First Oh hey, Friday! of 2016

I love an Oh hey, Friday! post to get my blogging mojo going again.

So here we are. Happy New Year! In my opinion, New Year's resolutions are for the birds. They just set me up for disappointment and the other F-bomb. Failure. And after the undocumented personal challenges I faced in 2015, the last thing I need is more disappointment! 

So I'm dedicating this post to the top 5 things I'm looking forward to most in 2016!

One.

Ukulele lessons. I've been asking for a uke for a while. And this year I got one for Christmas. A red one! They're inexpensive and I've heard they're fairly easy to learn to play. My friend Mary Lynn and her hubby own a music studio locally and both of my boys have taken from them. They are starting an adult Sip & Strum class and I cannot wait!!! Contact me if you want to get in on the action.

Two.

Disney! This past November was two years since we first went to Disney as a family. We are fortunate enough to have Shan's parents treat us to a second visit to see "The Mouse" in less than a week. I think there's even greater excitement this time among my boys because they know exactly what to expect. They're already talking about what's on their lists of must-dos. 

This time we'll be going to Magic Kingdom and MGM again and adding Animal Kingdom and Universal to our agenda. I've heard great things about both and we've already started counting down the days!
 

Three.

Hello from the other side!!! I'm pretty sure Shan catapulted himself to "Husband of the Year" on Christmas Day. To put it mildly, I'm obsessed with Adele. Even way back when she first came out I was impressed by her effortless range and the quality of her voice. The lyrics of her songs tell wonderful stories and to top it all off, she's a classy, decent person.

Any who. When we found out about her new 25 tour in 2016, I knew we had to try to get tickets. With 6 devices between the 2 of us, trying to get tickets seemed like it wouldn't be a problem. After 15 minutes they were all sold out. I texted Shan and told him I had no such luck. He told me he didn't either and I sulked for days. Until!!! Christmas morning when he surprised with tickets! To say I fell apart is an understatement. He had a 3% chance of getting them! Unbelievable!!! So we're headed to Adele in ATL in October. Whoop!
 

Four.

The loo. As you've heard many times, I'm the Queen of my castle! I've always been surrounded by boys. That also means sharing bathrooms with boys. It's no secret that boys and girls treat the potty very differently. While a gas station type bathroom doesn't even phase most men, it can certainly send most women over the edge. 

We live in a vintage house with 3 vintage bathrooms. We don't even have a master bathroom. Our bathroom is the tiny  downstairs hall bathroom that we share with guests {and our boys when they're too lazy to walk upstairs to theirs}. It's been making me crazy for 12 years! I've begged Shannon to add on and he's finally agreed to get it going in 2016!   

Five.
Leadership training. I'm VERY excited about the opportunity to attend the Leadership Summit for BEAUTYCOUNTER in February. Y'all, this company is chic and cutting edge, having the highest standards and quality ingredients in the personal care industry. I have never been a fan of direct sales. They've always been a turn off to me for several reasons. But I swear! This company is different and sells itself with their amazing, non-toxic, and high performing products. Once you sample the products and learn about what's in the products you have been using, you're hooked. I seriously don't have to do a THING. I wasn't able to attend the first Summit last year, and from what I have heard, it was something I didn't want to miss out on this year. I can't wait for a rockin' weekend with my BC girls!

That concludes my first Five on Friday for 2016. Be sure to follow the Friday fun...

 

FRIDAY FRIDAY FRIDAY!

Yay! Friday is here and that means it's the WEEKEND!
I'm really looking forward to the weekend to get caught up on some things that got neglected this week and it's the Super Bowl!

In case you're stopping by from somewhere other than the southeast, this week has been crazy. Which leads me to...

NUMBER {1}
The weather!
We started out Monday with temps in the mid 60's. By Tuesday night, it was SNOWING!
It was tons of fun with all the anticipation and then the snow day.
The boys were out of school Tuesday and Wednesday. Then they had delayed-start on Thursday and today. With all the inclement weather, in-service days, and MLK day, I feel like my boys have been out since before Christmas.

Any who... here are some highlights from a wonderful snow-day! It really was the most fun. Great memories were made with these 3 little guys.

 

We even made SNOW CREAM!

 

4 to 6 cups of fresh snow

1 cup milk

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

Mix sugar, milk, and vanilla until sugar is dissolved. Then gradually add a cup of snow at a time. Freeze for about 30 minutes. Enjoy!

 

NUMBER {2}
To-Do List!
I have been quite the To-do lister recently. I guess since I have taken on my 40x40 Challenge. Shan and I sat down Sunday night and made a monstrous punch list of all the projects we need to tackle to re-do "finish" our house.  I'm ready for new paint, furniture, and fixtures!! YIKES!
I think we both went to bed feeling a tad overwhelmed by that list. Looks like we'll be prioritizing next!
So speaking of lists...
My mother-in-law is the greatest list maker in the history of transcription. She ALWAYS has a tiny notepad in her pocketbook. It's so cute. I thought about how well-planned she is and how she never misses a.thing! So when I happened to be in {my least favorite place on the planet}Walmart, I found my very own tiny note pads to fit in my pocket book. Only a whopping 88 cents each! Now I don't have an excuse to not write it down.

El Cheapo and Cute-ish enough.

NUMBER {3}
Design time!
One thing I'd love to get caught up on this weekend is my design time. It has been so long since I just sat down and created. I love making organizational printables and freebies to post, but just when I was getting back in the swing, I suddenly had lots of people in my house again. ;)
A couple things I have gotten done this week are some super cute TWINVITES for a Lego/Karate party and a Dinosaur party!

 

NUMBER {4}

So! The Grammys!

Did you watch? So many incomprehensible things happened over those few hours. But I think the thing that left me scratching my head the most was this...

 

Y'all! What has happened to our music industry. Miley...just Miley, The Beibes can't go to the Grammys because he's just been arrested, Half-naked women dancing on the grammys, "Queen La" is now a justice of the peace, and Boss Hog is Madonna's Doppelganger. God help us!

 

On to more normal-ish things...

 

NUMBER {5}

Super Bowl Sunday is this weekend. Yay! Or as I like to call it...The Commercial Bowl! I'm not a sports buff at all so it's definitely about the food, fun, and beverages! We're hoping to get together with a few friends to watch and eat some good bad-for-you food. I see these buffalo sliders in my future!!

 I pinned this recipe from Shared Appetite.

You can follow me on Pinterest too!

 

Buffalo Chicken Sliders with Avocado Ranch

 





{source}

 

Have a good weekend!

Linking up for Five on Friday and High 5 for Friday.



I love a FRIDAY!

PHEW!!! What a week! Oh! How I love a Friday.

Especially THIS Friday. We have an extra-long weekend, thanks to MLK, Jr. Monday and an in-service day Tuesday. YAY!

It's time for a link up for FIVE ON FRIDAY!

This week I'm posting 5 things that made me smile - since my last Five on Friday!

{UNO}

 

A fun dinner night-in with one of our favorite couples. SO many good laughs!!!

 

 

{DOS}

 

 

My one-of-a-kind burlap door hanger from aDOORnaments! This lady can do anything. ANY.THING! She's my mom and I "aDOOR" her!

 

{TRES}

 

 

 Seeing hard work and dedication pay-off with this number.

 

{QUATRO}

 

 

This text from my sweet friend about her MOST adorable twins after an extended play date with Oliver. It's the text you look back at several times because you just have to.

 

{CINCO}

 

 

Celebrating the "Wizard Mickey" birthday of THE CUTEST 5 YEAR-OLD I know!

 Party details coming soon.

 

Happy Friday!

 

 

Five on Friday

I haven't done a Five on Friday in months!!! I'm linking up with some other cute bloggers for this post, but I'm doing mine on five things that made my week!!

1. Monday night we had the Feast of Lights/12th Night Celebration at church. It is the "grand finale" of our holiday season and happens to be my favorite service of the season. My boys participated as usual, but their parts changed a bit this year. Sam was a page to the wise men. Fulton was an angel and Oliver was my baby sheep, of course.

The coolest part is that Fulton got the dime in the King Cake and is "The Investor" for the church for 2014!

If you don't practice this custom The Pioneer Woman explains the concept perfectly. We do our trinkets a little differently though. Some cakes only have 1 trinket, but our church's King Cake has three.

Ring - "The King/Queen" of the next Feast of Lights
2 Almonds - "The Host/Hostess" of the next Feast of Lights
Dime - "The Investor" takes the dime and generates money for the church over the next year.
 

 

 

 

 

2. Tuesday and Wednesday it was REALLY cold here. Unusually cold! The school districts decided it was in the best interest of ALL students to delay the start of school by 2 hours. It seemed a little silly at first, but my boys don't have to stand at a bus stop for an hour in the frigid temps! So I just took it as an opportunity to snooze a little longer and ease back into the routine after the holiday. 

The funny thing is, we're expecting temps in the 60's this weekend and next week! Gotta love SC!

 

3. Our heat went out during the "Polar Vortex"! That did NOT make my week!! We woke up Wednesday morning to it being 55 degrees in our house and it got as low as 48 degrees!!! FREE-ZING! 

 

It was miserable, but we made do around space heaters.

What DID make my week was when it came back on and the fact that we saved $1000 by getting a second opinion. Do your homework people!! Don't just go with the first quote because they drive fancy trucks and are popular! I have a great heat/AC guy now if you're in my neck of the woods.

4. I got new glasses! It had been waaaay too long since I last got a pair. I always opt for using the insurance allowance on new contacts because I wear those all the time. Not to mention, my glasses get right pricey with my REALLY bad prescription! They have to upfit my lenses so much that it ends up being $$$ "spancy". This year we decided to use up the rest of our insurance flex spending account on some new specs for momma. I really like them!

5. Thursday night was down-right comical for a couple of reasons. We had a our Junior League January General Membership meeting and my dear ol pal, Misty locked her keys in her car. {I'm pretty sure this has happened before. But then again, it could be a very vivid de-ja-vu.} Well, homegirl lives 45 minutes from these parts. So getting a spare key was not an option. I waited with her on AAA to come unlock the car. We decided we were hungry and ate a savory dinner from Chick-fil-A in my car staying toasty. While it's not glamorous, it was the perfect time to sit back and catch up from our bustling holidays.

 

 

Then, at home, just before bed, I got into a bizarre and hilarious text convo with my friend Anne. It went on FOR-EVER! It was one of the really good ones that you look back at the next day and laugh hysterically. I think we were delirious. Here are a few snipits...

 

 

 

And that's my five! 

So. What made your week?

 

Five on Friday: The Tube and Food

It's Friday! Yay!!!

It's also time to link up for Five on Friday.

This week is all about the tube and a new recipe!!

Here's my disclaimer...I am NOT a TV watcher, but recently I've gotten really excited about a couple of "viewing opportunities".

.......ONE
There were several premiers this week that I couldn't wait to watch. I just love Parenthood! It is so incredibly realistic. I've been watching since the first season and have been hooked ever since.
I have to say I was not as wowed by the premier as I wanted to be, but I have confidence it'll pick up quickly. See all the details of this season's first episode here.

 

.......TWO

THE BLACKLIST! I couldn't decide if I wanted to invest my precious evening time into this show - but I'm so glad I did. It was very Silence of the Lambs-ish. I can't wait until next Monday night! Here's the pilot!

 

 

.......THREE





I ADORE Jimmy Fallon AND Justin Timberlake. Both of them are incredibly talented and precious guys. I can't stay up late enough to watch every night, so I cannot wait until Jimmy moves into Jay Leno's spot. It'll give me just enough of my Jimmy-fix before I drift off.

This week he and JT did a skit on what it would sound like if we spoke the way we "tweet" and use social media. It was hilarious!!! I especially loved the hand gestures and really long hash tags (#whichImayormaynotdofromtimetotime). I missed this the night that it aired, but Shan kindly replayed it for me because he knew I'd love it!



 

.......FOUR

I'm not typically an ESPN watcher unless the Gamecocks are playing. However, Shan insisted that I watch The Book of Manning with him this week.  So unenthused at first, I thought "yeah, yeah, yeah! I know. The famous football family. Blah, blah, blah." I have nothing against the Mannings. I've just always thought they're one of those sports anomaly families. But it was so much more! You got a great glimpse into their family dynamics. It wasn't all rosy as I suspected. They were so normal.

 

{source}

 

As a mother of 3 very active boys, I could relate to so much of the documentary. So many of the clips from their childhood reminded me of my own boys and their MANY games of football, soccer, and baseball that they play in my backyard. I really fell in love with their family. Archie and Olivia seemed to be so unassuming, yet supportive of their sons and their innate passion for football. If it airs again...it's a must see, especially for boy moms.

 

Here's a link to the scoop behind the documentary.

 

.......FIVE

And finally! A yummy recipe for General Tso's Chicken. I pinned this recipe earlier this week. One word...Awesome! Just enough sweet, just enough spicy. And I was so proud when everyone chowed down. General Tso's Chicken is a family fave. We order it pretty much every time we go out for Asian food. This was every bit as good as a restaurant and I love knowing that it was prepared in my kitchen.

 

I served it with a side of steamed teryaki rice. I also added a bag of broccoli florets to ours. If you're a fan of General Tso's...y'all gotta try it! Did I mention how easy it was? My little helper thought it was too. ;-)

Any who! It's late on Friday, but that's my 5 for this week.