Five on Friday

It's Friday - and not just Friday, but this Friday is...for me...on the cusp of a really short work week. I'm off next week from Tuesday afternoon through the rest of the week, so it's almost like I have a short break on an extra long weekend - yahoo!

Now that I've shared all my delightful news about a long, long weekend...interspersed with a short work week, let's get down to the Five!

One. Perfectly Posh Freebies - Perfectly Posh has so many items on sale right now! If you've ever wanted to try Perfectly Posh, now is the time to do so because with a $29 order you'll get a free That's So Cuke face wash and with a $49 order you'll get a free That's So Cuke face wash and Sun's Out, Fun's Out Replenishing face moisturizer.

This deal only lasts through June 30th and is available to the first 6,000 customers - so if you'd like to give these products a try, check out my website at http://NatalieSummerlin.po.sh

Two. Too Cute - I just couldn't not share this picture of my pup! He's always been a beggar and earlier this week I decided to partake in some delicious macarons that I ordered from Ma-Ka-Rohn and he just couldn't resist hoping he'd get a bite! He's such a mess!

Three. Weekend Plans - What to do with this last weekend in June? Well tonight will be dinner and visiting with some family friends. Saturday doesn't have too much in the AM, I suppose it will be the sort of morning where we'll see what unfolds... but Saturday evening we are heading to West Virginia to celebrate my favorite almost 4 year old's birthday with a picnic/cook-out. You can also see the nearby Harper's Ferry fireworks from the backyard - so that should be cool! Sunday is July 1st and who knows what we'll get up to on Sunday?

Four. Stop & Smell the Roses - Another picture...which I just couldn't resist. We have roses planted in the backyard and the hot pink roses in particular are blooming absolutely beautiful and I had to share a picture!

Five. Local Lore - I mentioned last week (or was it two weeks ago?) that I'd been loving the podcast Lore and I realized this week that the Northern Virginia/DC Metro/Maryland area has it's on episode and I'd seen the creature of lore and didn't even know it! Last summer while in DC for a Nationals game, we spotted the large sign below and wondered what in the world it was all about...

Fast forward to this year and I know that it's a legend from the lore of the DMV - a flying serpent-like creature that swoops down and snatches children and live stock (glad I'm not either of those). It's also a beer festival named for the local legend...and that's what the sign was for! Just another interesting thing to learn about the place I now call home!

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That's all I've got for this Friday! I hope everyone has a great weekend - I'll pop back in tomorrow with my June Jams and then - it's July! I can't even believe it!

Watson Wednesday

I shared this picture on Monday - but I just couldn't help sharing it again. It's so sweet (to me, at least) and just tickles me to see my little pup reaching his head toward his pup cup - a treat he'd been waiting patiently for!

Another Weekend - Recapped

Why does the weekend always pass so quickly? It would seem on the weekends I have plans, time flies...but then again, when I have nothing to do, time also zips right by. If time flies when you're having fun, then I guess my life is always a barrel of laughs because I feel it speeding along all the time!

Friday evening kicked off with dinner at Paladin Bar & Grill - a fairly new spot to dine that is only about 5 minutes from the house - and has delicious food! I had plans to try something new but once we got there, I had to go with tried and true favorites: the Brunswick Stew to start and the Macaroni & Cheese for my meal - both are so yummy! I did get a June Bug to go with my meal, so I suppose that was my something new?

I perused the furniture store with my parents and we got Sweet Frog frozen yogurt (thank goodness I got off early on Friday & had the sense to go home & exercise first...) before coming home and watching Tomb Raider. Watson was not a fan of the loud noises the movie produced and once it was over, he was just completely exhausted - poor little pansy.

I slept in until 8:30 on Saturday morning - which blew my mind. I've been waking up around 7:00 and struggling to sleep in, so I was pretty happy to finally stay asleep a little later. I do love my sleep, even if it doesn't always love me! I passed the morning with coffee, exercise and just generally not doing too much. I had plans to spend the afternoon and evening with friends and once I'd had breakfast, exercised, taken a bath, made brownies and had a little lunch - the morning and early afternoon seemed like they had passed in a blink.

I have been dealing with sinus-related headaches all week and Saturday was no exception. At one point I thought I was going to have to cancel but I pulled myself together, took some Excedrin Migraine and headed out with my brownies in tow. I had an awesome afternoon with my friends Danielle & Meridith, we chatted, laughed, sipped some hard cider and had a delicious meal of brisket, twice-baked potato casserole and broccoli. Danielle has a mimosa tree in her yard and gave us each a potted "sapling" to take home.

After dinner, we made a visit to the local farmer's market filled with all sorts of wonderful fruits, veggies, baked goods, hard cider, wine and honestly just a little bit of everything. I love perusing stores like that and I'd have thoroughly enjoyed myself except my stomach decided to revolt about mid-way through the visit and so, once we returned to Danielle's house, I made my apologies for cutting the evening short and headed home - where I spent the rest of the evening lying on the couch. Blah.

Sunday was filled with all manner of activity - we went to the 9:00 o'clock service at church and then had breakfast at IHOP, where I got my beloved Cinnastacks pancakes! I don't know about you, but nothing makes me quite so happy as the simple pleasure of a small stack of cinnamon and icing covered pancakes - yum!

My Mom and I headed to the Alamo at 12:00 to catch the 12:30 showing of Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, which we both really enjoyed! I managed to only jump once, ha-ha! Once we returned home, we had beef stew for an early dinner around 3:45 and then I fought it for as long as I could before I took a short nap. Around 5:15, my Mom and I took Watson to Newtown Creamery and we all - even the dog - got ice cream!

Watson was so sweet and well behaved, waiting patiently for his pup cup and then happily eating it. I really did win the puppy lottery where he's concerned. Once we returned home, I took a bubble bath and then sat out on the deck with my Mom and the pup for a bit before ending my weekend with the season finale of Westworld.

Five on Friday....Sort Of...

Can you believe there are only two weekends left in the month of June? I can't - but then again, I always seem to be blown away by how quickly time flies! I'm especially mind-boggled since June had five weekends instead of four...and yet here we are, on the cusp of the second to last weekend of the month!

Shall we get right into things? It's Friday, so it's time for Five on Friday! I share about five things on my mind on this Friday and if you blog, you're welcome to join in! Let's go!

One. Summer is Here - Yesterday was officially the first day of Summer! While it's not my favorite season(that would be Autumn)...it earns the second place spot. Summer has baseball, vacations (usually), warmer weather...I could really go on and on. While it doesn't hold the same joy of long days of doing nothing that it did when I was a child (#adultingishard), I love the longer days and the joy of sipping a cool drink in the shade of the deck after work.

Two. I ❤️ Chris Pratt - Not only is Chris Pratt handsome, hilarious, a talented actor and a doting Dad to his sweet son, he also loves Jesus and proclaims it proudly. It's so refreshing and inspiring to see a man of God speak out about his faith in such a public setting - gotta love that!

Three. Weekend Things - June has been a really "slow" month for me...at least where weekend plans are concerned. I do have plans to have dinner with some friend tomorrow night, but that's really the only thing on my calendar and that's so unusual for me! I would like to go see Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom but beyond that, the weekend is pretty wide open for me. I'm sure I'll find something to get into!

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And that's all I've got for this Friday - I can't even think of five things, so I put three and it's Friday Favorites instead of Five on Friday, ha-ha! Y'all have a good weekend and enjoy this second to last weekend of June... July will be here before you know it!

Watson Wednesday

A few flashback snaps of my sweet Watson through the years - if there is one thing that Watson has always loved, it's finding a good spot to stretch out and take a nap. Silly little lounger!

Unexpected

Another weekend has come and gone - a weekend that unfolded a bit differently than expected, but when unexpected things happen - you just roll with it. I finally saw Deadpool (it was hilarious) and passed my Friday night with dinner out with my family, watching the Nationals play baseball (rather poorly) on TV and just poked around for most of the evening.

I woke up on Saturday morning at 6:40 AM and couldn't ever quite go back to sleep, so I finally got up around 7:45 and discovered my Mom had been left to run the garage sale on her own because my Dad was called in to work... I had my coffee and proceeded to pass the morning going in and out to sit with my Mom, walk my pup and just take in the nice weather. Around 11:00 Watson and I made a run to grab lunch from Burger King and we all munched on our burgers in the garage together - even Watson got a few bites!

Shortly after noon, I went to get my hair cut and had a lovely time chatting with my friend Melissa while she did my hair for me! Mid-way through my hair cut, my evening plans were unexpectedly cancelled and so once I got home, I course corrected a bit and ended up spending my afternoon perusing Target with my Mom, getting ice cream and grabbing some groceries before heading home and taking a nap.

Now - I wouldn't normally take a nap at 5:00 in the afternoon, but I'd been dealing with a headache for almost 48 hours and the medicine I took...thinking it was non-drowsy...was very much the kind of medicine that makes you drowsy! Whoops! We grilled kabobs and had dinner on the deck together - not the way I thought my Saturday evening would be unfolding, but it was nice all the same.

I joined my parents at a church they visited on Sunday morning - it was Father's Day after all and I felt I should spend most of it with my Father, ha-ha! We had dinner at Carrabba's and went to see Oceans 8, my Dad loves a movie with Sandra Bullock in it. The rest of the day passed quickly - Sundays always seem to fly by - but I took a bubble bath, washed some clothes, read a bit and watched Westworld before calling the weekend done.

Five on Friday

Oh yahoo - Friday has come once again! This week hasn't been long or arduous in any way but I'm always glad to see the weekend arrive again, if only because I get to sleep late tomorrow and I do love sleeping in, ha-ha! Five things that I'm loving or excited about on this Friday...take a look!

One. Lore - I listen to quite a few podcasts and most of them are related to shows I watch...and most of the shows I watch are ending for their seasons, so I went looking for a new podcast to listen to. I like history and true crime...and while searching this section of iTunes podcast library, I stumbled on the podcast Lore by Aaron Mahnke - the winner of The Best of 2015, The Best of 2016 and Best History Podcast of 2016.

The description of the podcast reads: Lore is an award-winning, critically-acclaimed podcast about true life scary stories. Lore exposes the darker side of history, exploring the people, creatures and places of our wildest nightmares. Each episode examines a new dark historical tale in a modern campfire experience. It's so good and only (to me - a self-proclaimed pansy) mildly spine-tingling to me!

Two. Dresses Y'all - I love a good dress and I know that when my Mom reads this (hey Momma *waving*) she'll say that the last thing I need is another dress, but I just love them! There are two on Amazon that I have my eye on and both have really excellent reviews, so I think I might push the button and order both of them...

The great thing about ordering them from Amazon Prime is that if they don't work out (*sad face*), they offer free returns, so I can send them back with no fuss and get my money back just as easily! So, maybe I'll be adding two cute maxi dresses to my wardrobe over the weekend!

Three. New Hairdo - I'm getting my hair cut tomorrow and I cannot wait! Earlier in the year I added some lighter pieces to my hair and while I loved it when I first had it done, as the past couple months have passed... my love (like my hair color) has faded. I know that lightening your hair damages the hair, but as much as I've changed the color of my hair I've never really seen any signs of damage, until this time. I'm planning to get my hair cut into a lob (long bob) and hopefully that will remove the damaged ends. I haven't decided what to do after that, but for now I'm just looking forward to shorter, healthier (hopefully) hair. My inspiration is below - so we shall see!

Four. Weekend Plans - I don't have too much on the agenda this weekend...but I do have plans on Saturday evening (that are still being formulated). This evening is pretty open and beyond getting dinner with my family, I'm not sure what else will unfold. Saturday is my neighborhood's yard sale and so I've contributed some things here and there - who knows, perhaps I'll end tomorrow with some extra pocket change? I'm getting dinner tomorrow evening with a life long friend and I have no idea what Sunday will hold - but it's Father's Day, so I suppose my sweet Dad will get to make the call on Sunday's activities.

Five. Watson (but not Wednesday) - I found some pictures of Watson from our road trip/move from Mississippi to Virginia on my Time Hop yesterday and I just couldn't resist sharing them here. I didn't know it at the time but my pup really is such a good traveler - he likes to sit in the front seat, take in the scenery, take long naps and maybe get a bite of french fry or cheeto if you've stopped for snacks.

That's it for this week! The weekend ahead looks gorgeous (if hot...) and I can't wait to see what it will have in store! Y'all have a great rest of Friday and enjoy your weekend!

Four Years

I haven't been blogging for four years - although that would make perfect sense, wouldn't it? I've lived in Virginia for four years as of today! Originally I'd had a plan to write a long and winding post about the past four years but I don't know that I could put down in words all the memories I've made over the past four years. So - a gigantic picture collage it is! Behold...

  

 

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

  

   

   

  

  

  

   

The past four years have been filled with so many wonderful memories and even now, I am still meeting new people and forging new relationships - and while life in Virginia after four years doesn't always look like I imagined it might (and let's be honest, when does life really look the way YOU imagine it?), it always looks like a life filled with happiness and so much joy.

I look forward to what the next four years...and hopefully so many more here in Virginia have in store.