Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

Tuesday, July 21, 2026

Hello and happy Tuesday! I actually can’t believe how many outfits I have for you this week. I also can’t believe how bad my photos are! I really need to find my tripod and go outside for my outfit pics. What is wrong with me?

I guess I got tired of being so casual so I put this on to walk the doggie before running errands one day last week. I have on my Old Navy navy blouse from this season, my lime and white linen striped shorts from Old Navy a few seasons ago, and the silver Birks my sister handed down to me. My sisters and I all wear about the same shoe size, by the way. There may be about .5 of a difference.

I met a friend for breakfast and thought I would get out my $5 clearance Chico’s gauzy white skirt. I found this several years ago. I cut some of the lining because the lining had gotten too long after washing. I wore a consignment Target button up, and my gold lace up sandals that are several years old. This outfit was like $11 if you don’t include the sandals!

I wore this to meet my former student for coffee. Sadly, the back of the pants are developing a tear along the seam. I am not getting rid of them just yet; I will wear a longer shirt next time. This top is consignment J.Crew and the pants are clearance from Versona several years ago. The gold flip flops are new this year from Aerie.

I bought a new blouse! I went to TJ Maxx looking for some house things and also wanted to check out the blouse selection. Not good! But, I did find this:

I have been wanting a brown blouse – strange thing to want! Did you know brown is “in”? That sounds so stupid! Well, I have been wanting more brown!

I styled it above with consignment Chico’s white pants and liked it but thought I would get hot.

I styled it below with the white skirt for Tom’s mom’s birthday dinner. I got hot running around and decided to change blouses at the last minute. The brown is gauzy and a bit thick. I am wearing my cork Aerosoles that I don’t wear very much, to be honest. I still look their look.

I ended up with this blouse instead and it’s very lightweight for the extreme heat we had on Saturday.

I put this down my blouse on my back and neck to cool myself off:

It’s hard to be hot! I don’t like who I am when I’m hot!

Most days I look like this:

I still have a new leather purse on the brain and now I’m obsessing over the color green like this one:

My sister sent me a photo from the Free People website. Do you remember me showing a similar pair of flats back in the spring. You guys! These are becoming more mainstream. I can’t tell you the levels at which I hate these. They are so, so weird. Is this finally a sign that I am growing up and not following trends as much?

Why? Which toe goes where? Send help! I’m not ok!

So, what have you been wearing?

I can definitely tell I am approaching the end of my interest in summer clothes. I am hoping to weed out some more things I haven’t worn this season (that would mean they don’t fit my style anymore) and inventory and start to think of things I want for fall.

There is quite a stretch where you still have to wear summer weight things, but you want less summery florals and more fall-like colors, you know?

I really enjoy fashion and putting outfits together. I also love to help other people find outfits. It’s so fun!

Please join us here!

Amy

Monday, July 20, 2026

Linking up with Sarah and Holly for Hello Monday!

How was your weekend? If you are a teacher, I know you are not loving how quickly the weeks seem to fly by. It’s crazy how many teachers I know that are in their last couple of weeks. What happened to starting school at the end of August?

Eddie Otis is 2.5 years old and we still crate him when we leave for his safety, really. He goes right in his crate when we say, “let’s take a break” and sometimes we close the crate and sometimes we don’t. It’s funny because he knows my patterns pretty well and even though I leave the house at various times, he knew I was getting ready to leave Friday morning and he “crated himself”. I always walk him first so don’t let his sad eyes fool you. He was fine.

I met my dear former student Madeleine at a coffee shop! Madeleine just completed her second year of teaching in Spain and is back in the US for good. We talked and laughed for almost 2 hours. Gosh, it’s so rewarding to see these young people become such great humans! I first met her at 16 and now she is 25.

I also took a TJ Maxx trip on Friday and again, all the Halloween stuff is out just like at World Market!

I also went in Target for a few things and bought this new viral peanut butter. I’m a sucker – what can I say? It’s in a weird container. It’s really good but very runny and natural-type peanut butter. I think I will use it in some recipes.

I was a bad blogger this weekend and forgot to take photos. Friday night we met our friends at Martin’s BBQ and my meal was so good – forgot the photo! I had a baked potato with pulled pork in it.

Saturday morning I went to the library and got this stack:

I’m still reading this:

The cover is very cartoon-ish, but I’m really enjoying it. It’s set in Isle Royale in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan which is somewhere I would like to go. I will say that in 2026, a large percentage of my books have involved a recently deceased parent. Is this what I personally am gravitating toward? Coincidence? Is this helping me? I’m not sure.

Also, Saturday morning I hit up Trader Joe’s and it was empty! I guess everyone else had fun summer Saturday plans.

My niece Lena got her license! How is this possible?

Then, our family made a little road trip for a special celebration. Tom’s mom turned 80! I brought flowers for the table and individually wrapped German candy that I had bought at World Market. I was glad the tables didn’t already have decor because it worked out perfectly for my vision.

I thought it looked kind of German?

Tom’s mom:

I had sent her an outfit to wear as her gift and she wore it and it looked great on her. It was white linen drawstring pants and a blouse – both from Belk. We don’t have a Belk but I have discovered their website and they have some great things and great prices!

Beer cheese:

I ordered a chicken sandwich but just ate the chicken – I do this a lot to get the right size chicken – and mashed potatoes.

My niece Morgan brought the prettiest cake that was red velvet with cheesecake flavored buttercream inside. She had it made by a old school friend.

I think the celebration turned out really nice. We didn’t get home until about 10:30.

Sunday we took the boat out – just Captain, First Mate, and I – First Mate is Eddie Otis!

Tom got EO a new harness that looks like he is a working dog and if you look carefully Tom chose “Mama says I’m special”.

Someone asked Tom if he was an assistance dog and Tom said he is the dog’s assistance human. Oh man!

We ordered brunch on the boat. I got chicken and waffles and then the leftovers were Tom’s dinner.

We ran into a niece!

The bridge!

We made it home to watch the World Cup game. I wanted Spain!

I made some Spanish foods/tapas.

And, I’m pretty sure that’s why they won!

What did you do this weekend?

Join me for Fashion Files tomorrow if you’d like!

Amy

Friday, July 17, 2026

It’s Friday and time to link up with Andrea and Erika!

Well, I returned back from Michigan and our long weekend cousin reunion on Sunday and have enjoyed looking at my photos and the photos my cousins have sent and added to the shared folder all week so that is my first favorite.

My hope on the way there was that I reconnect with everyone and try to talk to everyone one on one. I think I accomplished that! I got to know the kids better this year and really enjoyed their energy. We had a 6-year-old girl, an 8-year-old boy, then I think lots of kids in the 11-13 range, and lots in the 16-20 range. We had a total of 16 kids!

We made lots of new memories and have lots of new inside jokes and buzz words! We have texted since we have been back home, too!

Not a favorite…

I had trouble commenting on lots of blogs this week; it’s saying “sign in with Google” and I am signed in and I try several things to no avail. I apologize if I couldn’t comment on yours, but I did read them!

Some other favorites…

I started and finished this:

It’s really well done in my opinion. Oh how I loved the original Little House! If you were obsessed with Little House like I was, give it at least two episodes of a chance.

I just barely have started this and I’m into it! This was my favorite of all the Elin books.

Tom’s Suburban was repaired while we were gone and I was without my car for a couple of days before we left and then on Monday, so I was happy to have my car all to myself again after we picked his up!

Mason stayed at our house to watch Eddie Otis while we were gone and I think Eddie Otis reverted back to some bad behaviors. It’s been a struggle with him this week. He has been stealing shoes, remotes, and just being a little jerk. Also, he has accumulated two new stuffed animals – a panda and a sloth. Did he order these off Amazon? Mason has “no idea” where they came from.

I have walked him and tried to get him back to our routine:

It’s so hot that he doesn’t want to walk for long. We are doing lots of short walks.

I got a couple of new books from the library this week:

I had a fun breakfast out with my friend Beth at Highland Morning:

I didn’t eat again until dinner when I had a meal of sweet potatoes, black beans, avocados, chicken, and some chips.

I haven’t shopped the Nordstrom sale in years! I would love a bag like this, but not exactly like this:

Let me know if you think of another brand that I should investigate!

I had a fun shopping trip to World Market. I couldn’t believe fall was out!

I liked this for a gift idea:

and this for fun cocktails!

While I didn’t buy either of those this time, I did buy myself a butter dish:

I went to Trader Joe’s after because they are in the same shopping center.

I really liked this for my lunch. The slimy factor was about a 2 on a scale of 1-10.

And I bought this blueberry muffin mix to make a blueberry bread.

The last of our giant shrooms from the rainfall a couple of weeks ago:

For our anniversary Wednesday night, I got out the professional album…

the honeymoon album…

and a scrapbook I made about our story – what a nerd!

We ate at Denny’s several times before Tom took me to a real restaurant due to circumstances. One time we ate after a football game (I was cheerleading coach and we played Tom’s high school team and he met me there), and a couple of other random times. It became a joke that he had to make sure I was worth a “real restaurant”.

I ordered Denny’s for our dinner Wednesday night! I was going for a laugh and I got one!

There’s a reason why you only go to Denny’s late at night when you’re drunk. It was not great.

Tom brought me home a blood orange candle with three wood wicks. Wood wicks are my favorite. We don’t usually do gifts but rather do a trip or a home improvement project, so I was suprised. He even picked out a sweet card for me, too.

I am so impressed with the Kur Londontown in the original. This is two coats. I had two coats last through all the water I was in while in Michigan and then did another two coats at home.

I went to the pool with Victoria this week, too. She belongs to a cool old pool that used to be a quarry.

I’m not sure what I think of this…

What were your favorites this week? I hope you had many!

Amy

Thursday, July 16, 2026

Thursday blog posts are always a wild card for me, but I like details so I thought I would write a bit more about our Michigan trip. If you don’t know what I’m talking about, check out Hello Monday.

The Details:

5 cousins (plus spouses and kids) were coming to stay at one cousin’s lake house so the 5 of us started our own group text thread to do all the food so that the host had no food responsibilities. They shouldn’t have any food responsibilities because they were putting us up for 3 nights, no?

Etiquette:

Can we take a moment to talk about etiquette? If you are going to someone’s home, you should always take a gift. Last year we created a basket of products from our respective states of Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky. These things were to be enjoyed after we left.

Tom had the idea to send Neal a device to make refilling fuel easier, so we also did that when we got home.

We all chipped in cash for gas on the boat and jet skis, too – both last year and this year. Boating is very expensive!

You can treat the host to a meal out, ice cream out, anything that you can do to show your appreciation is the right thing to do.

By the way, when Mason went to stay with German cousin Moritz in NYC, he bought him coasters from his leathergoods store and treated him to a meal and some drinks, too. This was instilled in me as a kid and now I hope my kids will always do this, too. It’s shocking to me when adults don’t do this!

Being a good house guest:

We also all chipped in with the cleanup, the dishwasher loading and unloading, the towel and sheet washing and changing, etc.

We always asked what we could do to help. We didn’t complain about the plan or where we were put to sleep.

The meals:

Everyone was arriving Thursday a couple of hours before dinnertime so we knew we wouldn’t have a lot of time to prepare anything. We decided to bring bbq and sides – cold salad type things and chips. Kate brought brisket, I brought pork bbq, Molly brought chicken bbq and then I made broccoli salad, we had slaw, potato salad, a ramen salad, and a green lettuce salad. Kate and I bought our bbq and Molly made hers at home. We also brought plenty of buns. This meal seemed to be a hit with everyone.

Friday night we ordered pizza from the little market. That was a hit with the kids! We also pulled out leftovers if anyone wanted to add a side.

Saturday night we grilled hamburgers and I made grilled cheeses on a griddle because we had so much bread and so many cheeses leftover. The kids loved that! We probably needed a couple of fresh sides but no one really complained. Someone brought individual bags of chips and we had lots of big bags and dips, too.

For breakfast, I brought bagels, crumpets, and cream cheese and Kerrygold butter and someone else brought yogurt parfait ingredients and someone else brought fruit. One morning, a cousin’s wife made two breakfast casseroles and that was a treat!

For lunches, one cousin was in charge of a sandwich bar and brought all kinds of sub buns and bread and lunch meat and cheese.

I brought homemade brownies, cupcakes, and Rice Krispies treats, and the aunts – my Aunt Sally and my Aunt Judy – brought cookies and cupcakes. Everyone brought appetizers and we enjoyed them in the afternoons:

The breakfast casserole:

I brought Trader Joe’s crumpets last year so I brought them again. I made crumpet lovers out of some of the teenagers!

Even the smallest of the kids could walk to the one little market to get more chips or snacks that they wanted!

I brought my coffee frother and three types of Chobani creamers – cookie butter, s’mores, and toasted coconut vanilla. The teens loved making coffees – hot and cold – and we made dirty sodas with them, too! The frother was a hit!

Everyone brought what they prefer to drink plus more to share.

Tom had ice cream every night and I had it one night – seaside caramel:

The teens make fun of Tom’s ice cream obsession and here he is giving them the side eye! The ice cream closed at 9:00 and Tom would start walking at 8:30 even if no one else was ready. One night he had 10 kids following him like he was the Pied Piper of ice cream.

These are all our kids waiting on ice cream:

Tom and niece Lena:

I think we did a pretty good job with the right amount of food. Last year we went way overboard and had too many leftovers and this year we used up basically all the food.

I do have one major pet peeve – the amount of plastic water bottles we went through (some with only one drink taken out of), and half-drunk cans of soda were out of control. The water there is really good so everyone should have a reuseable water bottle!

Neal and his wife Amy are the most laid-back hosts ever. Neal is an energizer bunny and never stops driving the boat, teaching folks how to use the water toys, talking to people, and just doing whatever to help people have fun. Amy is super chill and doesn’t mind people in her kitchen making messes!

Are you a good host? It takes skill!

Are you a good guest?

Amy

Wednesday, July 15, 2026

It’s Hodgepodge with Joyce day, you all! It’s also my 26th wedding anniversary! I will share a favorite photo at the end of the post!

. “Deep summer is when laziness finds respectability.” Sam Keen

1.Do you feel less guilty relaxing in July than you do in January? Elaborate. 

No, I never feel guilty about relaxing. I am energetic in the morning and get lots of stuff done before lunch. I am a naturally productive person, I think. My mom got shiz done and I get shiz done. One of my sisters is like me and one really has trouble and is hard on herself about it. So, when I do relax, I just don’t feel guilty. I have made the correlation that daytime tv is not great for me. I rarely turn the tv on during the day. I decided that in July, I can sit inside and watch tv a bit more, though. I also take a short nap each day and don’t feel bad at all about it.

2. What’s a telltale sign you’re upset? 

I say, “I’m upset”. I’m an open book. I speak my emotions and I get things off my chest. Tom has always been baffled by how I can be upset one minute and then be fine the next. I just want to feel heard.

I will say that as I have gotten older, I get less upset about the little things, but I’m still a pretty sensitive person. I “read into” things and then run them over in my brain. I am definitely trying to do more of the “let them” theory but sometimes it’s hard.

3. July 16th is National AI Day. What are your general thoughts and/or experiences with AI? Have you purposely used it? Does it excite you, scare you, or worry you? What do you see as a benefit? How about something relating to AI you see as a negative? 

I have the ChatGPT app, and I have used it to ask about trips and meal planning. I think it’s out there and it’s part of our life now. I’m a little bit scared and worried about it and its implications. My wheelhouse would be the use of AI in education. I am “old school” and firmly believe that kids need good old-fashioned teaching, note taking, reading, and writing. I was not a fan of everything on Chromebooks, and I never made them the focal point of my classroom.

I preached to my students to not let technology control them but to choose when technology could help them and when it would be best to do another way. I think sometimes a good face to face or phone conversation can save confusion. Texting is great sometimes, but not all times. I think going into your local stores and chatting is great so that you have that people connection, but I like the options I have available to get delivery or do pick up, too.

4. You’re invited to a summer pot luck and are asked to bring an appetizer, salad/side, or dessert. Which category do you go for and what are you bringing? 

I love an appetizer and have a lot that I guess you could say I am known for? I also love making sides and salads. I would say I would pick one of those two. I think desserts are an easy go to for the other people so I rarely pick them. I made broccoli salad for Michigan, and it was so good and kept for a few days, too! I also made a sun-dried tomato cheese ball.

5. It wouldn’t be summer without___________________. 

Water! Sun! Summer reading! Sunscreen!

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

26 years ago today we were the first to use the “new” town trolley!

This is the sanctuary that recently caught on fire.

We went to Aruba for our honeymoon and did all the water activities!

I’m pretty sure Tom still has those swim trunks and this polo!

Currently is coming up before we know it! I will try to start announcing the prompts for the following month on Currently day per Laura’s suggestion. Thank you to Laura who helped me come up with August’s prompts, too! The next Currently will be Wednesday, August 5 and the prompts are: savoring, wrapping up, preparing, remembering, and organizing. I want them to fit the month as best I can! Let me know if you have September suggestions!

Amy

Tuesday, July 14, 2026

Hi there! What have you been wearing? I thought today I would talk about packing in case anyone still has a trip coming up. It can even be an overnight or a long weekend getaway.

I left Thursday morning and returned home Sunday afternoon.

These are 7 of the 9 cousins on my mom’s side of the family. My mom was the oldest and had three girls (my sisters and I all are here), my mom’s brother came next and he had three boys and two of the three are here, and my mom’s sister had a girl (she is the other girl in the photo) and two boys. One boy was not able to come. Neal is on the right and he is the one who is the host with the most!

Amy, April, Molly, Kate, Matt, Bryan, and Neal:

I wore cut offs and a blouse in the car, put on my suit and jumped in the lake when we arrived, then showered and put casual shorts and tee on for dinner, ice cream at the market, and the walk to the beach.

My parents were the ones who traveled. We lived in southern Indiana and traveled to Chicago every Christmas and usually once in the summer, too.

For the dune ride, I wore my black skort and a plain white tee.

For clothing, I brought:

3 swimsuits (good call but I only wore two of them), 2 coverups, one pajama, one dress, one skort, one sweatshirt, one sweatshirt set of shorts and hoodie(I didn’t wear this), 4 t-shirts (I didn’t wear one), 3 shorts (wore them all), and 3 pairs of shoes – Keens that I have had for 20 years – one of them came unglued and I had to toss – oopsie!, tan flip flops, and my Crocs Miami – which also had an “incident” I will tell you about. So, I went with 3 shoes and came home with 1.

Everyone leaves their shoes outside on the big porch before going in the main lake house. I took my Crocs Miami off after the dune ride to go float in the lake. They were in the direct sunlight and this is what happened:

Only one of them curled up and shrunk.

Now, my nephew also brought traditionalish Crocs and they also shrunk in the sun. They literally developed a pointy heel and shrunk by a few sizes. He wasn’t able to even put them on. Has anyone else heard of this happening? I’m going to reach out to the company I think.

Back to packing, I used a duffel bag and included a kitchen trash bag for my dirties. I like keeping the dirty separate from the clean this way. I recommend bringing one more pair of undergarments than you think you need, socks in case your feet get cold at night, and one more shirt than you think you need.

What have you been wearing lately?

Please join us here!

Amy

Monday, July 13, 2026

Hello and let’s link up with Holly and Sarah to share the weekend happenings!

I’m still pretty private about going out of town, thus when I told you on Friday that I hadn’t done much socially last week it’s because I spent the week buying supplies and getting ready for…

On Thursday morning, Tom and I headed north!

It’s a 6-hour drive and we only stopped once! We did the same on the way back!

We arrived Thursday afternoon and some people were already in the water, and the weather was perfection and would continue to be until Sunday!

This is my mom’s side of the family. She grew up in Chicago and then came to southern Indiana for college. Her siblings stayed in the Chicago area and then moved to Michigan and now half the cousins live in Michigan and half live in Ohio.

Cousin Neal has the lake house, and he graciously invited us to come again this year. There is one main lake house and then on the hill above he has two other cabins. The lake is big enough for water sports and it feeds into Lake Michigan in the town of New Era, Michigan near Muskegon.

They have a floating dive platform, a dock…

a wake boat, two jet skis, a bunch of kayaks, paddleboards, sailboats, and all kinds of inflatables!

We wasted no time getting our suits on!

We walk to Lake Michigan to see the sunset and take photos, of course!

And, one day we designate a time for the “family float” to Lake Michigan from their smaller lake. It takes about 45 minutes.

The float:

One of my cousins is a new grandma to this sweet baby boy:

We spent lots of time just hanging out on the giant porch, too!

My Uncle Jim had the idea to take everyone on a dune ride at Silver Lake Sand Dunes. It’s really something to see!

Look at our group before getting on our “dune buggies” :

They stop on Lake Michigan and let you take photos:

After the ride, we visited a lighthouse:

Look at that sky!

Also, I want to tell you that the high each day was 77-79 degrees. The air feels so good!

We logged hours doing this:

We even got a kid to deliver us drinks on a paddleboard when we ran out!

Tom had some alone time:

Tom had some wakeboard action, too:

This is the only store and the place to be! Their ice cream stand is hopping every night! This is my niece Lena and my niece Nora is right behind her.

The sweet ice cream shop girls would try to yell the orders, but their voices were so soft so I started using my cheerleader/teacher voice to help:

“SMALL DEER TRAX IN A CUP!”

“TRAVERSE CITY CHERRY IN A WAFFLE CONE”!

“MICHIGAN POTHOLE IN A CUP”!

Niece Lena is always laughing:

My sister Molly and her husband Jason:

We had a glow stick rave/dance party the last night:

And someone started doing some really good fireworks over the lake on the last night!

There’s so much more to say, but I’m waterlogged, sunburned, dehydrated and my heart is full in the best way!

Tell me about your weekend!

Amy

P.S. – I took a break from social media and blog reading and commenting so if you left me a comment, thank you so much and I will try to get to it.

I posted about Dancing on Thursday and my regular favorites on Friday.

You’ll be happy to know I was the adult who danced with the kids during the rave/dance party!

Friday, July 10, 2026

Happy Friday! How was your week? What filled your cup? Linking up with Andrea and Erika to share a random assortment of things with you!

My week went by quickly and it was pretty routine – I did laundry, went to Kroger, did a Trader Joe’s run, went to the library, donated a trunk load of stuff (yay!), did a return, that kind of thing. I didn’t do anything social this week. That’s ok! Sometimes weeks need to be like this!

Here are some favorites…

Jen has gotten me into pretty match boxes, too! I bought this tiger on a couch matchbox in my hometown and it looks nice with my Volcano candle that is perfect for this time of year. I love the smell of a match – do you? I used to be scared to light them myself, but I faced my fear and I strike like a boss now.

After all the rain last week, our yard developed some giant mushrooms! They looked so funny! I’m glad Eddie Otis didn’t try to eat them.

This book deserves the hype in my opinion. The 650 pages went quickly for me and I was never bored. I can’t say the same about The Correspondent or Theo of Golden. I’m glad I read them, but they did drag at times. I decided to abandon Yesteryear after about 100 pages, so I can’t speak about one. My lesson this year has been to try not to get swept up in over-hyped books if it doesn’t appeal to me after reading the summary.

The cute shop in my hometown where I found the matches was having a 75% off sale and I bought this tray for Christmas:

I am obsessed with this plaid.

And these cute little spoon rests or jewelry dishes:

I’m a sucker for little dishes like this.

I’m loving my new shampoo and conditioner. I heard that the Elvive line is actually really good for your hair.

His face just cracks me up every time I see this photo! He is a very expressive dog!

I am keeping both of my new Amazon coverups! I sized up because this fabric is thin and without any give.

The striped:

It comes in other patterns, too. I don’t think you can tell from the photo, but the sides are stitched to give it more structure.

The black tassel:

It also comes in multiple colors and patterns.

On me:

Did you read my thoughts on dance yesterday? It was fun to participate in my second Global Writing Challenge! I shared a photo that I will share again.

The deputy mayor of my hometown that introduced us to Bo Duke:

Us my sophomore year and his junior year in our grey and peach finery for prom – I dug this up for yesterday’s post:

I also shared this dance recital photo of me:

My hair was really dark when I was younger and then it naturally got lighter and then in my twenties, I got some “help” keeping it lighter! My Dad was a blondie and my mom had dark hair. Kate is a natural blonde. Molly is dark. I’m in the middle!

I had a little bit of a dinner break this week! Tom requesed McAllister’s one night:

Chick Fil A one night:

He tried the new pimento cheese chicken sandwich and loved it. We split the market salad with the fruit.

I decided not to finish these books:

Look what was waiting for me:

This also caught my eye:

Tom and I are still enjoying on Apple TV:

We also started this on Netflix:

Something really exciting happened in my family this week. After Christmas and meeting my Dad’s former co-pilot, getting some old flight logbooks, and some encouragement:

The pilot Jeanne:

My nephew Miles has been working hard to get to this moment:

I’m so proud of him! Miles is 19 and has a twin, Mia.

Tom loves watching the Tour de France each summer and this summer is really fun for both of us because they started in Barcelona and we have gotten to see where we were in 2024.

My friend Rafa lives in a town that is part of the route and he was a volunteer. I have been enjoying his Instagram stories about it. Rafa is the second on from the right kneeling down. You might remember that Rafa visited me in 2025.

How fun! I like to read while Tom watches the racing and then he tells me what to look at!

What were your favorites this week? The week after a holiday is always a bit wonky, no?

Amy

Thursday, July 9, 2026

It’s time for another edition of the Global Writing Challenge and this month the theme is dance! Last month we talked about sunshine (as you can see from the graphic above) and mine is here if you want to go back and read!

Little Amy as a dancing mouse?:

My dance history…

I took dance lessons as a child and participated in the recitals with the cute costumes. I think all women of my age probably did so! I think I took lessons for about 3 years when it was determined I wasn’t going to be a dance prodigy or apply to any ballet companies. I kind of think my mom probably called me “Grace” because I didn’t have any.

I am the third one from the front:

I was a cheerleader in 6th-12th grades with the exception of junior year when I decided to swim on the swim team and we did dances in addition to our cheers. I wasn’t the best, but I could hold my own. I wasn’t DCC (Dallas Cowboy Cheerleader) material! Thunder!

I loved getting dressed up for all the dances. We had prom, a Christmas dance, and I was involved in Rainbow Girls, which was part of the Masonic organizations, and we had some formal dances. That was more about the outfit than the dancing, I think!

Am I “good”?

I can follow a beat and I have rhythm, but I wouldn’t say I’m necessarily a good dancer. What I lack in grace, I make up for in showmanship and unique dance moves.

Tom (my husband) is actually a better dancer than I am. Tom gets up during Pitch Perfect (secretly his favorite movie) and does some dance moves – don’t tell him I told you! We took a couple of dance lessons before our wedding, but I couldn’t tell you what we danced to, and it wasn’t a fancy choreographed number like the young ones do today.

I can’t sit still if a song that I like is on. I really like to snap along to music and my kids hated it. They would yell at me for snapping in the car. I love to snap and I’m a really loud snapper. I bet you don’t hear people brag about snapping very often?

My thoughts on dancing:

“Americans” don’t dance enough! What I mean is that people in the US don’t dance enough. Maybe that would help our politicians? They should have dance breaks during their sessions.

Dancing in the Latino culture is a big thing and we always talked about this in my classes. I was a high school Spanish teacher, if you are new around here.

I thought back to the times in my life when I danced the most…

Our high school had a casual dance after every home basketball and football game and they were so fun! We were in the hot small gym (not the large gym) and all the boys took their shirts off and tucked them in the back of their jeans. They also had a comb in their back pocket to keep their mullet in check. You danced to fast songs and prayed for slow songs to come on for you to get to dance with your crush.

In college and in the single years after, I danced so much! We went to bars and dance clubs at least twice a week. I probably should not admit this, but my signature move was the splits on the dance floor, but only when appropriate. I could also do “the worm” if a situation called for it. I liked to do the dance move where you grab your ankle and move the whole leg back and forth, too.

After the single years, I danced at weddings and with my kids. My kids would dance a lot after their bathtime and I loved those clean baby in diaper moments. They continued to do this until elementary school. For some reason I sang, “let’s get naked and run around the garden” which was an original song (I think) that someone sang in one of the bars I frequented in college. My twins would literally be in diapers and running around the house during this song.

Some favorite quotes about dancing:

“Dance like no one is watching” – This is about life in general. Don’t worry about who is watching you. Live your life.

“We dance for laughter, we dance for tears, we dance for madness, we dance for fears, we dance for hopes, we dance for screams, we are the dancers, we create the dreams.” – I just liked this one.

And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music.” – Friedrich Nietzsche, highlighting the freedom and individuality in dance – I love this one. Someone else can’t “hear” your music and you need to dance anyway.

This has been a favorite song for a long time…

I hope you dance by Leanne Womack

I hope you never lose your sense of wonder
You get your fill to eat but always keep that hunger
May you never take one single breath for granted
God forbid love ever leave you empty-handed

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance (dance)
I hope you dance (dance)

I hope you never fear those mountains in the distance
Never settle for the path of least resistance
Livin’ might mean takin’ chances, but they’re worth takin’
Lovin’ might be a mistake, but it’s worth makin’

Don’t let some hell bent heart leave you bitter
When you come close to sellin’ out, reconsider
Give the heavens above more than just a passing glance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

I hope you dance (time is a wheel in constant motion)
I hope you dance (always rolling us along)
I hope you dance (tell me who wants to look back on their years)
I hope you dance (and wonder where those years have gone)

I hope you still feel small when you stand beside the ocean
Whenever one door closes, I hope one more opens
Promise me that you’ll give faith a fighting chance
And when you get the choice to sit it out or dance

Dance, I hope you dance (dance)
I hope you dance (time is a wheel in constant motion)
I hope you dance (always rolling us along)
I hope you dance (tell me who wants to look back on their years)
I hope you dance (and wonder where those years have gone)

Tell me who wants to look back on their years (dance)
And wonder where those years have gone (dance)

The older I get, the more these lyrics speak to me.

We all took a chance by starting a blog. That’s not nothing!

What would you say about any of my dance adjacent topics today?

Amy

Wednesday, July 8, 2026

It’s Wednesday and time for Hodgepodge with Joyce!

1. What’s something you enjoy now that your younger self would never have appreciated? 

Gosh, this is a hard one because I feel like I haven’t changed much! Adult Amy and 9 year old Amy both liked: cooking/baking, reading, writing, being outside in nature, making up songs, poems, and silly rhymes, shopping, putting together outfits – see? I haven’t changed much.

Maybe a game like mah jong. I loved euchre and some other games, but I probably wouldn’t have had the patience to learn mah jong. Did I tell you one of my sisters is kind of mad that I like it? She said, “I can’t believe all the games you rejected in the past that I wanted to play”.

2. What was peaceful about today?  I will answer this for Tuesday (yesterday)…

My slow mornings with my devotional, water, coffee, blog writing and reading, and my dog lying peacefully beside me (after his initial excitement where he tried to unplug my laptop, bring me a couch pillow, and mouthed a shoe of mine).

3. It’s National Blueberry Day (July 8). Will you celebrate?  You can have one of the following right now-a slice of blueberry pie, a warm blueberry muffin, or a stack of blueberry pancakes…which do you choose?

I prefer frozen blueberries to fresh, I think. I would pick a blueberry pancake.

This or that-blueberries or raspberries? blueberries or strawberries? 

raspberries

strawberries

I don’t think fresh blueberries have much flavor. What am I doing wrong?

4. Do you need a break? From what? 

I think it’s good to break from routine and get a change of scenery when you can. I probably need a break from house chores and then I will be fine again!

5. What has surprised you most about getting older? 

I think the confidence it brings that you know more who you are, how you want to spend your time, and who you want to spend it with. You feel less apologetic about who you are. You stop trying to fit in as much. You aren’t everyone’s cup of tea and you are finally ok with it.

If someone consistently makes you feel bad when you are around them, that might be on you because you continue to be around them. Bye bye. If the person is someone you work with or that you are related to, it makes things a little bit harder, so I would say small doses and prepare yourself that it will be that way.

As I get older, I don’t want to become rigid and inflexible. So, I do try to go outside my comfort zone from time to time.

My friend was talking about how some older people she was around were complaining about everything and it was a very draining time that she had to spend with them. The food wasn’t right, the drink wasn’t right, they needed this, and they needed that. I don’t ever want to be that way.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

NO is a powerful word. It’s flattering to be asked to do something but ‘no” is a valid answer, as well. You can say, “thank you for thinking of me, but I am unable to commit”. If it isn’t a “heck yes”, then it might need to be a “no”. As lifelong people pleasers, we are used to always doing the thing, right? And, we need to stop saying we are sorry when it’s not a “sorry” moment.

So, as school gets ready to ramp up, you might be asked to coach, be on a committee, join a group, etc. It’s very flattering, but does is line up with your values and how you want to spend your time.

In education, they were very good about flattering you to get you to coach, sponsor, lead, do one more thing, etc.

Lots of food for thought today, no?

Amy