Friday Favorites

 

No huge favorites for this weekend and no list of five things - because I don't have five things! What I am loving this weekend is that it's a three day weekend courtesy of the Apple Blossom Festival in the town where my office is located! The festival didn't happen last year (can't imagine why...) and this year is a little more muted, but this is the festival's 94th year - and I'm just thankful for a three day weekend!

By the time this post is up, I'll be on my way to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania for the weekend! My boyfriend Ryan and I plan to explore the little town and the battlefield and just have a wonderful weekend. If you'd told teenage me that one day I'd look forward to spending a weekend in Gettysburg - I'd have laughed at you. My Dad is a Civil War buff and we were ferried to so many battlefields growing up... including Gettysburg... and now I'm going back more than willingly! Ha-ha! 

The weather for the weekend looks wonderful, the company is one of my favorite people in the world and so I'm pretty excited! So while I don't have five things to share, this Friday my favorite things are three day weekends and travel plans with my boyfriend!

Y'all have a good weekend and bring the month of May in with style! 

Life Lately - April

Tomorrow is the last day of April - where has this month gone? I am looking over my calendar and this last month has been filled with so much goodness and maybe that's why this month feels like it flew by?

Eating - Well... I certainly didn't starve this month! *face palm* The month kicked off with some seriously divine food at Regions 117 for my Dad's Birthday/Retirement party; I had Low Country Boil Pasta that was to die for... even though I couldn't eat it all. Ryan and I had the best burgers at Old Dominion Doggery... I'm still drooling thinking about it. We had rabbit-shaped cinnamon rolls on Easter for breakfast and the most delicious spread for lunch too - Momma always does an amazing job. My boyfriend (who is also a chef, ha-ha) made some tasty lasagna for us all too. Yum!

My Mom brought back the cutest and tastiest cookies from Mississippi and my cousin's wedding shower and she also brought me some tasty chocolate truffles! And when I visited Pennsylvania later in the month, I had some of the best Stromboli ever at YP, an absolutely stellar Pecan Pie Latter and Fluffer Nutter French Toast for breakfast at Whisk and Chicken Stir Fry cooked by Ryan! All so good! And Whisk was so good that on Sunday, we returned for lunch and I had the most amazing Blackberry Jalapeño Grilled Cheese - *drool*

Watching - I find I haven't been watching too much TV this last month! I've been keeping up with Home Town and always love seeing the miracle homes that Ben and Erin create out of a mess! I've also been watching Escape to the Country and Grand Designs on YouTube - both shows that come straight out of the UK and are also both home shows - the first being a house hunting show and the latter being a house building show. Thrilling - I know!

Wearing - I grabbed the rose gold sandals pictured below at Target at the start of the month because a metallic sandal goes with pretty much everything and they are so comfortable! They are cute, they have a cushion-y foot bed and I am all around just in love with them!

I also picked up a tiered black baby doll dress from Target too! It's flattering, fun and will be a go-to for the Spring and Summer months ahead! My warm weather wardrobe is pretty much complete with cute, no frills dresses and sandals - so these items are perfect for me!

Bought - I haven't bought much of excitement this month... I mean; I did buy one thing of excitement but I'll save sharing about that until a later date. *smiles mischievously* I did grab some shapewear from Honey Love because I think it's just good to have quality shapewear as an adult and these are great! I also grabbed a nice black one-piece bathing suit to have for the Summer ahead - because you can never go wrong with that.  

Want - This might be pretty funny but I want all the fashions for Spring and Summer to not look like I'm an extra on Little House on the Prairie! Where did this come from and why is it a thing? Smocked florals with ruffles and flounces are everywhere and I'm bewildered by it all. Yikes! I know - quite a silly thing... but sometimes I am quite silly.

Reading - Oh my goodness, the joy of reading this month has been real! I had been in such a rut where books were concerned but suddenly this month I found great books to read and enjoyed them all so much! I started the month with Woven by Angie Smith - a book that ties the Bible together in chronological order as one complete story. It "weaves" the Bible together, if you will! *insert cheesy laughter* 

I also read The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner; a story that bounces between a woman coping with infidelity in present-day London and a female apothecary in Victorian London who brews concoctions to "punish" disloyal men - it was a fabulous read! The third book I read was The Four Winds by Kristen Hannah; who has become one of my favorite authors. The story follows a young woman named Elsa as she navigates unexpected motherhood and the Great Depression and finds a strength she didn't know she possessed.

Last but not least - I've started reading What Comes After by Joanne Tompkins but I'm only about halfway through, so I'll save that review for May! 

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I can't believe 2021 is already a quarter of the way complete y'all - time is flying! Enjoy each day!

Watson Wednesday

Take time to stop & smell the... Irises.

 

All in Bloom

The weekend was lovely - truly, it was. I didn't have any plans but somehow the weekend turned out pretty delightful. Friday night I had dinner with my family and spent some time chatting with my boyfriend on the phone... but I also ended up going to sleep pretty early because the one side effect I seemed to feel from my COVID vaccine was feeling pretty worn out by the end of the day Friday! 

The forecast for Saturday was rain - but the sunshine was out early in the day and so I decided I wanted to find a way to get outside while the sun was shining! My Mom and I popped over to the Virginia State Arboretum for about an hour, taking in the flowers in bloom and letting Watson enjoy being in nature. We stopped by a church in nearby Millwood and then grabbed some treats at the Mt. Airy Farm Store before heading home for the rest of the day. 

I was able to finish up reading The Four Winds on Saturday afternoon and around 5:00 the rain rolled into town and it poured for the rest of the evening. The rest of the evening was pretty low-key with dinner, some television and just relaxing - which makes for a lovely Saturday!

Sunday morning the rain was gone, the sky was blue and the weather was even just a bit warmer! My Mom and I had nursery at church and then we attended the Vision Meeting and had lunch at church after... once we got home from church it was already about 2:00 but we knew we wanted to get outside and so we made our way over to the Museum of the Shenandoah Valley.

The Museum had an exhibit of Normal Rockwell paintings and they were interesting to peruse but I really enjoyed exploring the gardens at the Glen Burnie House because everything is in bloom right now and it was absolutely magical. We were in the gardens until they notified us that they were closing the gates at 5:00 - and so of course, I took a million pictures! How could I not when everything looks so beautiful?!?

We had Zaxby's for dinner, watched the season finale of Home Town and I got ready for the four day work week ahead before closing out my Sunday chatting with the best man I know. It was such a good weekend and I so enjoyed being able to spend so much time out in nature, watching the world come alive again after Winter! 

Friday Favorites

 

One. I'm Fully Vaccinated - I am so happy and thankful that I was able to receive my 2nd dose of the Pfizer vaccine yesterday and now I can happily say that I'm fully vaccinated. I know that it will take two weeks for everything to be completely effective and I'll like need a booster in the Fall, but I am just thrilled to have this extra layer of protection for now!

The whole process was pretty painless - except for that sore arm I'm dealing with today! Thankfully I haven't had any sort of side effects from either of the shots (besides the above mentioned arm) and so I would highly recommend getting the shot if you have the option. Which.. it's my understanding that now everyone over 16 in the US has the option - so go for it!

Two. Out with the Old, In with the New - I made a change this week... I got a new car! It's been something being discussed for a little while now and on Tuesday, everything was made official. A neighbor bought my Kia Optima and I now have a lovely Kia Niro!

I know what you're saying - you almost can't even tell the difference, ha-ha! Both of the vehicles are a lovely white and I transferred my custom Washington Nationals tags from one vehicle to the other but there are so many differences. The new car is just that - a newer model - and it also has Apple Car Play and is a hybrid, which has already made such a difference on gas! 

Three. Baseball Tickets - I haven't been to Nationals Park in almost two years but finally, the long wait is almost over! The family purchased tickets to a game on May 5th and I am counting down the days until I get to walk through the turnstile of my beloved Nationals Park once again! 

We had to buy tickets in pods, we will have to stay in our assigned seats and face masks will be a constant but I couldn't care in the least. I finally get to see one of my favorite places in all the world and I also get to see that World Series Champions banner flying over my favorite stadium. I am counting down the days (there are only 12 to go) and I planning my outfit already!

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This week - I only have three things as opposed to five! I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

Watson Wednesday

 

I call this - pictures of a dog that must have missed me a LOT while I was gone last weekend. 

Coffee, Cliffs & Chickie's Rock

 I think Pennsylvania might be growing on me... I can't begin to imagine why (insert laughter emoji here) but I am really enjoying all the time I've been spending in the Keystone state over the last month and a half. The weather this weekend was glorious - I mean, look at that picture I took on the way into the PA countryside on Friday afternoon. Beautiful I tell you!

 

It was also a wee bit windy on Friday night - as you can see in that picture of my hair whipping around my face - but that didn't deter us from exploring a little bit of the countryside as Ryan showed me where he grew up and we even checked out the Amish schoolhouse. The sign on the schoolhouse says "no tourists" and Ryan assured me that we weren't tourists.

We had dinner at YP (Your Place) - they are famous for their Stromboli and it was pretty freaking delicious; we ate every bite. We also had ice cream at Friendly's and watched a movie - it was a great way to spend a Friday night. And Saturday morning we were up and at it a lot earlier than I imagined... having breakfast at Whisk shortly after 8 AM! What? I had a Pecan Pie Latte and Fluffer Nutter French Toast and every bite of it was to die for delicious. 

 

After a CVS stop, some time spent perusing the mall and visiting a couple jewelry stores (hmmm...) we changed into more dressed down clothes and set off for the walk/hike to the White Cliffs of Conoy. I don't know that I'd call it a hike because the pathway is paved and relatively flat, but we did scoot off the trail a couple times to walk up to the top of the ridge and peek at the river down below. It was a lovely day out and there were people all along the trail - the "hike" was right at 1.5 miles but we went a little past that.

 

The cliffs are made from Limestone and Dolomite that were left behind when the limestone quarry that was near the river went out of business. They were pretty impressive to see and when you are standing at the top, they look much higher up than you'd think. I stayed far away from the edge but Ryan was eager to peer over as much as possible... which is hard to do when you're girlfriend won't let go of your hand to let you creep closer. Hehehe!

 

We had a late lunch at a spot on the trail near a lookout for the bald eagle nest perched in a tree along the river, made the hike back and then headed back to the house. When I say it was a late lunch - it was around 3:30 when we finally ate! We watched some TV for a while and then Ryan cooked a late dinner (which was delicious) and we chatted for a good while. 

Sunday morning dawned bright and early and after coffee and breakfast, it was off to church and then because the food was so freaking good at Whisk - we went back for lunch on Sunday! It was glorious outside and we were able to snag a table in the sunshine. The food did not disappoint this time around either; I had a Blackberry Bacon Grilled Cheese with fresh fruit and gosh - it was divine. The company was pretty spectacular too!

 

 

After lunch we changed into hiking clothes again and went to do the hike to Chickies Rock - which is only a few minutes up the road from the house. This was more of a hike than a walk, but still not anything I'd consider intense. The hike was less than a mile and led to a rock outcrop that overlooks the river and the railroad tracks and offers some seriously amazing views! 

 

All too soon it was time to pack things back up and head toward Virginia - and blessedly the traffic was just as light going to Virginia on Sunday afternoon as it had been going to Pennsylvania on Friday afternoon! I arrived home to Five Guys for dinner, a new Washington Nationals oven mitt and a pup who had missed me very much! I was able to get everything un-packed and watch the new episode of Home Town before I started fading and crawled into bed.

It was another wonderful weekend and I cannot believe there is only one more in the month of April!