Five Things On A Friday

 Linking with Erika and Andrea today and sharing a few favorites from the week that was...

1. My sister was going through some of my mom's boxes (my mom lives with her) and she sent me this-

A Father's day card I made when I was in elementary school. Here's what I wrote inside...

Comparing him to the father of our country and the patriarch of Israel. Not bad for a ten year old. 

My dad was not a man who gushed and the fact that he saved this makes it feel extra special to me. 

2. Luggage. Go big or go home. I bought the world's biggest suitcase before our trip and I'm not even kidding. A stranger in an elevator even commented on the size, and hubs had a lot to say about it too lol. 

Also, I loved it. Empty it weighed just 8 lb, which given it's size wasn't much, and it rolled like a dream. I wore every single item of clothing I brought with me and I had a jacket for hubs and his shaving bag in there too. The brand is Travel Pro Maxlite 5 Breakaway (I chose slate green) and I bought these cute luggage tags (Amazon) to go with-

It's the little things, right? 

3. These shoes-

They're the Skechers Virtue Show Runners and I got them in navy. They came in my last Stitch Fix box and I love them. 

I told the stylist I would be traveling and doing a lot of walking and the comfort factor with these is five star. They're light weight and run true to size. I'm thinking about getting a second pair. 

4. This coat-

True story...I lived in this coat the second week of our trip. I paid 25 pounds (roughly 32$) for it at the Super Tesco near my daughter's home. Yes, I bought a coat at the grocery store. It's got a fleece lining, a hood, is water resistant, and the pockets are perfect. 

I brought my Barbour coat with me but forgot the hood and I also inadvertently left my rain jacket at home (still filled that giant suitcase though lol). It wasn't a problem week one because the weather was amazing, but the Sunday before hubs and I were to head to York I could see there was rain in the forecast.

I was kicking myself for leaving my rain jacket behind, and my daughter suggested I try the local grocery store (this one also has clothing, etc so more like a Walmart). Voila! 

It's so cozy comfy and definitely saved the day. 

5. Our outdoor project. It's mostly done. Not 100% which is the goal, but we plan to break in the BBQ bar this weekend. 

The project was basically three pieces-the waterfall, the BBQ bar, and the outdoor dining space under the screened porch. This is the view looking down from the porch above. 

Prior to the project we had riverstone underneath the screened porch. Almost as soon as we built the house hubs was wishing we'd made this area a patio. Until we took the riverstone away I didn't realize how big the space was. 

We added pavers in their place and we're waiting on a fan and some twinkle lights to be installed in that section. This is the lower level of our house and we mainly use these garages for storage and a little car hubs gets out from time to time. Mostly we use this driveway for cornhole so it will be nice to have the grilling bar right there. There's room for some bar stools but add that to the list of things we need to buy. 

I don't have a picture of the actual dining space but once we get the fan and the lights and some furniture in there I'll share. I have family coming for dinner on Sunday and we'll probably use the space with our current table and a folding table and that will be fun too. 

Have a nice weekend everyone! 

A Simple Hodgepodge

Welcome to another week of Wednesday Hodgepodge-ing. If you've answered today's questions, add your link at the end of my post, then leave a comment for the blogger before you on the list. Or all the bloggers on the list, if you've got time to fill. Here we go-

1. June 12 is National Simplicity Day. In what way is your life simple? What's one way that it's not? 

We're retired, so for the most part can organize our day in whatever way suits us. That being said, it seems we always have a full calendar and we're on the go a lot, which means when we are at home we're adding in appointments, home maintenance and repairs etc. 

But! since we're retired if someone suggests spur of the moment fun, we're in. 

And then of course there are family logistics. Always a thing for us. Our moms in two different states. Our siblings in several different states. Our daughters in two different states. We spend a lot of time figuring out how to be with our people. 

2. Something you remember from a 'simpler time'? 

One thing that stands out to me is how we live in a culture today of immediacy. Everything at our fingertips with the click of a mouse or the push of a button. We've lost the wonderful sense of anticipation that was so much a part of my own childhood. 

We had to wait for so many things...our favorite television show (if ya missed it ya missed it), Christmas wasn't a 2-month celebration in terms of decor and activity, a new dress at Easter, your turn to use the phone, vacations once a year and certainly nothing 'exotic'

Waiting for something wonderful was part of what made it wonderful. We can ask if the world was indeed simpler when we were growing up, or do we just remember it that way, but I'm going to say it was. Technology. There basically was none. We didn't know what we didn't know and that made life simpler in so many ways. 

3. Do you like squash? If so what's your favorite variety? What's a favorite way to prepare squash? 

I do like squash, all kinds, so not sure I have a favorite. I probably love butternut, yellow, and zucchini best.  I like butternut squash soup in the fall and there's a squash casserole I love to make this time of year called Mrs. Hopkins Boarding House Squash . Simple and delicious.

4. Do you shop the warehouse stores (such as Costco, Sam's B.J's, etc)? If so how often do you go, and what's something you always buy in this type of store? 

We shop occasionally at Costco. It's a fair drive so we might go once every six weeks or so. If we're going in to the nearby small big city we put it on our agenda. I always buy paper towels and tp there. We like some of their meats, their frozen pizza, and hubs favorite snack is the peanut butter filled pretzel bites, so if they're in stock I'll buy those too. 

5. Father's Day is this coming Sunday. Any plans to make the day special? Tell us something about your own father, or something about your hubs as a father, or about someone who stepped into your life and acted as a father if yours was not a part of your life. 

While my mother worked part time later in their marriage my parents mostly had the more traditional roles of husband and wife/father and mother. My dad went to work, mowed the lawn, and paid the bills. My mom managed the house, meals, and most things kid related. My dad was a man of deep faith, a hard worker, steady. While he didn't always have a lot to say, he was always there for us and we knew we could count on him. The blessing of that sense of security a solid father brings to a family cannot be overstated. 

We have a lot happening on Father's Day this year. Our third grandson has a birthday on Father's Day which also happens to be our 40th wedding anniversary. 

As an aside, every time I write that number I kind of scratch my head and think, 'that can't be right? we're not old enough to have been married 40 years are we?'

Yet, here we are. 40 years of married life. It goes fast y'all. 

Anyway, since all the grandparents will be in town my daughter and son-in-law will also have baby girl's dedication at church that day. I'm sure my son-in-law will grill something wonderful and it will be a nice weekend filled with family fun. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.  

My dad died at the too young age of 66. He never got to see his grandgirls grow up, never even got to meet his grandson who arrived more than a decade after this shot was taken. It's one of my favorite pictures though...

He adored these girls and they loved him right back. 

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A Holiday Palooza

There's a weekend in June where worlds collide and our family gets to celebrate an anniversary, a birthday, and Father's Day all at the same time, and ain't nobody mad about it. Let's discuss. 

First things first...

39 years y'all. 

Marriage is a lot of work and anyone who tells you otherwise is not being truthful. It's not a lot of work all the time of course, in fact much of the time it's a walk in the park on a blue sky sunshiny summer day. 

Most years though, it's a little bit of both and that's how we grow.  

After 39 years we can still say we're glad we chose each other. Glad we're still laughing a lot. Grateful for memories and shared experiences and growing up and older and grandchildren and above all God's amazing grace across the years and miles and minutes of our marriage. 

My son-in-law's grandparents just celebrated their 70th!! wedding anniversary, which let's just pause for a second to say wow...WOW! and hubs and I did the math and figure we've got a chance lol. Hey hubs! Cheers to the next 31!

Our third grandson was born on our anniversary last year so we trekked over to East Tennessee to celebrate his first birthday with thirty of his closest friends. Ha! His parents friends but they all have lots of littles so there was a crowd. 

What a wonderful day and party it was! 

A local farm brought a small petting zoo to the backyard and everyone enjoyed the animals. There were kids of varying ages so it was the perfect activity, and the farmers were so nice and the animals so clean and well cared for, and the weather absolute perfection~whoohoo! 

I'm sure my daughter will write about the day in detail so I'll just say this little guy was the star of the show and loved every minute. 

I think the small cow might have been his favorite, but he is an animal lover and the whole thing made him happy. fyi-he is very rarely unhappy. 

What joy this sweet boy has brought to our family, and we loved celebrating him. 

He smashed his smash cake like a boss. In case anyone is wondering, there was a black and white cow on top of the little cake which made for quite the cleanup afterwards. 

His other grandparents were there too, and we always have a great time together. Such a blessing. 

Post party day was also Father's Day and there were three dads in the house. The in-laws left early as they were headed out on a long vacation road trip, but we hung around until Monday so the 'kids' could have a date night Sunday. We ate leftovers and watched golf and baseball and relaxed on the porch and it was a very good day. 

A great day. 

A truly great weekend. 

In The Heat Of The Hodgepodge

Welcome to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. If you've answered today's questions add your link at the end of my post, then hop over and leave a comment for your neighbor there. Here we go-

1. Something you learned from your father? 

Hard work is it's own reward. 

Keep your elbows off the table.
Jesus loves me. 

2. Do you like onions? Raw or cooked? How about onion rings? What's something you love to eat that calls for onions? 

I do like onions, and cooked is my preference. While I like raw onions I avoid them, because when you're over the half century mark you can't eat whatever you want anymore. True story. 

I use onions in so many dishes but pasta sauce, baked rice, and enchiladas are a few favorites that wouldn't taste nearly as good without the onions added. 

3. It's officially summer (in the Northern hemisphere)...your favorite and least favorite things about the season?

Favorite? The longer daylight

Least favorite? The ridiculous humidity that smacks you in the face before the sun even rises

4. When you think about the summers of your childhood what are two or three things that come to mind? 

A sense of freedom...going barefoot, riding bikes to the pool, big neighborhood games of hide and seek or kick the can, ice cold watermelon, homemade ice cream, chasing fireflies, camp. 

5.  A hot mess, the heat of the moment, beat the heat, if you can't stand the heat, catch heat, in a dead heat...choose a 'hot 'phrase and tell us how it applies to your life right now.

America is a bit of a hot mess these days, but I'm going with beat the heat because it's too hot for deep. Feeling super grateful for air conditioning on these 100 degree days. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Look who made his entry into the world on our 38th wedding anniversary last week-

He is absolutely precious and I want to tell you more and I will. Soon. Right now we are far too busy watching him sleep, admiring his full head of hair, and marveling at the absolute gift of new life. 

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Hodgepodge Questions-Volume 467

Here are the questions to this week's Wednesday Hodgepodge. Answer on your own blog, then hop back here tomorrow to add your link to the party. See you there! 

1. Something you learned from your father? 

2. Do you like onions? Raw or cooked? How about onion rings? What's something you love to eat that calls for onions? 

3. It's officially summer (in the Northern hemisphere)...your favorite and least favorite things about the season?

4. When you think about the summers of your childhood what are two or three things that come to mind? 

5.  A hot mess, the heat of the moment, beat the heat, if you can't stand the heat, catch heat, in a dead heat...choose a 'hot 'phrase and tell us how it applies to your life right now.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Monday Dusting

Happy Summer everyone! It's official! It definitely feels like summer here and we are back to busy. So much so that I didn't post a single entry on my blog last week. I plan to make up for that today though, with an extra long post. 

As opposed to my normal long posts I mean. 

So let's talk about last week and life in general. Remember the adorable newlyweds? 

They were finally able to take their honeymoon trip and spent last week celebrating married life in a beautiful tropical locale. Only four different Covid tests were needed to get there and back but one does what one must when the sea is calling. I think Daughter2 plans to blog about their getaway on her own blog, which you'll find here (It's Elementary). 

While the kids were away we kept their sweet pup who is so sick and the dearest best dog we've ever known. Dogs y'all...

They fill up your heart but they wrench it real good too. 

Meanwhile on the other side of the world...daughter1 and her family also spent a week vacationing in a beautiful tropical locale. Jeju Island which is sometimes called the 'Hawaii of Korea'. 

If you follow Daughter1 on Facebook she's posted a bunch of pictures, and hopefully will share the fabulous vlogs she made on her own blog soon. (Sincerely Shannon)

We have their sweet pup too, but I think I've told you he's technically our dog now. Saturday morning we took him for his first official boat ride of the season and he was, as per usual, living his best life. 

Everyday is your best life when you're him. 

Always helping the Captain-

Retrieving til the cows come home. 

He would swim after this rubber duck all the ding dong day if we'd let him. 

The lake was quiet Saturday morning so hubs and I had breakfast and iced coffee while the little brown dog wore himself out. 

fyi-he never wears out. 

In other last week news, hubs and I celebrated an anniversary...37 years so whoohoo! Go us! A random number to be sure, but I say every year is a milestone and should be marked. We had a lovely dinner at a restaurant we enjoy and talked about how both of our girls were vacationing somewhere fabulous while we're at home with the dogs. Not mad about it at all though, because happily married children are a true gift. 

Early in the week hubs brother and sister-in-law drove over from their lake in Tennessee to our lake in South Carolina. We did some boating and some grilling and lots of porch sitting which was fun. The men went skeet shooting one day while we girls shopped and lunched and we look so forward to more family fun with them soon. 

I'm all over the map here so this post might feel like more than a week's worth of recap, but I promise it's really only a week. 

I had plans to make hubs his favorite breakfast on Father's Day but just before church the power went out and was out all morning. Blueberry waffles for lunch are okay too. It rained all day so we watched movies and then he opened gifts and facetimed with his girls and I capped things off with his favorite dinner- meatloaf. 

The skies cleared so we met up with neighbors for an evening kayak to a nearby island. 

Gray days can surprise you with their beautiful endings. 

Eat Drink And Be Married

We're getting there. We've made it to the reception today in words and pictures. Lots of pictures actually so consider yourselves warned. 

As I mentioned yesterday our reception was held on the 6th floor rooftop (Avenue for you locals) of a downtown building. Indoors because January, but with access to the outdoor space which was lovely. The views are wonderful and they've done a great job landscaping the perimeter to make it feel like an enclosed garden.

There's some open lawn space, along with a covered area that has comfortable seating and heaters. One wall of the indoor space is glass that you can open all the way up. We did not because it was January, but we did take some breaks out there. When you dance 37 songs in a row you might need to cool off. 

Daughter2 and I had been working with our planners for several months to create the mood and feel we wanted for the reception and we were so eager to see it all come together. Just before the wedding they took us upstairs for the 'big reveal'. 

It was everything we imagined and then some. 

The flowers were spectacular, the color, the textures, the lighting, the small vignettes with all of our little details...everything was perfect. 

The bride and groom made their grand entrance during the cocktail hour and immediately hit the dance floor. Their first dance was to Anywhere With You by Jake Owen and the band played and sang it to perfection. 

The bride and groom both love to dance and I don't think they missed a single song once dinner concluded. 

And now a word about the band. If you know us you know we love music and we love to dance. And yes we had a band and they were absolutely awesome. SO much fun. Music City Rhythm Revue is based in Nashville but they drove over that morning with plenty of time for set up,  then headed back home after the party. 

We absolutely loved them and now we want to plan another party just so we can hire them back. A good band can make or (if not so good) break the party and ours hit exactly the right note to make the evening pure magic. I think hubs was on the microphone at one point. It's hard to keep him away from a microphone. Or a dance floor for that matter. 

When the bride and groom finished their first dance it was dad's turn to dance with his daughter. 

Be still my heart. 

When daughter2 was a baby she liked to party party party all night long and hubs the baby whisperer would hold her in his arms and sing the Beatles tune Golden Slumbers softly in her ear....and she would sleep. It felt like a small miracle and it was so precious and I always knew this song, while not your typical father-daughter dance song, should be part of their dance. 

'sleep little darling do not cry...and I will sing a lullaby...'

So the super talented, 'tell us what you want us to sing and if we don't know it we'll learn it band' did just that. Before the song turns a little too rock they transitioned ever so smoothly into Zack Brown's The Man Who Loves You The Most. It's a good one too y'all and definitely fits with our family. 

The groom and his mama hit the dance floor next with the band playing Days Like This by Van Morrison. Afterwards a favorite uncle said some tender words and grace before we all sat down for dinner. 

The band played some softer tunes during the cocktail and dinner hour and if you weren't looking you might have thought it was the Indigo Girls. They were incredible.

The food was catered by Table 301 who has a partnership with the venue and everything was delicious. A signature cocktail was on offer along with yummy passed hors d'oeuvres including oysters rockefeller (fantastic!), bourbon molasses meatballs (the groom's favorite) and mini cheddar chive biscuits filled with duck confit and a housemade orange marmalade. 

We had a sit down plated dinner because we like what we like. Honestly in this season a plated dinner is a great option, but we would have gone this route regardless. I like the pause a sit down dinner adds to a reception. Everyone can relax and I wanted the bride and groom to really enjoy the menu they chose, which was perfect for a chilly January evening...a duo of braised short ribs and pan seared Chilean Sea bass. 

Wedding cake for dessert of course. 

Here's to grooms who treat their brides with tender loving care when it's time for the first bite. 

The rest of the evening went by in a minute. 

The dance floor was never empty and we were sad to see it end, although my feet might not agree. 

We had fun. 

Can you tell?