Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

Wednesday, September 23, 2026

It’s Wednesday and that means it’s time for Hodgepodge with Joyce!

1. Fall arrives this week in the northern hemisphere. Does it look/feel like fall where you live?What’s something you love to do this time of year that makes you feel its officially fall? 

*If you’re answering today from the southern hemisphere feel free to sub spring for the word fall. 

It is starting to feel like fall is in the air. I noticed some leaves starting to fall a couple of weeks ago amidst the crazy September heat we had. We have had a few mornings where you can feel the hint of fall. Ahhhhh! September and October are super crazy in the world of education so last year, my first year of retirement, was a real treat. It was nice to feel like I got to enjoy fall! I enjoyed reading outside, walking more, and just stopping to smell the pumpkins – lol.

2. What’s a small daily task or chore that always seems to fall through the cracks when your schedule gets busy?

I think I would say dusting. I can get to the laundry, dishes, floors pretty well, but dusting always seems to be last.

3. What’s something you’re falling for lately? 

The Emma M. Lion series – omg! It’s what I needed. I don’t normally buy fiction books. I use my library. The last several books I’ve read have just been “mid” as the kids say. Well, I bought and started Volume 1 and I was so happy to have a book that was way more than “mid”. I proceeded to buy more in the series and request later books from the series from the library. Since I save so much money with my library, I am fine to buy some of these! I just want to savor them. Have you read her yet?

4.  Pumpkin is a popular flavor this time of year.  Are you a fan? What’s your favorite pumpkin flavored food or beverage?  

I love pumpkin! I have not bought a PSL at Starbuck’s and I never even think about Starbuck’s anymore thanks to my Chobani creamers and my frother. I have already had Chobani pumpkin spice creamer this season and I am going to make some pumpkin bread or muffins soon. I would say pumpkin bread is my favorite. I love pumpkin pie, too. I usually just have one or two slices per year.

By the way, if you are starting to think about Christmas shopping, the plug in frother would be a great gift for a coffee lover in your life.

5.What’s something you wish would never change? Explain. 

Gosh, Joyce, what a tough question. I guess I would say good old-fashioned morals and values, etiquette, and how to treat people, and how to live.

I am not sure where many are getting this anymore and it appears that many aren’t. I am worried about this. As technology evolves, I feel like we are missing the new skills to navigate said technology in the “right” way and I feel that we’ve forgotten that many things haven’t changed. If you wouldn’t say something directly to someone, don’t say it on the internet. Is it ethical to use AI to do your homework? Does anyone even care about ethics? Does your good name mean anything? I used to get into these conversations with my students when it came up. I felt that I had a powerful platform and a responsibility to use it.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Aren’t pumpkins and gourds beautiful? I really want to go crazy and buy a bunch and make a display. I would enjoy them on my back porch where I would see them the most.

What about you? How would you answer any of the questions this week?

Amy

Tuesday, September 22, 2026

Well, it’s here – at least on the calendar! It is the first official day of fall as you are reading this. Last week here in Louisville, Ky we had a heat advisory, and it was so hot, muggy, and sticky on Sunday while we were at a primarily outdoor family gathering so I was done!

I’m hoping to show you some different outfits soon! I feel like I have been on repeat for the last several weeks, but that’s real life and I show you my real outfits – I swear!

Here are some ‘fits from the past week…

This consigment striped button up really needs a camisole underneath, but it was so hot that I went without. I can’t even remember where I went in it. I have on my side stripe Halaras so you’ve got the stripe on stripe.

To go see my former student’s baby, I put on this tee I bought at Old Navy for Valentine’s last year because it is cherries shaped like hearts. But I think you can enjoy cherries and hearts anytime, no? The shirt is a pale pink even though it looks white and I wore it with what have become my favorite athletic shorts – clearance Old Navy this season pink with red trim. I wish I could find more of them. They have a fun little flutter on the sides.

I wore this is meet my friend for happy hour – I have on last year’s purchase of Free People canvas mary janes, Halara light wide legged denim, and an embroidered blouse that was a TJ Maxx find in early summer this year.

I looked at my fall and winter stuff and went ahead and pulled out my fall graphic tees from Old Navy last year. I bought “Witching Hour” and one with tiny pumpkins and I wore both last week! I wore “Witching Hour” to run some Saturday mornings and then I changed into…

this dress for the celebration of life I attended Saturday afternoon with my friend for another friend’s husband. It is old Walmart Free Assembly and I wanted to wear it because it had pockets for my keys since I didn’t want to carry a bag. It was also super hot that day and this dress is made of a cool feeling fabric.

For the family gathering low country boil on Sunday I wore my Old Navy skort one last time since it’s pretty summery and the white Target blouse. I ended up changing to flip flops instead of these sandals.

I got a wild hair and decided to stop by Old Navy in person instead of placing an online order that I planned. I wanted this witch hat graphic tee. I didn’t realize it was part of the Disney collection and I am not a Disney Adult. I also didn’t realize it also had black cats and little orange and yellow doo dads. This is why shopping in person can definitely be better! It was only sale for $10.

I also grabbed this Summer Fridays t-shirt that was on sale. I think it was $8.49. I liked the light blue and thought it would look good under something.

And, I got this brown interesting shoulder tee for $7. I think I can wear it under a certain sweater I have and I am loving brown right now.

What can I say? I love a tee. The Old Navy graphic tees are cut for women and super soft. They aren’t fast fashion if I keep them for several years. I try to baby them and wash them on cold. I need to line dry them, too, I think.

What have you been wearing lately? Buying? Prepping for fall?

Join the party here!

Amy

Monday, September 21, 2026

How was your weekend? I’m linking up with Sarah and Holly to share about mine and my words will be brief because I am writing this much later than I normally do. You will see the difference between morning blogger Amy and evening blogger Amy. Some of you are thinking “finally she won’t be so wordy”.

Friday night we ate dinner at Mojito with our friends. When in Rome…you must order a mojito there. They are sooo good!

I got a grilled fish sandwich and left off most of the bread; it’s a lot!

It finally rained! Yay! It rained both Friday night and Saturday morning.

You guys – I am in a Emma M. Lion vortex and so happy about it. The wait list was too long at the library so I ordered it on Amazon. Then, I quickly ordered the next two volumes of the nine volume series. I believe the ninth comes out in February. They are written as journal entries and set in 1883. It’s a bit of a Bridgerton or Gilded Age vibe but the journal writer, Emma, is hilarious in her observations.

I made myself the most delicious breakfast burrito Saturday and browned the outside. I need to do that again!

Then, I took myself on a mission to get some food for the day and to get a graphic tee at Old Navy. I wanted the witches hat!

Then, I got dressed for a celebration of life and picked up my friend Victoria and we went together to our teaching friend’s husband’s service. We all taught together 26 years ago.

I was starving and stopped by our new Jersey Mike’s and that would be my late lunch and dinner it turned out!

I put some game day snacks/dinner together later for Tom but I couldn’t eat anything else.

We watched the UK game late because Tom was gone some of the afternoon, too.

And, Sunday morning I made Mix and Match Mama’s apple cobbler and it was a hit at the family event we took it to…

We drove about an hour and a half to Tom’s cousin’s house for a family get together.

Her house is gorgeous and overlooks Kentucky farmland and we had a low country boil…

Look how she prepped the pats of butter for the corn with the corn holders:

What a nice day!

And, look at this forecast…

I will take the rain for those temps!

I’m sorry for what I said when I was hot!

Amy

Friday, September 18, 2026

Happy Friday! How was your week? Ours was hot! We had another heat advisory, but we think this might really be the last week of heat. I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika to share some of my favorites.

Here are my favorites in no particular order…

I have a former student who has a new baby and I got to visit this week! I took her a bacon, egg, and cheese bagel, hot coffee, iced coffee and a baby gift. I stayed for about an hour, and it was so nice to catch up, and I got to hold the baby!

I brought her my favorite diaper cream and this fall onesie.

Boy am I rusty! I hadn’t held and fed a baby this tiny probably since my youngest nephew was a baby and he is 12 now!

I enjoyed this earring combo this week. I have these little bows and I put them next to my little faux diamonds. I think I have decided not to do a third piercing because my friend’s daughter just had hers done, it got infected and she had to get an antibiotic! Also, I don’t want to sleep in the earrings.

I decided to keep the short Hunter boots that I got at Costco. I can wear them comfortably without socks and they were pretty easy to slip on.

My friend Beth gave me some of the cutest little tomatoes her husband has been growing and we picked them ourselves.

We also had a happy hour and went to a new to me place called Epiphany and I loved it.

Look at my cute drink:

And they had a choose 3 appetizer deal and we got house made pickles, bacon jam, and queso.

I am obsessed with dark green and picked up this Essie polish this week at Ulta:

I am using this and I already see a difference:

At the music festival, I must have gotten something in my eye because my eye was tearing up and my eye was red. I tossed my mascara just in case and cleaned my eyelid and corner of my eye with these for a couple of days:

I also bought this Dibs stick that I had been wanting at Ulta. It has bronzer on one side and blush on the other. I love a stick makeup.

This week I have been reading:

I’ve been watching Below Deck on Bravo, Real Housewives of New York and Salt Lake City (just started), and Dancing with the Stars but I record it and fast forward through all the talking. Did you see Ezra Frech? I watched him dance twice and cried both times. How amazing! Tom and I are watching Ted Lasso and Chad Powers, too.

Love this type of lunch I had a couple of days this week:

I loved this house in Maine from a blog I read. Check it out here!

Hot walk with EO:

And, I had another happy hour yesterday with my friend Victoria at Le Moo. We both had a good cocktail and enjoyed a little pig in a blanket and some crab dip.

It was nice to catch up!

What about you? What was a favorite of yours this week?

Amy

Thursday, September 17, 2026

Jen often does this type of post, and I felt really happy by little things in my life the other day and started my own list! They are in no particular order! I hope you enjoy this and leave me a little happy that you experienced in the comments!

My new wooden cutting board that is the perfect size and can double as a charcuterie board

One coat of Kur Londontown on my nails – or two coats! It’s called illuminating nail concealer and it’s your nails but better.

Asking Alexa to play soft jazz, coffee shop music, or something relaxing

The velvety feel of Eddie Otis’ ears

Going out in person to do my shopping instead of ordering

Froth

The smell of a struck match and my long matches in a pretty box

Ted Lasso and listening to Tom laugh while watching it on Wednesday nights when a new episode releases

Jack coming for dinner Sunday night and Facetiming with Mason and listening to their inside jokes

Tom coming home at the end of the day – Eddie Otis and I both wag our tails – lol

Watching the joy of Eddie Otis when Tom comes home

Using up what I have and not wasting

Getting a message from a former student

Eddie Otis’ silly things like carrying this cooler around

A heavy glass

What are some “little happies” you’ve experienced lately?

Amy

Wednesday, September 16, 2026

It’s Hodgepodge with Joyce day!

1. How do you define beauty? 

There’s beauty all around us. I love color and color combinations that are pleasing to the eye. I feel like I’m less hurried now and can stop and notice that beauty more now. I love when a store takes the time to make a display look nice. You don’t get that shopping online, do you? In people, beauty can be embracing who you are and what your natural looks are. I really don’t think most people who have had “work done” look very good. I also think personality makes people beautiful.

2. Have you ever taken a trip by train? If so where did you go and what did you think of the experience? If not do you have any desire to do so? Where would you like to go? (You might find inspiration here-The Best Train Trips in The World)

I love a train! My mom was from Chicago and one of the highlights of visiting her side of the family at least once a year was taking the “EL” train. My mom also planned a big Amtrak adventure for us from Chicago to Seattle when I was 12. I have taken trains in Mexico, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, England, and Scotland. I may have missed a country. I think trains are amazing and wish we still had that option more in the US.

Train Charcuterie in England:

3. Shell shocked, bombshell, bandshell, shellacking, in a nutshell, walking on eggshells…choose one and tell us why you chose it, or how it relates to your life in some way currently.

Honestly, I had to look some of these terms up! I would say “in a nutshell” since I have simplified so many things in my life. Right now, in a nutshell, I am a stay-at-home wife and dog mom.

4. Tacos, pistachios, oysters, clams, eggs…your favorite food on the list that comes in/with a shell? 

Eggs! I love eggs and like to start my day with an egg in some way. I grew up eating cereal with milk. My mom made egg casserole on holidays, though. Egg casserole continues to be a hoiday tradition.

5. Are birthdays a big deal in your house? Is your own birthday a big deal in some way? Elaborate. 

I love birthdays and celebrating the people in my life. I love my own birthday, too. I have learned to ask for what I want in terms of that day. I am not above ordering my own cake. I think birthday traditions in different countries are interesting.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Next month, the Global Writing Challenge theme is birthday so I would love to hear your traditions for yourself or for the people in your life.

Amy

Tuesday, September 15, 2026

How the heck are you all? How the heck is it already the middle of September? It’s Fashion Files day here on the blog with Marsha and me.

I have put away many of my outside shorts (not my exercise shorts or in the house lounging shorts) and basically the only ones still out are these Aerie cut offs. Boy, did I get my money’s worth. I wore them with the black Target top and my Kork Ease sandals to do some errands last week on Monday. My tan is fading. I am debating if I will apply Tan Luxe The Butter or Loving Tan.

Tuesday I had a happy hour and wore this – my Kork Ease sandals, Target polka dot linen pants, and my J.Crew Factory blouse.

I didn’t put on anything noteworthy Wednesday or Thursday – those were cleaning the house and Costco run days, I think.

Friday, I wore this to ride to my hometown and switched the pants for the cut offs when we got there. It was cool in the morning with rain and then the rain heated things up when it left.

I’m wearing the white version of the black blouse in the first picture with my newish Halara barrel leg pants. I bought them in olive green and short length. They are the most comfortable fabric and have pockets. I’m not sure how flattering they are but the length is perfect.

And, here is a better photo of the pants. I put them on again the next day with my brown TJ Maxx gauzy shirt.

Here I will link to the pants for you if you are interested. They come in tons of colors and would work for work pants.

I wear my short rain boots every day. The current pair I am using are torn up somewhere and causing my feet to get wet. The last two pairs I have gotten for $20 at Costco. I was hoping they would have some available in that price range.

All they had were Hunter brand at about a $30 price reduction. These were $99 and I saw them in a department store last weekend for $135.

I have had tall Hunter boots that lasted 10 years. I am a little unsure about the wedge heel and need to put socks on and wear them around the house. I need them to be easy to slip on so I was thinking I would like shorter than this, even.

I’m tired of all of my summer clothes. Are you?

I want a new handbag and some new early fall shoes that are both comfortable and stylish.

What about you? What is on your wish list? What have you been wearing? Do you think you “rush” the season and start wearing fall stuff too early?

We’d love for you to link up here!

Amy

Monday, September 14, 2026

It’s Monday and time to link up with Sarah and Holly! How was your weekend? I hope it was a good one!

Tom took off on Friday and after exercising Eddie Otis and getting the house ready for our dogsitter, we headed to my hometown for a music festival. We also went last year. It’s an hour drive and as soon as you cross this bridge you cross over from Kentucky to Indiana. We checked into our hotel and then headed to the festival.

I packed the “snackle box”. The one compartment missing is cheese which was in the fridge.

This festival was nice because you could bring in an empty water bottle and they had filling stations and you could bring in your own food.

It was cloudy most of the day which was nice because when the clouds scattered from time to time the sun was hot. It had rained a little bit and was muggy but nothing unbearable. We walked back to the hotel once to get some more of our gear but other than that we were at the venue from 3:00 until after 11:00 pm. We were up past our bedtimes!

I ran into my sister Kate’s buddy and his wife, so we took a photo to send to her:

The headliner Friday night was the main reason we went – Sierra Ferrell. If you like to look up new music, check out her songs American Dreaming, Dollar Bill Bar, or Lighthouse. We also enjoyed some of the other acts. Even though we were really far back from the stage, some of the acts were super loud and we both tried the air pod noise cancelling feature and it’s pretty amazing. It allowed us to hear them at a better decibel level. We went down by the stage and listened to a couple of Sierra’s songs, too, and that was fun. They had food trucks, bars, and kettle corn.

I got 20 K steps in!

Saturday morning we woke to rain. We enjoyed the hotel coffee and breakfast and then drove around to see some things.

Little spinach quiche – fancy!

The hotel is so pretty!

This is the town’s fountain:

The fountain is one of only four of this type remaining in the world. It was originally displayed at the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. I just think it’s so pretty. It also happens to be in front of my childhood church. We checked out the progress in the rebuilding efforts from the fire back in May.

Tom wanted to drive by my mom’s house, and I was ok with that. I was happy to see their fall decor.

Our baby missed us!

I unpacked, stripped sheets, did laundry, and all the little things. I am definitely “team unpack right away”. I went to Target for some cleaning and laundry supplies that we were out of and then I came home and didn’t leave the house again. Tom and I watched the UK game and ate dinner.

We ordered a salad and Tom ordered sushi and I made a baked potato, too.

I’m still working on this:

I read some of this:

And, I went ahead and started this because it sounded so cute:

I relaxed Sunday morning on my porch before it got too hot and now we have another heat advisory.

I went to our little market:

Anthropologie at the mall:

I had my copycat CFA kale salad with some chicken for lunch:

Tom had the Bengals on in the afternoon and I read. We rallied to do some chores and I made Sunday dinner.

It was a really good weekend! What was the highlight of yours?

Amy

Friday, September 11, 2026

It’s hard to believe it’s been 25 years since 9/11. I talked about it in my Spanish classes every year after 2001 so that the kids would have some understanding of that day, for what it was worth. It’s also my dad’s birthday so I like to take some time to reflect on his life and do something he would appreciate. He would have been 84 today but he passed at 76. Wednesday night I got some really sweet messages from his co-pilot about things that she remembers about him. My mom’s birthday is Sunday and she would have been 84, as well. They were the same age with birthdays two days apart! I will take some time to remember her on Sunday, too.

Sorry to start off on that note, but I’m getting to the place where I feel more joy to have had great parents than sadness that they’re gone, if that makes sense. Remembering and talking about them keeps them present, if that makes sense.

I’m linking up with Andrea and Erika today to share some favorites from my week.

What makes a good week in my retiree life? Some productivity, some social time, some outdoor time, moving my body, enjoying my dog, cooking, reading, tv, time with Tom, and so much more! I think I had that this week!

I had a nice happy hour one day with friends Beth and Becky. I had a really good raspberry limoncello spritz:

We split some fries and spinach dip:

This is one of my favorite happy hour spots called Osteria. It was hot but felt pretty good on the covered patio with fans going.

I popped into a shop called Gather before the happy hour. It’s a really lovely home and gift store.

I got a fun long match matchbox and a little ghost dish. I have a jack o’ lantern dish that is about the same size. Jen got me into matchboxes!

I also bought myself a ring:

It is stretchy and waterproof and it wasn’t expensive. I liked how it looked!

I enjoyed a homemade Biscoff cookie sundae one night this week. I used some caramel sauce and crushed up two cookies. Highly recommend! Maria’s influence is what inspired this!

I have a big stack of books but one is about WWII and the others didn’t really appeal to me right now so I started this book. I have some issues with it but it’s kind of cute. How is that for a review?

Ok, this is worth sharing. Do you like the Chick Fil A kale salad? I found a copycat recipe and it just requires kale and cabbage and then a dressing. I don’t like nuts so I leave the almonds out. I did put in pumpkin seeds.

This was a good little lunch one day!

Kirkland’s is not a place I usually think to shop. I inventoried my fall stuff and made a list like a good girl. I determined I could get a new front door doormat. I chose this one. The shape is odd but I liked it. I had a choice between this or one that said “welcome” and I didn’t want to send the wrong message, so I went with the plain one.

Also, Tom has moved the bow up to the glass part of the door. We need to re-stain our door, I know.

I found heavy duty Swiffer cloths and now I have found an even better one called “hair magnet”. Love! Eddie Otis sheds more than our other two labs did. I push this around daily and then…I go ahead and replace the cloth so it’s ready for next use. Duh, Amy. I also use a traditional broom and dustpan and a vacuum but this really seems to do the best job on the dog hair on the hard surfaces.

I have enjoyed my 8.5 x 11 sized 2026 agenda book so much that I decided to get the same one for 2027. It’s under $10!

It has a monthly calendar and then you have ample space in each day to write your to do lists. I look at each day and then write a list on a notepad and work my way through it. I love agenda books, notebooks, notepads, good pens, and crossing shizz off!

It wouldn’t be a blog post without a weather report! We have had some mornings that feel like fall lately! We have a few crispy leaves on the ground!

I bought Trader Joe’s already cooked balsamic chicken and used it in the TikTok pasta recipe – grape tomatoes, spinach, half a thing of Boursin (I think whole is too much), garlic and olive oil. Bake all that at 400 for 20-30 minutes. I added pasta water from my angel hair and then mixed and added balsamic vinegar. Restaurant quality.

I am learning how to cook for two so that we don’t have leftovers or too many leftovers.

Seriously. What is it with men and their throat clearing?

Mason sent me this photo of his dorm balcony in Santa Fe. I told him it looks like a resort.

He didn’t take his car and we are storing it. This car used to be my mom’s. Kate got a van of my dad’s, Molly got another van of my dad’s, and we got my mom’s car. Mia drove the van to visit me this summer and it was nostalgic to see it.

Some fun this week…

Chat GPT – it’s not just for humans.

I told it to “make EO more glam” from this photo:

Eddie Otis’ new profile pic for the canine dating apps:

I also glammed up Tom:

And me:

I made myself a redhead:

I shopped a consignment store and found the perfect Thanksgiving shirt:

Hehe – no, I didn’t buy it!

EO loves to “help” Tom in the yard. This is how he helped when Tom was on the garage roof blowing leaves:

What made you smile this week? What were your favorites?

Amy

Thursday, September 10, 2026

It’s time for another Global Writing Challenge and this month the topic is “poetry”. I must admit that this one really stumped me at first. Then, I realized I come from a longish line of poets!

My mom’s mom passed away when I was in 4th grade and my mom and her siblings found tons of poems that my grandmother had written. They created a book of her poems that we all now have.

My mom wrote a Christmas poem each year to go in our Christmas card. The poem gave updates from the year past of all the family members. It embarrassed me at the time – what didn’t? But, now I have many of them and they remind me of my mom’s creativity and help me remember what was going on that year.

I enjoy writing poems for people just to be silly. I wrote my sister a divorce poem after her second divorce. I will share a few lines of it:

Had a ball and chain for close to twelve (years)

All he put her through we can’t even delve

Now she’s single as a Pringle

Might even go on Christian Mingle

That’s all that I can share that isn’t too personal!

I also love to read my poems/perform my poems aloud.

Check out other entries here!

Amy