FRIDAY FAVORITES 10 YEARS

Last day of February! Can you believe it? The month of Spring is upon us. And it's my Beautiful SIL's birthday! I hope you’ve had a great week. It's been good around here, warmed up to the high 50's but cold is back. That's ok, cause these lovelies visited me Wednesday (they are 17 months old today) and I am healing decent with a follow up Monday.

They took turns sitting in the rocking chair I had as a little girl. We have mine, Pop Nine's and their Daddy's rocking chairs all in the toy room.

10 YEARS

I was going to make a dedicated post about my 10-year Blogging Anniversary tomorrow. I was going to make this a big deal but last year on my nine-year anniversary, 

I wrote a post that pretty much sums it up that I really loved it. You 

can read that HERE. 

 

But I do want to say in the 10 years of blogging I’ve gotten more out of it than I ever thought I would have. I almost quit last year, and I never thought I’d be doing it this long. The number of bloggers that have come and gone is crazy. 

I looked back on a fashion link up I used to participate in with The Blended Blog (remember that?) and we would have more than 115 people linking up with us. You can see by link ups nowadays that they just aren’t as many of the OG’s around.

BUT I’ve gained THE bestest of friends, growth within myself, helped others and I’ve become a better photographer, lol. Anyway, cheers to 10 years and maybe 10 more, who knows?

HERE was my first Friday Favorites post. Of course I started with the Movie Sound Of Music and Julie Andrews b/c it's my fav of all time!

CHER SHOW

What a delight this Broadway musical was! I did not realize it had won 2 Tony awards. The three ladies who played Cher at different stages of her life were incredible! My mom and I really enjoyed it and then we stopped for yummy pizza to bring home to Mr. Nine.

Outfits....Black and Color

I do love all black, but if you’ve been around long enough, you know that I also love some color so I’m bringing you both today. Aerie is back with the cutest and softest of sweatshirts!

Sweatshirt HERE // Uggs HERE // Jeans HERE

Sweatshirt HERE

Jumpsuit HERE

Blazer HERE // Pants HERE // Boots HERE // Rhinestone Bra HERE

Monday's Post

In case you missed it on Monday, I tooted my own horn with a POST about recognizing things we are good at. Of course, I had a couple trolls come in, one saying I must’ve had plastic surgery on my face, if only? LOL! And another saying I had an inflated ego. Anyway, I delete those comments for the most part, but I have been hearing that many of you bloggers have been getting that same troll, just the kind of recognition she wants I am sure, lol. Keyboard haters at work are part of our world decline in humanity. So sad. Pray for their souls.

Blast from 2015

Instead of doing a blast from last year photo and memory, I’m sharing my top four viewed outfits that first year of blogging in 2015! I think I’ve come a long way but they’re still kind of cute, lol. And camo pants ar back in, lol.

Amazon Link Up Reminder..MONDAY

Jill and I are back on Monday with the second installment of our monthly Amazon link up! We hope you will join us.  

Have a wonderful weekend, my friends! I don’t even think we have any plans and that’s ok, lol. But today, my mama and I are on the ultimate Paczki hunt! The cream cheese filled are my favorite. Paczki’s are a big thing around our area in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday this coming Tuesday. I’m breaking my healthy eating for a bite of this seasonal yearly goodness! 

YUMMO! Have you ever had a Paczki??

LOVE YA!

Linking up with Momfessionals and Between Naps on The Porch // Thursday Fashion Files // I Do deClaire // Hello Monday // Sunday's on Silverado // Life and Linda

xoxo 

TOOT YOUR OWN HORN

Have you ever said to yourself, “I’m not good at anything!” Or “I can’t do anything right!” How about “If only I was good at _____!” Yep, I’ve been there! There have been many days when I felt totally useless and had nothing to offer, nothing to give. And although I don’t like what aging is doing to my body, it has improved my mind and my mindset. I know deep down in my heart that there are things I am good at and while I’ve never been anyone to brag, I think all of us owe it to ourselves to toot our own horn every now and then! 

 

Let’s talk about the things we are good at, instead of dwelling on what we don’t think we are. I thought it would be fun to list 10 things that I know in my heart I’m good at. I have a feeling other people would tell me the same things and most of them are things people have told me I excel at. Those attributes are what make each of us unique and we should be proud of those things. 

 
Flowers
Taking care of and planting annual flowers to be exact. If you’ve been around for a while, you know that I inherited my green thumb from my mama! She always has the most beautiful flowers in the world and I’m happy to take care of the ones I plant every spring and watch how beautifully they grow. Since I wasn’t around the blog last summer, you didn’t get to see what I planted last year. Here’s a couple photos and I might do an entire post on it this Spring. In the past I’ve done post called picking posies where my mom and I go to greenhouses and plot our flower landscape each April. Would you like post on that?

..and this was before they were even at their fullest 

Lil Flower area by the Pool Shed

Decorating the Front Porch
Especially during the fall and Christmas season, people tell me that my front porch decorations should be in a magazine. Imagine my surprise when Pioneer Woman magazine reached out to me last year, and I was included in their Fall Edition in an article about pumpkins and porch decorations. They had seen a photo of one of my Fall porches on Pinterest and wanted more. I sent them pictures from each year and ironically enough they chose the year that was my least favorite, lol! I tried to do something different every year, but you can guarantee there are lots of pumpkins and mums.  

Honored! That years Fall Porch HERE

But this was my favorite year. See that Post HERE

In the Kitchen
Cooking and baking are my jam! I pretty much cook almost every single night. I have some of my favorites in my Recipes Tab so I won't go putting all my favs here. I love to cook for others, and I love to try new recipes. And it’s funny with the baking, years ago, you may remember I entered baked goods in the county fair and won many ribbons. One year, I even won the Bursting with Blueberries contest. I never have done that cookbook like I wanted to, but maybe one day. My husband always tells me my cookies are 100 times better than Crumbl cookies which always makes me feel good. There’s nothing like a homemade cookie, but homemade cookies must be done right. LOL! You'll see on the sidebars, my most pinned posts on Pinterest are my Food Posts.

Recipe using Strawberries HERE

Recipe for the PB Fudge HERE

Decorating/House Design
I love to decorate and it’s one of those things that again, I say I wish I was better at but everyone that comes to our home loves it. I especially loved designing our new home 8 yrs ago and when my husband and I watch HGTV shows, we say we could design them so much better, ha ha.

We have 5 bathrooms, but these two are my favs..the Powder Bath and the Glam Bath in my Upstairs Office/Craft area

 
Gift Giving
My love language is truly giving gifts to those I love! And not just any old gift, I am adamant about finding the perfect thing that fits that person and that I know they will love! And if it's one I'm mailing, I love to decorate the boxes. It’s one of my greatest joys to see people open gifts that I have picked out just for them! 

A Birthday Box sent to a Bestie in Louisiana 

 
Spreading Kindness
I try to make the day for someone every day! I’m all about giving genuine compliments, opening a door for someone and helping them in any way I can. This world needs more kindness, and it needs to be engraved in our souls to spread it to others.

Being Empathetic 
This somewhat goes along with being kind, but the addition to that is being empathetic! To know when others are hurting to know when others just need a listening ear, to know when to relate to what others are going through so that they know they’re not alone! If you ask me, I would say being empathetic is one of my greatest qualities.
 
Games
I love to play games, and we don’t as often as I wish. But I have to say I’m pretty darn good at them! I love me a mean game of Yahtzee, Uno and mine and Mr. Nine’s favorite, gin rummy! Mini golf, Badminton Especially love playing corn hole with the kids, and don’t mind boasting when we beat the younger set, lol!

So Proud Beating our kids, LOL

Dealing cards like a Boss since 1974, I'm on the left, Cuz-n on the right

Stylin’
OK, I will admit, I’m not as into fashion in my 50s as I was when I was younger. Part of that is because I no longer work in the professional world and part of that is because I just want to be comfortable and cozy these days! Give me a cute leisure outfit to play with the granddaughters and I’m in heaven! But I’d be lying if I said, I didn’t love getting dressed up every now and then and styling things from time to time for you all on the blog.

A Few outfits you missed last summer 

while I was on Sabbatical.

MOG Dress in June

I LOVE Jumpsuits as you know..

This one Available HERE It's a FAV!

Christmas
Ok, this last one kind of combines a lot of these, but you know I take pride in being a queen of Christmas! Everything for decorating my numerous trees to taking trays of baked goods to friends and family, to beautifully wrapping gifts, and picking out just the right thing for people and making all the favorite foods on Christmas Day and making it special for my sweet family! Spreading Christmas Cheer my dears! 

Gosh, I got on a roll, and I think it was good for my soul! I thought of many more and I picked up my own Debbie Downer attitude from the times I think there’s nothing I can do! When in reality, there is so much we all are good at! 

 

Now, there are some things that I definitely won’t be exceptional at that I wish I was. Probably the number one thing is singing, but you know what? When I’m singing songs or lullabies to the granddaughters I feel like a songbird, haha! 

I encourage you to make your own list of those things you are awesome at! If you’re a blogger, write a post about it! If you’re not, write it down in your journal or on a piece of paper and every now and then when you’re down on yourself, look at it to remind you of all the cool things you CAN do! And always remember, I love ya!

Linking up with Momfessionals and Between Naps on The Porch // Thursday Fashion Files // I Do deClaire // Hello Monday // Sunday's on Silverado // Life and Linda

xoxo 

FRIDAY FAVORITES CONCERT EDITION

Hi friends! I’m actually writing this on Tuesday as I wasn’t sure what the rest of the week would hold for me for my procedure Wednesday but by Tuesday I already had tons of favorites so here we go! Linking up for WUW too since this is life lately. And I didn’t get a lot of pictures, but Mom and I went over to play with the twins on Tuesday and had the best time! I did get one of Great Grandma Giga reading to them! So sweet! 

Brett Young

Dreams come true, lol! And the blurry picture from 2017 I told you about last Friday, was more than made up for with these! He is such a tall drink of water! So dreamy, and so sweet! We had a precious little conversation that I will treasure, and his performance was amazing! Sometimes, you meet celebs you love and your idea of them is ruined but Brett is the real country boy deal! 

I let Mr. Nine get in a picture or two too, lol

 Crew!

His opening act, Kylie Morgan Was just darling, and she had a female drummer which we loved! Great night!

Make-Up and Hair

My sweet friend Maggie did my hair for me for the concert, but I did not get my make up done. The weather was too bad to make the trip, but she did practice earlier in the week, and I think I found my new makeup artist for special events! Ashley Urban is incredible!

Posty Oreos

I am a huge fan of Post Malone, and I swear there is nothing he cannot do. A genius! Even his Oreos are the best I’ve ever tasted and I’m not a huge fan of Oreos! It’s a salted caramel and half of the cookie is shortbread, so delicious but I’m going to let Mr. Nine eat the rest and get them out of my sight, lol. Get some HERE! ON sale too!

Outfits: Spring Dresses

Starting to think warmer weather with Pretty blue Dresses. 

Dress HERE

Dress HERE

This DRESS arrived on Monday and I absolutely love it, the quality is great, but I accidentally ordered the wrong size so I’ve sent it back and I’m anticipating my correct size. I think it’s going to be a keeper!

Blast From Last

One of the boys and his gal and Mr. Nine and I got to go golfing in up northern Michigan on our vacation last summer. Mr. Nine loves golf so much. Happy to get out on the greens with him in my Lily Pulitzer golf attire, lol. He’s ready for golf to begin and reminded me that last year he and the boys went out the first part of March! Hopefully, won’t be long.

My Top HERE // Pants HERE

And in case you missed it, Monday I shared my 

Healthy Recipes Round-Up 2025 and you guys loved the protein bowls!

Current Situation 

Have a wonderful weekend! If I feel up to it, I’m going to hobble with my mama to see the CHER show on Saturday! My mom wants to see Cher in concert so bad but she’s not on tour (yet) so we’re going to see the Broadway musical instead, lol.

LOVE YA!

Linking up with Momfessionals and Between Naps on The Porch // Thursday Fashion Files // I Do deClaire // Hello Monday // Sunday's on Silverado // Life and Linda and linking with WUW at Mix and Match Mama

xoxo