I read one of my favorite verses...

God is my helper; the Lord is the sustainer of my life. (Psalm 54:4)

This cozy little space is my favorite "home away from home". Within this space I have met new friends and rekindled old friendships, prayer has happened, laughter has been abundant, tears have been shed, hugs have been given, encouragement flows freely whether from me encouraging someone or (more than likely) someone encouraging me. My Pastor has passed along Godly wisdom, and hopefully I've passed along some of that to someone else. I walked away on Wednesday with the lights on waiting for me to return that night feeling grateful. 

My friend Sheila recommended this study to me on Wednesday. Bible studies are my favorite; it's been ages since I've done a Bible study that I didn't help write. It feels good to do this right now at this time in life. I am really looking forward to this one! I'm not doing it with a group or anything, just on my own and at my own pace. 

On a lighter note, have you tried these chips?! They're my absolute favorite right now. 

The beautiful sky was my favorite as I walked out of church last night! As usual, this picture doesn't do it justice. 

After work on Thursday, I went to get my nails done and didn't come back home until after dinner. Todd and I met at our favorite Mexican restaurant and ran into one of my best friends for the second time while we were eating there. Andrea doesn't even live in my area, and yet I keep running into her! How funny is that? 

I don't know what it means about me, but I've been super neutral with my nails lately. It's been years since I've had a French manicure, but it just might be my new favorite. 

Another favorite from the week has been texting with one of the girls I used to mentor when she was in youth. She and I made plans to meet and catch up on Saturday, and I'm hoping she can help me with some techy things. I can't wait to meet with her! 

Did you catch my other blog posts this week? I'll link them below.

Tuesday was a girl's trip recap.

Wednesday was a hodgepodge of things.

Thursday was Thankful Thursday. 

What was a favorite of yours from the week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends! Love to all. 

Thankful Thursday

 

Happy Thursday, friends! I can't believe it's already this day in the week. Wasn't it just yesterday that I was getting ready for a weekend away? And maybe that's why my week flew by, because I got home on a Monday afternoon. Anyway, it's time for what is probably my personal favorite blog post of the week. I realize that this type of post isn't for everyone, but you all know how much I love looking for the good in all circumstances, and being grateful in every minute of everyday. I hope you'll consider joining in on one of these Thursdays! 

Here are some things that I am thankful for this week that are straight out of the pages of my journal. 

• songs that have such meaningful words in them (The Goodness by Toby Mac & Blessing Ofor)
• a week that feels easy at work (some are more so than others)
• my amazing family that took time to make sure I came home to a clean house
• my friend Kelly for always being willing to cover for me when I'm away from the bookstore
• seeing my sister that lives out of town on Tuesday
• forgiveness that happens in my heart
• my friends Mandy and Darlene from work, such sweet sisters in Christ who took time to pray together this week
• my job, which I know I always say, but words cannot express how much I love what I do
• a new day
• rain to water the beautiful earth that God created (it's grass growing season!) 
• safe traveling from the weekend
• as much fun as traveling is, I am always thankful to be home, a place that is truly my happy place
• little things to make the house smell really good
• the fact that even though I forgot to blow out a candle, nothing happened while it burned overnight 

This is the one I'm talking about! This is one of those $3 candles from Walmart; when I woke up on Wednesday to it still burning, it had barely melted at all since the night before. I'm a believer in them forever now! I wish I could say that this was the first time this has happened, but it's not. I know, I know...

I'll wrap this up with those lyrics I mentioned that really spoke to me yesterday morning as I composed this blog post. 

You made the rain, so when it falls on me, should I complain?

Or feel you calling me

It's all on me to stay and really catch what You're showing

It's my roots that You're growing, cause life is more than this moment

You are the light, so when the darkness falls

The greatest heights, they never seem so tall, no, not at all

You're right, it's my roots that You're growing

Don't wanna miss what You're showing

Ain't no doubt about You

Everywhere that I go, You keep showing up Lord,

You make me wanna shout it, oh

You're the goodness in my life

You are the joy

You're the smile on the face of Your boy

You're the flowers at the park in Detroit

Still the words on the back of our coins

Let's make some noise

You cover me

My Defender, when You're rolling up Your sleeve

You're the truth that's gonna set the captive free

The only King that ever chose to bleed

That's what I believe

What are you thankful for this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, sweet friends. Love to all! 

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Wednesday hodgepodge

 

Happy Wednesday, friends! I'm joining in with Joyce's Wednesday hodgepodge this week, since this was one thing we talked about this weekend at our little blogger's retreat that I was a part of this weekend. If you missed that short recap post, here's a link for you. Here are this week's questions with my answers in italics. 

1. What's a skill you think everyone should have? 

I think an important life skill is being able to speak in public. I wish I'd taken public speaking when I was in high school, but honestly, the thought of doing that terrified me. As an adult, I realize the value of knowing how to do this, and it's something I've become better at when addressing a crowd of people. I now know not to say certain words over and over again, I know to speak loudly and clearly, and I know to look people in the eye as I speak. I know that this is something I could have benefitted greatly from. I'm not a huge public speaker, but I sang in church for years and knew to implement these same things when I did that. 

2. Do you have a special place or organizational system for gift wrapping? Do you still buy 'real' cards to send for birthdays, anniversaries, get-well, etc.? 

I wish I was the  type of person who sent birthday cards, but truth be told, I'm not. I love that when my kids were little, my mom-in-love sent them each a card for every holiday, loaded with stickers on the envelope. I hope to continue that tradition someday, but for now, I rarely even buy my own sons cards! It's sad, I know, but I partially blame Venmo for this. We just electronically send them money for birthdays now. 🙄 I have no system for gift wrapping, but I keep it all in one closet downstairs for the everyday stuff. For Christmas, I have a container that it stays in, in the attic. 

3. It's National Banana Day...are you a fan? What's your favorite thing to make with bananas or, if you're not a cook, your favorite thing to eat that contains banana? 

It's funny that I was talking with my friends about this very thing this weekend. I do love bananas, and I do also love them in recipes like banana nut bread, banana pudding, and the homemade banana ice cream that my grandmother used to make. I will say though, I have trust issues with bananas in pies; one time I was eating dessert after dinner and I took a big bite of what I thought was lemon ice box pie, only to find out it was banana cream pie. I remember making a terrible face and the people at the table laughing over me. I think that out of what I've mentioned, my favorite thing to make or eat is either banana nut bread or banana pudding. 

4. Do you believe in second chances? Elaborate. 

I do believe in second chances! And third, and fourth, and infinity...in the Bible there's a passage of Scripture that talks about forgiving someone seventy times seven times, and while it doesn't mean that literally, it does mean to forgive or extend chances to again and again. I think that the point of that passage is that as the Lord has forgiven us so much, we are to extend that same thing to others. That being said, I do also think that in certain cases, a line has to be drawn for emotional and mental wellbeing sometimes, and if the same old thing happens, it might be best to part ways, if this is the case of a friend or an emotionally harmful relationship. 

5. What is your idea of fun? 

My idea of fun is to be with the people I love! I love nothing more than enjoying their company over dinner and then being together afterward. I love road trips and think they're fun, especially when they're with my husband, or a friend (or friends). I love to travel alone somewhere! Even if it's going to a place where my sisters are or where they live, I think that is so much fun. I think swimming is fun, and I always look forward to summer days when I can float around or swim laps in a pool. I also think reading is fun and it's something I really enjoy doing to relax. And not to sound redundant or cheesy, but I really love my job and have fun while I'm there. (In case you're reading my blog for the first time, I run the bookstore and cafe inside my church, and have been doing so for almost eight months now. I am living my dream job!) 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

I have so many things to do inside my house right now, so much so that it's overwhelming. I need to just start small and go on from each area. I need to work on some cabinets and our bedroom. I need to clean out kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, and in our room I need to put some things into a bin to be tucked up into the attic. None of those are big things, but I never have a full day to myself lately, and that's when I am at my best. Basically what I just said was that I need for my family to NOT be here so that they don't see all the junk that I throw away or donate. Does anyone else feel this? Please tell me I'm not alone! 

Also, one last thing. Why have I never really read Joyce's blog before and participated in this link up? I can't answer that, but I am so glad that I found her and I'll be participating from now on. Joyce, if you're reading this, you have a lovely blog; thank you for hosting this! 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all! 

a weekend recap: girls trip edition

 

Happy Tuesday, friends! I'm linking up with Joanne today, which is appropriate, since she was one of the ones on my weekend girls trip that I'm about to talk about! There are lots of pictures, but I'll try to write as few words as possible. 

Back in January, I met up with Marilyn for dinner one night, and she dreamed up a plan to meet up with some other bloggers who were in similar life stages as us: with grown kids, who are or who are almost empty nesters. She reached out to Tanya, Joanne (linked above), Maria, and Amy. All of them were willing to meet up and were available to come, except for Amy who had events that same weekend to attend with her sons who are graduating from college soon. About two weeks ago, Maria had to back out due to an unexpected injury/surgery, so that's how it ended up being just the four of us. We had so much fun, but we missed the girls who couldn't join us! We met up in Nashville for the weekend and did some exploring. Tanya and Joanne flew in from their home states, and Marilyn and I drove to them. Here's a little recap...

Marilyn and I were excited to meet up with the girls! We picked them up from the Nashville airport. Please note the Twizzlers we're holding; they're a great road trip snack! 

I love the sign that Marilyn made for them in the car, even if she did almost get carsick. We had a good laugh over the stickers that wouldn't stick; note Joanne holding the E up with her hand. 🤣

Our house (duplex) was so cute! Marilyn did a great job with picking out this Air BNB. Her previous travel agent mode was on this entire weekend! She is very knowledgeable in lots of cities, and it was wonderful having her as a guide.

Friday night we ate dinner at this cool place in Franklin called The Factory. We ate Mexican food for dinner and ended the night with Jeni's ice cream (for the first time while on this trip).

I sat outside on the porch and talked to Todd Saturday morning.

And then we started the day in Franklin at Landmark Booksellers.

We walked around a lot of cute stores for most of the afternoon after having a great lunch at Merridee's Breadbasket (so good!!!), then we went back to our Air BNB for a little while. We made reservations for dinner at an Italian restaurant called Chrysalis, which was another amazing meal, then we went to Trader Joe's and ended the night at the house again. On Sunday we had a lazy morning, which was nice, then we left to eat lunch at Cava, moving on to the Belle Meade plantation in Nashville to explore the grounds and historic home. This was a great tour with a very knowledgeable young docent; but the grounds? They were stunning! 

This is a pretty decent picture taken by propping the phone up with a purse and using the self timer...

...followed by this much better picture of us all taken by teenage girls visiting from South Dakota for their senior trip!

Jeni's ice cream stop #2 of this trip! I'm addicted to the Gooey Butter Cake flavor! We drove around the downtown and 12 South areas of the city and stopped for some more pictures.

I got really good at these "us-sies"! 

We all kind of did our own thing for dinner that night; I got ramen from a place inside The Factory, and some of us snacked for dinner when back at the house. We stayed up semi-late again talking, then we went to bed for the night. We were out of the house the next morning by 7:30, and we ended our trip with a huge breakfast at Loveless Cafe. It was everything we hoped and dreamed, and more! I had fried pork chops with two eggs and the hashbrown casserole; we also enjoyed a plate of their famous biscuits, which were the best I've ever eaten. We dropped off Tanya and Joanne at the airport, and Marilyn and I headed home. 

We all kind of said the same thing about this weekend: it was a wonderful time of meeting and cultivating new friendships. It's nice to know that at each stage of life, we can still meet and enjoy new friends. It was a beautiful weekend in so many ways; I am not talking about the weather at all, though that was really nice as well. It's such a sweet gift from God to spend time with like-minded friends who are similar in personality and temperament, and who are just genuinely kind and caring people. We sincerely hope to do this same kind of thing again next year! I'd love to make it a yearly thing, honestly. Would it be appropriate to call it a blogger's retreat?? I think it would, because we did talk about some  technical things this weekend! Both Joanne and Tanya helped us with a couple of issues both Marilyn and I were having on our blogs, and we came home with new ideas and ideas of more blogs to follow. Maybe next year we'll travel with our laptops. 🤣🤣 Also, about the blogging community, I am so thankful that it's made such a huge comeback! We've all blogged for over a decade; between us we're at 20, 17, 15, and 12 (I think?) years of blogging. Can you even believe that?! I never would have thought that all of those years (17 for me) of writing here would bring about a weekend such as this. In the words of Sophie and Tanya, "Won't He do it??" IYKYK. I'm so grateful! 

Thanks for reading my blog today, and following along! I know this was long, but this isn't even close to all the pictures I took. I'm going to post some to Instagram in a day or two, and I'll share more on Friday, most likely. Love to all!