Friday Favorites

(Click pics for link)

Favorite Environment Friendly Product

These straws collapse & fold up!

GENIUS!

I got some metal ones & they are hard to get in your purse with that long, hard straight form.

These are silicone & fold right on up in this container for your purse.

I likey!

Favorite Photo Session

Have you seen these pictures where this bride & groom were doing their pictures & this deer came up & started eating the Bride's bouquet. I mean, talk about story book.

Click the pic above to see all the other pictures that was captured.

Favorite File Cabinet

I can always fill up a file cabinet with papers. 

& who wants the old industrial looking one when these cute ones are out now?

Favorite Chopping Helper

I had something similar to this & lost it.

I am wanting to start cooking more & this would be super handy - especially with all the different blades it comes with!

Favorite Hat Organizer

OK - this is kinda genius.

I have nails on the wall of my closet for my caps & they are FOREVER falling into the floor!

Favorite Video

Favorite Trunk Organizer

I have a similar one that sits in the back seat.

I LOVE this - keeps it off the ground so you dont loose any space to load bags there too!

Favorite Picture



Every September 11th... I still just want to cry

Favorite Pillows

Why am I so obscessed with pillow covers lately?

It's the idea of cooler days ahead & snuggling with all the pillows!

mmm... makes me happy thinking about it!

Favorite Funnies

... when the hubs tries to fold towels his way & not the RIGHT way

... when someone else gets all the credit for all the hard work you've done on a project

... when I look at my budget & see how much I spend on coffee a month

.... me at 4:30pm today

Happy Weekend Y'all!!

Cancer, you dont get the final say! {Thankful Thursday #238}

This week I'm Thankful for:

Ernie doing so well
We're half way through our agility training with Ernie & I'm just so excited to see his progress.  & really love that Ricky has seen a lot of it is about how much he puts into it WITH Ernie. Such is life.  But I just love seeing Ernie get so excited when we pull into the drive way of this place. He perks up as soon as we hit the gravel.

He just has the time of his life too with all the animals that hang out there. Chickens, cats, dogs, mini horses. Ernie is friends with them all.

A good pee day
... not for me... for Bruno. His 19 year old little bladder or kidneys must not be what they once were. He's going some days peeing once a day, which I know cant be good. So we're trying to load him up on water - but if he drinks too much, he throws it up & that defeats the point.  But he's had a few good pee days. We take those days & celebrate it.  MORE WATER FOR EVERYONE!!!!


Friend in the clear
My long time friend - & Canadian gal - Jen had a surprise last year when she battled Ovarian cancer.  What a scare. Especially for such a young, vibrant woman.  She went through a big surgery & came back amazingly... & reaching this one year mark, she got the all clear for another year. PRAISE THE LORD!!! & days before she & her family did an Ovarian Cancer walk.  Ummm - these shirts are just awesome! I love this family!!!!

Here she is with her husband & two kiddos
... I gotta get me one of those shirts!!!!

Learning about a new coworker
... well, she's not new. She's been there for over a year.  But she never worked on our floor & she moved to our little homestead in the renovation.  She's not in my department so I was taken back a little when she asked me to go to lunch with her. I always love hearing people's life stories & I knew she was involved in a lot of ministries.  It was so interesting to hear her background & where she came from & how these ministries work & how God is working in them.  More than anything, I just love hearing about her.  You never really know someone until you take time to listen, do you?  Thankful for the opportunity - & looking forward to more lunches.

Ricky on the car hunt for me
We had a call from the saleman for a car he thought I'd be interested in (Spoiler alert - it was the one I got) - but I had Bible study that night & couldnt go after work. Ricky ended up taking the time to go over & check it out for me, taking pictures, test driving it - knowing what I like & dont like... I just appreciated him doing that for me when I know he gets off work, he's exhausted.  He's a good man.

One hour lunch
Speaking of Ricky - most of you all know we do Lunch with My Love every Wednesday. We have met up for YEARSSS every Wednesday - usually at the same place, same Subway, same booth, every week.  But he had been working late a few days so they told him to go ahead & take an hour.  He charged up that scooter of his & ventured further away from his work.  I took him to one of my favorite places that offers the YUMMIEST Veggie Melt.  It's a quinoa, black bean, sweet potato patty - DELISH!  Ricky didnt know what to do with a full hour for lunch. He was chomping at the bit when he was gone for 20 minute & we still didnt have food - (A rest restaurant - not fast food - GASP!) - but by the end, he enjoyed his food, enjoyed slowing down & getting a REAL breather at lunch.  I wish he could have that every week.  Poor guy.

Caught Sunrise
... both Saturday AND Sunday. I'm loving starting each day welcoming the beautiful bright sun!

Author Comment
Call me a geek, but I love when the author of books comment on my IG posts.  & OK - this is embarrassing - I never even put 2 + 2 together to realize she's THE Gilman's wife - from Kelly & Ryan.  But when I saw he liked my pic too - the light bulb came on. How fun is that?  Makes me like the book even more!

NEW CAR!!!
Lots of talk on that Monday - I'm just glad my hunt is over.  Hopefully it'll be ready to pick up by the end of the week - & you can bet I'll be praying over my car for yearsssss of safety & a good, 'healthy' car.  You rely on these babies. I need her to hold up for me.

My Texas Family
.... so this week, our family took a loss.  My Uncle passed away after a battle with cancer.  This is my mom's sister's husband.  They've lived in Texas as long as I can remember - but they are still our family. Lots of visits & trips & connections.  I think I just talked about how my first flight was to Texas to spend a week with them when I was a teenager.  They are a close family & I ADORE my aunt - she is one of the funniest women I know - & I know they are all just heart broken at the loss of their spouse, their father, their grandfather.    It's time like this that I'm thankful that I know he had a professed faith in Jesus & is in Heaven right now. Like his daughter said, we know my dad was there to greet him & welcome him in to his eternal home... right next to Jesus.  Rest in peace Uncle Jack.

This is my cousin with her dad at her wedding.
She's the only daughter & I told her - I feel her pain - the world isn't the same when your daddy isn't in it.
I hate there's a new collection of my cousins that are in this category ... it's a heart breaking place to be.

So many years together
Pray for my aunt please

I just realized that I have 2 different posts here about cancer.  One amazing post where my friend is cancer free after a year... & a post here where it seems like cancer won.  But nope.  Cancer, you dont get the final say here.  My Uncle is now pain free - no more sickness - healthy as a Texas longhorn!  You didn't win Cancer.  You never will!.... Praise the Lord for victory in all things!

Tell me something good about your week

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Learning to use my planner all over again....

I have been wanting to join in with the ADORABLE Alexandra when she does her monthly posts that involve scrapbooking, planning, all beautiful things paper & pictures.... & I'm finally doing it - keep an eye out for her posts - they go LIVE on the 3rd Thursday of the month - but I have my Thankful Thursday - so posting early & will link up with her then.

I've got a renewed love of my planner lately! I know I love spending way too much time scrolling through Instagram for hashtags like #planneraddict or #plannercommunity - add in anything that references Erin Condren & now Plum Paper & I'm in.

Speaking of which, I've made the change this year to Plum Paper. I'm a tad nervous actually. I've been a die-hard Erin Condren fan & user for the past 5 years.  But I end up taking graph paper &  covering up the first few pretty pages of each month to make it more adaptable to what I want.  Well, when I saw that I can add the pages I want in a Plum Paper without me covering anything up & making it a part of the planner? I decided to give it a try.  Especially have I saw my friend Liz got her Plum planner & it's really nice. The paper is super smooth - I always go over to her desk & tell her I'm going to rub her paper.  Most people would think that's weird - she just happily hands it over & says, "Go for it"... get a planner friend in your life planner people.

Speaking of Plum Paper - I have been turned onto their Subscription box of stickers that you can get each month for your planner.  Here's the set that came for September.

They come with such cute little add ons each month - to document fuel, or laundry, or cleaning...

& I really enjoy their functional stickers too - this monthly Habit tracker round wheel one? I really like it - I've been using it for my workouts.  I like coloring in the wheel!

You can see the little weather stickers too & doctor stickers & dinner stickers - has it all

You get all these for $10.00!!! I mean, how can you go wrong? Especially because it helps me color coordinate too.  (if anyone is interested, let me know & I can send you a referral link)

All this is really making me really enjoy using my planner more.

I'll admit, I never was one of those people that decorated my planner. I wanted it to be functional.  But I'm learning to make the best of both worlds.  So its not a beautiful as some people's planners - cue that planner envy that I come across on Instagram - but I like how mine is turning out.  Take a gander of my August spreads....

This is one of the first ones where I started to incorporate a theme of a color for the week.  Leave it to me to start with a Belle yellow :)

But I also started trying to document my water intake... - you can see by the end of the week, I was over drawing the big water drops... I'm learning how to make it work each week.

Only the next week....

I really liked the change of putting the washi tape to be able to document the weather on each day (I'm a big weather nerd...) & I like the way it divides the bottom too.

The next week...

You can see that I made the change on this week to start making my TO DO list & my WORK lists different colors... & left each of the "DONE" circles to color in when it was completed different colors.  I liked that visual.

.... & the next week...

So I used my side list on this one for my packing for my weekend trip for Women of Joy. That was handy.

& I tried to do a different bottom - using it for meal planning - but also using it for like a wardrobe reminder. To keep track of what I wore so I dont wear the same thing in the same week.

Dont judge me for all the eating out for 'dinner' - I was out of town!!

I used to document that in a bullet journal - but I dont think I'm going to keep that up...

& then the last week of August....

I made a cleaning & laundry check list on the side bar - but I didnt really keep up with checking off on that, so dont think I'll keep that up either....

A close up

SO yeah... I'm looking for new ways to just keep my planner fun AND functional AND attractive to the eye.

I've taken a lot of advantage of sales lately & stocked up on all the goodies to help....

Hello beautiful

so I'll be sure to share September's spreads & see if it looks any better.

Anyone else love planners?

Are you an Erin Condren fan or a Plum Paper user?

Do you plan your day & schedule or just go with the flow?

Three Things

Always thankful that the awesome Steph is so creative in coming up with these 3 things... so here we go for some 3 thing fun this month

Songs that make me think of high school

* If you Leave / by OMD from Pretty in Pink

* Back To Life / by Soul II Soul

* Secret Lovers / by Atlantic Starr

Things I like to give

* Hugs

* Friendship

* Snail Mail

Things I like to receive

* Hugs

* Friendship

* Snail Mail

... hey dont they say do onto others what you would have done to you... 

Things I hate that many people like

* Flying.  Airplanes just scare the bejeez out of me - how do they fly thousands of miles up in the air, then land & turn around & do it again without a full inspection? I dont like it one bit.  & putting my trust in people I have no idea who they are or their mental well being?  Even more terrifying.

*PSL - I just dont care for pumpkin tasting coffee. I think its a weird combo.  The only thnig I do really enjoy is the pumpkin chai tea lattes. Those are cinnamon tasting anyways so pumpkin added to it makes sense.

* The dreaded "C" word. (cereal) Yep - you wont ever ever find me even going down that aisle in the grocery store.  & if I have to - its usually me holding my breath - or covering my nose.  ... I get looks.  I still swear you can smell it though.

Clothes I find uncomfortable 
* V-Necks - I just always feel like I have to be careful leaning over or make sure cleavage isn't showing.  Makes me too aware of my clothes for that day.

* Tights/hose.
* Heavy jeans. I have a pair of jeans that I know has to weigh at least 4 lbs - they are the heaviest denim.

Things I love seeing other people post

* Kids saying the funniest things
* All the animals!!!!
* What they are reading

The weekend I finally made a car decision....

What a weekend!!! I am now an owner of a new (to me) car!!! YAHOO!

I'm more excited than anything that the car hunting is over.  It's exhausting. Seriously - my brain was shutting down.  Comparing prices & this car over here has these features & those cars over there has less miles & the price of that car is better for the same year car. In the voice of Susan Powter - STOP THE MADNESS! ... & if you get that reference, I know you also have some leg warmers & remember all the no-fat says of the 90's

The week was so exhausting for me in a lot of ways that I honestly was done on Friday night. Put a fork in me. I was in bed & asleep by 9:30. .... 9:30 pm y'all... What am I? 5 years old?

I slept so soundly too... didnt even budge all night long.

When I woke up at 7:30am - It was wonderful.  10 hours of sound sleep. I think I needed it, huh?

Ricky had to work on Saturday & I've said before that when he works, I always wake up with him. Even if I dont want to.  I didnt mind this Saturday because I got in all the sleep I think i could get - & when he left, I was able to do another sunrise on the porch with my Aussies.

It was a beautiful beautiful beautiful morning!!!

My one goal for the morning too was to finish my book, Class Mom. Oh my gosh - it's been HILARIOUS!!!!  I just havent had time to finish it & it only took me about 30 minutes to finish it up.... & then I just dove into the follow up of the story.

I did some cleaning, watched Bruno get in some exercise & then I actually drove up to a local car lot to look at one last car before we headed up to a car lot to make a final decision on a car we've been eyeing all week.

Do you know I walked around that car lot for over 15 minutes - with a salesman standing in the front of the store, smoking a cigarette - & not one time did a salesman come out to ask me if I needed any help.  Great customer service guys.  I'll never be back there again.

So when Ricky got home, we did a few final calls about some cars & then headed out to look at the one on our radar.

I finally was just over looking & really happy with the deal I was getting & what the saleman there was going to do for me to make everything nice for me.... he was a SUPER DUPER wonderful salesman. If anyone is local & needs a good salesman, let me know - I'd love to send you his way.

But here she is... my new baby!!!!

Isn't she beautiful?

It's not REALLY what I wanted - but kinda what I need.
I'm used to driving a big Edge - a 6 cylinder car - with leather seats - moon roof - a really nice car.
But I'm really ready to give up some of the luxury for a smaller car.

I had gotten that car when I did photography a lot & needed the space for equipment.  That's not a priority any more.  & I dont want to have a car payment again so I'll make some sacrifices to have a lower car payment.  It'll help not having to pay a lot in gas as well.

So I'm happy with the 'settlement' I've made....

plus, its just cute, isn't it?  I love the blue color.
I typically pick a white or silver because that doesnt show scratches & dirt... I know this is going to be a car that will show every little nick... but its good incentive to take even better care of it.

I dont actually HAVE the car yet. The paint was peeling around the front window - which is crazy because its just 2 years old - but because its just 2 years old - it has alot of warranty still on it & they're going to paint it, which is super  nice.

I'll pick my baby up this week - hopefully. They said it could be a week from Monday or Tuesday - which honestly, I'm OK.  My car is still driveable so its not like I'm trying to scramble for anything.

Ricky & I went out for a celebration dinner after.... that was nice.

Did I say I was mentally exhausted?

This time though, Saturday night, I couldnt sleep.  I was up till after midnight & tossed & turned all night long.  I was up at 6:30am too.  So much for that lovely sleep the night before.

It threw me off all day Sunday & I felt a little yucky all day long.

I did catch another sunrise (nice!) & got in some more reading (love it!) & got some Starbucks (a must!) & then headed to HSM, which was an emotional day.  It's crazy to see what teenage girls have to go through ... & to know that some of that drama even sticks through to adult hood.  That's not encouraging, is it? ... but its why its good to learn how to deal with this sort of drama at a young age.

The rest of my Sunday was just taking a nap, doing bills, being on horse duty ... & just glad that I dont have to look at one more car picture, or visit another car lot any more. Whew!  A big relief already for Monday!

How was your weekend?

Do you like car shopping or hate it?

What kind of car do you drive?