Happy Friday Everyone!
One – Latest Happenings
Happy Friday, friends! WELL… we had A LOT of sickness (even one family member with Covid) and a sprinkling of snow days in the last month, so I don’t have a ton of photos of us doing much this month. However, we did just stop by Honeybee’s in Kirkwood and it did not disappoint! This is a food truck turned brick and mortar store and I’m so excited about it! The biscuits are homemade and have a sweet touch of honey in them and they serve the biscuits on sammys or under sausage and gravy. They offer some dessert biscuits with jam and/or butter and I couldn’t resist the heart shaped strawberry biscuit for a little something sweet. Add an iced coffee to the mix and I’m one happy person!
Brian and I decided to try a new (to us) restaurant for Valentine’s Day. We went the weekend before V-Day and it worked out nicely. We went to Sapore Italian Cafe, which is next to Autumn’s hair salon (Ginger Bay) in Kirkwood. It was really nice inside and we got to sit on the second floor next to the balcony. Brian ordered a bottle of wine from an actual winery we visited when we did a wine tour in Tuscany!! It was OH so good. We are planning to take a big trip to Europe next summer WITH the teens for Nathan’s high school graduation gift. I can’t wait as they’ve never been to Europe and its been a few years since we’ve been over there (thanks to Covid!). They had a special that evening of scallops over risotto and I was SO excited, because scallops are my fave! We will definitely be back! Back to Kirkwood… if you are EVER in St. Louis, be sure to check out the area of Kirkwood. It is one of my favorite places in St. Louis, because there are so many local restaurants, coffee shops and boutiques (which are all walkable!). I love Kirkwood!
For Autumn’s 8th grade trip, she sold sub sandwiches for the Super Bowl. I helped assemble them the Friday before and we made over 1,000 subs!! Here are some of the subs I brought home in our fridge. They were so good with Fazio’s bread and meat from Kenrick’s (St. Louis businesses).
We got a new Starbucks by our house! It is SUPER narrow, but it is a drive through only location. It has been amazing so far, because usually there is only a handful of people in line due to how fast they get everyone through with it being only a drive through. I am sad that Starbucks raised their free drinks to 200 stars though!
Two – Working On My Home Office
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My Christmas gift from Brian was this white and gold bookshelf from Wayfair for my office space. I am in love with it! I cleared off my old bookshelf and I have my Cricut and books on it. My plan is to go to Hobby Lobby to buy some decor items for it next. I took a look through Pinterest and I have some ideas on how I want to decorate it.
I’m looking at some artwork to hang behind my desk. I REALLY love Colleen Karis who does plaster designs on canvas. You can find her pieces online or in Homegoods or TJMaxx stores. This is one I saw the other day at Homegoods, however there is a design in particular (you can see it HERE) that is 30×30 and I’m trying to find the two of them to hang side by side behind my desk. Unfortunately, I am not having luck finding them unless they restock them online. SOOO, I may need to select something else by her or go with a different idea.
I purchased these Scripture Cards from Buhbay awhile back and they even came with a stand to display them on. I love to switch them out each week on my desk. You can use the code FRIENDS20 to save 20% on your own set.
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My sweet friend Lauren from Mom Home Guide sent me the Self Care Cards for a gift. I had them tucked away in my desk drawer and I just got them out. I’ve been swapping them out each week with the scripture cards (above) for a little variety. They always have something uplifting on them and I’ll look at them a few times each day while I’m in-between tasks. The 15-20-30-60 min cube next to them is a desk time, which I use when I’m trying to really focus.
Three – Bible Recap, it is SOO GOOD!!!!
Since 2018 or so, I’ve made it a priority to ALWAYS have a Bible study going on in my life. I’ve taken different approaches to it and I even did an in person Bible study with CBS the year of Covid (I had it from September until March when it went virtual) and THIS year I’ve decided to do The Bible Recap.
The Bible Recap covers the ENTIRE Bible chronologically and I am currently in Leviticus. It is SOOO good. THIS is the BEST Bible study I have EVER done! I have never learned SO much and understood the Bible as much as I have with The Bible Recap. I enjoy it SO much that it is one of my favorite parts of the day!
Now, when I decided to do this… I decided to go ALL in! This is what I do each day:
- Read the 3-4 chapters of the Bible for that day
- Read the guide book (it goes over what you read and puts it into basic terms)
- Listen to the daily Podcast that goes with the guide book
- I work in the study guide (it asks you questions about what you read and you answer them)
- Lastly, I work in the journal, which is a book that asks your feelings about what you’ve read
It takes me 40-45 minutes a day, but it is a priority for me this year and I’ve stuck with it!! Yay! I am planning to do an entire blog post on it when I finish it up in December. It runs January-December each year on her Podcast, but you can really start it at any time. I did start it last year and I didn’t stick to it, so that is why it is a priority to me this year.
Four – Latest Books I’ve Read & Shows I’ve Watched
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Finished: I started an audio book too: I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy (which is read by her, which I always prefer the author to read the book to you when I listen to audio books). I finally finished this one and it was really, really sad. Jennette’s mom really did emotionally and physically abuse her and she didn’t even realize it until she was a young adult. Jennette grew up under pretty harsh circumstances as a child and it is amazing how her mom pushed (or should we say forced?) her into being a star. Jennette really did adore her mom as a child, yet her mom really didn’t have her best interests in mind.
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Finished: I’ve read several books from Taylor Jenkins Reid and if you’ve read Malibu Rising, THIS Carrie is the one that Nina’s husband left her for!! I didn’t make that connection until later. My favorite book from her is Daisy Jones & The Six and I have The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo on my to read list. This book focus on the aggressive and cold Carrie Soto, who is a world famous tennis player. Her dad is her coach at the beginning and the end, when she decides to make a comeback later in life when she’s not in her prime anymore. Carrie Soto learns a hard life lesson, but becomes better from it. I really didn’t care for Carrie Soto in this book until the end. I really loved her relationship with her dad. This isn’t my favorite book from Taylor Jenkins Reid, but it was definitely worth a read!
What am I reading now? I’m listening to Atomic Habits by James Clear and I’m reading Book Lovers by Emily Henry. My goal this year is to read at least one book and listen to one book each month.
We watched and finished Firefly Lane, season 2. Tully and Kate have a bit of a fight, that doesn’t get resolved. There is a car accident involving 2 of the people in this show. It was really good… but, OH the ending was sad and I would just like them to hurry up and finish season 3, so I can see what happens.
We started watching The Chosen, which covers the New Testament in the Bible. It is REALLY good. We are still in season 1 out of 3 seasons, so it may take us a bit to get through it.
Five – My Latest Finds that I Love!
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So, I was really in the mood for a new hoodie. My black one that I’ve had for over 20 years was starting to get a hole in it. I’ve been really into the Vuori brand lately for athleisure and I decided to splurge on THIS Restore oversized hoodie. I swear, I LIVE in this thing at home. I love it so, so much. Then, THESE grey sweatpants were something Autumn ordered, but they were too big for her. Instead of returning them, I decided to keep them. They are SO cozy! And, I know ankle socks or the invisible socks are becoming a thing of the past, so I ordered THESE Dickies socks (they’re not in the photo, but I LOVE them) and they’ve been a big part of my wardrobe lately too!
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So, I’ve had a very old time alarm clock on my nightstand forever. I use my iPhone for an alarm clock, but I liked having the old alarm clock for the ‘clock’ part of it. My teens got the smaller Echo Show 5’s for Christmas, but I decided to Echo Show 8, which is a little bigger. It displays the time at night and then during the day I have it set up to display recipe ideas, photos of world travel, etc. You can set it up to do so much, watch movies/shows on it, listen to music on it, ask it questions, etc. It has been really handy!
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I’ve been wanting to update our doormat inside the house by the front door. I saw this scalloped doormat on Amazon and fell in love! I can’t wait for it to arrive!
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I always crave a snack in the afternoon when I’m waiting for Autumn in the car line. This RXBar Chocolate Lovers’ Box is a hit! They taste good, are low in saturated fat, high in protein with minimal ingredients/sugar. They are ALL good, but the Chocolate Sea Salt is my favorite bar in the box!
I LOVE nugget ice and picked up a bag of it from Chick Fil A the other day. I’ve noticed that prices have really come down on at home nugget ice makers and I’m really considering getting one at some point. However, I wanted to see how much I like the nugget ice in my at home iced coffees. So, the test is out!! BTW, this big bag of nugget ice was $1.72 with tax.
I hope everyone has a nice and relaxing weekend!
