Friday Favorites, 8.11.23.

 

Happy Friday, friends! I'm linking up with Andrea and Erika for today's favorite blog post of the week. I hope you've had a great week! I'm going to just jump right in and start. 

I got these earrings from Walmart a couple of weeks ago. I love them! They came in a pack of six pairs, and I love wearing them in each of my earring holes. My sister Debi said that she thinks I have a strong earring game. I think so too, because they're my favorite! I'm really into gold right now, and small hoops.

This image below is one of my favorite things from social media this week. I have a life update coming again soon that I can't wait to share about; I don't mean to be vague, but nothing is set in stone yet and I don't feel like I can freely talk about it just yet. Stay tuned, though! I should be able to share more next week. This picture below just reminded me once more of how the Lord really is the one in charge of my life, who leads me in life to each next step. He's been so sweet to show me affirmation over and over again this week. 

On a lighter note, this was me being excited to be at church on Sunday morning! It has to do with what I can't yet talk about, but I was bubbling over with excitement and joy. Also, I dressed for coolness and comfort, but I still love this dress that I bought last spring. It's been one of my favorite clothing items all summer. I love the pockets, the sleeve length, and where the length falls on me. I had my new planner in my arm, which is another favorite thing that I purchased last Saturday at Home Goods—it's a Rae Dunn blush pink 18 month planner—and I also had my protein drink mixed with coffee in the glass I like to drink it from.

One of my favorite things to do at church sometimes is to sit in this room with my husband while he works. This is the board to control our livestream, which Todd is in charge of most weeks. I love watching him work! He always has a light for me and a room temperature bottle of water, which is my favorite way to drink water at the moment. 

I mentioned how the Lord has been sweet to show me time and again that He is with me, He leads me, and He will give me everything I need pertaining to whatever comes next in my life—this was a morning this week when He used the words in my devotional that Bob Goff wrote to show me that. The specific words that jumped off this page were this: "You don't always need to know all the details; we just need to know the next steps."

This was my favorite day of the week; when we helped Drew and his roommates move into their new rental house.

Organizing things is my favorite, so I was in Heaven getting to do that in their kitchen, the laundry room, and Drew's bedroom and bathroom. (Since this picture, they do have more food now. They went grocery shopping Tuesday night, after their refrigerator and oven were delivered during the day.)

Watching the sun slowly rise is my favorite! I love to be up at five a.m. and I love it when I get to watch the living room change colors as the sun rises. Also, Callie's favorite spot is on the couch, with this pillow.

One of my favorite lunches this week was a Dave's bread cinnamon raisin bagel with a tablespoon of peanut butter on each half. Apparently, it's one of Chloe's favorites, too. 🤣

Artificial flowers and plants in our home are among some of my favorite things! I love this little yellow flower in the pot with a lady bug rock that Alex gave to me years ago. 

I mentioned this week that last Saturday Todd and Jonah cleaned and rearranged the deck. Well, this week, Todd and I hung some new lights that he bought, and we also got a new fence installed along the back of our property, thanks to our neighbor for replacing his own. We did chip in some money to contribute, since we share that one wall of fencing.

My new cropped and slightly flared bottom jeans are my favorite! I was able to order down two sizes, thanks to dropping some more weight recently, and I loved this outfit that I wore one day. Cool and breezy clothes are my favorite, like this old top I bought years ago from Cato's. 

Rearranging things and repurposing things is my favorite! I got the idea to turn our kitchen table around like this on Wednesday, and I love it so much more now. I love that it doesn't stick out much more than what it did turned the other way, and I love that it opened up the space on each side. It's more conducive to our life at this present moment. Most nights it's just Todd and me here eating, and we are usually the only two to sit here each time we have dinner. 

Tomato pie is my new favorite thing. I made this again on Wednesday afternoon, and it was even better this time! I used the small grape tomatoes that I cut in half, and instead of mayonnaise, I used sour cream, eggs, and a splash of milk to make it healthier. The recipe called for only mayonnaise, so the last time I used a couple of tablespoons and one egg; this time I used a cup of sour cream, two eggs, and a splash of milk. I was able to use that on the two pies that I made. Here's the recipe I used. I made the changes that I mentioned already, but I went by the recipe for the rest. The mixture and measurement with the sour cream was enough for both pies, but the rest of the recipe would need to be doubled. I didn't have basil, but I did have chives, so I used those instead.

New favorite work spot! Peep my ever-present portable fan. (This was me working on today's blog post on Wednesday afternoon.)

I have a few favorite memories that popped up on Timehop!

First up was this fun night when my best friend and I took a vehicle full of teenage girls out for one last hoorah of the summer. We never had any fun at all while we helped in youth, as you can see from our facial expressions.

I loved this memory from when our old neighbors and dear friends came to visit a few years ago! Katie and Travis were our best friends when these boys were all in elementary school. They do still come visit at least once a year, which I'm grateful for and that we still just pick right back up where we left off each time we see them. There's never any awkwardness! These people saw us at our best and our worst; for years, we camped together on fall and spring breaks.

In honor of school starting soon, this was the night when we took our girls out for their last hoorah of the summer. On social media I said this: "Don't mind us if you see us all wearing black at church on Sunday. We'll all just be mourning the loss of our summer." We had so much fun with these girls! They'll always be near to my heart, because they were the best friends of my older sons. They all grew up together, and I've known most of them since they were in kindergarten! I was so sad when they grew apart and lost touch, because of the history they share. Graham and the one pictured below in the burgundy shirt went to junior prom together; they've also traveled to Guatemala and Arizona together on mission trips.

About these girls...that one on the left is one who I never thought would still be in my life, but she has been such a great friend to my older sons. She doesn't come here very often, but when she does, she always stops in for hugs. The last time I saw her was in December right before Christmas. 

See? This is Ellen and Graham at the end of last year. I told them they should make a marriage pact: that if neither of them are married when they turn 30, they should marry each other. They're best friends! I was only partially kidding. 🤣

I love to look back on memories like the ones above!

Did you read my other blog posts this week? I'll link them below, so just click on the green.

Monday was a weekending recap and Prime Purchases post.

Tuesday was a post that I titled, How I Spent My Monday.

On Wednesday I wrote about talking to Jesus about all the things.

On Thursday, I shared another Throwback Thursday post, this time about a sisters trip I went on in October of 2020.

Tell me something that was a favorite from your week, I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog, friends. Love to all!