Monday, December 11, 2023

How was your weekend? Mine was full, productive, and relaxing! I guess that’s always the goal? Maybe? I am happy to link up with Sarah and Holly today to share what we were up to.

Let’s start with Thursday night…

We rarely do anything on a weeknight, but Jack had his college holiday concert on Thursday night at 7:00! 7:00? That’s practically bedtime for Tom and Amy!

But we dug deep and got in the car just as Tom got home from work. I was treated to a gorgeous sunset while Tom drove:

We ate dinner at Kaelin’s 80/20 across the street from the church where the concert was held. I loved their quaint decor.

Another lovely church:

We have seen so many churches due to where Jack has gotten to sing! The concert only lasted around an hour, so it was all good. We survived a weeknight outing!

Friday at school, I had one of my classes bring in food for their “Cultural Experience”. Everyone has to prepare and bring in an authentic food to share for a grade. If they are unable to cook, they can write a report in Spanish. No one really wants to do that! I have another class doing theirs this Friday.

They are so proud of their food – we had arroz con pollo, chilaquiles, tres leches cake, churros with chocolate, sopapilla bars, piña colada cake, Mexican wedding cookies, little drunk bars from Cuba (no alcohol, but that is what they are called because they are quite wet!), 7 layer dip, buffalo chicken dip (I allowed it!), quesadillas, and I think that was it. They had no trouble eating this at 9:45!

I try a tiny taste of most things because they really want you to! So, I had no additional lunch – this was my lunch!

For dinner, I made a really good salad after stopping by The Fresh Market and spending more than I had planned because it just all looks so good! I highly recommend both this salad mix and the dressing.

Tom had leftovers and some salad, too.

I took a bath Friday night and it was so relaxing!

Saturday morning I was able to sit outside because it was so mild because rain was coming…

I don’t have any pictures, but I ran some errands during the rain but got home before it got too bad. We had some thunder and lightning, too! I did a return, a library trip, and a Kroger pick up.

Jack has been so, so busy this semester, so even though he is living at home, we don’t see a whole lot of him. He is in two singing groups, takes guitar lessons, and has two small jobs on top of a full load of classes.

He wanted to go out to eat with us at a new to him place and then go to hear his guitar teacher play a classical guitar concert – with us!

I wore this – Chelsea boots (to test out in the rain!). faux leather leggings, black silk shirt, fringy vest:

I had just washed my hair so I left it straight again.

We went to Joy Luck and had hot and sour soup, crab Rangoon, and shared some Kung Pao and General Tso’s.

I seriously think it was the best Chinese food I have ever had! Jack, Tom, and Mason all are really good at using chop sticks and always use them. I prefer a traditional fork because I can’t use chopsticks to save my life. Maybe I will go on a chopstick diet. I will give up and not eat anything and the diet will be quite effective.

The concert was at the college chapel again, but this is a different view:

We had to park on the other side of campus and walk up a big hill, but it looked so pretty!

And, his guitar teacher is sooooo talented. We loved it!

Jack went out after but we enjoyed our time with him!

Yesterday I slept in, but it was house cleaning and time to be productive – some meal prep, some trip stuff, some adulting stuff, but also some reading and Hallmark Christmas movie time – recommend some to me – I like to use the search feature on my Amazon Fire stick because there are just so many now! Ha!

What was the highlight of your weekend? Did you do anything holiday related?

Amy

24 thoughts on “Hello Monday”

  1. Sounds like the perfect mix of a weekend; we had that too. Saturday was busy but we relaxed at home with the wind and rain all day yesterday.

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  2. It sounds like you had a wonderful weekend. I know you cherish spending time with Mason – and that he WANTS to spend time with you. I am a big Hallmark Christmas movie fan. I highly recommend A Biltmore Christmas and The Santa Summit. If you like a silly, fun type of movie, you need to watch the 2 Haul Out the Holly movies. They are laugh out loud movies. Have a great week!

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    1. I did! I am trying to enjoy the time I have before the trip and not just “fill” it withe more trip preparations. I also don’t want to miss out on seasonal things in town. I recorded your suggestions and I thank you, Laura!

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  3. So glad you asked for Hallmark recommendations- I am looking for some too so can’t wait to see the ones that are shared here! What a fun and festive weekend- I cracked up at 7pm being bedtime on a weeknight- Yup- HA! 🙂

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    1. Right? Who does that! Ha! Sometimes I need to get out of my routine like I did this week. I really liked getting a pedicure at 5:00 pm on Wednesday and then grabbing takeout. It seems so little, but it is a treat because I don’t do it! I also enjoyed going out on Thursday and I only had one more day to make it through at work!

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  5. I had such a busy weekend I didn’t get anything done at home. But it was wonderful!
    Your weekend looked great, I love that y’all went to that concert – everything looks so pretty at night this time of year!
    I am not gonna lie, I could use another weekend already!
    xo,
    Kellyann

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    1. That’s ok! Sometimes you have to say yes to fun and the home stuff can wait! Thank you! It all looks so pretty and the lights are a bonus when it gets dark so early.
      I know – me too!

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  6. Sounds like a fun weekend! That chapel and the walk there look breathtaking. I also love a really quaint restaurant; I ate at one here last week that I mentioned, Grisanti’s. It was even more cozy because of all the Christmas decor they’d put out. I love it when restaurant owners take the time to think of such things.

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    1. It was! I really enjoyed it. I also had fun on Sunday which I will talk about on Friday Favorites. Yes to quaint locally owned restaurants! I love the vibe, but Tom said not to use the word vibe anymore. It bugs him – lol!

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  7. The highlight of my weekend was a family Christmas party/reunion on my dad’s side. Lots of people there I haven’t seen in awhile. That absolutely filled my heart!! ❤️ I haven’t watched any Christmas movies yet! That’s on my to do list! Have a great week!

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    1. Oh, how fun! We have not done that for awhile, but losing my dad makes it really bittersweet now. I attended a wedding a year ago and talked to my dad’s brother and cousin and I was struck by how much they talk alike and remind me of each other. I had a moment where I wanted to cry, but it was also joyful getting to remember my dad through them.

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  8. We headed to our beach home and went to a Christmas Market with our daughter and SIL. We had SO MUCH FUN and I have been wanting to go to the Cambria Christmas Market for years and we have never been able to because Tony used to host a HUGE cmas luncheon to raise money for the Salvation Army in our town. He ended that when Covid hit and I was sad for the SA but happy for me. We now get to go to Xmas things because before it took SO MUCH out of him. We would get over 450 people and its just ALOT of work. Proud to say he did raise over 1.2 MILLION dollars in 20 years for our local SA. Yes, he is amazing. So anyway…..the market was fun and festive and we loved every minute! Our next 2 weeks are booked solid and I have mixed feelings. Happy Monday!

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  10. What a great weekend! The salad you put together looked like restaurant quality! Your comments about going out at 7 on a weeknight reminded me of when we go to visit the kids. One of them asked if we would be finished with our visit/activities by 9:30 or 10 because they had been invited to a social event. I was like…um yes, I will be getting ready for bed at that time! ha, ha! Oh, to be a college student again. Hope you have a good week.

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  12. So, how did the Chelsea boots hold up? Your son is really busy! Two jobs as well as two singing groups! Wow! That sunset and the photos of the churches are just gorgeous! We went to our oldest granddaughter’s choir concert Friday night. We could barely see her!

    https://marshainthemiddle.com/

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