Have I Told You Lately - February

I decided to revert to my original end of the month post(s) - I enjoyed the format and wanted to share a little bit more than just what I'm reading each month. So here we are with my Have I Told You Lately format for the month of February - can we believe it's the last day of February??

Eating & Drinking - I suppose I'm not in the habit of taking so many food pictures as I once was, ha-ha! I do know our month started with dinner at Cactus Cantina in DC with family and friends; they have divine Tex-Mex right in the middle of DC, so very yummy and I'm so glad our family shared this gem with us! Ryan and I attended the XO Marriage Conference at our church and were gifted some of the best cookies - perfect for the event and incredibly tasty! 

We had some delicious home cooked meals throughout the month - I finally tried my hand at making a favorite that my Mom has fixed throughout the years, Hamburger Steak! It turned out delicious! We had sweet treats at a surprise party for Ryan's boss and when we went to Seven Springs - the pickle fries were great, the chili was delicious and my personal favorite was a Raspberry Zinger cupcake I had! Yum!

Reading - I am still managing to read like a champ and February allowed me to add three and a half more books to my list of books read in 2023! So, I'm still off to a good start with my goal of reading 35 books for this year! This month I read:

• What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall - Haunted by a killer from their youth, a group of friends begin to unravel when one member starts asking questions! This book was a quick and engrossing read with numerous twists and turns - I really enjoyed it! ⭐⭐⭐⭐of 5!
• The Night Train to Berlin by Melanie Hudson - A train journey into the past. A love that echoes through time. This book was a Christmas gift from my MIL and is set between two timelines: present day and WWII, and y'all know I love a WWII setting! The book was great, but a little slow to get started. ⭐⭐⭐.5 of 5 (I can't use half a star...)
• The Circus Train by Amita Parikh - All the worlds a stage in this moving WWII story about a traveling circus and finding yourself during dark times. Another WWII book with a train element; it seems February had a theme! This book was also a little slow to get going but once it picked up, I devoured the final 150 pages in an afternoon! ⭐⭐⭐⭐of 5!
• Saving Aziz by Chad Robichaux - The captivating and inspiring true story of Marine and MMA fighter Chad Robichaux and his fight to rescue the Afghan interpreter who served alongside him. Guys, I am only about halfway through this one, so I'll report back a little more about this in March - but goodness, the US government is sneaky. *sigh* 

Watching - The two shows that were on a pretty regular rotation at our house this month (both being watched by me, ha-ha) are Home Town (the seventh season) and The Last of Us. Let's talk about two shows that could not be more different, oh man! Home Town is a feel good home renovation show set in Laurel, Mississippi - colorful, vibrant and down home warmth emanate from the screen when you're watching!

And then there's The Last of Us - a show set in a post-apocalyptic world that is being overrun by human infected with the cordyceps virus... which turns them into mindless minions of the cordyceps fungus that has taken over their mind. It's absolutely not colorful, vibrant or warm - but it is really quite good!

The hubby and I are so close to finishing the second season of Jack Ryan - but we have been watching that second season in fits and starts! 

Loving - I am loving my peek-a-boo tattoo y'all! I can absolutely tell you that I'd always been fascinated by tattoos but just figured that I was too much of a pansy to go get one! I suggested shortly after our wedding that Ryan and I get one another's initials tatted on our ring finger - as a substitute when we are doing things where we need to leave our rings...

We got our tattoos over the weekend and mine is now healed enough to put my rings back on - and I love how it manages to be almost hidden, but I can move my rings if I want and there it is! I just can't believe how it really wasn't quite so bad (and yes - I had numbing cream) and how pleased I am to have my first tattoo!

Wanting - Spring... oh man how I want Spring to go ahead and get here! We have had next to no Winter this season and I must confess, that somehow makes me want Spring to get here even sooner! If we'd had a Winter filled with snow, perhaps it would be more enjoyable but there have been spats of ice here and there... and that coupled with the milder temperatures - well, Spring can just go ahead and arrive and that would be fine with me!

Quoting - However you choose to live your life - just know one thing for certain: someone is going to be disappointed. So the choice before you is "who"? And there's the whole truth of it: It really shouldn't be you. - Anonymous 

************************************************

I hope y'all have a wonderful end of the month and your March starts off wonderfully! 

What Season is it?

True story - on Thursday it was almost 80 degrees - and then on Saturday (as you can see) it snowed. Now, it didn't snow much but still - it leads one to wonder what season we are experiencing right now? I know it's supposed to be Winter and snow is very much a Winter thing, but the recent temperatures hovering between the mid-50's and upper-60's have me longing for an early Spring.

Friday night was a pretty chill evening for Ryan and I - we ended up having dinner, having a family budget meeting and actually going to bed pretty early, ha-ha! We are basically an old married couple - even though we haven't quite made four months yet!

Saturday we were up before 7:30 - the trouble with getting up at 5:15 during the week means you don't sleep that "late" on the weekend! We had some down time before we got ready for the day and headed to my parents to have an early lunch with some family friends and then we perused some thrift stores in the area - and I found a Washington Nationals Stein - what a find y'all! 

 

About a month ago, Ryan and I were discussing date nights and getting creative with the things we did for dates - I told Ryan to use his imagination and y'all - he definitely did for our date on Saturday! I mentioned shortly after we were married that maybe one day (someday) we should get one another's initials tatted on our ring finger - small enough to be covered by our wedding bands - but as a "wedding band" when we need to leave ours somewhere safe.

The hubby told me earlier in the week that he had a surprise for our date on Saturday and I couldn't be a "chicken poop" about it. Well - I knew then that we were going to get tattoos! Eek!

I wasn't terrified but I did purchase some Lidocaine numbing cream and applied it liberally to my ring finger ahead of the appointment. I confess that I did get pretty nervous right before the moment arrived - but once the tattoo artist started, it wasn't nearly so bad as I'd imagined and y'all - it was done in about five minutes! Just like that - I am now the proud owner of a tattoo and I still can't believe I actually have one, ha-ha!

 

We met up with my parents for dinner at Texas Roadhouse and then headed home to watch some TV and chill before calling it a night! We made sure to put some Aquaphor on our new tats - got to help them heal correctly! Sunday morning it was off to church and then my parents took us to brunch at Regions 117 - which was so nice! It's been a while (the day after our wedding actually) since we've been to Regions and I always enjoy their delicious food! 

After snow showers on Saturday, the weather was sunny and 62 on Sunday and so Ryan and I knew we wanted to get outside and enjoy the gorgeous weather! We headed to Seven Bends State Park and got in almost three miles in the glorious weather! We love having this state park so close to our house - it's the best place for spending time outside and just a couple miles down the road!

 

We came home and did some things around the house before stoking up our fire pit in the backyard in the moderate temperatures. My parents ended up stopping by with fire wood, hot dogs and chips, so we roasted weenies in the back yard and enjoyed the weather while it was so nice. It was such a good weekend - even if it passed way too quickly!

 

A Skier, I am Not

Well. I have discovered that skiing is maybe not the next sport I will be conquering! But let me not get ahead of myself, ha-ha! Friday was a beautiful day... until shortly before we left to head to PA and then the wind picked up like crazy and made for a very interesting drive - trying to keep the car in our lane, ha-ha! 

We arrived in Seven Springs around 4:00 and it had started snowing for the last twenty minutes of our drive and continued to come down for the rest of the evening - although not anything that was ever steady or intense. But still - it was also the first real snowfall we have seen all Winter season! 

 

Ryan spent plenty of his early childhood at Seven Springs - he learned to ski when he was four and has been skiing and snowboarding ever since! So this was a return to a place with precious memories for him and a whole new experience for me! We were able to secure lift tickets and rentals for Saturday but unfortunately the tubing was all sold out - too bad! Once we'd secure everything, we headed to check into our AirBnB about ten minutes away - while the snow still fell all around us! 

 

Our AirBnB was a Catalina Coachman RV that is permanently parked in an RV Resort about 4 miles from the North Entrance to Seven Springs - so the location was great! The RV could sleep up to six people but given there was only one teeny bathroom, I think it's probably good that it was just Ryan and I! It was perfect for our weekend - it had a fully functional kitchen, a Queen sized bed and most importantly - it had heat! It was fun to experience a camper - I've never stayed in one quite like this before.

 

Once we got everything settled, we changed for dinner and headed back to Seven Springs - all bundled up in the rapidly dropping temperatures and explored the Lodge. We grabbed dinner at the Bavarian and perused a couple of the shops before we popped down to the rental shop to pick up our skis and snowboard for Saturday! I absolutely forgot how snug ski boots are - oh my goodness. I also feel like snowboard boots look a little bit cooler than ski boots, but my hubby assured me skiing was easier to pick up than snowboarding - so skis it was.

 

After we had all our things - we headed back to our RV for the night, watched a little TV and got some sleep for our Saturday ahead! I will confess that on Saturday morning, my optimism was HIGH for the skiing. It was the most beautiful day and as I suited up, I just knew that I was going to be able to pick skiing up with no issues and soon we'd both be "swooshing" down the slopes together. It was going to be perfect!

 

Y'all. Oh y'all - when expectations meet reality - oof. I fell getting to the ski lift. I fell getting off the ski lift. I fell before we'd made it even twenty feet down the ski hill. It was a brutal wake up call to me that the last time I skied, I was fifteen and that little adventure had ended in injury - after falling three times in less than twenty minutes, the fear was on the rise. And I realized that the only way down was to ski down and that almost undid me... 

Thankfully - there is something called the Ski Patrol and they will take you down on the ski lift - so that is what I did. My hubby took his board down and we met at the bottom, where I attempted to ski the bunny hill and fell again - and y'all - it was crushing to me. I was terrified, felt like I had zero control and just knew I was going to get hurt... through tears, I told my hubs that I wanted him to enjoy himself and I would read my book in the lobby. *sigh*

 

Blessedly we were able to exchange my lift ticket and rentals over to my husband for Sunday - we had lunch together at the Foggy Goggle and then my husband spent the afternoon hitting every slope on the mountain - literally. I read my book in the cozy lobby and then we met up in the afternoon, headed back to our AirBnB and enjoyed a night in together. 

 

On Sunday morning we headed back to Seven Springs and Ryan was able to get in several more runs while I made even more of a dent in my book, then we had lunch at the Foggy Goggle again before returning the rentals and packing in our things to head back to Virginia! We made the drive home, stopped at my parents to have dinner with them and then headed on to our house - and man - I was thrilled to sleep in our own bed on Sunday night!

Seven Springs is a great spot and I told Ryan - I'd like to make skiing a part of our lives. I marveled at the little kiddos who were so skilled and so small and I told Ryan I'd like to have our kids on skis when they were small, so they'd learn like he did. I also told him I'd give it a try every single time we went - maybe I'd even end up in ski school with our kid one day, ha-ha! Regardless - if I end up being a "ski Mom" that reads by the fire while Dad and the kiddos ski - I'm happy with that too!

Monday was President's Day and I had the day off (sorry Hubby) - and it was so nice to just stay in the bed until 7:45 and then do what I wanted when I finally got up! Granted, what I wanted was to do a load of laundry - but that's okay - it was a day off! I got some things organized at our house - I put out my forever roses from my hubby, put out a few Easter decorations and then headed to my parents to work on our taxes (yay). 

The weekend passed so quickly and y'all - it will be March next weekend - can you believe that? So far, this year is flying by and the coming months have so much goodness in store!

The Friday Five

 

One. Valentine's Day - What a sweet day Valentine's Day was! It's such a blessing to have a sweetheart to share this special day with! Love comes in all forms and from all kinds of relationships, but I will say that as someone who waited on my forever sweetheart for so long - it makes these kind of celebrations all the more special.

 

We were spoiled rotten by my parents with a lovely gift basket and then on Valentine's Day, we shared gifts with one another - and my sweet hubby did such a great job! He got me the most beautiful tennis bracelet and some flowers from Fresh Cut Paper (which is really neat - you should check them out if you haven't heard of them). 

Two. Weekend Things - Y'all, I am living on the edge this weekend! Ryan and I are headed to Seven Springs Resort in Pennsylvania to ski, snowboard and snow tube and I am going to hope that skiing is like riding a bike and I pick it right back up, ha-ha!

We are staying at an AirBnB in the area and plan to go skiing (me) and snowboarding (Ryan) on Saturday and then spend Sunday morning doing some snow tubing before heading back to Virginia! We are lucky that we're both getting to leave work today at noon - so while it will be a quick weekend - it will be a little longer than most!

Three. Snow - We have had such a mild Winter here this year, barely even a flurry of snow to be seen but I know this weekend that will change and I must admit - I'm kind of excited! I'm thrilled to know that I'll get to see some of the white stuff this weekend and play around and spend time in a Winter Wonderland!

It remains to be seen if Winter will show up in the Shenandoah Valley - but there is something nice about getting to experience snow and all it's beauty without having to go to work, ha-ha! So I plan to enjoy the beauty of the Winter this weekend (and also hope that maybe Spring comes early to our neck of the woods). 

Four. My Plant Children - Once upon a time, I joked I had a black thumb but I wanted to share my little windowsill of plants at my office. I've managed to keep them alive and growing for quite some time now and they bring me a lot of pride and joy!

This is probably not the best picture of them - but I snapped it the other day to share with my Mom and decided I'd share it here too! They are all growing pretty fiercely and I'm thinking one or two of them could use a larger pot!

Five. It's A Three Day Weekend - I just had to throw that out there, ha-ha! My sweet husband still has to go to work on Monday, but I absolutely plan to snuggle back into the bed and sleep in on Monday. Sure - once I get up I have to do taxes, but I can take my time and that's the beauty of it all. The best part about this three day weekend is that I have only about a month until I have a four day weekend - cue the cheering!

******************************************************************

Y'all have a good weekend and I'll see you back here next week - hopefully with no skiing injuries!