Haunted Houses, Book Lovers Day & Free Time

I'll start by saying this house has pretty much nothing to do with my life - beyond that I passed it recently and then during a work walk, was able to pass it again and I can't help but think that it looks just like the Haunted Mansion at Disney World. It's a house in downtown Winchester, and well - I am a little smitten with it but I am also 100% sure it's haunted from attic to basement and every spot in between... 

My weekend was a long weekend - I was able to flex out on Friday at 12:45 because I'd worked an event earlier in the week for work, so by 2:15 I was curled up on my couch, watching The Gilded Age and enjoying a chill Friday afternoon. I spent the rest of the day reading in the backyard, taking a short nap and getting our dinner together for Friday night. It was a really nice way to start the weekend! 

Saturday was a pretty busy day - busy but good! I have zero pictures, but Ryan and I headed to Front Royal to help for a little while with the ACC/Cars Changing Lives Car Show as part of the family fun day. Ryan sold raffle tickets and I manned one of the tables, mostly just watching over door prizes. We helped until about 11:30 and then it was off to my parents so I could meet up with my Mom to go to tea at Rosemont! 

I had not realized it but Saturday was Book Lover's Day - worldwide - and the tea we attended was a Book Lover's Tea! Our table was decorated with books; Nicholas Sparks at that, and the savories, scones and sweets were all themed toward books and reading. Afternoon Tea at the Rosemont is always so well done and this event was no exception, from the Raspberry Cordials to start the event, all the way to the end - when my Mom actually won a free tea, ha-ha!

All the foods were fantastic - Cucumber Sandwiches, Chicken Salad Croissants and Watermelon and Feta cups (I did pass mine to my Mom) as the savories. The scones were a Raspberry Poppy Seed and a Ricotta and Herb; which my Mom and I thought tasted a bit ... grass-like... in certain bites. Delicious even still. The desserts were to die for: Blueberry Lemon Shortcake, a Lemon Bar and a Chocolate Caramel Tart! I was positively stuffed when it was all said and done - with both treats and tea!

Since it was Book Lover's Day, I decided we'd pop by Miss Willa's Bookshop on the way to my house - and I'm so glad we did! My Mom hadn't gotten a chance to check the shop out and because it was book lover's day, if you purchased one of Jennifer L. Armentrout's books (which I did, of course) then she would personalize it! So I now have three signed books; one of which is personalized with my name! The shop remains so adorable and I am beyond tickled that this incredible little spot is so close to home!

Everyone who made a purchase also got a great little cloth bag to carry their books in, which had a magnet inside as well - and every purchase was 10% off. All in all, a lovely little visit to this lovely little shop! Once we got to Ryan and I's house, we relaxed a little bit, watched the cats figuring out their new automatic litter box (what a genius invention), picked the pumpkins from the backyard and I whipped up some spaghetti and garlic bread for dinner!

Our final outing on Saturday evening was to a newly opened shop near our house called Hope Ice Cream and Slime - which is exactly what it sounds like, ha-ha! A shop where you can get all manner of frozen treats and also make slime! The shop is really cute and the gelato I had was incredibly delicious! Another new shop that is dangerously close to our house, ha-ha! We will definitely be making a return visit to this little shop in the future! We ended our Saturday enjoying our new cozy rug in the back sitting area of our house - the cats are all in love with it, and I think Ryan is too!

Sunday was another sunny and simply chill day for us, which was so very nice. We went to first service at church, took a new friend home after church and then headed home ourselves - to have leftovers for lunch and relax in our backyard! We soaked up the sunshine, read some books and just generally chilled for most of the afternoon. We closed out our weekend with some more leftovers for dinner, a couple episodes of For All Mankind of Apple+ and I did a little cross stitching, which Maverick felt he needed to help me with. 

Monday was a day off for me - which was needed; the last few months have been overwhelming for me in several ways and even with the day off, I still had to meet with plumbers at our house, meet with the DRB staff for our year in house walk through and go to the doctor before I truly got to just "goof off" for a few hours at the swimming pool at my parent's community. It was really nice to just float around, read my book and even have dinner that I didn't have to plan or cook - a lovely Monday, for the most part! The weekend - even a long weekend - passed too quickly, but it was delightful while it lasted!