Tag Archives: photos

Road Trippin’ for a Friend Fix

There lies the season where I miss my friends.    It’s a crazy thing, getting older.  Not as simple to make friends any more.  Everyone is busy.  Everyone has baggage.  And so I remember the plaque that hung in my grandmother’s kitchen from a hundred years ago….(or 40):

Make new friends, but keep the old;

The new are silver and the old are gold.

These friendships have weathered life’s storms:  Cancer, infertility, marriage struggles, divorce, faith struggles, death of a child, children with emergency surgery, financial drain, suicide, depression, alcoholism, prison, poor health, aging parents, death of parents, miscarriage, many children, few children, job changes, bullying, education challenges, children growing up and moving away, children with faith crises, deployment, moving, starting over, making new friends and the list goes…..it is life.  Distance may separate us, however, these life cords forever bind us.

So worth the road trip with my girls to visit these dear friends.  We didn’t get to make ALL the rounds due to end-of-summer craziness and that only makes the argument for another visit and for visitors here.  Life’s too short, make the effort, you won’t regret it.

Rollin' with my homies.

Rollin’ with my homies.

Day 2. Friends.

Day 2 of jumping in for the weeklong challenge with Jennifer and blogging posse.  As I logged on to my trusty laptop this morning….she wouldn’t start up.  UGHGHGHGHGH.  Finalllllly she did.  Now I am backing this baby up as soon as I post this.  Let’s all take a moment and pray for my computer, K?  Thanks.

Last week was a great week with lots of visitors, family and friends.  I told you about my sister’s visit HERE.    

The fun didn’t stop there though!

I had the great opportunity to meet (IRL) a blogger I follow, Circles in the Sand, as she and her family were here in our neck of the woods on vacation.  From Dubai.  She is a delightful gal from the UK, her Hubby is a pilot in the UAE.  I enjoy hearing her tales of parenting, life in Dubai and travels elsewhere.  She was a joy to meet and I felt like I was catching up with an old friend.

Bloggers IRL.  Photobombers and bunny ears are universal!

Bloggers IRL. Photobombers and bunny ears are universal!

Our boys were at sleepovers so Hubby and the girls came along for dinner.  There was no lull in conversation and she was completely easy to talk to and incredibly comfortable to be around.  Our girls adored the little guys with the English accents and enjoyed every moment of dinner and chasing them to and fro while the parents chatted.  (They are good little babysitters, keep that in mind should any of YOU venture my way…)

Silly kids

Silly kids

Our Hubbies were so sweet to humor the meeting of the bloggers.  Next time, perhaps Dubai?  😉

Hubbies rock!

Hubbies rock!

Now if that wasn’t already an awesome week of visiting, one of my oldest friends came to town and I met up with her and her mom for dinner at our favorite sushi spot.  Catching up, making the rounds of life, kids, hubbies, work and celebrity drama.  Three hours goes by far too quickly.

Only downside, I’m hungry for more friend time!!

IMG_4977 IMG_4981 IMG_4983

WIWS, short and sweet version.

Linking up at FLAP for the weekly “What I wore Sunday” meme.  Guess what?  I’m sporting a new shirt!  What the what?!?! BAM!

Plus I have to save my typing fingers for Conversion diary‘s blog challenge this week.  I’m a sucker for a challenge.WIWSDeets:

Shirt, Target (clearance rack)

Cardi, Kohl’s a few summers back

Capris, Kohl’s…awhile back

Shoes, IDK.  Old.  Love them.

Necklace, Mother’s Day gift seen HERE

**Don’t hate on the hair, I have already napped in these clothes.  And gone to a cheer meeting.  And the produce store.  It’s how I roll.  check in with the FLAP crew for more and better!

Weekend SURPRISE!!

My nephews are big ole baseball players.  You know the travel team, All-star team, any team you can put together and they’re IN!  My brother in law loves the game and coaches and my sister loves the game and brings the cheers.  This past weekend they had a travel game tourney of several days long scheduled, sadly, it superceded our July 4th plans.  And then……the baseball mojo just wasn’t clicking and they lost and were done.  Early.  Days early.  What do my sister and her hubs do?  They drive south, of course!  Surprising me at work and stayed with us the weekend.  Super fun.  Super spontaneous.  Super idea.  Props to my brother in law for the great idea.

Sister love!

Sister love!

Dinner out Friday night (gift certificate from Christmas FINALLY put to good use!), beach day, ice cream, fishing and enjoying each other’s company.  Good for the soul!

Cousins

Cousins….yeah, YOU get a good picture of all of them!

collage

Weekend collage!

 

Back porch re-do

We finally decorated our back porch.  It’s been a few months and I figured I’d post pictures!  My original inspiration came from Pinterest (of course), however, we made a few adjustments along the way.

before

Our porch when we moved in

parts

Pieces and parts to hang the rods on the aluminum

curtain

Drop cloths and curtain rods. Initially we tried the PVC and paint for the curtain rods, however, because we opened and closed them depending on the sun, the paint easily peeled off despite priming. FYI.  The curtain rods were rods we already had in the living room that were the wrong size and needed replacing.

details

Lovely flowers to look at (our FINALLY blooming hydrangeas…a fun rug and accessories to liven up the place!

open

Voila! Our view the majority of the time.

closed

Our view when the sun is going down and in our eyes! Don’t mind the wrinkles in the curtains, I don’t!!

And so concludes our tour of our decorated back porch.  Eventually, I’d like to get some comfy furniture, but for now this is a good (and FREE) fit for our family!