Friday Favorites

Hello and happy Friday. It has been a bit of a hectic week. Earlier this week we had the bad storms and the power outage at work. Luckily we did not lose power at home. But overall still a bit of a crazy week. I have a few Friday Favorites to share with you.

First up is this body mist, Ariana Grande, I am not a big fan of the singer Ariana Grande but I do think this body most smells great. I think you can also buy the perfume. The mist is not as expensive as the perfume and it is much lighter. I really don’t like a heavy scent. I got this at Walmart.

These little face masks are so nice. It literally is a little mask that you put over your face and leave for a few minutes. It makes your face feel so fresh and soft. You can buy them at Walmart or Target or just about anywhere cosmetics are sold. They are very inexpensive but will definitely give your face a refresh.

Do you have a Cato’s in your area. We have one in our city. I love it. I have found so many shirts and sweaters that I like. The prices are very reasonable and the quality is good. Definitely as good as Kohl’s or Target. I have a couple of shirts I have worn for years. I bought this long vest last week and I can’t wait to wear it.

I mentioned that our power was off at work all day Tuesday. It was a rough day for all of us. Our wonderful County Tourism Director, Blaina, brought a care package for all the staff. She is just the best!!! Thank you Blaina!!!!!

***Look at all of these goodies. The cookies are from a local bakery.***

Wednesday I got a much needed cut and color. I wanted to get it in before my trip. I was looking a little shaggy.

Last night we had a wedding shower for a couple of coworkers. They have been with us for several years. The fact that they found love at work and are getting married is just extra special. This is the same couple that I am doing the wedding cake for in September. I made the cupcakes for the wedding shower.

I made four dozen cupcakes Wednesday night. I like to make my own icing. I did the cupcakes on Wednesday night and got up early Thursday morning before work to make the icing and finish the cupcakes. They are doing a yellow, bee theme for their wedding and their house. I made yellow icing and bought the little decorative bees to put on each cupcake.

***Four dozen cupcakes. They were vanilla.***

***I don’t think I have ever bought icing for a cake or cupcakes. I always prefer to make my own.***

Of course I had to give them a taste test before I let them out of the house.

***This was at the shower. We bought a Pioneer Woman tablecloth for the table. The bride is also collecting a lot of Pioneer Woman dishes and utensils.***

Speaking of Pioneer Woman would you look at these glasses. These were a gift from the groom’s parents. They ordered them directly from Walmart. I haven’t seen them in our local stores. Such a beautiful color and so nice and heavy. I LOVE them!!!!

So that has been a few of my favorites from this week what were some of yours?

Always remember,

Love your day your way!!!!

My Summer Bucket List

Yes summer is quickly passing us by. Here it is nearing the end of July and school will be starting soon. It’s crazy how fast that happens. We’re starting to see all the back to school items in our local Walmart. I can still smell pencils from first grade every time I walk down the school supply isle. In tourism we are in the heart of summer but we know it is slowly winding down. Labor Day is on the horizon and that usually ends the especially larger crowds for us. I am always ready for the slow down.

I wanted to share with you some things I still have on my summer bucket list, as well as some summer fun that I have had so far. I think the summer flies by so fast we have to make it count. First off are some things I have done this summer. It’s not a lot because I don’t get a lot of time off in the summer so I have to make every weekend count.

1. I went to the Lavender Festival in Oak Ridge. I would love to find more festivals like this. They are so much fun. Here is a recap of the Lavender Festival of you missed my post.

2. Go to the beach. We did get to go to the beach last month and we had a great time. The weather was good all week and the crowds were not bad at all. We love to go to Wrightsville Beach in Wilmington NC. Here is a recap of that.

3.Plant and grow beautiful flowers or ummmm pretty flowers. I love flowers and I love to have them inside and outside. Marigolds are my favorite but sadly my marigolds didn’t do very well this year. It could be because of all the rain we have had. It has been the rainiest summer I can remember in a very long time.

4. Growing fresh tomatoes. I myself do not eat tomatoes but I love to grow them and give them away. We had several tomatoes from our one little container pot. They didn’t get really big but Mark said they were delicious. We also had plenty to give away. Something has been eating our tomatoes and I’m not sure if it is a deer or some other critter. We have a lot of them hanging around.

5. Eat Ice Cream. What can I say. It screams summer time. I try not to buy too much or I will eat it every day. Sweetwater Creamery in local downtown Sweetwater makes ice cream daily and it is delicious. I will work my way through every flavor this summer and give you an update. If you are local head on down there and get you some ice cream.

6. I also love cooking and eating lots of fresh vegetables. We have a Mennonite community close to us and they grow the best vegetables. The vegetables are so fresh and very reasonably priced. That’s where I got my tomato plant.

7. Cherries!!!! I love them so much!!! This is the best time of the year for them. I’m not fond of cherry pie, I just eat them one by one.

Here are a few things I haven’t done this summer that I would love to do. Most of them are quite simple but that’s how I role. I will give you an update on some of those things hopefully before summer is over.

8. Go on a picnic. Picnics are the best The food always tastes so much yummier when you are eating it outside. When I was a little girl we would take picnics to a local lake or the mountains. And it was sooooo good. We always had special treats when we were on a picnic and I guess that’s what made it even more special

9. Visit a sunflower field. We have one close by and I want to do that maybe this weekend. The flowers are beautiful right now and sunflowers are some of my favorite flowers. You can actually pick the flowers, and there is also zinnias which is another favorite of mine.

10. Lay on a blanket in the backyard and watch the clouds. Maybe take some pictures of them. Just another thing we did when I was a kid.

I guess I’m seeing a pattern of wanting to go back and do simpler things, fun things that don’t require a lot of thought, time or money. You just do them. When the world gets a little crazy I think simple is the best. Take a break.

What are some things you are doing this summer? or maybe have on your summer bucket list?

Always remember

Love your day your way!!!!!

Friday Favorites

Hello friends and happy Friday!!!! It was a full week and back at work for me. When you work in tourism the 4th of July is a very busy time. And it was. I am looking forward to a weekend at home getting some things done. And now to some favorites of the week.

I have to show you a couple of things I bought at Ross. Do you have a Ross clothing where you are? Sometimes I can find things there and sometimes not. These are discounted clothes taken from other stores who haven’t been able to sell them. So you really have to dig to find something good. When you do it is usually at a great price.

I found this really cute dress it was a great price I tried it on at the store and it seemed fine but after I got home, and started to wear it on vacation, it just doesn’t hang right on me. I’m going to do that thing you should never do. I’m keeping it in my closet until I lose a few pounds.

And this cover up thingy. I also got this at Ross. It could be worn over a dress or even a t-shirt. I will use it for both.

I ordered this phone case. You can order it with the names of your kitty cats or doggos and list their colors. I love it. You have probably seen these online on Facebook and Instagram and lots of other places. I was so happy with the way mine turned out.

You can also add you own name at the bottom.

On Wednesday one of my coworkers brought me this yummy strawberry Açaí refresher. we have had such a busy week little things like this really mean a lot. We have such a great team!!!

I also wanted to mention a few books I have read or listened to. First, Impossible by Danielle Steel this was an audio book through Libby. It was short but fun to listen to going to and from work. It was about a love affair that was impossible.

This book, One True Loves, I took to the beach and read it in just a couple of days. I ordered this one from Amazon. To give you an idea of why I could barely put it down, it started out with, I was having dinner with my family and my fiancé and the phone rang, it was my husband. This book is so good.

And this one was a favorite. The Book Of Charlie. I also ordered this one from Amazon. Charlie lived to be 109 years old. He was persistently good natured and just had a way of looking at the good side of everything. I loved this book.

But I guess the favorite of all is to be back home with all my babies. Gus has been sleeping with me every night and Kitty Kitty has camped out on my bed for days.

How was your week. I hope you have a great weekend!!!

Always remember

Love your day your way!!

Friday Favorites

Hello and happy Friday!!! The weather here has been very nice, so that is definitely a favorite for this week. The temps have been in the low eighties and the humidity has been low. The mornings have actually been chilly, sweater wearing weather. This has made for some wonderful pre-summer days. Lots of people are starting to take vacation and it is just a lovely time to be out enjoying the sunshine.

First and foremost I have to tell you my that my Friday Favorite of all time happened today. I have been keeping you up on the journey with my sister, Sandy, who has Lymphoma. She had her last treatment about five weeks ago. Last week she went for a PET Scan to determine if there were any cancer cells present and today we went to the doctor for the results. SHE IS IN REMISSION!!!!! This is just the best news that we could have ever hoped for. She is feeling so much better and moving around much better. I think we were both so excited we could have hugged and kissed the Doctor and the NP and everyone at the hospital. It has been such an incredible time for her. She has truly been through it. She is such an incredibly strong person.

Of course after the doctor visit we decided to do a little shopping. I have to be honest with you. I just wasn’t feeling the shopping vibe today. Hubs and I are going to the beach in a couple of weeks and I was thinking I probably could use a few things. But you know what? I need nothing. I have actually been going through my closet and I am getting ready to purge about half of it. I’m talking about clothes I don’t wear and keep pushing around in the closet until I am sick of it!!!! They are going!!!!! So with all of the clothes I have, and many that I don’t even realize I have because of all the closet clutter, why would I go and buy more? It just doesn’t make sense and I am going to stop it. I am going to shop my closet first. I started doing this several years ago and then went back to the mindless buying of things I really didn’t need. So I am going to make a conscious effort to use the things I already have. Clothes, purses and shoes are plentiful in my closets. I do not need to bring in more. And to be honest with you sometimes I feel overwhelmed by the amount of things I have that I am not using. Do you ever feel that way?

Here are a few other Favorite Things I am loving:

I had lunch with my friend Lorie last week and she gave me a beautiful orchid. I named her Clementine. She fits in perfectly with my other orchids. Lorie always knows exactly what I love and we have the best time together. We have made a pact to try and have lunch at least once a week. Even if it means her coming to my work with lunch or me going to her house with lunch. I think the important thing is just being together and sharing much needed time together. I fully believe in cultivating your friendships.

Have you tried the new Blue Bunny Soft Serve? I had been seeing it all over FB and TikTok so I finally found some in town at Walmart. Our Walmart only had the vanilla. It’s pretty good. I do want to try the chocolate I think it would be really good. I’ll keep you posted on some different flavors.

I was at CVS earlier in the week and a few impulse items were near the counter I saw this Dove cream. I know it says body cream but I like putting it on my hands throughout the day. It was only $1.19 and I got one to put on my desk at work. It’s a fairly good size tin of cream. Check it out if you are at CVS. My hands get so dry sometimes from working in flowers and dirt and washing them all the time. I just love some of those little impulse buys. I am a true sucker for them.

I just had to show you these oven mitts I got today at T.J. Maxx Only because they are so cute and yellow and yellow is one of my favorite colors right now.

I got my kitties some of these flavored lickable cat treats. I got the tuna flavor. I was hoping to lure my outside kitties a little closer to me. They were more curious than willing to lick it. But I can report that my big boy Gus who stays inside the house absolutely loved it.