Watson Wednesday

 

Watson's new favorite outing? Riding in the car with Ryan and I when we take Ryan to work. He cruises along in the back as we head to Front Royal and then when Ryan hops out to go into work, he crawls into the front seat and peeps at the sunrise all the way home! 

Lakes and Lands of Adventures - Florida 2021

I've been "out of office" as it were for almost a week! My fiancé and I hopped a plane and headed down to the Sunshine State for six days to visit his Mom and we had the best time. I will say though; August in Florida, it's hot. Blazing. Akin to a furnace. Sweltering. Yeah - it's just pretty warm. Granted, in spite of the warmth - we still had the most wonderful time.

  

After a quick flight to Orlando, we made our way to central Florida and spent the afternoon and evening at Little Lake Weir and Big Lake Weir! Ryan's mother's boyfriend has a house right on the lake with a dock and a pontoon boat and it was a complete joy to ride along the lake in the evening light with a cool breeze coming off the water.

 

  

We cruised from Little Lake Weir through a canal that connected to Big Lake Weir, taking in the wildlife and the sunset on the horizon. We didn't see any gators - but we saw plenty of cranes, ospreys and other water fowl... and maybe I'm good with having not seen any gators, ha-ha! We had the most delicious steaks/chicken, potatoes and grilled romaine for dinner and stayed at Doc's (the boyfriend of the MIL) little beach cottage for the night so we'd be closer to Orlando for Thursday morning! 

 

We arrived in Florida on Ryan's Mom's birthday and so part of our evening was celebrating her birthday with cake, some singing and sharing a present with her! It was so much fun to spend time with her and share in doing some of her favorite things on her special day!

Thursday morning we headed out for Orlando and Islands of Adventure for the day and y'all - the sun was 100% high in the sky and pouring out some sunshine all day long. Thank goodness for sunscreen and hats and water bottles, ha-ha! Ryan and Doc headed right for The Hulk as soon as we made our way into the park and after they'd hulked out, we hopped on The Amazing Adventures of Spiderman and Storm Force Acceleration - thrills and spins and drops galore. 

 

My favorite portion of the park is hands down The Wizarding World of Harry Potter and before lunch we headed into Hogwarts Castle to ride Hogwarts: Forbidden Journey. We boarded our enchanted benches and flew all around Hogwarts chasing and being chased by dragons, snitches, dementors and more - the ride was just as fun as I remembered and the attention to detail on all things HP are so spot on!

 

We grabbed lunch at Jurassic Park and then I had my moment of bravery for the day - I hopped on Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure and raced along at 50 mph around banked turns, seven launches, an inverted spike and one vertical drop - it wasn't a coaster that would strike fear in the heart of a true coaster fan - but it thrilled me for sure, even from my sidecar! I made sure to introduce Ryan to Butterbeer and we rode a few more rides before getting some Cinnabon Lattes, popping into an Under Armour on the ride home and ending the evening eating pizza on the lanai at Ms. Marilyn's house!

 

 

Friday was a more relaxed day - we slept in a bit and then after a delicious breakfast of creamed beef on toast and "juicy juice" as Ms. Marilyn calls it (and of course - all the coffee) - we changed into our activity clothes and explored The Villages for the day! Everyone in the Villages rides on golf carts... and these aren't just the kind of carts you see cruising around the golf course - some are tricked out and cost upwards of $30K - its wild! It's also really neat to see all the little carts zipping along to and fro everywhere you go!

I started the day looking cute - but that Florida heat and humidity got to me pretty quick, ha-ha! We played a 9-hole round of Putt & Play; Ryan and I won the game by one stroke, which I considered pretty impressive since golf isn't necessarily my strong suit. After we finished up our golf game, we grabbed some subs at Publix and then headed for the swimming pool for the afternoon - thank goodness for pools!

When an afternoon storm rolled in later in the day, we hopped on our golf carts and scattered back toward the house to change and head out to Doc's for the evening! We played Pictionary and this time, Ryan and I were not quite victorious (but it was very close) - that game is harder than I remember! We had some amazing chicken with brown rice, salad and some seriously divine croissants - it was all so divine! We headed home shortly after 10:15, tired but happy after a full day!

Watson Wednesday

 

Living his best life!

The Expo that Wasn't...

I am telling y'all weekends pass faster and faster! *sigh* I feel like it was just Friday afternoon and now it's Monday morning again, what in the world? I know - that's how the days work, but it just all feels like it sped by so fast, ha-ha! 

Friday after the work day was done, I picked up some friends at the tow truck station after they ended up with a flat tire and we all made our way home to the neighborhood while storms raged across the area. After I dropped them off and changed clothes, the family went to try the pizza at Pizzoco in Winchester. The restaurant is in an old gas station and makes their pizza crust and sauce from scratch; the pizza was good but the real winner were the Nightingale Ice Cream sandwiches that they offer for dessert. Holy cow were they amazin!  

If you haven't heard of them - they're a Virginia made goodie and absolutely divine. After our dinner we stopped in at the church's pool party and visited with some people and got in some swimming before another round of weather threatened to dump rain. We rolled up our things and headed home to relax a little bit before bed.

Saturday morning I went and got my hair all cut off! It's been a hot minute since my hair has been short and I think I really do like having shorter hair - it's just so much easier to deal with and I feel like my hair looks healthier! I popped home long enough to eat a PB&J, chat with my sister a bit and then my Mom and I went and got pedicures - which was a unique situation itself - the pedicures turned out great, but the service wasn't the best.

Ryan had to turn around and go back into work overnight, so we explored the annual Yard Crawl just a bit before he hopped in bed to nap a bit. I joined my parents for dinner at Crabby Maggie's Seafood in Strasburg and then we grabbed some ice cream from Sugar Creek Snowy & Sweet - easily one of the most tasty spots to grab ice cream in the area! The rest of the evening passed pretty uneventfully... Ryan and I watched some of a Kevin Hart comedy show and then I dropped him at work and came home and went to bed - I'm such a grandma, ha-ha!

Sunday morning we attended the early church service and grab some Panera for brunch - although I actually got breakfast and the other three got lunch food - at 10:30 in the morning! *laughs* My Mom and I headed to Hagerstown, Maryland for a "wedding expo" but I put it in quotations because once we finally got into the venue holding the expo, there were only about ten vendors and some of them were downright weird! I'm not sure what Scentsy and Polish Pottery have to do with wedding planning - but okay! 

We perused all the vendors and then grabbed some drinks from McDonald's before heading home a lot earlier than we'd expected. Ryan and I tried to go check out a large outdoor flea market but arrived a little too late... we did see one of the little neighborhood rabbits as we were parking on our return home. We washed laundry, got our clothes and things together for the week ahead and went to grab Popeye's Chicken for a quick dinner before watching The Spy Who Dumped Me and calling it a night.

It was another blink and you miss it weekend - but I only have two days of work this week before I am heading to Florida for six days - so I'm not too down about any of that, ha-ha!

Five on Friday

Holy moly - the weekend is finally here. Y'all, this week has been a rollercoaster and my emotions; much like my person in general, are not a fan of sharp turns, steep hills and drops. Just saying - I'm really glad to see the weekend arrive. 

One. Weekend Plans - Oh sweet sweet weekend, I am so very thrilled to see you arrive. Tonight I am looking forward to trying out the pizza and homemade ice cream sandwiches at Pizzoco Pizza Parlor. The handmade ice cream sandwiches are by Nightingale and have flavors like Cookie Monster, Fat Banana, Peaches and Cinnamon and Chocolate French Roast - just to name a few! Yum! Ryan and I are also going to a pool party that the church is sponsoring tonight, so that should be fun!

Tomorrow morning I'm going to get my hair cut/styled and I can't wait! I am going to be getting some length trimmed off and I'm really looking forward to that... it's been hot ya'll! My Mom and I have pedicures on Saturday afternoon and then Saturday afternoon once Ryan gets off work, we will have the whole afternoon to chill. Sunday (after church) my Mom and I are going to a wedding expo and I am so excited! Talk about another little part of a much larger dream coming true!

Two. Thought Provoking - I follow the artist behind the Awkward Yeti (Nick Seluk) on Instagram and I love the way he looks at life and how his cartoons address the world around us in relation to our heart, mind and so much more. I especially love the Heart and Brain comics because I feel like they are so relatable - how many times have your heart and brain been at in conflict? I know mine can be!

I saw this comic earlier this week on Instagram and it really spoke to me.... not just on a personal level but on the whole. I know there are so many times that I wish people would act more kindly because they don't know what I'm carrying - but maybe the solution is that I just try to react more kindly to others and remember that we never know what others are carrying. We all bear the weight of something in our lives, so maybe a little more kindness and compassion are never a bad idea?

Three. My Little Family - I know I'm partial (and I also know I look a little less than great here, but who cares) but I absolutely love my little family that I am building. I've been blessed to be in a wonderful family for my thirty-six years of life and now, Ryan and I are creating our own little branch - from both his family tree and mine.

I snapped this picture offhand last night and then later in the evening was just so touched to realize that this is our family for now. We certainly have prayers, hopes and plans for our family to grow and change (children and pets) as the Lord sees fit in the future, but for now - this is us. And I love us!

Four. The Heat is On - It has been absolutely blazing this week! We've reached that place in August where the temperatures climb to close to 100 and just walking outside causes you to be immediately drenched in sweat. I feel like this always happens in Virginia in August for about two weeks and then things start to slowly but surely move toward Autumn.

While I am not loving the heat, it does lend itself to some pretty spectacular sunsets with peaches, oranges and pinks each evening. I tend to think of Summer sunsets as pastel and hazy, while the sunsets that will arrive in Winter will be bold and fiery. And while I'm not yet looking forward to the chillier weather, I would like it to be a little less hot! 

Five. Vacation on the Horizon - I'm headed on vacation (again - I know, I just came back from a vacation) next Wednesday! My fiancé and I are flying down to Florida for about a week to spend time with his Mom and I am 95% pumped and 5% anxious! The 5% definitely comes into play because of the Delta variant that is ripping through Florida right now... but we are all in the category of vaccinated, so hopefully we will all just have a nice vacation. No COVID please and thank you!

We are planning to pop over to Islands of Adventure one day (hello face mask) and I can't wait to ride Hagrid's Motorbike Adventure! I love all things Harry Potter and cannot wait to be in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter again! We are also checking out the Kennedy Space Center, popping out to the beach and taking out the MiL's friend's boat. It should be an awesome week! Now - I just have to figure out how to pack for the week in just a carry on... eek! 

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Pizza and the pool and pedicures and packing... and so many other things. I am so excited that this weekend is here and that next week is a short work week for me. Y'all enjoy your weekend!

Watson Wednesday

 

I give you - another blast from Watson's past - some snapshots from when he had been in my life for probably less than a month. Such a little guy.

Well That Weekend Flew By!

How is it already Monday? That weekend passed in an absolute blur... but it was a really lovely weekend. The loveliest part was that it started early on Friday because we left work at 3:00, hallelujah! I ran Ryan to get his hair cut and we relaxed a little bit before we got all fanciful and went out to dinner at Regions 117. It was such a wonderful evening.

 

 

After we finished eating, we wandered down to the overlook of the lake... the retirement community that lives on the left side of the lake were hosting a blues/jazz concert and so we just decided to dance right there on the little concrete circle. The only people dancing but I didn't even care - we were in our own little world and as we left a little while later, a woman told us that her daughter had said "they must be so in love - look at them". It was so sweet y'all - it just tickled my heart so much.

Saturday was a whirlwind but it was also such a good day! I dropped some packages in the mail and headed up the mountainside to visit my friend Katie and finally meet her baby girl who is already over a year old! She was taking a nap when I arrived, so Katie and I caught up over some tacos and then sweet little miss woke up - and happily, she didn't take too long to warm up to me! She is the most precious little thing and I can't wait to get to know her more.

 

I scooted back down the mountain in the afternoon and picked up Ryan from work and we made our way to Pennsylvania to pick up the last of Ryan's things since he's now moved to Virginia. I spotted the message on the marquee as we made our way through the town of Elizabethtown and I couldn't resist snapping a picture - isn't that what love is? Saying "I do" every day... choosing that person every day?

After grabbing his things and loading the car, we stopped at Dockside Willie's in Harrisburg on the way home for dinner. Ryan worked at Dockside Willie's while he was in college and couldn't wait to show me around this place that was once such an important part of his life. The views were beautiful, the menu was vast and the food was delicious - I'd love to go back and have another meal there, especially if I can end the meal with a slice of their homemade peanut butter pie!

Sunday was church - I was in the nursery - and then we went to the Alamo Drafthouse (Ryan's first time) for lunch and to see Jungle Cruise. The movie was incredibly good and I absolutely loved it; filled with the "Dad jokes" you know and love from the ride with a great storyline throughout as well - I was definitely a fan! We did a little garage sale "shopping" and took some walks, relaxed and watched a movie and just generally spent the rest of the afternoon resting and preparing for the work week ahead. I can't believe the weekend passed so quickly!