Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - January 17, 2024

 

Welcome to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you stopped by.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature! 

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
4. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
5. Tara – STILETTOS AND SHIPLAP | IG | PINTEREST
6. Denise –THISISMYEVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER

TOP VIEWED

Being Happy and Healthy in my 60s

VERY POPULAR

Chicken Orzo - One Pan Dish

Fun New Ways to Share Recipes

EDITOR'S CHOICE

No Bake Peanut Butter Pie

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Five on Friday - January 12, 2024

Let's hear it for Friday!  I'm so ready for the weekend to begin.  Monday is a celebrated holiday at my work so I'm looking at a three-day weekend!  Woo Hoo!  Starting it off with my five for the week ~

1.  All Creatures Great and Small

One of our favorite series, All Creatures Great and Small, returned this week with Season 4.  This PBS show is full of warmth and humor.  It's based on the stories by best-selling author James Herriot and is set in beautiful Yorkshire Dales.  It picks up in 1940 as Churchill takes office and Europe is under serious threat.  We can't wait to see what the veterinarians are up to this season!  

2.  The Heiress by Rachel Hawkins

A new book hit the shelves this week and it went straight on my TBR list.  The Heiress sounds like a great read.  Here's the summary ~

When Ruby McTavish Callahan Woodward Miller Kenmore dies, she’s not only North Carolina’s richest woman, she’s also its most notorious. The victim of a famous kidnapping as a child and a widow four times over, Ruby ruled the tiny town of Tavistock from Ashby House, her family’s estate high in the Blue Ridge Mountains.

But in the aftermath of her death, her adopted son, Camden, wants little to do with the house or the money—and even less to do with the surviving McTavishes. Instead, he rejects his inheritance, settling into a normal life as an English teacher in Colorado and marrying Jules, a woman just as eager to escape her own messy past.

Ten years later, his uncle’s death pulls Cam and Jules back into the family fold at Ashby House. Its views are just as stunning as ever, its rooms just as elegant, but the legacy of Ruby is inescapable.

And as Ashby House tightens its grip on Jules and Camden, questions about the infamous heiress come to light. Was there any truth to the persistent rumors following her disappearance as a girl? What really happened to those four husbands, who all died under mysterious circumstances? And why did she adopt Cam in the first place? Soon, Jules and Cam realize that an inheritance can entail far more than what’s written in a will––and that the bonds of family stretch far beyond the grave.

Click HERE to purchase

3.  Heart Earrings

Valentine's Day is right around the corner!  I'm getting my accessories lined up for a couple of Valentine's events I have coming up.  Look at these adorable beaded earrings!  They are going to add the sparkle I'm looking for to my outfit.  They are so cute!  Grab a pair for yourself and your friends. 

Click HERE to purchase

4.  Honey Vanilla Chamomile Tea

It's hot tea season around our house!  We love enjoying a mug of hot tea before bed.  Our new favorite is Celestial Seasonings Honey Vanilla Chamomile.  It's caffeine free so we don't have to worry about it keeping us awake at bedtime and the flavor is so delicious!  I like to add a little honey to mine.  You'll enjoy the aroma first before you ever start drinking the tea.  So, so good!

Click HERE to purchase

5.  Good to know...

Have a fabulous weekend!  We are bracing for some cold weather so I'm looking forward to staying inside and watching football this weekend.  I hate to admit it, but we still have our Christmas decorations up so we'll be working on getting them down and put away over the next few days.  See you back next week!

Celebrating Turning 60!

Welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday where I talk about something I'm thinking about and invite you to link up and do the same.  Today I'm reflecting on my recent birthday.

Back in November, I celebrated a big birthday.  Turning 60 still seems a little unreal to me.  I swear I was just turning 40 a couple years ago.  But here we are and we decided to celebrate big.

We celebrated my birthday for most of the month of November.  We kicked off the month-long celebration with a weekend in Kansas City orchestrated by my friend Linda.  I blogged about that wonderful weekend HERE.  

The celebration continued by going on a Virgin Voyages cruise with our son and daughter-in-law.  A post on the cruise will be coming at some point, but let me say it was a blast! 

We wrapped up our celebrations with a party at Boarding House Bistro.  This cute little place is a favorite of ours and we were so glad they allowed us to take over a portion of it for the party.

Blouse   |   Pants

I waffled on if I wanted to do something like this for my birthday.  I'm so glad Eric talked me into having a party!  Celebrating my birthday with friends was a joyous and memorable occasion filled with laughter, warmth, and shared moments.

The staff at Boarding House Bistro put together the most delicious grazing table.  We munched on it all night!

My daughter-in-law, Kayla, baked the most delightful almond cake with raspberry filling.  

Every good party needs a signature drink or two.  For the birthday party, we served the Berry Old (red sangria) and The Golden Girl (bourbon apple cider sangria).

We needed minimal decorations because the elegance of the location was beautiful enough.  I brought in a few centerpieces just to add a pop of color.  We also put a look back sheet of the year I was born on the tables.  

The wine wall made a perfect background for photos.  We used these for our Christmas cards.

The guests took home a bag of my favorite flavored popcorn thanking them for "popping" in.  

As the celebration drew to a close, I had such a sense of contentment and fulfillment, knowing that we shared this special day with the people we love.  The shared joy, laughter, and camaraderie created lasting memories that I'll carry with me always.  

Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - January 10, 2024

 

Happy New Year!  Welcome back to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you stopped by.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature! 

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
4. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
5. Tara – STILETTOS AND SHIPLAP | IG | PINTEREST
6. Denise –THISISMYEVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER

TOP VIEWED

A Table from a Door

VERY POPULAR

December Favorites

Top 10 Most Viewed Posts in 2023

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Indoor S'mores

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Five on Friday - January 5, 2024

Happy Friday!  Welcome to the first Five on Friday for 2024.  I'm still writing 2023 more than 2024 and having to correct it.  Hopefully, my brain will catch up soon and I can stop trying to make my "3" look like a "4".  Now, on to my five for today ~

1.  Fire Blanket

This one comes with a personal story.  My friend at work's daughter-in-law had a close call this week.  Her son had gotten a drone for Christmas and it was plugged in overnight charging.  Her husband smelled smoke in the wee hours of the morning, got up to investigate, and found flames shooting out of the outlet where the drone was plugged in!  They had been given a fire blanket for Christmas (which was still under the tree).  They grabbed the fire blanket and extinguished the fire.  I went from never having heard of fire blankets to wanting to buy one for everyone I know!  Do you have one in your house?  

Click HERE to purchase

2.  Good Grief

Netflix will be streaming Good Grief as of today and it's going to be our featured film this weekend!  I'm a fan of Daniel Levy and he has his hands all over this film by being the writer, producer, director, and star.  I've seen mixed reviews, but I want to judge it myself.  Here's the summary ~

Marc (Daniel Levy) was content living in the shadow of his larger-than-life husband, Oliver (Luke Evans). But when Oliver unexpectedly dies, Marc's world shatters, sending him and his two best friends, Sophie (Ruth Negga) and Thomas (Himesh Patel), on a soul-searching trip to Paris that reveals some hard truths they each needed to face.

3.  Fragile Designs by Colleen Coble

Fragile Designs hit the stands on Tuesday and it's going on my TBR list.  I've not read a book by this author before so I'm anxious to see if I like her writing.  The genre is listed as contemporary romantic suspense.  Here's the summary ~

There’s only one thing more dangerous than family secrets.

Since her police-officer husband Eric’s mysterious murder, Carly Harris has been struggling to support herself and their infant son. Her career as an antique dealer isn’t sustainable, nor is her dream of becoming a novelist. So when her grandmother proposes she and her two sisters restore the family’s large Beaufort home and turn it into a bed-and-breakfast, she immediately gets to work clearing out the house. In the process, she uncovers a family secret that Eric kept hidden. And an heirloom that the wrong person wouldn’t hesitate to kill for.

Homicide detective Lucas Bennett isn’t his neighbor’s biggest fan, not since she broke his brother’s heart years ago. But when Carly turns to Lucas for help, believing she’s found a lost Fabergé egg that would be worth millions and that could put her family’s lives in danger, he can’t help but get involved. Soon, they’re entangled in a mystery with threads that lead all the way to the Russian mafia. Lucas has gotten in deep, and while he trusts his ability to keep Carly and her family safe, he begins to realize he’s vulnerable to an unexpected kind of danger. And he’s helpless to stop the freefall. As they continue working closely together, Carly and Lucas realize they may have found something more precious than gold. Yet it’s only a matter of time before Carly—or, worse, someone she loves—gets hurt.

Click HERE to purchase

4.  Sale at Loft

The Loft is having an awesome deal right now!  Their sale merchandise (which is about everything they sell) is 50% off with an extra 20% off.  I'm going on a girls' trip at the end of the month so I picked up a couple of things that are going straight into my suitcase.  I've been looking for a denim shirt and found an adorable chambray oversized style I love.  I'm pairing it with some faux leather leggings and a sweater that's already in my closet.  This weekend I'm going to peruse their website a bit more to see what other big bargains I can find!

HERE

HERE

5.  Just a thought...

Have a great weekend!  I'm going to start taking down the Christmas decorations.  Yuck!  It will be nice when it's all down, but the taking it down is not my favorite thing to do.  I just need to power through (and hope Eric does a lot of helping!).  See you back next week!

What I Read in December 2023

Hello!  Thanks for stopping by Thinking Out Loud Thursday where I talk about something on my mind and invite you to link up and do the same.  Today I'm thinking about the books I read in December!

In December, I read two great books and finished reading the Holy Bible through my year-long Bible app.  Typically, I listen to a book or two on my way to and from work but in December my radio was tuned to Christmas music the entire month!

The Guncle

I loved this book!  The Guncle was all the rage a while back, but it had never made it to the top of my list.  I'm so glad it finally made it because I enjoyed it from start to finish.  Here's the summary ~

Patrick, or Gay Uncle Patrick (GUP, for short), has always loved his niece, Maisie, and nephew, Grant. That is, he loves spending time with them when they come out to Palm Springs for weeklong visits, or when he heads home to Connecticut for the holidays. But in terms of caretaking and relating to two children, no matter how adorable, Patrick is, honestly, overwhelmed.

So when tragedy strikes and Maisie and Grant lose their mother and Patrick's brother has a health crisis of his own, Patrick finds himself suddenly taking on the role of primary guardian. Despite having a set of "Guncle Rules" ready to go, Patrick has no idea what to expect, having spent years barely holding on after the loss of his great love, a somewhat-stalled acting career, and a lifestyle not-so-suited to a six- and a nine-year-old. Quickly realizing that parenting--even if temporary--isn't solved with treats and jokes, Patrick's eyes are opened to a new sense of responsibility, and the realization that, sometimes, even being larger than life means you're unfailingly human.

With the humor and heart we've come to expect from bestselling author Steven Rowley, The Guncle is a moving tribute to the power of love, patience, and family in even the most trying of times.

The Great Believers

Wow - this was a great book.  I'm not surprised that it was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, National Book Award Finalist, a New York Times Top 10 Book of 2018, and the list of accolades goes on and on.  I'm anxious to read another by her.  Here's the summary of The Great Believers ~

In 1985, Yale Tishman, the development director for an art gallery in Chicago, is about to pull off an amazing coup, bringing in an extraordinary collection of 1920s paintings as a gift to the gallery. Yet as his career begins to flourish, the carnage of the AIDS epidemic grows around him. One by one, his friends are dying and after his friend Nico’s funeral, the virus circles closer and closer to Yale himself. Soon the only person he has left is Fiona, Nico’s little sister.

Thirty years later, Fiona is in Paris tracking down her estranged daughter who disappeared into a cult. While staying with an old friend, a famous photographer who documented the Chicago crisis, she finds herself finally grappling with the devastating ways AIDS affected her life and her relationship with her daughter. The two intertwining stories take us through the heartbreak of the eighties and the chaos of the modern world, as both Yale and Fiona struggle to find goodness in the midst of disaster.

The Holy Bible

This is the first time I've read the entire Bible.  Each day for the last year I followed the Bible with Tara-Leigh Cobble and The Bible Recap podcast.  I've already started at the beginning again and am looking forward to reading through the Bible again this year.  If you've tried a Bible reading plan and didn't get very far, I highly recommend The Bible Recap to help you along.  Each day you read a passage, and then Tara-Leigh sums it up.  The perfect way to read and understand the Bible!

Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - January 3, 2024

Happy New Year!  Welcome back to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you stopped by.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature! 

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
4. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER
5. Tara – STILETTOS AND SHIPLAP | IG | PINTEREST
6. Denise –THISISMYEVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | TWITTER

TOP VIEWED

Simply Holiday Traditions

VERY POPULAR

Gingerbread on the Christmas Tablescape

Dollar Tree Christmas DIY Clothespin Poinsettia Ornament

EDITOR'S CHOICE

Easy Winter Salad Rec

ipe

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party!

You are invited to the Inlinkz link party!

Click here to enter