Thursday, November 26, 2015

Thankful Thursday

I've pretty much taken a blog break this week, but this being Thanksgiving, I couldn't let the final Thursday of November go by without a post!  Time for another edition of Thankful Thursday!!


There are so many things in life to be thankful for! One of them is certainly this blog and the blogging community.  

Three short years ago I started this blog on a whim.  Admittedly, the first two years, the posts were  few and far between.  But then I started following more and more blogs and discovered link-ups.  These link ups introduced a whole new group to my blog and introduced me to a bunch of new awesome bloggers as well.  I love reading blogs and connecting with others from all over.

Another blessing in my life is the fact that this this blogging community has connected me to bloggers, who although I have never met, I consider friends.  It  with these women that my blogging has expanded into The Blended Blog!  Never in a million years did I think that would have ever happened!!I am so thankful to have them in my life!

To all the readers, from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU!  For following along on this crazy with me.  Thank you for reading, laughing, and commenting!  It means more to me than you will ever know!!


Have a Blessed Thanksgiving! Gobble til You Wobble, Drink til You Fall Down! =)

Katie


Linking up with with Shelly and Holly today!



Friday, November 20, 2015

Friday is FINALLY here!!

YAY!!  Finally...did anyone think this was a pretty SLOW week?!?    But Friday's here...WOOOO  HOOOO, so on with the show!!  Five things friday....I'm focusing on the good...



//ONE//  This past weekend was a doozy!!  Friendsgiving was celebrated on Saturday and Fakesgiving Thanksgiving with my mom and dad, on Sunday!!  Check out my recaps of both here and here!


//TWO//  Because this weekend was so crazy, I thought I'd give myself the day on Monday!  So I took off and had my mom and dad over for a few hours.  Dad did some work around the house and mom put up my Christmas tree...YAY!!  So right now my house might just be a hybrid of Thanksgiving and Christmas!! (The peapod guy enjoyed it...LOL)


//THREE//  Have you heard Adele's words on body image?? Read it here! Go her, right?!?  I read about the article on brit+co and then saw this video after.  This lady is knockin' out the hits!  I didn't cry when I heard Hello, like so many others did, but I kinda shed a tear after this one!!  I think it was the line about getting older....





//FOUR//  I just finished this yesterday and am giddy about how it came out, I just had to share it!!
Last year at this time I picked up this lesson from Teachers Pay Teachers...and never used it!  This year I was able to.  We read The Gratitude Tree as a class in library, then for the checkout assignment, we wrote what we were grateful for on leaves.  I love this lesson.  It's great for a variety of grade levels, perfect for library!


//FIVE//  And in a tough week that has seen political debate, countries on edge and people divided, I thought I'd share my favorite feel good story!  A video of special ed teacher, Chris Ulmer,  praising his students, has been all over the web.  Having CP myself and being an aunt to 2 girls with special needs, I wish I could shake this guy's hand!  What a great role model.  He and his students will change the world! Take a moment to watch the video and all the sweet videos on his facebook page, Special Books by Special Kids!  It's guaranteed to put a smile on your face!!  I look forward to following their journey!!


Hope everyone has a great weekend!!

Linking up for all the Friday Fun with:
ErikaAndrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites 
September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday!
April and the girls for Five on Friday
Jennie for Friday Favorites
Caitlin and the girls for High Five for Friday


Thursday, November 19, 2015

Thankful Thursday: Family

For the third installment of my Thankful Thursday series, my focus is on family. So many times blogging, I've written about my family...thanks for letting me do so!


 With so much happening in our world right now, we can't afford to take anything for granted. All too often we don't take the opportunities we should, to tell our loved ones just how much they mean to us. I joke about this solitary life, but hey, I got my family...and that's pretty much everything!!

My mom and dad recently moved away to spend their retirement in Florida, leaving us kids behind. They're having a grand ol' time, but this means we obviously don't see them as much and subsequently, don't see each other as much either!

 This Thanksgiving mom and dad will be spending the holiday in Florida, but this past weekend they were home (they watched my nephews while my sister and brother-in-law were away), so we had family thanksgiving. A holiday that my dad and I dubbed “fakesgiving”, which mom, of course, hated!! LOL (All in good fun Ma!!)

It was the first time we were all together since Happy Heart Day in early August.

It was just like the real Thanksgiving! It was LOUD! There was turkey, there were drinks, and there was football!! And of course we prayed for our blessings and the opportunity to be together.  But most of all it was fun!!  We always laugh when we're together!


We will still be celebrating Thanksgiving at my sister's house on the actual day but, something will undoubtedly be missing...just like when we celebrated Thanksgiving in the Outer Bank last year and my sister Meghan and her family were not there.  But I suppose it's not the holiday that matters, just the moments spent together.

Here's just a few pics to share from the day!

These are my people....


And since my mom took these pics and isn't featured, I thought I'd share this one!  To get the party started, Mom and I enjoyed the pumpkin martinis I posted about over on The Blended Blog! =)





It was certainly a great day!!


ICYMI:
Thankful Thursday Week 1
Thankful Thursday Week 2


Linking up with:
Shelly and Holly & Vanessa and Penny Today!

Wednesday, November 18, 2015

Friendsgiving!

Good Morning!!

Today I'm over at The Blended Blog  talking all about my Friendsgiving Tradition!  Check it out here!


Have a great day!  See you back here tomorrow for Thankful Thursday!!

Relive Friendsgiving 2014 here!

Friday, November 13, 2015

A Friday Five...with a theme!

Friday ...YAY! I swear the weeks with a day off feel like the longest ever. Anyone agree?!? I spent a lot of time online this week actually so I thought I'd switch this up a bit and share some faves I saw while scoping out the World Wide Web!!


{ONE} Tuesday being Veteran's Day, there was so much great stuff floating around! From quotes and stories, to videos and even hash tags to raise money for Vets. This video was one of my favorites! Very moving, considering every other time we see baggage handlers they are being way to hard on the baggage, in my opinion!  And this is my favorite patriotic song!!



{TWO}  My 7th and 8th Grade technology classes have created their own websites on Weebly for Education. I am so excited with how they are coming out! The 7th grade girls, especially, are super into it and taking great pride in their sites. They have sites about recipes, fashion, crafting, DIY and everything in between. I am having so much fun perusing them all this week!

{THREE}  I am over this Red Cup debacle and can't even believe all the press it's getting but I think Austin Blood summed it all up perfectly!! Check out what he said about it {here}.


{FOUR}  I am so excited for this weekend. It's thanksgiving weekend around these parts. Saturday is Friendsgiving and Sunday is Thanksgiving with my mom and dad, who won't be with us on the actual holiday! For Friendsgiving at my house, I sent these really cute evites....that unfortunately my friends didn't receive! (grrrr...) but I was so happy when I saw evite promoting Friendsgiving!!




{FIVE}  Yesterday for Thankful Thursday I talked about how, I'm grateful I can make people laugh! This video had me laughing a lot this week when I saw it on Facebook, so I'll leave you with it! Hope it gets you laughing right into the weekend!!



One more thing before I go!  I'm SUPER EXCITED to to be the featured blogger on The Blended Blog today!! I'd love for you to head on over and learn a little bit more about me!! 

Cheers,
Katie


Linking up this Friday with:
ErikaAndrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites 
September Farm and The Farmer's Wife for Oh Hey, Friday!
April and the girls for Five on Friday
Jennie for Friday Favorites

Thursday, November 12, 2015

Thankful Thursday

The 2nd Thursday of November 2015, brings a little bit different of a Thankful Thursday.  I hope it's not too self indulgent, but I'm thankful I have the ability to make people laugh and smile!  Last week, I talked about how I was thankful for my job.  This week's thankful Thursday stems from that, too. Living this Solitary Life, chances are, on any given week day, I've been only two places...home and work (especially these days when it's pitch black before five and I don't want to do ANYTHING!!)  So that's why I have have a tendency to talk about both of them so much!

Between this week and last, 4 of my co-workers have told me that I have made them, laugh, smile, or just how funny I was!  I'm not gonna lie...this makes me smile!!  I'll elaborate on two...  

The school secretary told me the other day that, on that particular morning, she was feeling blah,tired  and just wanted to stay in bed.  But after seeing me and talking to me, her whole attitude just changed.   Because I just make her smile. I was touched be that...a tremendous compliment.We laugh a lot!  All the time actually! I tell her all my ideas for if I ran the school and tell her how fun it would be.  We both agree we'd be in for 4 day work weeks with longer days. LOL

It was the next day or two later that the school nurse told me had the best laugh ever!  You see, I was coming around the corner and laughing to myself over what I had just her a little kindergartener say, and she heard me (because believe me when I tell you, I don't do anything quietly)!  She said she appreciated a good laugh and mine was the best.  A good hearty one!  HA!!  We laugh a lot together too, but this was the first time she had told me that.  It made me smile...and laugh again.

I have said numerous times on the blog, that I laugh a lot!  Because really...what's the alternative??  If even one time I can make a person smile or laugh when they think of me, I am so thankful for that!!  I hope I can do the same for my readers of the blog!  I smile writing the blog.  I hope it puts a smile on your face reading it!!

via
Have a thankful Thursday!!


Linking up with:
Shelly and Holly & Vanessa and Penny Today!


Wednesday, November 11, 2015

A Plaid Problem....

I am so excited to be linking up to with Becky at bybmg for the How I Style It Link up!  Today's look is #plaidaboutit, sharing a plaid look on insta and the blog.  I just LOVE plaid...plaid's my favorite!  Some might say I have a plaid problem, but clearly they don't know what the heck they are talking about!!  Doesn't everybody love plaid!?!?

I have plaid shirts....


Plaid pj's.....


And plaid scarves!!  
Maybe 5/6 times a week, I'm throwing a plaid scarf around my neck...

I also recently got this plaid dress.
At first I was super skeptical about it, but I posted it on the blog and it got rave reviews, so I kept it.  And discovered lots of ways to wear it!!

With leggings and an infinity scarf...
This is work appropriate!  

With my denim jacket...we've had some really nice November days here, so I think I can still get away with wearing my denim jacket!!


With my over-the-knee boots
To be honest, I didn't wear this that day but my next country show, I'll be wearing this!!

So fun!  To see how I'm wearing plaid today, find me on Instagram, I'm @solitarylife101

 A big thanks to all the veterans past and present, for your service and sacrifice!


Have a great day!
Linking up today!

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

It's been a while...

Where the heck did this weekend go?? Sometimes they are just too fast! It's been so long since I've posted a recap! Thought it might be fun to get back into it...even though I'm a day late!

Friday, I really had no plans at all. I was home and in my sweats by 3:30. But then I got a text from my friend asking if I wanted to go out for drinks. I was cozy, but decided I couldn't pass it up! So I got myself all dressed and ready and headed out the door. It was a really great time. A few glasses of wine, one of my favorite meals and a lot of laughs. So glad I decided to go!

Saturday night into Sunday I was watching my nieces because my sister and brother-in-law had a birthday party to go to at Mohegan Sun. So I headed to their house in the middle of the day. On the way there, I got Starbucks...my first red cup of the season! 
 Woohoo! Side note: Can you believe all the craziness surrounding the red cup?!?!....crazy-town!!

After getting to my sister's we hung out a bit before my niece needed to get ready for cheer practice. After she left we didn't see her again until 9:30!

Amy and I had a nice dinner with my mom, my sister, Tara, my brother-in-law and three nephews, who had come over to stay with my mom overnight. After that, we did my favorite thing of the night....
I finally got to see this movie!
 And I LOVED it!! I pretty much bawled my eyes out!!! It was so cute!!  After the movie, it was bedtime...for the kids and ME!!!

Sunday morning was a little hectic. My niece had competition cheerleading and my nephew had football. I stayed behind with the rest of the kids and we watched The Descendants. It's all the rage apparently. Amy knew every single word! After that, my nephews headed home and Amy, was left with just me for the day! She was not impressed. Ha...
Miss Amy...so fashion-forward! 

We had fun though...watched a few episodes of Liv and Maddie (her fave!) and played some rounds of Candy Land. It got super competitive but Amy beat me every time! HA!  I forgot how much I love Candy Land!

By the time I got home, it was almost five I guess. And I unfortunately had to go to a wake! So I got ready for that super quick and was out the door again.

And just like that it was 10p.m. On Sunday. I stayed up a while blogging while I did two loads of laundry and got ready for Monday and the new week. Thank goodness Monday was an easy day! And Wednesday is a day off!

Hope everyone had a great weekend too!!

See you back here tomorrow, for a special What I Wore Wednesday! It's been a while since I posted one of those too!! LOL



Linking up today!
Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne & SuburbsMonday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle

Monday, November 9, 2015

I love NPH!

But, I won't lie...his book? Notsomuch!





Why was it so difficult for me to get through?  I have had this book a little less than a year now, (my second Blogging for Books book) and picked it up and put it down at least a dozen times.  I received the e-book to review from Blogging for Books and thought maybe because the book was written in the Choose Your Own Adventure style I LOVED as a kid, that I would love it.  But it was tough.  I thought I might have been confused because I was reading the ebook and it was a lot of page turning, so I picked up the book from the library instead, in hopes that that would be easier.  But I was still confused.  And basically, even though you turn back and go forward, I felt like I still read the whole book.  That is not to say I didn't enjoy some parts.

I obviously loved reading about his Dougie days and some of his old stories of "clubbing" made me laugh out loud!  As well as hearing about his time on How I Met Your Mother! (a show I will always love, even though, that ending kinda stunk!!)  
I enjoyed his kind words for his family and their support of him, and of course the sweet family he has now created with his husband.  And seeing the pictures made me smile. And as I was reading it, I heard HIM, I heard his voice!  Which made me like it...a lil...ha!
But all in all, I think I'll stick with Neil Patrick Harris, the Actor and funny man, rather than the author!!



*FTC Disclaimer- I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.  All opinions are my own.*

Find my first Blogging for Books review here!

Sunday, November 8, 2015

Sunday Already??

Who's with me on this!?!?


 Crazy weekend around here!  Can't believe that Monday is one sleep away!  Thank goodness for a four day work week!

I thought before the new week began, I'd rewind this past week on the blog....

Monday was my October in Review...in numbers!


I'm declaring Thursdays in November Thankful Thursdays!  Check out the first one here!

Couldn't get my act together for a Friday Five, so a Six for Saturday was on tap!!  
This is just one of my faves...
check out the rest here!



Stay tuned for lots more fun stuff on the blog this week!!  I hope everyone has a great one!!

Katie

Saturday, November 7, 2015

SIX faves for Saturday!

Happy Saturday!  This morning a Saturday Six is on tap...quite simply because I didn't have my act together yesterday!

My first favorite this week comes care of Erin from Our Little Life!!  She commented that she made the Fall Sangria I posted over at The Blended Blog for a Sunday Football brunch and it was a big hit!!  That just made me so happy this week!!!  YAY!!  Thanks so much Erin.  Do yourself a favor and check out Erin and her sweet family here!

My new sign...Another favorite this week was this!!  
It was hard to fit it in the camera!
Ever since this new shop opened in town in September and I saw this sign there, I've been saying I wanted one.  Well on the day of the Fall Festival, I went in and ordered it!  I am so, so happy with the way it came out!!


My new favorite guy...MY MAILMAN!  It was a huge huge mail week!!  I got lots!!  Like LOTS!  By the third day I, opened the door to him and a stack of boxes and just said "You're gonna hate me!"  He just laughed and said, no way... it was great!  Then said..."I'll see you tomorrow!" HA (I resisted the urge to ask to take his picture for the blog :))



Halloween Detox Group...this week I tried to participate in another challenge group, and failed.  If you follow me on Instagram you may remember that in October I did the 5-day Clean Eating Crockpot Challenge.  This group was along those same lines and another brainchild of Casey at A Little Bit of Cheer.  I wasn't as strict with myself this time around.  I had coffee and wine two days. And I didn't make any of the meals. (the menus were way more food than I consume in a day! HA!) On Halloween, I had made crockpot lasagna, so I had a week of leftovers to eat.  But now that I have the recipes, I can make the meals anytime.  Was hoping to make this coming week my official detox week but it's shaping up not to be!  I did however, drink way more than half my body weight in water everyday (have kept up with that since the last challenge) and got the cardio in!  So even though I failed at this one, it's still a favorite because I like being in the group!  And GO ME!!  I didn't eat one piece of Halloween candy!!
Oh and another favorite came from Casey this week...she declared this dress  her favorite look of the week, at the Lovely Little a la Mode Link up, on Monday!  YAY!!  Thanks so much Casey!!


CMA Awards Girls Night... My mom and two sisters came over for Girls night to watch the CMA's on Wednesday!!  We love our country music!  It was a fun night.  That's also when news of Blake Shelton and Gwen Stefani broke.  I don't think this will last, but hey.  I am over following celebs ever since my favorite couple, Ben and Jen, divorced.  LOL


And I'll leave you with this...because it needs to be seen.
Moment of the night at the CMA's.  So happy for Chris Stapleton.  My sister and I saw him, play an acoustic show called Guys with Guitars here in my town 2 years ago!  He is awesome and for the last 17 years been writing for country artists.  So glad he's final getting his due.  He cleaned up at the show!   And this was just incredible!!




Linking up today with  ErikaAndrea, and Narci for Friday Favorites!
This Week's Posts:

Thursday, November 5, 2015

Thankful Thursday

I thought for the month of November, I'd take Thursdays to reflect on the things I'm thankful for.  It's all to often, I take for granted so many things.

{via}

This first Thankful Thursday post is brought to you by my boss!  HA...not really but he got me thinking about this one!

It was a typical morning for me.  I was tired, cranky...it's a joke that I am not my happy self until 10 a.m.  We were talking about something and I said I would pretty much be ok with not having to get up everyday.  And he asked me if I've ever not had a place to get up and go to everyday.  He said it gets old quick!  I never had actually.  I've been lucky enough to be working since I was right out of college.  I was once excessed from a school, but was lucky enough to get picked up at another school for the next September!

So today, I'm thankful I have a job to go to everyday!  I might complain about it sometimes, it might not pay well but it provides me everything I need.  I want for nothing.  I've made great friends there and I get to spend my days doing what I love.  I never wanted to be anything but a teacher, and although the teaching profession has changed dramatically in the 14 years, I've been teaching, I'm grateful to be able to do it.  So many people these days are struggling to make ends meet and taking jobs to just get by.  And one day, I might be in their shoes.  So tomorrow, when I think about complaining or grumbling about something ridiculous, I'm going to think twice, and thank God for the opportunity to work!

But I'll still be smiling big, when the bell rings Friday and the weekend begins! :)

Hope you're doing what you love these days!

Have a great weekend,
Katie


Monday, November 2, 2015

October in Numbers....

Every month I promise myself I will be better at tracking my happenings for this post.  And every month, I break that promise to myself! Truth be told, it was a light month...I quite lived up to my Solitary Status!  I did do a couple things worth hootin' and hollerin' about though, so I'm linking up with Deena today!

1 Pumpkin Spice Latte consumed!  My very first one ever...on October 30th! HA!

1 5-day Fall Crockpot Challenge completed!  Awesome meals that were easy to prepare and super delish!


Part of that challenge meant, no coffee or alcohol!!  So I went 5 days with no coffee at all and 5 days without wine.
I posted this photo on my Instagram the night before the challenge started!!  It represented my heart breaking...

The whole challenge had me eating cleaner most of October because I had so many leftovers.  And the number of bottles of water I consumed this month....I calculated it to be around 84.  The goal of the challenge was to drink half your body weight in water each day.  For me that was four bottles...most days I drank 6 and have kept that up!  Water keeps me full and grabbing for less.

I also got one Hello Fresh delivery, so more healthy, yummy meals!

I did indulge in 3 W.F. Crisp (aka-my boyfriend!) World's Finest chocolate bars, from our school fundraiser...one before the Crockpot challenge, and two after....but one was the only thing I ate all day one day, does that count??  Oh and one bag of Ketchup chips!  {Thanks for my sweet surprise Deena!}

One massage!  On Columbus Day, my friend and I got massages for our day off.  So relaxing.  Have to get another one this month!
4 days of hurt following that....hahahaha

Out of the 5 weekends in October, I only had something going on 3 of them.  One Sunday my sister and her family came for a visit, I had lunch one Saturday with my sister in town and went to dinner that same day for my besties 35th!

I also got 1 new kitchen table this month...YAY!  So now I have two...but I am calling my old one a desk! HA!
My Kitchen Table movers!!

On the weekend of the 17th was my town's Fall Festival.  It ended up being one RANDOM day, but so fun! I tried 9 chilis and chowders during the chili and chowder contest and drank 4 (maybe 6?) pumpkin ales...my only beers in October.
This was my ballot
I declared October my very own #ShopSmall month.  I did good with that I placed 5 orders from online boutiques Posh My Gosh, Piper Street and Barn Owl Primitives,  and supported my town's local businesses during the Fall Festival.

The remainder of the weekends, I really just laid low.  I had a rainy movie day, where I watched three movies.

Oddly enough,  I didn't  watch much TV at all this  month. My DVR is full, but I kinda wanna just delete it all!  I have been listening to music on my Chromecast instead.  Check out what's on my playlist these days {here}

The Blog in Numbers....
I had a lot of issues with my internet and computer this month, so as a result, I didn't blog much. Only 11 times this month!
The top viewed post in October was this Friday Post.
The top  post on The Mishaps and Mayhem of Solitary Life Facebook Page was My September in Numbers blog.

I did have my first ever post as contributor at The Blended Blog in October!!  Check it out here!
Stayed tuned for more from me on TBB soon!!

Until Next month...have a thankful November!!