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So I had a birthday.  

A pretty big birthday number wise, but maybe not as big celebration wise because thanks Covid. Can you tell from my face it was still pretty great? What can I say...I love my birthday and my family tried so hard to make the day special and they succeeded. 

While I do have a few thoughts on this next new decade, I think that will be it's own post and today I'll just recap all the sweet stuff that made up my birthday week.   

Daughter2 was in the house and we had the best time running wedding errands all week long. We spent Monday morning at the party rental place, then met with the florist that afternoon. We had our hair and makeup 'trial' on Tuesday and wrapped it up with a dress fitting for the bride-to-be on Wednesday. 

Y'all. I forgot how stunning this girl looks in her wedding dress. 

No this is not her wedding dress, but I will tell you the sight of her in that gown literally takes my breath away.  I cannot wait to see the groom's face when he sets eyes on his bride on their special day.  

After the dress fitting we celebrated with crepes at our favorite crepe spot, so the order of these events would feel correct. 

1. Try the dress on and be sure it fits perfectly. 

2. Share one sweet and one savory crepe with your momma because it's almost her birthday and because we both love crepes and can never decide between the sweet and the savory. 

3. Pledge going forward not to feast on crepes or sweets in general pre-wedding. 

4. I mean except for the birthday cake we'll eat later. 

If it looks like we're eating in a parking lot it's because we are. The restaurant had some indoor seating available but we opt for dining outdoors whenever we can, especially when it's a crystal clear morning or there's a pandemic hanging about. 

On my actual birthday my little family planned the absolute best surprise. Let me just say I think every birthday needs a surprise. Not necessarily a surprise party, but definitely some unexpected little bit of happy that brings a smile to your heart and maybe a tear to your eye. 

And that's what they did.  

They had many many of my friends and all of my family record video wishes for me, then Daughter2 magically put them all together on the big screen (aka the TV) and it was too wonderful for words. No one had come close to spilling the beans which made it a real surprise. 

That evening we had a delicious dinner at a very nice restaurant in tiny town and shout out to my hubs who never fails in sourcing a chocolate cake with raspberry filling, because that's my favorite. He also knows I don't think it's a birthday without balloons and believe fresh flowers are one of the secrets to a happy life so he obliged.

It's true y'all. Fresh flowers in the house makes the world feel less harsh.  

Hubs kinda went all out on the balloons this year. I don't think he knew about these until I sent him last week to collect a giant 3-0 for daughter2's birthday, but now that he's on to them I predict there will be more jumbo going forward. 

Of course Daughter1 called and the mancub sang happy birthday from a million miles away and helped me blow out all the candles via Facetime which tickled him so much.  I have to tell you that when he utters the word 'Nana' in his precious little boy voice I have an actual pain in my heart. It's a happy/sad sort of pain but it's very real, and if you're living away from your own grands you know what I'm saying.  

Little brother clapped and smiled big and took a couple of steps on camera which also made my day/week/year, and all in all it was a lovely way to end the day and usher in a brand new decade. 

"With mirth and laughter let old wrinkles come." William Shakespeare

Yeehaw!

I'd call this post a weekend roundup except it's Tuesday.
Do we say Tuesday is part of the weekend now?

If you're retired you do.

Anyway, happy birthday to the hubs! This picture is from last year back when you could really celebrate life's milestones. No worrying about masks or hand sanitizer or gatherings of whatever size you wanted. 

Today is still his day though, and while we won't have a houseful like we did last year, won't have any daughters in the house like we did last year, or a fun lake party like we had last year, we'll still mark the occasion with a birthday dinner of his choosing and a homemade dessert. Topped with a candle because that's the law.

We had a fun couple of days this past weekend with shhh...out of town company. I feel like I need to whisper that or at least explain, because people feel free to weigh in on whatever anyone is doing right now. Rest assured we spent pretty much the entire weekend out of doors. 

Our friends haven't been anywhere and we haven't been anywhere so we decided to be nowhere together. They arrived from the Volunteer State late Friday afternoon, and hubs grilled wings on the Big Green Egg, his best batch yet if I do say so myself. We had a charcuterie board to go with and we sat on our deck and fell right back into our old ways of talking and laughing and remembering and it was so so good. 

True story-hubs and I spent nearly every weekend of our first year of married life at their house and we're all still exactly the same. I didn't take a single picture so you'll have to trust me on that. 

Wait. I did take one picture of... guess what? 

The evening sky. 

The weather was supposed to be stormy on Saturday, but the wind blew those clouds right on out of here and weather wise it was one of the most beautiful weekends we've had all summer. We spent the day on the water boating and swimming off the dock and the sun shone and it was Grand. 

Yes, with a capital G. 

I made a pot roast in the crock pot Saturday because I thought we'd have rain but it ended up being the perfect thing. I was able to enjoy the whole day outside without worrying about dinner and I don't know why I don't use my crock pot more in warm weather. Of course we dined al fresco since that's our favorite thing, and also because it's 2020.  

Our friends headed home late Sunday morning then hubs and I boated over to Daughter1's in-laws house to catch up in person, everyone on their own raft. We ended up talking and floating for hours. Summer has been so weird and we were overdue for a full weekend of lake living. 

Also we never tire of talking about all the fun things our grand boys say and do and agreeing on how completely adorable they are and how we're the luckiest of the lucky. 

Speaking of adorable...this little guy is ten whole months old.

He's still chill, still darling and daring and precious, and still 7000+ miles from his Nana. And I know the mancub would love to be here sitting on his Pawpaw's lap today, helping to blow out the birthday candles...

...but a kiss blown from the other side of the world is pretty great too. 

More Summer Sweetness

Last Monday I wrote about the sweetness of summer and not gonna lie, I had to look a little harder for it this weekend. The weather y'all! What is up with the weather? I live in sunny South Carolina except this year we've had so much rain. And if it's not raining it's cloudy more often than not, so the days aren't feeling the way summer normally feels.

What is normal anyway, in this very abnormal year? Perhaps weird weather is just par for the course. 

Hubs and I did manage a Friday evening boat ride and in case you didn't know, watching the sun slip from the sky will add a splash of sweetness to your weekend. 

Satuday we had plans to take the boat out but the air was coated in a thin layer of Saharan dust storm dust (did I mention the weather has been weird??) so we headed to the plant nursery instead. By car in case anyone is confused. We needed to repot a couple of plants that grew like beanstalks (see there's a bright side to all that rain!) and we wanted to get something for the pots beside our garage which have been sitting empty for a while. 

We opted for Lantana and I love this color combo. Also, I have the most gorgeous shade of geraniums beside my front door which have been blooming big since the first of May. 

Shoutout to my sweet limelight hydrangeas too, which are one of my favorites. 

In other nature related happenings we have a new crop? flock? of baby bluebirds in the house (the bluebird house, not our literal house), and they are noisy and precious. 

I know this photo looks like a big ball of fluff but I have to hold my camera up over my head and tilt it down which means I have no idea if I'm capturing anything or not. Still here they are...a big ball of fluff. 

Watching all the adults care for them is super sweet too. There are at least six parents-aunts-uncles-so I guess bluebirds are quarantining with extended family in 2020.  

Hubs would say this was pretty sweet. 

I was actually sound asleep on the screened porch enjoying the sweetness of a Saturday afternoon nap when he started hollering for me to get the camera. I tried to pretend I didn't hear him (hey, we've all been there, right?) but he wasn't having it. 

It's a ginormous, albeit harmless, black rat snake which supposedly keeps the copperheads and other unsavories at bay so I tried to act like it was cool but if I'm being honest I'm not all that cool with snakes. Or bats. Bats really give me the heebie jeebies. 

Did I tell y'all hubs was on a ladder last week, 18 feet up checking out what we thought was some sort of mark/stain on our covered deck ceiling, and I was holding said ladder to be sure it didn't tip when a bat flew at lightning speed, straight out of the deck light in that crazy erractic way bats fly, and dive bombed us? I might have lost it. Thankfully hubs had the presence of mind not to fall which I guess was pretty sweet. Also, thankfully the pest guy said it was a fluke and not a whole crop? flock? of bats living up there. 

Finally, these sweet things-

I swiped this picture from my daughter and it's everything I imagined when I imagined baby brothers. They are just too sweet! 

Hope you found some sunshine in your weekend too...happy Monday!

Thursday Thirteen Anniversary Edition

It's Thursday and every Thursday I try to post a list of 13 somethings. I like to keep it light because I think we've all had enough heavy to last us a while, and since hubs and I celebrated our 36th wedding anniversary on Tuesday I'm going with an anniversary theme here today.

1. We celebrated at home. It was 65 degrees and windy and we both said it felt more like October than June. We discussed all the rigamarole involved in dining out someplace but in the end decided there's no place like home. Good thing because we've surely spent a lot of time there this year. 

2. There are some wonderful restaurants in the nearby small big city, but it's a bit of a drive and there's that whole pandemic thing which puts a damper on the mood, plus none of those spots offer a better view than our own backyard so home it was.

3. Hubs grilled a filet to perfection and we toasted to another year of married life with a glass or two of Schramsberg. Then we scooped everything up and ate inside because it was too cold and windy to dine al fresco. In June. 

Crazy but crazy is the name of the game in 2020. Fun fact-Schramsberg is known as the White House champagne because it has been served in the White House by every President since Nixon. 

4. Speaking of the White House, we spent our very first anniversary as husband and wife in Washington D.C. Hubs keeps this picture handy to show people when they want to see a picture of his wife. 

They're not confused at all when they meet me in person. Ha! 

Takeaway from Anniversary #1-you'll grow older, wiser, and grayer but three+ decades on you'll  look at your spouse and still see the boy/girl you married. 

5. We talked about some of our other anniversaries and a few stood out. We spent anniversary #5 dining in a fancy frou frou place in NYC. We were living in North Jersey and had a little bitty daughter at home. My parents drove up from South Jersey to babysit so we could have a fun night out in the Big Apple. 

What hubs and I both remember about that particular anniversary is not so much the dinner, but more how we thought we were going to die in the cab ride to the restaurant. True story. The driver was an absolute maniac and I have never traveled that fast in a vehicle in the middle of any city as I did that night. But hey, we lived to tell the tale so there's that. 

Takeaway from Anniversary #5-always wear your seatbelt. 

6. We spent our 20th at an 8th grade graduation. Woohoo! Good times! Sixty students from approximately 15 different countries crying their eyes out as they bid farewell to friends leaving England for their home countries or other new adventures. 

Takeaway from Anniversary #20-anything can be fun if you're with the one you love

7. Our 24th found us dining at the very elegant Cliveden House, enjoying every morsel of a meal that would make my list of top ten best meals I've ever eaten. Cliveden is where Meghan Markle spent the night before her wedding and it's dreamy. Remember Meghan Markle? 

Takeaway from Anniversary #24-your shared experiences in far away places will cement you togther in a way very few things can for ever and ever amen.

8. Of course sometimes it's elegance and sometimes it's raw real life. The very next year we marked 25 years as man and wife in a lawyers office in Northern NJ, signing the 101 documents you need to sign to call a house your home.

We were mid-move, settling back stateside after a few years across the pond, and were living in a hotel while we waited on our belongings to cross the ocean and clear customs.  

Takeaway from anniversary #25-there are a lot of mundane tasks and boring paperwork in the world of adulting. Also, memories are precious but new chapters are good too. 

9. I do know over the course of our married life we've spent at least a couple in two different geographical locations. Anniversary #27 found me home alone in NJ while hubs partied it up in India.  

Not really. He was working, but the hotel staff posed for some pics with the gorgeous flowers on display to help us mark the day. 

Take away from #27-you don't have to be physically near to be close in heart. 

10. I do know we spent #30 on a fun trip to Portugal. One of our most fun anniversaries ever filled with so many of our favorite things...dear friends, wonderful food and wine, travel, new cities, new places, adventure, and bling. 

Takeaway from Anniversay #30-friends add to the richness of life. 

11. So how did we top that in year #31? Back to raw real life, surrounded by boxes as we packed up the house from anniversary #25 and headed south. 

Take away from Anniversary #31-life is full of change. Learn to embrace it. 

12. And then five years flew by and here we are. Something like that. My point is, it really doesn't matter where we are or how we mark the day or even if we mark the day, although we always do. The calendar turns and what matters is we're still sitting side by each in the roller coaster cart of life, saying hold my hand...I'm glad it's you...I love you, forgive you, need you, like you, bug you, want you, am glad you're mine. 

Take away from a long married life-those vows were not cliche. They paint a pretty accurate picture of what marriage will be...better and worse, richer and poorer, sickness and health...it's all of those things at one time or another so keep honoring the vows you made. 

36 years and we still haven't figured out the selfie.

Anniversary 2020 feels like it should come with a Public Service Announcement- Hey kids! Marry someone you love but also like, because someday you might find yourself in the middle of a global pandemic at home together for 98 days and counting and you're not even mad about it because you married someone you love and also like. 

Happy Weekend Everyone! 

Five Minutes of How

I have lots of thoughts about lots of things, but the world is so loud and so angry and so completely bonkers right now that I decided instead of launching into a rant I might regret I'd hop on the Five Minute Friday bandwagon. Happy Friday! Let's keep it that way, k? 

For those who are unfamiliar with how FMF works, here's the deal-

Tell your inner critic to hush then write for 5 minutes flat for pure unedited love of the written word. Then hop over to our hostesss with the mostest (Kate Motaung), and add your link to the party. Be sure and leave a comment for the writer who linked before you, because a little bit of kindness goes a long way. 

Today's prompt-how

When I saw today's prompt my first thought was something like how do I love thee...let me count the ways. For real. Let me count the ways. 

Hubs and I will celebrate another year of wedded mostly bliss on Tuesday, so one for every year feels about right. Also we've been married a long time so it's a long list and took more than five minutes to create. 

And now in no particular order here's the how-

  1. You're still funny, still make me laugh even when I don't want to laugh. 
  2. Especially when I don't want to laugh
  3. You vacuum. Should this have been in the #1 spot? Perhaps. 
  4. You grill a steak just the way I like it

  5. You read what I write and love it because I wrote it

  6. Still the best D.J. I know
  7. Still grab me for a dance around the kitchen 

  8. Still waterski like you're 25-ish
  9. Look at me like I'm 25-ish
10. Know a lot of useless but interesting random trivia

11. You love your girls
12. your grandboys
13. are the best Pawpaw I know
14. You push encourage me to try new things
15. Make friends everywhere you go
16. Love people
17. Love the great outdoors
18. Pull the covers back and stack my pillows just the way I like them every single night. 

19. Share my love of porch sittin'
20. Sunday naps
21. sunset cruises
22. You always have a to-do list
23. Actually check things off your to-do list 

24. Ask what's on my to-do list 
25. You love American history
26. all things space-sky-star related
27. your MG
28. a good haircut
29. me by your side
30. A dog is still your best friend
31. You obsess over every single blade of grass in the yard or a single stray leaf on the driveway
32. You cook a mean omelette

33, Are on board with a good road trip
34. Make sure there's chocolate-raspberry cake on my birthday
35. Let me sleep with the fan on in the dead of winter 

36. Are still the one

Happy Anniversary hubs...oh how the years roll by...

September Is My Favorite

Sometimes I sit down to catch up on my blog and instead end up reading back through old posts feeling envious of my former self. The one who wrote about what she saw and felt and thought instead of the girl I am now. The one always playing catch up with lists and what I did on my summer vacation type posts. I try to give myself grace because it's been a weird hard year, but I miss that girl.

I plan to bring her back here one of these days.

But not today because today is playing catch up with a list and a what I did on my summer vacation type of post. Might as well embrace it, right?

I celebrated a birthday yesterday. My birthday is the third family birthday in the month of September so everyone's a little caked out by the time mine rolls around.

Not so caked out we won't dive into this scrumptious German Chocolate Fudge Pie Daughter2 baked for her momma, but we won't eat it all in one sitting either. My favorite man cub face timed so he could join in the singing of Happy Birthday and also help blow out the candles from 7000+ miles away. The happy birthday song is in his current list of top ten favorites.

Hubs suggested we go out for my birthday but we eat out a lot, and on my birthday I want a home cooked meal I don't have to home cook. I love something on the grill that I don't have to a) plan for b) shop for, c) prepare or d) clean up. Honestly I'll eat whatever is put in front of me if I don't have to do any of the above.

Hubs obliged by grilling the most delicious pork chops he'd purchased from his guitar teacher/ pig farmer and Daughter2 made garlic mashed potatoes and a spinach salad and that fantabulous pie and it was all pretty perfect.

Low key is the name of the game this month because next month we will amp up into supersonic speed with four separate trips covering multiple states, flights, road miles and countries so we're trying to rest up. Hubs doesn't quite get the concept of 'resting up' but even he's not operating at 150% power like he normally does.

It has been exceptionally hot and humid here for the past month but this morning we woke up to 70 degree weather and sipped our coffee under a blanket beside the fire on the porch. Pure bliss in my book. Fall is my favorite and I'm so ready for it this  year.

I've been reading a lot of books and hubs and I have binged on The Americans on Amazon Prime. I really need it to end so I can quit thinking about it, but we're almost there. My Bible Study group is back in session and I've also started a book club in my neighborhood which has been fun. And because it can't be all cake all the time I'm still plugging away at my exercise class a couple of days a week too.

Also today's weather is not the norm so we're still boating and swimming and we're not even mad about it.

The air still says summer but the sunsets whisper fall.

Long Time No Blog

I do still have a blog, I just haven't been here in a while. Nearly a month but who's counting? No worries, I excel at cramming a month's worth of happenings into a single post so strap in.

Actually no need to strap in because it's been a pretty low key month round here. Our definition of low key that is. Other people might say we're still awfully busy but we've managed not to leave town so that's something.

Wait. Hubs left town. He popped over to Tennessee for a couple of days to visit his mom, but other than that we've been planted here at the lake.

And maybe instead of telling you ALL the things I'll pick just five that stand out in my mind-

1. The dogs. Y'all. It's almost like hubs has a job, and the responsibilities of that job are focused primarily on wearing out the newest addition. Hubs takes the little brown dog for long walks, he swims with him, he kayaks with him...well hubs kayaks and little brown dog sits on hubs lap the kayak, but even when he's just sitting he's on alert. He knows as soon as that kayak hits the beach hubs will throw the baton into the water approximately 47 times and he will fetch it all 47 times. Then they'll kayak back to the dock and little brown dog will launch himself off the dock after that same baton another 47 times, and even after all of that the little brown dog will not seem overly exhausted.

Hubs on the other hand...

And Daughter2's dog has been sick since Sunday so she has needed watching. Normally the greyhound is super low maintenance, in fact we joke she's like living with a stuffed animal, but then hubs spent all of Tuesday morning with her at the vet because Daughter2 needed to go to work and great dads step in where they're needed. Hubs is a great dad.

For people and for animals.

2. Also he's a whole year older.

He had a big birthday recently, and we had the best time celebrating his special day. We invited a whole slew of friends and neighbors to bring their favorite raft or noodle and come for a 'float party'.

The weather could not have been more perfect and it was a great way to ring in a new decade.

photo credit: Pam N. 

Still young at heart!

3. We've done lots of face timing with our daughter and grandson in South Korea this past month, and we love that. Facetime really does make them feel not so far away. Daughter1 generally calls in the evening which is their tomorrow morning and that works on both sides of the world.

photo credit: Sincerely-Shannon

They've settled in beautifully and if you're not following her blog and/or YouTube channel you should. She has made several short videos that are wonderful and give you a fun glimpse into life overseas. Click here for her YouTube channel and click here to visit her blog.

4. We've had lots of relaxed evenings with nearby friends and neighbors, most recently at a local brewery where the Cousins Maine Lobster Truck made an appearance.

It also happened to be the night of the Clemson home opener (they killed it btw) so downtown was hopping, but we enjoyed that. Even better Daughter2 offered to hold a place for our gang in the super long line, and we all gave the lobster rolls two thumbs up! You should know that lobster tots are a thing and they're delicious.

The Cousins have a great story, but essentially they got their big break on Shark Tank after being asked more than once to audition for the program. Turns out producers of the show were some of their earliest customers and eventually convinced them to try out. They have over twenty trucks now in something like thirteen cities, and ours was I think from Charlotte.

5. Lastly but not leastly we have marveled at God's handiwork in a water colored early morning sky-

Been sun kissed-

And heaven blessed-

Not quite ready to let summer go...

Still Grand

It's Monday which means it's time to dive back in to the A-Z Blog Challenge. Here we go-

G is for Grandparenting

No series on delight would be complete without mentioning this one. If you check the dictionary pretty sure you'll find a picture of a grandchild beside the word delight. 

Or maybe a grandparent's face? 

Honestly I can be having the worst day and this little guy shows up on my phone screen and all my cares just fall by the wayside. Few things fill your heart to overflowing the way grandparenting does. 

Since I've written about this before (here, here, here, and here, so not too often) I think today I'll share a few ways our little mancub is currently spreading sunshine. 

His dimples. 

His vocabulary.

His hair!!

The way he says Cheese! then gives a toothy grin. 

The way he blows kisses.

The way he loves his chow. 

The way he sucks his thumb when he's sleepy. 

The way he backs into his mama's lap for a story. 

The way he loves his books. 

The way he says 'Oh No!' with much drama and inflection. 

The way he throws a ball which, not gonna lie, is pretty impressive for a 20-month old. 

The way he asks 'where is he? where is he?' with lots of slushy ssses. This question is most often asked in reference to his PawPaw, who we all agree is his favorite person in the world next to mom and dad. 

Case in point-since they live so far away from both sides of the family I made a book for him for Valentine's day. I put photographs of every family member inside along with their name and maybe a sentence or two. Parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles, great aunts and great uncles, second cousins...in other words, all of his people. 

My daughter said he absolutely loves looking at this special book so I asked her to send me a picture. Guess who he's pointing to? 

Nope. Not crazy about his PawPaw at all. 

I have to say I think it's the absolute sweetest thing. I love that he feels an extra special connection with his PawPaw and pray that only deepens with time. I think little boys can learn a lot from their grandfathers and I look forward to seeing that happen. 

Okay, I could go on and on about all the ways he rocks our world except we have a wedding happening in 20-ish days and Nana's got a long list that does not include blogging. 

It might however include Facetime with a delightful almost two year old. 

At least I hope it does. 

Tuesdays Were Made For This

Does anyone else feel like this summer is blowing by faster than most? Maybe it's because our calendar has been so full, but really? Labor Day weekend? Already?

Hubs and I declared last night date night as it was long overdue.

Tuesday night dates on the lake are easy breezy. Grab your swim suit (or not, teehee) and a towel, then load up the cooler with a bottle of bubbly and your favorite kind of easy to eat supper foods. Our favorites include peel and eat shrimp, a great cheese and some crackers to go with, veggies and hummus, grapes, plus an excellent bar of dark chocolate.

The lake on a Tuesday night is practically deserted. We made a short stop at the waterfall and ran into some neighbors there. The lake is a whole lot like a small town in all the best ways, and we rafted up with them for a while before moving on.

Eventually we made our way to a quiet cove (fyi-they're all pretty quiet on a Tuesday) with not a single solitary house/boat/person in sight, dropped the anchor and our worries, and went for a swim.

There's nothing like swimming in crystal clear water sixty five feet deep as the sun sets to make you feel all the feels.

We agree this should be an every Tuesday kind of thing.

Why isn't this an every Tuesday kind of thing?
Putting it on the list.

I love watching the sun get lower and lower on the horizon, but my favorite thing is the sky immediately after the sun sinks out of sight. That's when the sky turns all the pastel colors in the paintbox.

For reals.

 In the words of Dr. Seuss, '...when you stop and look around, this life is pretty amazing."