The tail/tale of the tussle with the scarf…told completely in photos…
Month: November 2016
Picture(s) – Worth A Thousand Words…or so I’ve Heard…
So – there are pictures…not too many words. Hopefully they’re worth it! Ha!
Five on Friday
I’m still in a lovely, tryptophan induced haze – are you? I was in charge of the kitchen this year; however, it was only my Dad and I, so it was a smaller meal but enjoyed with precious family nonetheless. I’m soaking up the free time that the second day of my four day weekend (all the praise hands) is offering and soon I’ll be off to meet my friend Rachel for a movie (Fantastic Beasts!) and dinner!
Thanksgiving may be over for this year (just barely…) but there is always so much to be thankful for, every day of the year. So I thought in honor of the recently celebrated Thanksgiving holiday, I’d share five of the things I’m most thankful for – not just on Thanksgiving Day but every day.
One. My Savior – The true meaning of Christmas; a tiny baby born to save the world. Jesus; who humbled himself and became like man and was born as a baby in Bethlehem with the knowledge that He would lay down His life thirty-three years later to pardon the wicked world of sin. He paid the price I could never pay and showed grace and mercy that I will never deserve. I don’t think it is within my human mind to comprehend just how immensely grateful I should be for this gift…but that is only because my mind cannot comprehend the greatness of my Lord and Savior.
Two. My Family – Oh man…I don’t even know where to begin on this one. The people that made me who I am today and continue to shape my life each day – in the best ways possible. I know without a doubt I hit the jackpot when it comes to my family (I may or may not have a few friends who’ve requested to be adopted…) and I would not be the person I am without their guidance, encouragement, support and ever present love.
Three. My Friends – Also known as some of the most amazing people in my life; hands down. My group of friends are made up of people that I have known (literally) since I was born to some sweet people I’ve only known a couple years…but I know are friendships that will last a lifetime. Wonderful, loving, supporting, caring, hilarious people who are so happy to share my joy and just as happy to be there to share my sorrow too. I’m not certain what I did to be able to call so many wonderful people friends, but I am beyond blessed and so very thankful!
Four. My Watson – The sweetest and goofiest little puppy dog that I have ever known and have had the pleasure of having for the past seven years. Watson just wormed his way so deeply into not just my heart but my families’ and I know I would certainly be lost without my little fellow. When I lived alone in Mississippi, he was my only companion and I’ll admit I spent many nights chatting with him – he’s a very good listener. In the past few years he’s adjusted better than I’d imagine to being more of an indoor pup…but then again, he seems to take any and every situation and just happily settle right in. I’ll never find another like him.
Five. My Home – And by home, I don’t necessarily mean my house (although I’m plenty thankful to have a roof over my head)…in so much as I’m thankful for the wonderful place I live. Mountains outside my door, history at every crossroad and turn, the greatest city in the US (in my humble opinion) just an hour up (down?) the road. My life has changed so dramatically for the better since I made the move to Virginia almost 2.5 years ago and I’m so thankful to call Virginia my home!
And so here we end Five on Friday – I hope everyone had a very Happy Thanksgiving and has just as many reasons to be thankful; if not more. Two of my three favorite months have come and are (almost) gone and December is looming…and December is MY favorite. So, until next time…have a lovely weekend!
Happy Thanksgiving
Watson Wednesday
When you find the perfect spot to get some morning sun….
Watson and Weather Patterns
I’m back to the regularly scheduled post about my previous week…wherein there are lots of pictures and again; probably less words…
Honestly – almost every single picture I have of the past week relates to those two things. My precious puppy dog and the crazy weather that rolled into town this past weekend. I honestly can’t believe that Thanksgiving is in 48 hours; this month has passed in such a blur, and I haven’t even been that busy! I’m sure I’ll blink and December will have come and gone.
I feel like there is just not a lot to share from this past week. I feel like most of November has been that way – things happened – none of them seem remarkable. This past month has been more ordinary than extraordinary…if that makes sense?
Monday evening after work I just went full on Christmas crazy and decorated my tree. Lights + deco mesh + ornaments…the whole shebang. I even turned on the Christmas music and Watson snuggled himself under the finished tree just long enough for me to snap a picture of his adorableness. I even learned that Minnesota, Maine and New York are the states most likely to have the often dreamt of “white Christmas”…
Post work every day was honestly just spent doing a whole lot of nothing… I ate supper, took some walks with the dog, watched some TV here and there and read a little bit every now and then (I’m currently reading The Devil in the White City). As you can see, I was doing a whole lot of nothing ~ except apparently taking lots of pictures of my precious and goofy little pup doing things like warming his tail by the fire and napping in a pile of sunshine on my bed…
The work week was pretty hectic and so I was glad to see Friday arrive. The work day was made better by a quick lunch run to Panera – I could eat their broccoli cheddar soup all day long – and an afternoon Starbucks trip made by one of my co-workers. Nothing like a Chestnut Praline Latte to perk you up on when you’re feeling lazy on a Friday afternoon!
If I could sum up a large portion of my weekend in one picture – it would be the one pictured below.
I watched copious amounts of White Collar on Netflix. Seriously – that was a generous portion of my weekend and I am 100% fine with that. I watched a couple episodes on Friday night until I thought I was about to fall asleep on my couch…a comfy couch and a cozy blanket will do that to you!
Saturday morning dawned warm – the weather was hovering somewhere around 68 or 69 by about noon. After drinking coffee and whiling away the morning, my Dad and I left the house around 1:00 to run some errands and go see Dr. Strange. When we went into the movies at 1:50, the wind had picked up and clouds were rolling in…it was still hovering somewhere around 68 and I was thinking that wearing a long sleeve cardigan was a really poor choice. When we emerged from the movies at 4:00, the temperature had dropped to a brisk 45 and the wind (the cold, cold wind) was whipping at 28 miles per hour! What a difference a few hours can make!
The rather abrupt change in weather was a little bit nuts – but it did bring about some absolutely amazing colors in the skies above. The clouds shifted and changed from blazing a vivid orange to a pale pink and then just minutes later a steely bluish purple hue. I snapped some pictures all while trying not to lose the hood I had on in the whipping wind…which Watson was reveling in, hopping and leaping, enjoying feeling his ears flying in the “breeze”…
I was planning to join a friend for church on Sunday morning but felt unwell and so I had to call in a raincheck. I ended up being lazy for a little while and then tackling the wrapping of some presents before beginning the laundry… Watson was my ever faithful supervisor and was even kind enough to pose beside the Christmas tree for a quick picture.
Sunday passed quickly…I feel like Sunday always does though. The weekend starts to speed toward it’s conclusion and the inevitable arrival of Monday looms large once more! After spending the afternoon catching up on some shows I’d DVR’ed during the week (Poldark & Timeless) I joined my Dad for supper at Panda Express (the first time I’ve ever eaten there…) and then watched Westworld before turning in for the night.
Another week come and gone. A good week; a week without too many stresses (once the work day was done at least), which is always nice. And so now, here we are…two days until Thanksgiving, eight days until December, thirty-two days until Christmas and just thirty-eight days left in 2016. Here’s hoping that those final thirty-eight days are filled with good thing, few stresses and happy moments.
Twenty-Six
I’m interrupting our regularly scheduled weekly recap for a very special reason…
You guys – my “little” sister is twenty-six today. Twenty. Six. I can’t really wrap my head around that…
I can’t lie – when she was born I can distinctly remember not being quite so impressed with her. She was beet red (maybe I should say tomato red…they are her favorite) and shrieking at the top of her lungs and honestly; I just couldn’t see what all the fuss was about. She didn’t even do the courtesy of being born at a time that earned me a day off of school – she arrived in the wee hours of Thanksgiving morning and I already had that day off. Gee thanks Lindsey…I needed that vacation from the rigors of kindergarten but you were no help. 😉
I’m kidding. Sort of. We did discover a few years later an old map that had been stuffed beneath my parent’s bed and scrawled on the back in childish scribble was “Lindsey is an ugly baby”. Ouch – I guess I had some real feelings about being promoted from only child.
Granted – all that emotion was twenty-six years ago. Well…something like that. We fought like cats and dogs when we were younger; every once in a while it was like some kind of battle royale, we may have convinced my Mom that we were never going to like each other. Sorry Mom.
We survived childhood and somehow we even managed to make it through the teenage years – although I’m convinced that was solely because of the six year age difference. I was at least beginning to come out of the hormonal haze of high school right about the same time Lindsey was entering it… I will freely admit I can be a wee bit dramatic but I will also freely tell you that if I’m dramatic, then Lindsey is drama on speed. There’s a reason she was the one who did theater…
And then…just like that, I moved out to go to college and we didn’t live in the same house anymore….and we wouldn’t again. I’d like to think that if we’d known that, we would have soaked up one another’s attention and affection a little bit more. Who knows? Somewhere in the midst of those years – when I was in college and she was in high school – when she came to visit me for the weekend or I’d go home for the weekend…somewhere along in there we started to be friends. I like to think she always thought I was cool (don’t younger siblings always think their older siblings are the coolest?) but somewhere along the way I realized she was pretty cool too.
Lindsey moved across the country to go to school and I moved back “home” and life continued on. The years passed and we saw one another in five and six days spurts every few months…which when you think about it, is really strange. To go from doing every day with a person all your life to suddenly seeing one another a grand total of twenty or thirty days a year… Life is funny like that, you know? Perhaps that is what bonded us so closely but I’d like to think even if we had continued to live together through Lindsey’s college years we’d still be as close – who knows?
What I do know – I’m so incredibly blessed in so many ways but one of the blessings I am most thankful for is that my little sister is also my best friend. I may not have been so keen on her to begin with but that’s certainly not the case anymore. On any given day, if you were to ask me to name one person who would no doubt make me feel better, make me laugh, the person that I want to share my struggles and triumphs with – it’s that little sister of mine. She has grown into one of the most amazing, talented, loving and kind people I know; she has more determination in her little finger than most people (me included) have in their whole body. If you give her a challenge, she’ll not only best the challenge but she’ll probably excel while doing it…because that’s just who she is.
I don’t know what it’s like to be an only child – I got promoted to big sister twenty-six years ago today and while at the time I wasn’t so sure; I know now that it was probably one of the best days of my life. I gained not only a little sister but a partner in crime, a confidant, a shoulder to cry on, someone to laugh at inside jokes with…I got the best friend in the world. I’m so happy that twenty-six years ago today the Lord decided to make you a part of our family – of course He knew you’d be perfect for us…for me. I hope you have the happiest of birthdays and that your 26th year is everything you hope it will be.
Sunday Scenery
November 2016 – A Recap in Pictures
Alas – November of 2016 was the other month that seemed to fall by the wayside in the great shuffle. I’m here to make up for that with pictures and exposition on all things related to the month of November!
The first weekend of November was fairly low key – I caught Doctor Strange on opening night with my Marvel movie buddies and then spent the rest of the weekend laying low, watching TV and snuggling with my pups!
The second weekend of November brought an abundance of color and so we made our way to the VA State Arboretum to take in the gorgeous golden color of the Gingko trees – they turn the most fantastic shade of yellow and the color is not to be missed. We also drove over to Long Branch Plantation to see the colors there and they did not disappoint…although Watson may have been a little disappointed in my dressing him in leaves for photos.
The weeks crept closer to Thanksgiving but in the meantime – I snapped some photos, some precious puppy photos and prepared for the impending Christmas season by going to see A White Christmas at the Alamo with my friends Danielle and Meridith.
I decorated for Christmas ahead of Thanksgiving and when the office closed early in advance of Thanksgiving, I took Watson for a Starbucks run before heading home. My Mom spent Thanksgiving with my little sister in Las Vegas, so my Dad and I did Thanksgiving together with plenty of good food, some football and a trip to the movies to see Dr. Strange. The weather changed to something much colder and the resulting sky was too fascinating not to take pictures of…
And lest I forget – some pictures of the aforementioned Thanksgiving feast – it was a good one!
November was wonderful! Now – on to December and all things Christmas, ha-ha! Y’all know I’m a lover of all things Christmas.
Five on Friday
Friday is here. Everyone do the little praise hands emoji with me…am I right?
Feel free to join in for this week’s (and every week’s) edition of Five on Friday. I’m linking up with April of A. Liz Adventures and Christina of Carolina Charm and you are welcome to link up too! The more the merrier!
One. The 2016 Cy Young Award Winner – is Max Scherzer, of my beloved Washington Nationals! After a season where Max led the entirety of the MLB with strikeouts and threw fire on his way to a 20 strikeout game (which I attended on May 11, 2016) Mad Max was duly awarded the 2016 Cy Young Award earlier this week! Mad Max is always so much fun to watch – he takes the mound, stalks the mound and throws fire – every chance to see him pitch is a thrill and he is so deserving! Not only is Max one of only four MLB pitchers to throw a 20 strikeout game, with this year’s Cy Young win he becomes one of just six pitchers to win the Cy Young in both divisions (he won with the Detroit Tigers of the American League in 2012). All that brings me to…
Two. Countdowns – One of those goofy quirky things that I just love. Watching a highlight reel from Max’s season after his Cy Young win made me think “how many days till baseball season starts again?!?” I have an app on my phone called Countdown+ and I live for that thing… I love popping it open, adding something to look forward to and knowing that it will be counting down the days! Weird – a little. But hey…at least I know there are only (ONLY…too many) 136 days till baseball season begins again!
Three. White Collar – I am kind of in love with this show! I love that Netflix allows me the chance to catch up on shows that I would have never discovered (or had time to watch) otherwise! White Collar follows Neal Caffrey; an art and securities thief, counterfeiter and conman who is released into the custody of FBI White Collar agent Peter Burke as a consultant. Neal helps Peter Burke solve crimes within the White Collar division of the New York FBI office while wrestling with trying to build a life for himself outside of prison or returning to his old cons. Also of note – Burke’s wife is Kelly Kapowski…er, I mean Tiffani Theissen – blast from the past much?
Four. What to Do With – My Hair…because I have an appointment on Tuesday and I cannot make up my mind! I think that I don’t want to change the length…but then I flip flop on that a bit. I am not sure if I want to go back to the dark red I had last Winter or leave it a dark brunette… So many options and I simply have no clue what to do! Maybe I’ll just go in and tell my friend and hair stylist extraordinaire to do whatever she wants? Ha!
Five. All Things Christmas – I’m pretty well entrenched in the spirit of Christmas over here! I have my Christmas tree up and I even wrapped some presents this week and tucked them under the tree! I haven’t busted out the Christmas movies quite yet but I did go see White Christmas last week and it was wonderful! I’ve been filling my coffee with Christmas cheer by using Peppermint Mocha and Sugar Cookie creamer and I may or may not be listening to Christmas music right now. Basically…I just love this time of the year and can’t believe that there are only 36 days left to Christmas!
I’m ready for the Christmas season – but I’m not quite ready for Christmas day itself – still too much to be bought, ha-ha!
Nat Your Average Story 