Happy Friday Everyone!
Hey everyone! I’m so HAPPY it is March, I just love the extra daylight, the slightly warmer temps AND the first day of Spring!
One – SPRING is HERE!!! And Latest Happenings
Is anyone else happy it is finally SPRING? I’ve been doing ALL my runs outside and this was a HARD winter with all the snow, ICE and freezing temps. I got ALL my training runs outside except for 2 and I’m pretty proud of that. This Spring has been a little different so far, with Nathan in college now, both kids had their Spring breaks on separate weeks. It just wasn’t as fun that way, but I got more one-on-one time with each teen, which is almost easier at this age since they’re both into different things. Do any of you have anything fun planned this Spring? I have my half marathon in April and I’m excited about it, because we are traveling for it and it is a GIRL only race!!
Nathan was selected by his life coach and some of his professors for the First-Year Success Summit/Outstanding First-Year Student at Maryville University. He displayed a project from his University Seminar class along with other students chosen. It was really interesting to walk around and listen to the other students presentations. I had a 12 mile training run the morning before all this (!!) and was SO tired, but I didn’t want to miss it!! It was nice to meet some of his friends while we were up there. I don’t really know a lot about his college life, but it is nice to get a little glimpse every now and then!!
Autumn had her Backwards Dance (girl asks boy), but she just went with a group of friends this year. I don’t post photos of her friends on here, but here is a solo photo of her! She is so beautiful!!
Sophomore years means it is time to pick out your class ring! Here is Autumn’s gorgeous class ring!
Two – Latest Recipes
I wanted to continue to share some of my dinner recipes on here. One recipe I’ve been making for YEARS is from a children’s book called Soup Day and in the book it has a recipe for Snowy Day Vegetable Soup. But, I add in shredded rotisserie chicken (I buy a pack already shredded from my local grocery store). It is SO, so good! Along with it, I made the Homemade Betty Crocker White Bread, which made 2 loaves and was delicious!
Next up is another recipe I’ve been making for years and years, Spaghetti Pie! I made it sans meat this time, but you can make it with ground beef.
Spaghetti Pie
Ingredients:
6 oz spaghetti (3 cups)
2 tablespoon butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 lbs ground chuck
6 oz mozzarella cheese slices
Ragu
10 inch glass pie plate
Directions: Preheat oven 350. Cook ground chuck, drain fat. Mix ground chuck with 1/2 spaghetti sauce Cook spaghetti noodles Stir butter into hot spaghetti. Stir in beaten eggs. Form hot spaghetti mixture into a crust in a greased 10 in. glass pie plate. Place sliced mozzarella cheese over the crust. Add ground chuck mixture. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and add remaining spaghetti sauce. Bake 10 more minutes.
Our church has Lent Dinners before the Lent services and we have gone to a few of them. The photo above was the fried chicken dinner and they had a side of fruit, coleslaw slaw, Mac and cheese and potato salad. We also got root beer floats!! Yum!
Three – Spring Gift Swap with Jessie
My sweet friend Jessica and I do seasonal swaps and she brought over my Spring gift. Everything was just so perfect! The bread basket is an antique, it says Longeberger on the bottom of it. She said the caramels came from her favorite Italian market on the hill in St. Louis. She said the owner is the sweetest lady and the shop is amazing and full of authentic Italian goods from wine to spices and even a deli and candies. The cute pickle cat toys she said are from Marshalls. And she made the bunny tassel! So, so wonderful!! I love our sweet friendship!
The Wedding People by Alison Espach – This was a cute book… Started out a little depressing/dark with Phoebe in a dead end job, having fertility issues and a husband that leaves her for one of her close friends. Phoebe loses her beloved cat and decides to leave everything abruptly behind and go to a fancy hotel that she had hoped to visit before everything in her life fell apart. Except, she didn’t bring any suitcases, because she planned to live it up one last night. Little did she know that a bride has booked the entire hotel for her guests and Phoebe was an outsider… till her and the bride bump into each other and become fast friends under such unusual circumstances. Phoebe learns the bride doesn’t really have it all together, but neither does Phoebe and they help each other as all the wedding events are taking place. The two of them go through interactions with the family and groom. It is hard not to give too many spoilers away here, but the story lightens up which eventually helps Phoebe to gain confidence, ideas and a hope for a future that she actually wants and to be honest with herself and those she cares about.
Can’t Hurt Me – David Goggins – My running coach has recommended this book to me several times and I’m so glad I bought the audio version. David Goggins is a tough dude… he is an accomplished endurance athlete, completed over 60 ultra-marathons, triathlons, and ultra-triathlons, setting new course records and regularly placing in the top five. He once held the Guinness World Record for pull-ups completing 4,030 in 17 hours and he’s a public speaker. As I try to crack some time records in my upper forties in running, I really got a lot out hearing David Goggins story and how he handles the mental side of difficult things. He had an abusive childhood, overcame a learning disability, lost an extreme amount of weight, became a Navy Seal, ran on broken legs (that he taped up!), he’s had two heart surgeries and the list goes on and on. This man does not quit or let anything get in his way.
Five – Latest Finds
Shop This Photo:
Ashley saw this cute tip on Amazon on shared it with me, but if you don’t go through your coffee creamer very fast, you can freeze it into individual portions in an ice cube tray. I purchased THIS silicone ice cube tray set of 2 on Amazon and it is really easy to get the creamer cubes out of it after the freeze. Then I store them in a freezer bag with the brand and flavor written on it.
Shop Pixi Lip Stains:
Pixi always send me a fun package each month and this month they sent me 5 of their Fixing Lip Tint Hydro-Matte Lip Stain with Hyaluronic Acid. I really love the soft and bright pinks they sent, they are perfect for the Spring right now! You can also use them as a blush.
So, I don’t make coffee everyday at home, but about once a week I will make some. I was at World Market the other day, because there was a store close to the place I had to pick my race packet up at and I had to go in and browse the shelves. I saw this Torani Spring Sampler and just HAD to get it… the syrups sound SO good… blackberry, elderflower, hibiscus, lavender and rose! I think McDonalds has a Rose Latte right now that I haven’t tried yet. Have any of you tried it and what did you think?
So, I really love this company called TreatBox in the UK. This is not sponsored by any means. I have used them for a 10 Day Birthday Advent Box for Autumn, a Christmas gift for a friend AND I’ve done their deluxe Christmas Advent Calendar box. I just love the stuff in these boxes so much! The only draw back is I have had a lot of issues with shipping with them, which partially I think isn’t their fault. SO, I’m gong to see how the next few months go, but so far the shipping has been a pain. I’ve had 2 items never come without any tracking and after I emailed them, they did send them out and I received them. And my March TreatBox arrived damaged, so I was missing 3 items that they are going to send to me in the next TreatBox Monthly box in April. Sigh. SO, we’ll see how the next few months go, if the shipping continues to be a headache, I may decide to quit. I had planned to do this for the entire year of 2025 though for a little FUN mail. ANYHOW, I decided to sign up for their MONTHLY TreatBox, which is a smaller box with some fun curated items each month and their LUXE box that comes out quarterly. The photo above shows the first LUXE box that I received from them and WOW, I just love it. They just came out with these SUPER cute PJ’s and I received one with cherries and bows on it, plus some cute matching socks. The bath products are a great addition too.
Then the photo above shows the February Monthly TreatBox, that I received a month late due to it never shipping to me. This was a total WINNER too, I loved the tiny bow earrings and cherry theme!!! I’ll share the March Monthly TreatBox in April once I get the items I’m missing.
I hope everyone is having a good March! I feel like this month has FLOWN by, where January and February crawled by so slowly.
