Five on Friday - September 30, 2016

Can you believe it's Friday!!  I'm off work today for a very exciting reason.  Eric, my parents, Kayla and I will be in Jefferson City to witness Ian taking the Oath of Admission and officially become an attorney.  Can you feel the pride oozing from my fingers as I type that sentence?!?  It will be a day we will always remember and I'm so very grateful to be able to be there to see it.

Before all that excitement, here's my five for today ~

1.  Emoji Cookie Cutter Set

Check out these super cute emoji cookie cutters from Pampered Chef!  How much fun would it be to make emoji cookies with the kids?!?  Or think of taking emoji cookies to your next party!  What makes them even better is the fact that Pampered Chef will contribute $1 for each set sold to Feeding America.  Want some?  Click HERE to purchase.

                         

2.  Deep Water Horizon

Many of you might be excited to see Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children that's opening this weekend, but I'm more intrigued about Deep Water Horizon.  This flick is based on the true events that happened on the Gulf of Mexico oil rig explosion on April 20, 2010.  It stars Mark Wahlberg, who I could watch on the big screen all day long.  Also in the movie is Kate Hudson and Kurt Russell.  Rotten Tomatoes is giving this film a pretty good review and I sure hope we can squeeze it in this weekend.

3.  Pintuck Swing Dress by Old Navy

With the arrival of fall, I have a desire to add a few casual dresses to my closet.  This one from Old Navy is calling my name!  How cute is this?!?  It's adorable with the flat as shown in the picture, but I'm also seeing it with leggings and boots.  Perfect to kick around in over the weekend when we go out for a relaxing dinner.  I'm pretty confident I'll be hitting the purchase button and own one of these by Monday morning.  It comes in gray (Carbon) and maroon (Marion Berry).  Want one too?  Click HERE to purchase.

4.  Two by Two

The newest Nicholas Sparks book, Two by Two, is scheduled to release on October 4 

(that's Tuesday folks), so if you want to pre-order now if the time. Here's how Amazon describes it:  At 32, Russell Green has it all: a stunning wife, a lovable six year-old daughter, a successful career as an advertising executive and an expansive home in Charlotte. He is living the dream, and his marriage to the bewitching Vivian is the center of that. But underneath the shiny surface of this perfect existence, fault lines are beginning to appear...and no one is more surprised than Russ when he finds every aspect of the life he took for granted turned upside down. In a matter of months, Russ finds himself without a job or wife, caring for his young daughter while struggling to adapt to a new and baffling reality. Throwing himself into the wilderness of single parenting, Russ embarks on a journey at once terrifying and rewarding-one that will test his abilities and his emotional resources beyond anything he ever imagined.  I see another Nicholas Sparks movie deal, don't you?!?

                                         

5.  Where I am....

Have a wonderful weekend.  I'm going to try very hard to make sure to get a weekending post up on Monday.  I did an fun thing for dinner on Wednesday night that I want to share with you.  See ya later!

Linking up with:

Rebecca at XOXO Rebecca

Jennie at The Diary of a Real Housewife

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Amanda at Meet At The Barre

Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday

5 on Friday 
The Triplet Farm
Why Girls Are Weird

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Friday Favorites Linky Party - September 30, 2016

This week we have some wonderful favorites!  My favorite from last week was the Fluffy Pumpkin Pancakes.  How great do those sounds?!?  Hopefully I'll have a chance to whip some up this weekend.  Hope you find many, many things you enjoy in this week's linky party.

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

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You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - September 29, 2016

Hey, hey!  Welcoming to Thinking Out Loud Thursday!  Thanks for stopping in today and glad you joined me and Vanessa from X-tremely V for this week's version of Thinking Out Loud Thursday.

I honestly don't know where the month of September has gone.  The trip to Hong Kong kept me busy the first half of the month and the last half I've been busy with work.  A reminder of fall arrived in St. Louis on Monday with much milder temps and I'm determined to not let the month of October just slip away without enjoying the spectacular display of autumn sights, sounds and tastes.  So today I'm thinking out loud about my fall to do list.



~  Family pictures
For the last gosh knows how long, I've wanted to get family pictures taken against a backdrop of fall leaves.  Well, this year I'm well on my way!  The date is booked with my favorite photographer, Erica Turner of Turner Creative.  Now, I just have to figure out what we are going to be wearing!

~  Go to the drive in
I absolutely love sitting under the stars watching a movie on the big screen, especially in the fall when there a chill in the air and you can wrap yourself up in a blanket.  We have a drive in very near us and don't go there nearly enough.  Time to get this accomplished before they close for the season and I'm not able to cross this off the list.

~ Pick apples
Eckert's is our go-to apple picking spot and while we're there gathering apples there is a ton of other fun things to do.  Their restaurant has the best fried chicken around!  We also typically take a spin around their country store.  Great way to spend part of a day!

~ Try some new soup recipes
You've probably heard me say this before, but I'm definitely a seasonal cook.  In the heat of the summer, I never cook soups.  But as soon as the temps head south, bring them on!  Two of my favorites are the Tuscan Tortellini Soup and Loaded Potato Soup that I've blogged about before.  This year I have a couple more in my recipe box that we'll be trying and if they are worthy, I'll share them with you on the blog.

~ Clean out my summer clothes

What better time to sort and donate summer clothes than when you're putting them away for the season.  The American Red Cross will be in my neighborhood picking up donations mid-October and that is the perfect time for me to ditch all the clothes from summer that I never even put on my body.  I'll be honest, getting rid of things is NOT something I do well.  I hang on to far more than I should and I'm going to make an honest effort to release some of those garments I know in my heart I will never, ever wear.  Do you have some of those hanging around your closet?

~ Be a better blogger

I've been a bit lax in the blogging world lately...and frankly, I've missed it.  I've let the daily grind of life bog me down and I haven't been as intentional as I'd like to be.  As much as I absolutely love reading your comments, I'm not so good about always leaving them for others or commenting back.  My bad!  And I hope to change that moving into forward.  

So that's the highlights I'm hoping to hit this fall.  What about you?  Do you have a fall to do list?  Would love to hear about some of the things you are hoping to cross off your list.

Now it's your turn -- link up your favorite post and let us know what you're thinking out loud about today.  I promise to visit and comment each and every post.  :)

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at:

Home of Malones

East Coast Chic

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

The Deliberate Mom

This is How We Roll

Bows and Clothes

Party at My Place
This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Weekending - Liam Had a Birthday!

Hello!  Monday sure came quick this week.  I didn't go into the weekend having a lot planned.  Our one big thing was to celebrate our nephew's first birthday.  Liam turned one!

But let me rewind the weekend and start my recap with Friday.  After work, Eric and I headed to the movie theater to see Sully.  Both of us gave it a thumbs up!  I can see some award nominations coming for this flick.

Saturday we woke to cloudy skies.  We had a few errands to run and got them checked off without any major rainfall.  Breakfast was in order so we went to Blondies to satisfy our craving for some good breakfast grub.

 Their Rosemary Eggs Benedict are to die for!  Great way to start the day.

We had just enough time before Eric had to go to work to take in another movie - Bridget Jones's Baby.  I liked it more than Eric, but he didn't hate it.  It made me chuckle numerous times and even belly laugh a time or two.  In case you had any doubt that Renee Zellweger had something done to her face, doubt no more.  She looks so different than the first two movies!

Sunday was the big birthday party for Liam.  We traveled back to my home town to help him celebrate turning 1.  My sister-in-law did an amazing job pulling off the mustache theme.  From the mustache shaped sandwiches to the backdrop behind Liam's high chair, every detail was covered.  Now for the phone dump ~

It was a great day!  Happy first birthday, Liam!  We sure love you.

Check out what others were up to this weekend.

Champagne and Suburbs

B Loved Boston

More Pieces of Me

Bella and the City
The Quinntessential Mommy
How To Get Organized At Home
Over the Moon

Five on Friday - September 16, 2016

Hey guys!  Welcome to Five on Friday.  I'm so looking forward to having a few days off work.  This was my first week back after vacation and you know how those can be.  A few days off is just what I need to try to get things back in order.

We celebrated some exciting news this week ~ our son, Ian, got word that he passed the bar exam!!  Woo Hoo!  We are so proud of him we are busting at the seams.  Way to go Ian!  Now he's officially an attorney.

So here's my five for this Friday ~

1.  Christmas is Coming....
We are officially less than 100 days away from Christmas.  Today marks 99 more days until we are sitting around the tree and opening presents on Christmas morning.  Wanting to get away this year?  Well, here's a deal for you.  Friendly Planet Travel is arranging a trip to Highclere Castle (the castle where the Masterpiece series of Downton Abbey was filmed) for a gala in December.  The five-day package costs $2,799 and features not only a ticket to the party, which will include a three-course dinner, champagne, and carols around the Christmas tree, but also roundtrip flights from the U.S., four nights in London, and the option to add a day trip to Paris.  The dates are December 14-19 so you will even be home in time for Christmas!  Let me know if you go -- I want to hear all about it!



2.  National Play-Doh Day
Sit the kids down and whip out the play-doh today -- it's National Play-Doh Day!  I always had a love/hate relationship with this stuff when Ian was small.  Love that you could create and play for hours.  Hate picking it out of the carpet.  There are tons of easy recipes for making your own dough, which is a fun thing to do with the kids too.  Fun fact - Joe McVicker invented the stuff and actually sold it originally as a wallpaper cleaner.  Happy squishing and shaping today!



3.  Bridget Jones's Baby
Opens today!  Eric and I rented the original Bridget Jones's Diary just this week so we would be ready for this movie's release.  Renee Zellweger has always just cracked me up playing Bridget Jones and I can't wait to see what shenanigans she gets herself into in this new movie.



4.  Crispin Cider
Fall is approaching and it's time to bust out the Crispin Cider.  There's not many things better than sitting around the fire pit on a cool evening enjoying a cocktail.  I hope this is in my future very soon!  I've had the Crispin Apple Cider before, but I'm going on the hunt for the pear.  Anyone tried it?



5.  Just a thought....


Have a great weekend!  We are headed to my nephew's first birthday party on Sunday.  Boy, it sure doesn't seem like a year since we added him to our family!  Hope you have fun plans.  See you back on Monday.

Linking up with:

Rebecca at XOXO Rebecca

Jennie at The Diary of a Real Housewife

Amy at The Farmer's Wife

Amanda at Meet At The Barre

Erika at Little Bit of Everything

Simply Sweet Home
High Five for Friday

5 on Friday 
The Triplet Farm
Why Girls Are Weird

This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

Friday Favorites

It's Friday!  Friday Favorites is live and ready for you to enjoy.

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

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You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!

Thinking Out Loud Thursday - September 15, 2016

Happy Thursday!  It's been a bit since I sat down long enough to put a post together.  I'm blaming it on post vacation reality.  Work and home life had some catching up that needed to be done.  Hopefully that will be under control shortly and I can get back to posting more regularly again.

Thanks for stopping in today and glad you could join me and Vanessa from X-tremely V for this week's version of Thinking Out Loud Thursday.

Speaking of vacation, that's what I'm thinking out loud about today.  My friend, Debbie, and I headed to Hong Kong on September 2 and for a week submerged ourselves into their culture.  Heck, by the end of the week I was really beginning to feel like a true Hongkonger!  Debbie's daughter, Julie, has lived in Hong Kong for the last four years and her finance, Jeremy, for many more years than that.  Pair their knowledge of the area with Debbie's past visits to Hong Kong and I had the best team of tour guides a girl could ask for.

Now, let me just say up front that I'm by no means a world traveler.  This was my first trip to Asia and the longest time I had ever sat on an airplane.  We first flew to Dallas, then had a direct flight from there to Hong Kong.  From Dallas to Hong Kong was approximately 16 hours on the plane, back from there around 15 hours.  Long flights!  Honestly, the flights weren't as bad as I had envisioned them being.  In a separate post I'll share my thoughts on how to survive on long plane trips.

Even though it rained most of the days we were there, we made the decision to not let that get in our way of having fun and seeing the sites on our lists.  Best decision ever!  Luckily Debbie is the type of travelling partner that wasn't going to let the rain slow us down.

Hong Kong has the most efficient mass transit system I've seen in my life.  We were able to buzz around via train or bus with ease on their MTRs.  In some ways it reminded me of the system in Washington, DC.  Even though at times it could be quite crowded, the trains were clean and well labeled.  They were even so smooth we could take selfies while buzzing from station to station!

We stayed in a hotel in Sai Ying Pun that was just a hop, skip and a jump to an MTR station. Although our room was small in size, it was very clean.  Our beds were twin size - hadn't slept on one of those since childhood.  It really made me realize (and appreciate) the space I have in my own home.  Here's a view from our window.

For now, I'm going to leave you with a few snapshots from the trip.  There will be more posts about the things we did and the food we enjoyed hopefully soon!

There was the most beautiful sunset on our way home from Dallas to St. Louis.  Perfect ending to the trip!

Now it's your turn to let us know what you're Thinking Out Loud about today.  Link up below - we love hearing from you!

Enjoy more Thoughts for Thursday at:

Home of Malones

East Coast Chic

Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop

The Deliberate Mom

This is How We Roll

Bows and Clothes

Party at My Place
This post contained affiliate links.  I may receive a small commission if you click on the link and purchase.  Thanks!

On Vacation

Hi everyone! I'm on vacation this week in Hong Kong!! I'll be back on Monday and will start sharing my adventure with you. Until then, hope you're having a wonderful week. Can't wait to fill you in on my trip!

Friday Favorites

Welcome to Friday Favorites!  Today I'm flying to Hong Kong for a fun trip with my friend, Debbie.  Hope you enjoy everyone's picks from this week and I'll be back when I return to tell you all about my trip.

Please support and follow our lovely blog party hostesses:

Jerri at Simply Sweet Home - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Christine at Light and Savvy - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Jen at Creatively Homemade - Twitter | G+ | Pin

Dawn at LeroyLime - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

Maisy at Becoming Alice - FB | G+ | Pin

Sheree at Stage Presents - Twitter | FB | Pin | Inst | Inst

Lisa at Condo Blues - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Amy at A Day of Small Things - Pin

Penny at Penny's Passion - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst

Kelly at Under a Texas Sky - Twitter | FB | G+ | Pin | Inst | BL

If you are featured this week, be sure and grab a featured button for your blog!

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You can show your love for this week's favorites by going over and commenting on the posts and by pinning or sharing!

And if you love all of this week's favorites, please pin, share, and invite your friends to this week's linky party!