Friday, April 11, 2025

It’s Friday! I am linking up with Andrea and Erika to share my favorites of the week.

The sun came out! Monday was warm enough to sit in the sun next to my deconstructed back deck; Eddie Otis looked like Mufasa from Lion King!

I had my laptop open and was working and he was like, “what do you think you’re doing?”

The historic flooding in my area was definitely not a favorite. We did online school from home Monday through Wednesday, went back on a two hour delay yesterday and then today will be back to normal schedule.

Tuesday I decided to work from a coffee shop because it would be something different. It was great!

When I returned home somebody was a little clingy. Eddie Otis loved online school!

Mason enjoyed the tea at the high tea we went to over spring break so much that he found and ordered it off of Amazon:

The little leaf sticking up from the tea bag is so cute. We enjoyed a cup of it this week.

I had more time to walk with Eddie Otis. He pulls on the leash but when I walk him off leash he stays right by me.

I finished this book this week and loved it! So cute!

Anyone else watch Clinton and Stacy back in the day? I am super excited about their new show! I love a makeover show and seriously learned so many style tips from them.

Is anyone going to try to see the pink moon this weekend?

I got out one evening this week. It was Erica’s birthday and she had a girls’ dinner Wednesday night at an Italian restaurant called Ciao. I met some new people, too.

I got an Aperol Spritz and a beet salad and some manicotti.

I shouldn’t tell you about my favorite thing I baked this week:

They were delicious!

Eddie Otis doesn’t do this with me but he does it with Tom. Look at him curled up and sleeping like a baby. He weighs 80 pounds. An 80 pound lap dog!

I found some great lounging shorts at Target and you can read about them here. Wednesday I did my hodgepodge post, Tuesday I talked about spring goals, and Monday I recapped my weekend and second half of spring break.

What were your favorites this week? I hope you had many! I also hope spring comes for all of us once and for all!

Amy

Thursday, April 10, 2025

I almost didn’t participate in Fashion Files today because I didn’t have much fashion in my files. Alas, here I am – linking up with Kellyann and Jill.

I think this was the last day I got dressed in a decent outfit. I wore my Aerie yellow button up on Friday. It was cold so I added a cardigan.

I am having trouble editing photos again – ugh! So, the reason why I have not been getting formally dressed for the day is that I have been on spring break, then it rained and flooded, and now I have been doing online school from home all week so far.

If you are a regular reader, here is the river view of Captain’s Quarters where we eat from our boat a lot in the summer:

This is a local news reporter. It made national news for its approach to protecting the property. They flood the interior with fresh water to keep the dirty river water out:

News Link – click on the red words to see the story.

Too funny not to share!

I wear lounge shorts around the house and found these Wild Fable by Target shorts for $14 in the store the other day. I have washed and worn the and I am super pleased. They have pockets! I saw they are down to $11. 20 so I ordered the yellow and grey and already have the light blue and a light mauve color.

I also ordered this clearance sweatshirt.

I feel like I only want to wear sweatshirts lately. It’s cold outside again and I am not going out much.

I have always loved cork and I ordered these on a whim. While I love them, the back strap is too difficult and tight to be honest to work for me.

They were going to charge me $10 to return them so I exchanged them for these, less practical, but fabulous shoes!

I am not getting to wear my spring clothing right now, but hopefully I will get to soon!

Sorry for such an unprofessional post, my editing wasn’t working on my phone, either.

What have you been wearing?

Buying for spring?

Amy

Wednesday, April 9, 2025

It’s Wednesday and it’s a weird week around these parts! I am linking up with the creative Joyce for Wednesday Hodgepodge.

I am writing this on Tuesday from a coffee shop. I am on my second day of online learning and I promised myself I would come to a coffee shop if I had another opportunity. I didn’t leave my house yesterday! I was outside for about 3 hours so that was great, but I probably should have gotten out after work hours. It was finally sunny and about 57 degrees. Today it is sunny again but it’s winter again! Seriously! We had a freeze warning today and another one tomorrow. And, we’ve had a historic flood. Mother Nature, what did we do to make you so mad? Are you also going through menopause?

1. What’s a lesson you’ve learned from a mistake? 

Gosh, how much time do you have? I sometimes have diarrhea of the mouth. I am consistently giving people more information than they need or want. Say less, Amy. I am working on it. I think I sometimes get too enthusiastic about things and need to tone it down.

2. Do you salt food while you’re cooking or let diners add their own?  What’s a food you think must be salted? Do you like pepper? 

I do season food but try to go easy on salt. I hate over salted things. If I use Cajun I don’t put much salt because it has it in the mixture. I like pepper but try not to go overboard. I try not to go too crazy with any seasoning. Potatoes always seem to need more salt than I think. My favorite seasonings are Tony Cachere’s cajun and the Cavender’s Greek seasoning blend. I also love ranch powder and taco seasoning and I think you can add them to more than you think. Have you tried taco potatoes? Ranch potatoes? Do it! Do it!

3. What was the last gathering you attended and what did you do there? 

A friend’s 50th birthday party. They had great food and we just stood around and chatted. It was the day after my mom’s funeral so I didn’t feel like myself, but I thought it was important to show up. We didn’t know anyone but everyone was so nice! People need to gather more and have more things at their home.

I saw something funny on Facebook talking about in the midwest every gathering was in your garage. I can remember many garage gatherings! Can you?

4. Your favorite shade of purple? What’s your favorite purple flower? 

I would say lavender. My favorite flower is probably clematis because we had some on our fence. I don’t wear a lot of purple because I don’t think it’s one of my colors and ever since Barney came on the scene it’s been a fear that I will look like him.

5. Share a favorite spring travel memory. 

My freshman year of college spring break was pretty crazy. 3 girls and I rented a car and drove to Clearwater, FL and stayed at Heather’s uncle’s condo. We met up with some fraternity guys from our college and got to know them better – as friends. We have some funny stories and photos.

With my kids and my little fam, we had an epic Florida road trip through the Everglades and Keys and to DC and several times to Great Wolf Lodge. We tried to go somewhere every year.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I had an extra long winter break this year due to snow and I’m having an extra long spring break this year due to flooding. Did I cause this because I needed more breaks?

Amy

Tuesday, April 8, 2025

I have been trying to revisit The Happiness Project this year and to be honest, I haven’t been very successful. Is this because I have done it before and many of the themes are already ingrained in me? Plus, I have listened to her podcast for many years? I feel like I get more inspiration these days from the Fiona Ferris books. Anyway, we will see if I continue or not after this month.

Gretchen Rubin’s April Theme:

Parenthood – Lighten Up

Sing in the morning, acknowledge the reality of peoples’ feelings, be a treasure house of happy memories, and take time for projects

I am in a new stage of parenthood. I have learned a lot this past year and throughout the college years. It frustrates me sometimes when my kids don’t do things the way I would do them, but I have realized that my relationship with them is more important than doing things my way or having the neatest most minimalist house. They leave 10 minutes later than I would leave for anything they go to – work, appointments, social things. I can’t be their alarm clock. I have had a hard time not reverting back to my old parenting style of the high school years. I try to say things like, “let me know if you need help with that”. I also try to tell them when I am stressed out and need more help in certain areas. I do ask them their schedules for help with Eddie Otis, but you would also do that with a roommate relationship.

I wake up in a good mood. I think I parented in a fun way when my kids were little and there was always lots of singing. I have thought a lot about my legacy and how people will remember me and how I made them feel.

Now, when Gretchen wrote the book she had young kids. She is now an empty nester.

So, I think skimming through the chapter was good for me. I also think many of the principles I talked about are helpful in a marriage.

Here is my spring list:

Decorate for Easter (then decorate for Derby) – it’s not extreme – just mostly my mantel- done for Easter

Start putting out bird seed again – have done it once and have more bird seed ready to go. I like to include it in my Kroger order.

Host friend and his family from Spain – they have reduced stay from two nights to one night so that takes the pressure off a little in a busy month.

Make an Easter brunch or lunch – family from Spain won’t be here anymore. They were originally going to be here and I was going to do an Easter basket for the little boy and probably be more fancy with my meal. They are coming Thursday night to Friday night now.

Go to Jack’s Macbeth play and enjoy and try to understand it!

Enjoy weekend with blogger girls coming to Louisville – try not to be stressed and be relaxed!

Do one Derby event – great steamboat race at sister-in-law’s business on the river. I don’t think I am doing anything else this year and that’s ok. I may need to go to my hometown Derby weekend.

Invite people to patio

Clean up patio first

Hope and pray that Tom can fix the back deck. I miss being able to go out the back door.

Work at my mom’s house

Wear all my spring clothes or they have got to go! I have already done my first pass through my clothing.

Start cooking more spring/summer foods

Buy grill and start grilling again

Plan for kitchen renovation – hopefully starting June 2!

Read outside!

Walk outside!

Well, I think that’s enough.

Remember that this part of the school year can be the busiest and most stressful for teachers. It can also feel the longest. It’s testing season and we are usually off the normal schedule and it is just hard.

So, I will give myself grace and try to live in the moment and enjoy what I can!

Do you have a list?

Amy

Monday, April 7, 2025

I don’t remember what the sun looks like…

So, if this could happen it would be great! I also don’t remember why I ever said I liked rain. Also, when the rain stops we are supposed to have a freeze warning. What a crazy weather year 2025 has turned out to be, no? How do you know you’re old? You talk about the weather this much!

Linking up with Holly and Sarah and you will hear all about it!

So I have been on Spring Break and I stayed at home. I was super productive at the beginning of the week and then the rains came…We had tornado sirens go off Wednesday night and then it just kept raining. I cooked a lot at the beginning of break and then I was tired and wanted my break to feel like a break so I started going out more. I went to breakfast once, tea once, lunch once, and dinner twice. That’s not too bad, is it?

I had lunch with Victoria at my favorite little French brasserie on Thursday. We split a croque monseiur – love that they let you do that. Half is definitely enough!

I was able to read in the rain on my covered patio so that was nice!

Isn’t that a pretty reflection? I love it!

I made Peeps hot chocolate and I think they look so cute floating there.

I’m reading two books at once because my Sarah Adams came in at the library and I abandoned this for a bit, but I love it, too! You will see my other book later on in the post. Both would be great vacay or summer reads.

On top of house chores, decluttering work, and just regular maintenance I usually only plan one thing for each day when I’m off work.

Friday Mason and I had a reservation for high tea. We have talked about going for a long, long time – like two years.

It was fabulous! We loved it! It was $35 a person.

After the tea, Tom and I met our friends for dinner. I didn’t want to say no to a social gathering and we hadn’t been together in quite some time. We took at least half of the tea food home because it was a lot and I didn’t stuff myself.

Paloma – yum!

Fajita bowl – took most of it home, too!

Saturday was a bummer. My sisters and I were supposed to meet in my hometown and my aunt and uncle were coming through on their way north from Florida and we had to cancel because of the widespread flooding. Molly’s road was flooded, Kate would have to travel through flooding, and the downtown of my hometown was flooded. It just didn’t seem smart to try to load cars in the rain, either. And, it was also storming.

The rain chain was off the chain!

So good!

Tom’s deck project got stopped, too. Major bummer. We drove around and went to Work the Metal Saturday and then came home and ate leftovers.

Guess what? More rain!

Sunday I did some meal prepping for the week ahead and that always helps me to feel ready.

Tom and I drove to see the river and then stopped at the prettiest bakery called Rose Bakery.

Wow! We brought these home to share with everyone. The croissant is a Dubai chocolate croissant.

We came home and ate lunch and then I went to Target and saw White Lotus creamers.

These are delish as a candy subsitute. My sister Kate discovered them.

Yesterday was one year of Eddie Otis! We brought him home on April 6, 2024!

The river in my hometown:

The river is supposed to crest tomorrow so let’s hope that happens and that all stay safe.

What about you? Are you experiencing the rain, too?

Amy

Friday, April 4, 2025

I’m sad! This is the final Friday of my spring break. My 31st spring break as a teacher, by the way!

I am happily linking up with Erika and Andrea for Friday Favorites. It’s a little bit of this and a little bit of that.

My first favorite is that I had a break at home! Travel can be great, but I have really been craving empty space at home. Did you read my post this week Leaving Space? I had some great comments!

Going in to my break I knew I wanted to sleep in, read, spend time outside, see some friends, spend some quality time with my little family, do some house decluttering and general maintenance of the house, and do a little shopping and a few restaurant outings.

I would say I did pretty well!

Other favorites were…

I loved using my gift card to get a fun and springy pedicure:

Bonus that I am wearing my new sandals!

I enjoyed putting on a fun summery salmon press on mani:

I supported Tom in his deck project. I watched him and brought him food.

I walked my Eddie Otis!

Tom and I had a fire one evening!

Tom brought out our old bedroom tv so we could hang out on the patio.

Little guy made me laugh everyday. This was one night when I came to bed and he was literally in my spot and sawing some major logs.

I cleared my closet and dropped off some donation bags. I loved having time to do this and my closet is so much more user friendly now!

I had a leisurely solo Target trip. Peep the doggy manta ray toy. Do you ever grocery shop at Target? I like doing this once a month or so. They have things I can’t get at Kroger and their prices are really good.

I made the last box of Chrissy Tiegen chocolate chip cookies. I am pretty sure they are no longer on the Kroger shelf. Best box mix I have ever used.

I made an electrolyte mocktail that was pretty good!

I finished this and really enjoyed it!

I made a Peep hot chocolate!

I was looking for something to watch one night and re-watched this. It’s such a cute movie in my opinion!

I needed new hairspray so I went back to this and I love it.

I did a Marshall’s trip and bought myself this cute little bag.

I did a practice run on these little yummy things for Easter. I bought just a small box of the Easter colors of M & Ms.

Tom did our first mow of the season and the grass looked so green!

It’s a luxury to do breakfast out and I went to Con Huevos with my friend Beth one day.

Cheers!

It’s tornado season in my neck of the woods. Sunday night and Wednesday night we had tornado sirens go off. Sunday they ended around 11:00 p.m. I think, and Wednesday they went off until 1:00 a.m. We are so thankful and lucky that we didn’t lose power or have any damage.

What were some favorites of yours this week? I hope you had many!

Amy

Thursday, April 3, 2025

I wasn’t sure how much I would have to show you since I have been on spring break, but I have a few outfits so I am linking up with Kellyann and Jill.

I had a really warm day last weekend and I broke out the favorite cut offs – from Target years ago. They have the perfect amount of stretch. I love this Soho ball cap I ordered from JCPenney back in the winter. I also ordered a green corduroy Paris ballcap and enjoyed wearing that a bit this winter. They were each around $6 which I thought was a steal. Have you seen what the ballcaps go for on sites like Anthro and Evereve? I have on my new this season Aerie button up. I like how it’s not super long. And, I am wearing my Target neutral flip flops.

I am not sure what is going on with the hair but Monday was cold, cold, cold and I was sad that it was cold. So, I tried to put on rainbow cardigan.

Breakfast out with friend outfit:

New sandals!

They are Dr. Scholl’s from the Amazon spring sale. I think they were around $35. I plan to wear them with pants and dresses.

Favorite flip flops when I got home:

Girls shopping outfit:

I love a white or cream blouse. This one is Old Navy this year.

Spring/summer mani:

Did you see the Target/Kate Spade collab coming up? I think I need the champagne and french fries clutch! I love the straw bag, too.

I am finding it so easy to get dressed with my new cleaned out closet. I know I need to be more ruthless and let a few more things go and it will be even better.

We really need so much less than we think!

What have you been wearing lately? Buying lately?

Amy

Wednesday, April 2, 2025

It’s Wednesday and that means hodgepodge with Joyce!

No foolin’ that my skinny margarita is better than many restaurant margaritas. I plan to have this on hand as well as some other things for outdoor entertaining. Keep a couple of chilled white wines, some nuts, olives, and potato chips.

1. No foolin’! April is here. What’s one fun thing on your April calendar? 

My April calendar is more packed than normal. I am so excited to host an old buddy from Spain and his wife and son. They are staying at my house for two nights so I have a lot of work to do. Then, the following weekend some girls are coming in town for a girls’ weekend and it will be a full one. My kid is in Macbeth -a community Shakespeare performance – both of those weekends so we have to figure out when to see him! Also, we are cleaning out my mom’s house and getting ready for an estate sale, along with talking to a realtor. So, yeah, April is going to be busy. But, I am really looking forward to my two fun weekends. My job is going to get in the way!

2. It’s often said, ‘A fool and his money are soon parted’…what’s the last thing you wasted money on? 

Well, I have been spending money on sneakers. I bought Vejas in the fall for Spain and they turned out to be too narrow. I bought another style of Vejas in the spring and then went and got fitted and found out I need a wide. Vejas run narrow, so they are just not very comfortable. So, I guess I wasted money on sneakers. They aren’t cheap, either.

3.  April 2nd is National DIY day. Are you a do-it yourself kind of person or maybe you’re married to one? If so, what’s the last thing you DIY-ed. If you’re not a DIY-er what’s the most recent job you had to hire someone to complete? 

We do most of our own stuff. We do our own taxes and many of our projects. This is Tom’s project this week. He is replacing all the boards in the deck.

4. Do you eat lamb? If so do you have a favorite dish that calls for lamb? 

I do not. Eddie Otis loves lambie and lambie gigante so much.

5. Do you fit a stereotype in some way? Explain. 

I don’t want to, but I probably look like the stereotypical middle aged high school teacher but then I start rapping or singing my Spanish songs and people are like – ok – she’s not normal.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

I am using paper plates this week but there are still so many dishes! When you cook a lot, you have a lot of dishes. It’s annoying!

Amy

Tuesday, April 1, 2025

This post is not an April Fool’s joke, nor is it unique. I’m not the first person to talk about this concept, but it is something that has been on my mind lately.

I want to leave space in all areas of my life..

My refrigerator functions best for me when I leave space:

I am not sure if this photo is the best example of leaving space, but this is my current fridge view.

I have to see what I have and I feel like I waste less when I have less.

My closet functions best for me when I leave space:

It’s taken me a long time to realize that less is more in my closet.

I am currently trying to figure out how to best utilize my bins.

I don’t like too much out in my living room or kitchen. I like it to be simply decorated. It’s easier to clean and I want only decor that means something to me, if possible.

I leave space in my calendar, too. I have friends who try to do so much in one day.

I have friends who say they wish they “had time” to read. My question would be are you leaving space in your schedule to read? What are you doing with your time instead?

I also want to leave space for spontaneous plans. People stop asking when you are always busy and can never say yes.

I am pretty routine oriented and that can be my fatal flaw. I hope that I can leave space for changing up the routine.

The other night I was so happy I left space for a phone call. One of my high school buddies called me on my birthday and I was at brunch. We never connected that day and on his birthday I told him I owed him a phone call and he would get one when least expected. So, we played phone tag a couple more times and finally he connected with me one evening last week. I sat on the patio and we laughed our heads off for 45 minutes. Normally I would have been doing my shower and wind down routine but I am so glad I broke from that routine. That phone call was so good for my mental health!

Maybe I am getting away from the point, but in what areas of your life do you leave space?

Amy

Monday, March 31, 2025

How are you on this last Monday of March? I am good! It’s my spring break! I am just staying in town but Tom is off work with me and we are doing some house projects and yard projects. I am happy to link up with Sarah and Holly to share my weekend.

Part of me wanted to plan a trip and part of me thought the decision making would be stressful. Also, I don’t like being with all the spring breakers. Lol.

Vacation is a state of mind, not a place. I will keep reminding myself of that.

Thursday for the last day of school before spring break, I brought the sunny vibes.

I told little boy I would be off work soon.

After school I kicked off the break with my friend Victoria who teaches at another school. We went to Irish Rover and it was lovely.

We had some smoked salmon paté and irish soda bread.

Then, I went home and made spaghetti. I already had the meat done so that made it quick.

I love a slow breakfast at home and here was my Friday breakfast…

I finished this over my breakfast and I loved it!

I decided to give up on the interspecies girl and lochness monster relationship in this book and return it. Not that there is anything wrong with that if it’s your cup of tea. It’s too bad because I love the cover!

I had a fresh stack of requests that I brought home with me.

A healthy mix of non-fiction/self-improvement and fiction. I am not going to Yorkshire, but I saw it on the shelf and loved York, England so thought I would read it.

And, I started this because it was recently recommended in blog land and it was on the new release shelf.

I also went to Marshall’s and Whole Foods. I never go to either, but Whole Foods was amazing! I want to shop there regularly.

Mason had to work late afternoon but was free and wanted to go to his favorite lunch spot.

He always gets a decaf and loves it. He loves how it comes with a Biscoff cookie.

We split the frites and a choripan. And, we still had leftovers. Neither of us were super hungry.

I was going to go get a pedicure but Elizabeth called and wanted to stop by and I quickly pivoted. Eddie Otis doesn’t like her at all. He did calm down.

I was enjoying the patio so much as the weather was just perfection that I said screw it to my toes and made a coffee with a Peep.

For dinner, I made fish tacos with mango salsa. I read on the patio again after dinner.

Saturday morning it was cloudy but so warm.

Our outdoor area is so neglected but we will get to it this week. And, Tom is replacing the patio boards because they are deteriorating. I guess the reclmained wood was too reclaimed.

Tom and EO went to visit Tom’s parents, the kids were working, and I got ready for some friend time.

I went shopping with my friend Jessica at Work the Metal.

Then, we stopped for Greek food and cookies! What could be better?

The pedicure happened Saturday late afternoon and I went with a periwinkle blue that I bought at Marshall’s.

We had a Stoney River Steakhouse gift card so I picked up a Cobb salad to share with Tom…

And these little steak sliders and sides. We split one meal and still had enough for Mason to have a full meal after work.

I bought myself flowers at Whole Foods for less than $6.

I bought a spring magazine, too!

I made another good breakfast of more of a veggie scramble.

EO is either sleeping or transporting his stuffed animals.

Sunday Tom did my returns with me. I had one Amazon and one Old Navy.

It was a gloomy day so I was happy to read more!

And, enjoy some rain…

And, really this kind of sums up my relaxed state right now.

I’ve got some hard stuff going on and coming up, but, for now, I have some of my favorite foods, the ability to watch the sun rise and set, some great library books, my flowers I bought myself, my favorite songs I will sway to (let’s not go too crazy with full out dancing), and I do feel blessed.

Thank you for blessing me with your comments!

Amy