When the heavens opened today and dropped me and my peeps right smack down HERE for the day, you'd better believe we loaded up on all kinds of Nike, Under Armour, and Columbia goodness - all washed down by an Iced Camelicious from Scooters. (Ok, that was the oldest peep's beverage since I'd already imbibed a triple-shot espresso before leaving the house and didn't require any more caffeine, but it really was a necessary part of the adventure and worth mentioning, nonetheless.)
And then as we were leaving, not so strangely the idea of taking up residence at the nearby Super 8 crossed my mind - for future convenient power shopping purposes, of course. That along with my own personal U-Haul truck to transport everything home. Hmmm... new bucket list item? Check.
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The past couple of weeks have been tenuous and emotionally difficult for me and my family. We experienced the loss of the Swenson patriarch which completely blindsided each and every one of those in and around his circle of family, friends, and anyone else he had contact with over the course of his 78 years of life. I'm struggling to deal with the loss, especially since he has been a pillar of strength for me personally since the birth of my children and loss of my job over the year, with weekly phone calls that helped me make sense of it all and move forward in life. I want to post a tribute with photos and more to honor his contribution to the family and my personal life journey, but for now I need to take some time to reflect and join hands with others saying goodbye to a wise and wonderful human being.
With another summer break coming to a close, I'm flashing back to sweet memories of a family beach vacation to Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina where we camped out in a beach house rental and partied it up like nobody's business. Family vacations like these are rare - but seriously treasured. I mean who knows if/when we will get together again sharing sand, surf, and story time on a big leather sofa with Uncle Paco, right? But at least we can enjoy these digital memories of the magical time we shared thanks to my archival of Shutterfly photos just sitting there waiting to land in a blog post.
... but I'm still experiencing slightly rollercoaster-ish times as I navigate this whole landing-a-new-job ordeal. In fact, today I even dragged myself to church to pray, but while trying to put up a decent prayer, I found myself all distracted by the Cute Baby situation going on in the pew directly in front of me. It wasn't exactly Cute Baby who was shifting my focus, but all of the nearby parishioners ooing and ahhing over Cute Baby. They couldn't stop themselves!
People. Yes, it's a BABY and babies are CUTE. But for the life of me, I couldn't figure out what it was that made Cute Baby so incredibly magnet-like. I mean yes, I'm all for the appreciation of baby cuteness, but wow. *smh* Back to focusing... well, I tried focusing at least, but praying while people are rubber-necking over a Cute Baby? Almost impossible, I tell you. So here we go, I hunkered down on my thoughts and crunched out a mental list of positive things for which I am thankful during this freakishly bumpy ride:
Meanwhile, back to job searching with a vengeance... minus Cute Baby distractions, THANKFULLY. Spring Break brought this peepster back to the homestead for a week, and as you can see, we are all smiles about spending some much needed family time together. And I seriously believe this particular Koala-filtered Snap accurately reflects how thrilled we are to be back in our Saturday shopping routine, even if it is just a trip to the local Target. (Having that added stop to Starbucks just inside the door is a definite bonus making our smiles that much brighter - must acknowledge that little perk.)
But when you score 158 points with a double-triple word (plus a double letter bonus on "C"), you pretty much own bragging rights. So with my college peeps emptying the next again soon, leaving me with a big Scrabble win seems like the legitimate way to go.
Cooked up all kinds of goodness to ring in 2018 including Crab Rangoon, Wontons, Bruschetta, Italian Pigs in Blankets, and Stuffed Mushrooms. Not pictured: Korean Beef Lollipops - except without lollipop stick skewers due to the lack of beef skewer volunteers. Everything was absolutely scrumptious and with tons of leftovers to snack on for the next couple of days, if it even lasts that long. Best. Tradition. Ever.
When the college peeps return to the homestead, guess what happens? Board. Games. And to my utter delight? THIS particular game has been chosen as the starter of our festivities - SCRABBLE! (Little do peeps know... I've been playing Words With Friends for YEARS and have a leg up on them all, skill-wise. Ok, so they know but are just feeling brave - HA!)
Our plan was to have the College Peeps all home by Friday and eating my famous lasagna by Saturday. And guess what? It all worked out, and with all of us going back for 2nds and 3rds! We'll be eating 4ths tomorrow after Christmas Eve mass, so it's the "Gift that Keeps on Giving." Praise be to God.
After running smack into this exquisite leather and fur jacket while in Dillards yesterday, I knew this dream item would be the perfect addition to my Christmas 2017 wish list. And why is this particular jacket so "dreamy" to me? Because I ran across a similar jacket in St. Pancras railway station while touring Europe with my folks a few years ago. We were loading on and off trains through the Chunnel and took advantage of the layover time to do a little bit of souvenir shopping when this expensive gem caught my eye. But unfortunately, I squashed my urge to buy the jacket back then and bought a toy double-decker bus for my son instead. So after giving up my dream of owning that leather and fur piece of fabulousness so long ago, it only seems right that I should dream that dream all over again.
If only Santa will agree with me on this. |
AuthorI am Brenda Swenson and sometimes I blog. Archives
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