Friday Favorites: all the things edition

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals, and her friends Erika and Narci, for this blog post. 


This week is proof that what I said about the days after my birthday being a downhill slide toward Christmas is true.  I had time to sit down and write on Monday, but every other day has been a blur, but I got (almost) everything done, and I feel like the Lord helped me with all of it, but I'll share more about that in a few minutes.  Here is a look back at my favorite parts from the week past.

My favorite movie arrived on Sunday after I ordered it on Amazon last Friday, but sadly, I've not yet had the chance to sit down and watch it.  It WILL BE watched this weekend sometime.  Maybe tonight when we come back home, and I'll see if the hubs will join me in watching.

My husband bought me this beautiful necklace for my birthday, and I love it!  It's a heart shape, and the stone is an opalescent pearl.  I've worn it everyday this week, and I don't see that changing any time soon.

We ended my birthday celebration that night by watching another of my favorite movies of all time, White Christmas.  He liked it!  That surprised me.

I enjoyed a glorious day at home all day on Monday, and then this lovey and I had dinner out at a favorite Mexican place.  We always have fun catching up, and that night was no different.  We went to put gas in my car after dinner (real life) and then we got Starbucks.  Also, who knew that Starbucks closes at eight on week nights?  It was because of that, that she rode with me to get gas.  There was one open until nine by my Costco, and since I needed gas anyway, we did that and then got yummy hot drinks.

Christa is one of my favorite people on this earth, and I am so grateful for her friendship!

I love this verse.  On Tuesday Jonah and Noah Christmas shopped with my mom-in-love, and while they did their thing, I did mine.  As of Tuesday morning, we had practically ZERO gifts bought for Christmas.  We had a few for other people, but none just about, for all the people under our roof.  I share this picture, because the Lord gave me some perspective this week, regarding all this.  Sometimes He does that, and always just when I need it.  I had a different attitude when I went to shop that day, and had a really good quiet time with that morning and while I drove to all the different spots I needed to go to (I love to pray while I drive), and He helped me while I got most of it done.  And then that night, after Toddley's parents left to go back home after dinner, he finished up what I didn't get.  #teamwork

The whole reason why I share the verse along with this story is because God is in all the details of everything we do.  When we live life with Him, and when we surrender to Him and allow Him to be fully Lord over our lives, He leads us.  He guides us, He determines our very steps.  When I pray, those are the kinds of things I ask Him to help me with: for Him to be honored in what I do, to lead me and to help me be a good steward of my time and money, and for Him to guide me in my day, and to use me in everything I do.  And He always does.  This should not surprise me anymore, but I never want to get over Him doing that for me in my everyday life.  I can never thank Him enough for all of this, but I thank Him for it all the time.  

The Lord is just so good, so sweet, so kind, and so loving.  And the older I get and the more I know Him, the more beautiful He is to me.

I have much more to how Tuesday and Wednesday went, but just know that He literally provided for us like only He can do, down to the very dollar amount.  I can't make all this up, even if I tried.  But He is so good, and so faithful.  He deserves all the glory I can give to Him, because He does everything in my life!  None of it is me, but it's all Him and His divine providence.

On a lighter note, I finished up things with shopping on Wednesday, and that night Todd and I went to an appreciation banquet my worship pastor gives us each year for all the music department and tech team.

I spent yesterday with my mom, and we got our nails done.  This might be my new favorite, and shockingly, the color is not OPI, but a brand that they have at that salon.  I love how white my nails are, and then I asked for glitter on top, for the new year.  I love them and have already gotten several compliments on them.  Mom found this color for me, and I'm glad she did!  I had glittery red on before this color, and I was ready for something more neutral.  Who am I?  I never used to do neutral on my nails, I always did bright and dark/other fun colors like blue and green.

After my day with Mom, I came home and rested for a while with my feet up, because they always hurt, and then Todd and I left to finish up some secret Santa stuff we're doing as a family.  We did that and ate dinner and shopped more, then got some drinks again from Starbucks.  I went back to my favorite drink, a hot chai tea latte.  This picture was actually from a couple of weeks ago, but I loved all the Christmas cups from here this year!  Last night when we got our drinks, they were out.  :(

I'll leave you with one last picture, one of my favorites of my boys from years gone by.

Man, I loved those years!  I love where they are now, too, though.  These guys are all just so much fun to be with, and I really like them too and their fun and talkative personalities.

Tonight starts our Christmas celebration with Todd's family.  We'll be doing that tonight and tomorrow.  Today I'm spending the day with my dad, but in a different way because he's a tiny bit under the weather.  I'm taking him some yummy lunch, though, and I look forward to being with him at his house. 

Thanks for reading my blog, friends!  I hope you have a great day and weekend.  Love to all! 

the weekend, and the downhill slope of these days before Christmas

This is what my Monday is going to consist of until this afternoon.  Add the book I just started reading, and it'll be the perfect rainy day.

It was a really great weekend.  I always love December leading up to my birthday, which is the 14th.  After that date, the rest of the month becomes a blur.  I know this from experience, and this is always when a little bit of dread enters in for me.  I love this time of year so much, but I always want time to just hover in these days leading up to the 25th.  I'm always a little sad on the day of Christmas.

As much as I love this time of year, this year we are struggling with the shopping part.  I have a few gifts I'm really excited about giving, but even my own sons have become hard to buy for the older they get.  We need to finish all of this up by Friday night, so guess what we'll be doing all week?

This weekend got started on Friday, when my dad was here.  My mom and sister Lisa stopped by to drop something off, and when I saw Lisa, I died laughing. 

 
I took my dad home, then I came home and changed, and met her, my sister Trish, Mom, and Bill for dinner at a Mexican restaurant.  It was great until they brought a sombrero out for me to put on while they sang, and then they took an entire dessert plate full of whipped cream and smeared it all over my face.

I look amused, but I wasn't very.  I did deserve this, I have to say, because I accidentally ruined the surprise for my sister when she came into town to surprise my nephew Tyler, who shares my birthday.  It was a total accident, but I felt terrible. 

Also, who the heck does this to patrons who come in to dine at their restaurant?!  After this, I feel like my meal should have been free. 

On Saturday, I enjoyed being lazy most of the day.  I watched Hallmark movies until people woke up, I caught up on laundry and cleaning in my bedroom and bathroom, I took a nap, and then Todd took me out for dinner.

He bought me this new necklace, which I love, then we ate dinner at Longhorn.  We ended the night by watching my favorite movie of all time.

I'm going to miss the Christmas tree being here when the holidays are over.

I was at church bright and early Sunday morning, then I came home for the rest of the day until church that night.  We had a great service!

The Ram Corps from University of Mobile was here to perform for us, and I had a huge smile on my face the whole time. 

Sometime today I'll also be watching this.

This is one of my favorite Christmas movies ever, and I found it for under $4 on Amazon Friday, so I bought it, and it came yesterday. 

What's your favorite Christmas movie?  I've mentioned two of mine already.  I also love The Holiday, New Years Eve (Google it), Elf,  and Home Alone.

Well, I'm going to go read now, so I hope you have a great day.  Love to all! 

Friday Favorites (Part 2)

I already wrote a Friday Favorites that posted early this morning, but I figured it's not the kind of post for everyone, so here's my part two.  ;)  (It was all about makeup, and I'll spare you, but go down further on my blog if you really want to read it.)

Here are some of my favorite moments from a pretty great week. 

I could just sit and weep over this sweet picture of all my boys from forever ago.  Time flies by so quickly, and these were the days that were pure magic.  I love being a boy mom, and I was always up for an adventure with them.  We had so many traditions we did every single year, and they all eventually outgrew a lot of them, so I treasure these precious memories.

This was my best friend Missy and me from last Saturday.  We made a day trip to Jackson, Tn, which is one hour away, and we did all sorts of fun things.  The reason for us doing this is to go the Christmas concert at Englewood Baptist Church, where our favorite worship leader leads worship.  It never disappoints!  This was our second year of going.  We also shopped and then drove around to see these beautiful lights at a baseball stadium.  It was a perfect day.

This is Travis Cottrell.  Our own Travis at our church is every bit as talented as this man pictured above, I will tell you, and I'm also grateful for him and how he leads us in worship week after week.

Our sanctuary at Christmas is my favorite. 

My dad and I got our picture taken after our night of praise and worship on Sunday night.  It was my favorite one to date, and the lighting and every little part was all spectacular.  My mom and stepdad and stepmom were all there as well, but this was the only picture I got.

I made a little money a couple of weeks ago by singing somewhere, and I treated myself on Tuesday with a new Christmas mug.  Coffee mugs are my favorite, and I adore this one.

Dogs are our favorite, in this house, and two of them got new beds on Wednesday.  They're tartan plaid, which is my favorite print, and they love them.  Callie, our German Shepherd, has her own separate big girl bed.

This adorable tree that my stepdad made for me is my newest favorite addition to all my Christmas decorations in the house.  Because the outside of our house is being worked on, we're not doing lights or anything else out there this year.  I love the warm glow this gives the kitchen!  It adds a touch of magic.  I love twinkle lights, and would probably have them all over my house if it were up to me.

Other fun things I don't have pictures of are the day my mom-in-love and I spent together shopping.  And then my mom and I did the same thing on Wednesday.  I'm so blessed to have them both in my life!  And then yesterday for lunch I went to a ladies luncheon with the staff ladies from church, and we exchanged Secret Santa gifts.  Mine is currently being used by my cat on my chair, but I received a sherpa throw blanket, which are my favorite kind, a really pretty Pioneer Woman coffee mug, and some bath bombs. 

Like I said, it's been a wonderful week.  I'm sitting here and waiting on my dad to round off the day, and I'm looking forward to the weekend.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all. 

Friday Favorites, makeup edition

Happy Friday, friends!  I'm linking up with Andrea from Momfessionals, and her friends Erika and Narci, for this blog post.

I thought I'd do a different kind of post this week, one where I talk about one of my very favorite things- makeup.  Disclaimer, if you don't like to talk about makeup, you may want to move on now.

 I've had a few compliments on mine lately, and I thought I'd share what I do and what products I like to use.  Also, who doesn't love to talk about makeup every once in a while?  I know I do.  My dream job was one I had as a young married wife, and I worked at Merle Norman.  It was the most fun job I've had to date, and I loved playing in all the makeup and doing makeovers.  I was given the young girls who would come in, and I did makeovers on them for dances.  I've also loved makeup since I was very young.  My mom and sisters can attest to this.

I'll jump in and start with the fact that I don't like to spend a lot of money on makeup.  That being said, one thing I don't skimp on is foundation.  I have a mild case of rosacea and need something to cover up all the redness.  I used to use Clinique for this.  They have a foundation that comes in a green bottle and it was a very light coverage, but it took the redness away.  Then my niece began to sell LimeLife makeup, and she came to Memphis for my nephew's wedding and brought me the foundation and powder.  And I've used it almost exclusively ever since.  The foundation is high in color pigmentation, which just means that a very small amount goes a very long way.  It's also wax based, and that just means that the coverage is excellent and smooth, and I love that I can melt it down when I get low, and use every last drop.  Because it covers so well, the powder I use from them is translucent, and trust me, I don't miss having a powder that has color.  Their powder kind of sets the foundation, and I use very little.  (In one year, I'm still on the same powder.)

It comes in these little magnetic cases that snap closed easily, and the makeup sits in a tin that you can pop out and melt down on the stove top or a flat iron, if you have one.

To apply these, I use a beauty blender for the foundation and a kabuki brush for the powder.

That beauty blender is from the brand called Elf that you can buy at any drug store, and it cost about $2.  Some people spend major money on these, but I don't understand why.  They're all basically the same.  The kabuki brush for the powder is the short and squatty one you see.  I also use a good brush from Glo Minerals that someone gave me for blush, and I'm not sure where my eyeshadow brushes came from, but I'll come back to those in a few minutes.

Before I start with foundation, I start with this little jar of magic, because, hello mid-forties.

It's called Age Rewind, and it's by Maybelline.  I apply this all over the area under my eyes, and when I blend it in with that beauty blender, I use it as a base on my eyelids as well.  I go a little up my forehead with it to the area between my eyebrows, to the underside of my eyes, my eyelids and on my nose.  Then I do foundation, blush, and finally the powder to set it all.

I've used this brand of blush forever.  I always have two shades, one for fall and winter, and one for spring and summer.  When I suck in my cheeks and see that indentation, that's where I apply this.  I also do a little on my forehead, the top of my nose and the center of my chin.

After I do all that I use my kabuki brush again to blend it all, then I wipe part of it off with my hands.  I don't want it to look cakey.  (About that, when applying foundation, make sure you also apply it under your jawline and to the underside of your chin and back a little, towards your throat.  Blending is key, nobody likes to see a line of makeup.  Also, when picking a color, it's good to ere on the lighter side than one that may be too dark.  In LimeLife makeup, my foundation is called Olive 1.  In any other foundation, I'm a natural or neutral kind of girl and pick a shade close to the skin on top of my hand.  If in doubt, go lighter.  And my goodness, if you see a friend with a line in her makeup, tell her.  Someone I love had a very bad line recently, and I regret not telling her.

After all this, I start with eyeshadow, which is one of my favorite parts.

My first favorite kind is the black one by L'Oreal.  I use a little of all the colors, but my go to is always dark brown and a beige color.  I recently bought this other pallet by Maybelline, and I like it too, but it's kinda sparkly and I don't want to look that way every single day.  I start with a small eyeshadow brush, and I apply a dark brown to the lower half of my eyelid.  I kind of do this in rounded way, like a crescent moon with the arch part slightly mimicking the shape of my eyebrows.  I never get it too close to my inner eye, because if you go into that part, it looks like you have a black eye.  To the inner eye and top half of my eyelid, I use a beige color, and I blend it all slightly.  I like to see definition and if I'm going to the trouble of applying shadow to my eyes, then I want it to be noticeable.  I just make sure it's not too dark, and when I get out to my car in the daylight, I make sure it's not harsh.

After my eyes, I do my brows.  This is new to me, because I've never done them until just recently.  I make sure they're always plucked and neat, for one thing, and I make sure I never have any between my brows, because nobody likes to see a unibrow.  I bought some new brow makeup this week, from Ulta, and it's the Essence brand, which is super cheap.  One is a pencil with a brush on one end.  I make quick little upward movements where I don't have brows, filling in the gaps, and it makes it look like little hairs.  I brush them all to blend them as soon as I'm finished, and I use a brow gel to set them.  In two days, two people commented on my eyes, so I think it makes a difference.  Also, if you haven't already followed her on Instagram, go find Cassie Sugarplum.  She has a great little tab on eyebrows.  After that, I do eyeliner, and I also bought an eyeliner pen this week, and I love it.  It's so much smoother than a pencil, and there is no sharpening involved.  I always use dark brown for all of this, even my eyebrows, because I like for them to appear darker.

My last thing is mascara, and I always use black.  I heard someone say always go the darkest black you can buy, and I've stuck with that since I was younger.

In my humble opinion, can you beat this old fashioned pink and green tube?  Just go to the drug store and you'll find it.  It's very trusted and it never changes, so why mess up a good thing?

My final thing to do is to use my fingertips to rub off a little of all that I've applied.  I don't want to look overdone, and I don't think I ever look that way, or at least if I do, nobody has said anything.  Believe it or not, even though this all seems like a lot, it doesn't take my any longer than about seven minutes to do.  My eyes take the longest, and sometimes I have to just start over.  I put on lipstick before I leave, and I have several favorite kinds.  The one I'm currently using is LimeLife, a good fall color called Macaroon.  I also have a bright pink color called Cake Pop.  I love Revlon, too, and love just about every color I've ever tried.  Coffee is a good one for me, and I love their red color for December.  My newest favorite is the NYC brand, though.  I line all of my lips with a brownish pink color, then I apply a lighter nude shade on top.

Well, that was fun to write.  I hope you got something useful out of it all.  Before I turned 40, I didn't bother with makeup too much, but something about turning this age and my skin changing, and that all changed.  I change it all up in the summer and go a lot lighter with it all, but even when I'm going somewhere in the summer, I do this routine.  When my skin has color on it, I'm able to go lighter with all of this, and for some reason, the sun clears up a lot of the rosacea I have.  I'm not sure why, but it's true.  I also just kind of decided one day that I really like feeling put together, and makeup helps me feel that way.  I don't spend a lot of money, and everything I have lasts for a long time.  Makeup is one of my favorite things, and I have so much fun playing in it.

Thanks for reading!  Love to all.

Updated to add this P.S.: Here is what it all looked like on my face yesterday after I applied it all and left home.

simply Tuesday

It's my favorite kind of day, and that is a day when I get to spend good, quality time with someone I love.  Weeks ago, my mom-in-love and I planned to Christmas shop together on this day.  It's yucky outside with a weird mixture of rain/snow/sleet, but it's not sticking to the ground and it'll be above freezing all day today, so we're safe. 

I have a list of places I'd like to go, and I'm sure she does, as well, and I'm excited.  I love to shop for Christmas, and I also love to go out and just "window shop".  I don't usually buy things unless it's a need, but it sure is fun to look. 

I was up before the sun this morning and enjoyed some good time with Jesus and the quiet of my house.  I love this time of year, in case you didn't know that, and I love plugging in and turning on all the Christmas lights around downstairs.  My newest addition to downstairs is this tree my wonderfully talented stepdad made for me last year.

It belongs outside, but because the outside of our house is a wreck, I hate to draw extra attention to it.  So, I brought it into the kitchen yesterday, and I think it looks adorable.  It adds an extra bit of magic to this little nook that the kitchen table sits in.

Speaking of yesterday, last night I made dinner for my stepdad Bill and my mom.  It was to celebrate Bill's birthday that was last Friday, and it was a fun night.  My sister Trish got to come later on, too, which was an unexpected treat.  After they left, I went to sit down and noticed the rug was wet in one corner.  Apparently yesterday while the people were here working on the outside of our house and the dogs couldn't go out too often, Crash had an accident on the rug.  He didn't get in trouble for this, because this never happens, but I really felt bad for him.  He thought he was in trouble and he was so sad looking.  We rolled up the rug and tossed it (to throw away), because we only paid about $25 for it two years ago.  It came from a friend of mine, but I was glad we didn't pay a lot for it, because it didn't hurt to make the decision to throw it away.  This is why we don't buy things that are too nice, because of the dogs.  I know that may sound preposterous to some, but we love them and don't mind them sometimes having accidents.  (Though they usually do get in trouble for that kind of thing, yesterday could not be helped, plus he is getting older.)

So this was us hanging out while the floors dried last night after we mopped.

 Graham mopped for me because my back has been bothering me since Sunday, and we were just talking and laughing while he laid on that couch.  I love moments like that, that are completely random and unplanned.  I'm not mad about the rug, I was actually tired of the print that was on it, and it was never able to be centered and was a little too big for the space.  Eventually, I'll find another clearance rug somewhere, and I'll buy it, but I am in no hurry for that.  The rug we had before this one we tossed last night was from Target's clearance section, and I paid about $10 for it.  I don't plan to spend a lot on one, whenever I find one I like.

Well, I need to run and make lunches for my hubby and oldest son before they leave for work and start on laundry so I can leave soon to go meet my mom-in-love.  Thanks for reading!  Love to all. 

girls day trip

I lost count on how many trips Missy and I have been on together now, but it all started on December 7th, five years ago.  I was walking through a personal tragedy with my bonus son Alex after church one Sunday and standing outside of my car bawling like a baby in the church parking lot, and Missy, who did not know me from Adam, dropped her purse and bags on the ground and enveloped me in a hug.  She doesn't even like hugs, much less when it's a stranger, but she saw me in distress and stepped in to wrap me up in her arms, much like I would imagine Jesus being like when He walked on this earth.

Todd told her to "just take me somewhere", and she picked McAlister's, and thus, a bond was formed and a friendship turned sisterhood began.  I thank God for her all the time, and what a perfect way to celebrate the day it all began, by making a day trip to Jackson, Tn.  (Most of our trips were church trips to camp with teenagers, two for two summers in a row, and youth events for weekends, a camping trip with a bunch of teenagers, and a trip to Nashville with youth leaders one time.  On our own just the two of us, we've been to Dallas, Bentonville, Arkansas, Nashville & Franklin for a day trip, and Jackson for two years in a row at Christmas.) 

I never want to stop traveling with her, but this Christmas trip to see our favorite worship leader at his church's Christmas program may be my favorite.  When we planned this trip, we had no idea it was the anniversary of our friendship starting, but it was perfect.  Somehow we went from "acquaintances" to being the type of friends who talk on the phone almost every single day, sometimes even multiple times in each day.  We love all the same things and dislike all of the same things.  We don't always have to say something when we're together, but when we're together, we also never run out of things to talk about.  I couldn't even tell you what all we talk about, but traveling to and from Dallas together, in all those fourteen hours spent riding together, we never ran out of topics.  I think we know just about everything there is to know about each other.

Here's what our day looked like on Saturday.  I picked her up at nine thirty, we got some breakfast to go, and we hit the back roads to Jackson.  Our first stop was at a Mennonite bakery called Backermann's.

We shopped some and treated ourselves to a fried pie, which we ate as soon as we got into my car. 

There was a petting zoo behind the store, and we did that, too.

And then we smelled like goat for the rest of the day.  Seriously, the stench wouldn't come off our hands, even after multiples washes.  At some point, it did fade.

We went to Belk in Jackson after this, and did some Christmas shopping.  I bought myself a new black shirt to wear for choir, and Missy bought a new sweater for herself.  We ate some of the bread we bought at the bakery for a snack to sustain ourselves, then went to Trees and Trends. 

We found a spot to sit for a while, then we continued on. 

After this, we went to a bookstore and didn't buy anything, and then I felt kinda sick and in need of some real food, so we ate "dinner" at three thirty at The Olive Garden.

We changed clothes while we were there before we left for the concert, then drove around a bit and stumbled upon Union University.  I've never been there before, but the campus is gorgeous.

These buildings are the library (The Logos) and the watch tower, which I thought was so pretty. 

We decided to go ahead and drive to Englewood Baptist Church to get in line, so we could get a good seat.

I love a church steeple. 

It was good!  I'm so glad we went.  It was worshipful, which is my favorite kind of concert. 

After the concert we hit up a local gas station for something to munch on and for diet cokes, then we went to see some magical Christmas lights.

And yes, we did wear our light up Christmas necklaces.  It was the perfect ending to a perfect day. 

Thanks for always being up for my adventures, Missy.  I love you.  And thank you to our most wonderful and accommodating husbands for never minding that we do these fun things.  Even more than we love each other, we both love our husbands, and we never want to take for granted them being so sweet to us. 

Love to all.