Throwing it back to Happy Heart Day!

This February I've been using Throwback Thursday to highlight some posts that I've loved!  Today's post, Happy Heart Day definitely fits the bill.  During Summer 2015, my family and I celebrated the 10 years since my Dad's heart surgery. It was a fun day celebrating, reminiscing, and thanking God for the all the years we've had together!

Happy Birthday to My #1 Blog Reader...

My MOM!!

You've met my mom numerous times throughout the blog!{here and here are my favorites!}  And were there with us as we celebrated her big 65th last year!  

But today I thought I'd share some fun facts about mom!

She really is my number one blog reader!  Most times, she won't read  on the day I post, but she'll always catch up.  Oh and she always checks my typos!  :)

Mom prints out the blog and made a book of it for me.  I told her a blog is an online journal but she wants me to have it!  And I'm happy I do!

She doesn't read the blog right away because she's too busy loving retirement life in Florida to read.

She loves being in Florida but feels like she's missing out here...we tell her she is definitely not missing anything!

My mom calls me every single day.  The call lasts 90 seconds.  She does most of the talking!

She is the most social person I know.  She often tells me I have to be more social. (I will never be as social as her!)

She's getting better at Face Time...ha!

Mom's the kind of person that saves every single one of her girls' Cabbage Patch Kids and drags them out on Christmas, so she can take photos of you with them...30 years later.

Mom loves playing games and enjoys a little karaoke every now and then.

My mom is a great friend, sister, wife, Nana, and the best mom a daughter could ask for!

Love you Mom!! Have the best day ever!!

Happy Monday all!!

Katie

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!

A fun and festive 4th!

It was a celebration of the 4th and a birthday for my family this weekend!!  On Saturday we all gathered at my sister Meghan's house for the holiday and a birthday party for my niece, Amy who will be 6 on Thursday.  It's wasn't the nicest day weather-wise.  It was cloudy in the morning, then poured rain on us for awhile!  But there was a break in the weather around 5 and then it was clear for the rest of the night!  Which was good for the fireworks.    It was a fun day!  Kids don't mind the clouds and rain when there's a pool involved.  Only Aunt Katie minds...hahahaha.  So I went inside and missed the biggest commotion of the day!!  The boys pushed Poppy in the pool.  And his phone was in his pocket!!!  So you can just imagine how that went.  The phone is currently sitting in rice and everyone's fingers are crossed!

It was a day filled with family, fun, yummy food, delicious cake and plenty of drinks to keep the party going all night long!  When the parties are at my sister Meghan's house, they always seem to go the longest!  I ended up staying over and got to get a few hours of sun before heading home. Because, of course, today (Sunday) was beautiful!!

A few pictures of our favorite moments!  Most of these are courtesy of my mom!  She's the resident photographer and always has her pictures emailed within hours of our parties.

Uncle Tony (Amy's Dad) always makes the cake...last year it was a 5, and she requested a 6 again this year.  Billy helped with the M&M's

Pool Fun!

Don't try this at home!!

Don't worry...I didn't wear this headband all day!  Just for fun!!

Only Anthony goes to the Ice Cream Supply Store and stocks up for the summer!!  I had a chipwich-my fave!!

THESE KIDS!

And this last one is just for fun because my mom always does this...she's not at the Macy's Fireworks Spectacular, but she pretends she is by taking pictures of the TV!!!  HAHAHAHAHA

My Aunt, Uncle and cousin actually left the party early to really go watch them live...LUCKY!!

The night always ends with a fire in the fire pit & S'MORES!

All in all a successful Independence Day!  I hope you and yours enjoyed the day as well!!  

And what a way to end this 4th of July Weekend!!  Team USA wins the World Cup!!  Woo Hoo!!  Go Girls!!

Have a great week!

Linking up today for:

Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs& Monday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle

A Super-Sized Weekend

I exhibited such bad blogger behavior last week...not posting at all!! Getting back in the game this week, with lots of great things lined up!!

A Super-sized Weekend Recap!

Starting off my weekend recap a little early, because even though I worked Friday, my weekend really began with Tim McGraw on Thursday night!! HA!!

Thursday after work I headed to the beach to see Tim McGraw. I took the train west and met up with my friend in the RVC. We grabbed sandwiches and bevs and drove the rest of the way to the beach. We actually ended up meeting and tailgating in the parking lot with her dad and brother for a bit, too.

The show started at 7 with a guy name Chase Bryant. We weren't as familiar with his songs. I knew only one! But I have to definitely download a few more. After that Billy Currington came on. We love him!! We've seen him a bunch of times as an opener. It's about time he headlines his own show. We'll be going to that for sure!! “God is Great, Beer is Good and People are Crazy!” No truer words...no truer words!! 

Those are also the words on our new Billy Currington t-shirts we purchased...because we need another t-shirt like we need a hole in the head!! But like Mel said...”I don't have a green t-shirt”!! And then I thought...I don't have a t-shirt in this green! I am a little bitter over the fact that we were overcharged $5 for it though!! Too many people, too much pushing, etc...to really look at my receipt before signing, so technically...my fault!

 These are not the best pics but...

Billy Currington

Tim McGraw

After the show, rather than rush to catch a super late train home, I stayed over at Mel's and took the train to work the next morning, I was a little late but since I didn't actually have kids until 10, it was ok. And literally, the train station is directly across the street for my school. So I was off the train and in the building in a minute and a half. The train was PACKED with people headed out to Montauk and to the beach for the weekend!!! I'm not gonna lie..I was jealous!! I wish I was going to Montauk for the weekend!! But I digress! Friday was the absolute hottest day yet here. Ick!! It's always the last two weeks of school that end up being the hottest. Thank goodness for AC in my Computer Lab!!

Friday night was the 8^th grade graduation ceremony. So after not being home since Thursday at 7 a.m., I ran home, showered and got ready for that. My teacher bestie brought over dinner, we ate quick, got graduation ready and headed back to school! Graduation always turns out to be a beautiful affair (if not a tad bit long!). I love the music and the little touches that make it special and so “our school”! The students that graduated I've had for the last three years in Library and Tech and they were the last 4^th grade class I taught. A good number of them also had siblings that I have taught! They are now in high school and some off to college! And way taller than me!!

During the graduation, my stomach stated hurting so, afterwards I headed home for a night of vegging on the couch. I actually caught up on the finale of my new obsession, Married at First Sight, and have to say I am happy with the results. I can't wait to see the reunion show tomorrow!

Saturday was a lazy day!! For some reason, I was up at 6! I really don't get it, I can not for the life of me wake up on weekdays when I actually have get up, but on the weekends, I am wide awake...so annoying!! It was cloudy in the morning, so I caught up on my blog-reading that I hadn't done in over a week, and started a new book! By noon, most of the clouds had burned off so I was able to speed a little time in the sunshine on my postage stamp patio (before it went over the house!). It was not enjoyable!! I was surrounded by bees. BIG ASS BEES!! They were surrounding my little trees in the back! Like a dozen of them. For the most part, they left me alone, flying from one tree to the next! I was stressed though because I am allergic to them!! Nobody believes me when I say this, but I am. When I was little, I got stung by a bunch of bees while walking down my pool deck. I must have hit their nest or something. They surrounded my, got in my bathing suit and everything! I got a number of stings, but way less than the number that surrounded me. Ever since then, when I've been stung, my vision goers blurry for a bit and I throw up. My family says this might just be nervousness and getting all worked up about them but I think that's not normal and I'm allergic!!

But anyway!! Back to the weekend!

I laid out a bit, got some thing's done around the house, then went out to read in the front when the sun hit there. I really had no plans!! Actually, I even posted this to Insta as my daily photo!

But around 6 my friend called and asked me if I wanted to go get dinner somewhere, so I went! It was a really fun time! I had a yummy dinner...open faced lobster ravioli! Sooo good!! Huge chunks of lobster and tons of it, with spinach. And I tried a new, awesome summer beer! Hell or High Watermelon! So yummy, with just a hint of watermelon. Very refreshing. I know that doesn't go with lobster ravioli, but I ordered it before I decided on that! :) Unfortunately, you can't really get it here
for purchase other than at a bar/restaurant. It's the 21^st Amendment brewery, out of CA, so I will have to frequent this place a lot this summer!

Sunday was kind of a whirlwind day! I had plans to go to a local vineyard with my family, so my mom and niece came and picked me up in the morning! It took them an hour to get me (usually it only ten minutes away) due to a fatal motorcycle accident. On the way back home, be ended up getting a flat tire! Boooooo....it was a little crazy there for a while, but my brother-in-law came and rescued us... actually, just mom! Lauren and I walked to the Starbucks across the parking lot from where we made it to! Luckily, when it happened, we were getting off the exit and made it to a parking lot, 2 minutes from home! Now I realize, in hindsight, this was probably a bad idea leaving my mom, but I wanted to occupy Lauren...and we got mom her fave drink.  Actually, when we walked away a good samaritan started helping her! So I guess it was a win-win!

We finally made it to the vineyard and it ended up being a nice day! It wasn't too hot, we were shaded by trees and there was a guy there playing acoustic guitar...my fave.

My mom, sisters and I (Just missing Meg!)

A few hours of that on a Sunday, meant me starting my typical Sunday chores later!! But I was wiped so I only did lessons for today and one load of laundry! The rest can wait!

And here it is, Monday again!! Only one more to go!!

I have lots of stuff planned for the blog this week, including two link ups with my blogging buddies and a GIVEAWAY...so come on back!!!

Katie

Linking up today for:
Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs
Manic Monday with On the Daily Express and More Pieces of Me
Monday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle

A Weekend Away!

This weekend I escaped home and went to the sunshine!!  I visited my parents at their home in The Villages in Florida!! I was the only one in my family that hadn't been down to see my mom and dad's place and my sister was taking her girls down to celebrate Mother's Day with my mom, so I thought, it'd be the perfect time for me to go too!   I had a really great time.

I left work on Friday and scooted to the airport.  We are really so lucky to have an airport so close to home.  It's a small regional airport that never seems to be crowded so I was able to fly thru security.  I had plenty of time before boarding, so I headed to the bar for a drink.  I debated the Starbucks, and it would've been cheaper, but went with the beer!  I am not great at flying alone honestly, so I thought I needed something!  And went with the big one!  I posted my beer on Insta as "the most expensive beer ever", but when I got my final bill, realized she charged me for two!  Whew...so considering it 30 ounces...it wasn't that expensive at all!!  HA!!

When I boarded the flight, I was happy to find that it wasn't full, so even though I was the B boarding group, I went pretty much toward the back and had all three seats to myself.

The flight went pretty well.  We left early and arrived a full 30 minutes ahead of schedule...which is pretty crazy!  I had no baggage (I gave it to my parents when they headed down in the car last week) so I was out of the airport in five minutes, met up with my parents and we headed back to my Aunt's house.  When we arrived there, I was met by my nieces, sister (who had come down Wednesday night), my cousin Kim and her husband Brian, and my Aunt Laurie-my mom's sister, who lives in The Villages full time.  Mom, dad and I ate dinner, while we all chatted, watched the Rangers Playoff Game, and played Name that Tune (with my dad's 4000 songs!).  It was a late night and my aunt had to get up early for work the next day, so we headed to my parents house.  They live a few miles away, in a different community.

My mom and dad's house is really cute and my dad, who had been down there a few times for extended periods of time, while my mom was still working, has down a TON of work!  And it looks great!!

Saturday we headed to the pool!  It was a beautiful day!  We didn't stay long at the pool, and I was sooooo mad because I put on 55 SPF and got nothing!!!!!!!!!!!!  In fact I think I was whiter than before!!  LOL.  But the two hours were really enough for me.  I guess, for it being my first time out in this type of heat this season, I was a little dizzy.  But we came back ate a good lunch and got ready to go to The Square and dinner.

In The Square, they have live music nightly.  And people just dance, or sit and watch others dance!  My nieces loved this!!  It also has lots of shopping and restaurants.  

The family that dresses alike!  Totally unplanned...obviously!!

We ate at a place called The Lighthouse.  it was on the water, but being so many, when we put our names in, we said we'll take either in or out.  We got a table inside but by the window.  Dinner was very yummy!  I had the crab cakes!  But I think I enjoyed the apps we all shared better!  It was a lot of fun and laughs!!  

After dinner, we said our goodbyes to my cousin and her husband who were leaving the next day, and headed home to my parents.

Sunday for Mother's Day my nieces wanted to make breakfast for my sister and mom (and me too, because they didn't want me to feel left out!)  So my dad and I helped them make waffles and omelettes.  It was really a great breakfast.  After that us girls headed to Spanish Springs, another "Square", to find some souvenirs!  Being Sunday morning and all, not much was open but we did go to the Tervis store, and the Logo store.  So I got a few tervis glasses and two wine glasses from the Logo store.  Should've thought to take pics, but I left them for my parents to bring home.  After that, we had no plans but to spend the entire rest of the day at the pool! It was a spectacular day!  Not a cloud in the sky and hardly any humidity.  I got color!  Woo Hoo!!  

Golf cart selfie!

We spent a couple hours at the pool, headed back to the house for Happy Hour with my aunt, who came to say goodbye to us, then headed back to the pool to watch the sunset!  The girls loved this.  We were the only ones at the pool and it was so warm!  Awesome sunset!!

A few pics from Sunset....

This one I posted on Insta too!!  It just looked so cool!  I'm thinking of having it put on canvas to hang in my house!!

We got back from the pool around 8:30, had a late dinner and watched the end of the Ranger Game!! A win...and a game 7 is on Wednesday!!  (Woo hoo...but also eeekkkkk!!)    It was another late night.

Monday Morning we got ourselves together and headed the airport...our weekend was over! Booooo!!!!!!!

We had time for a quick lunch down by our gate.  While I waited for the bill, my sister and the girls headed to the bathroom.  We thought we had plenty of time before our boarding group, but all of a sudden we heard them call our names!!  HAHAHAHA!!  It was pretty funny, because it was five minutes after they started boarding.  I guess everyone was already there and eager to get home so they boarded in a flash.  Why would anyone be so eager to get home??  The flight wasn't as great as my one going down...super cray landing!!  And I sat next to a girl with a bad cold...chances are, later this week, I'll have the same cold!!  UGH!!

But I'm home now and actually took off today to recoup and get my act together!  Because tomorrow it back to reality...BLAH!!

Have a great week!!  Not sure what posts I'll be getting up between now and Friday, but definitely come back Friday to hear all about my summer plans when I link up once again with The Style Me Bloggers!

Linking up today for:
Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs
Manic Monday with On the Daily Express and More Pieces of Me
Monday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle

Weekend Rewind...

Well... really just a Saturday recap!  In my Friday 5 I mentioned all I was doing Friday night was cleaning.  Well, I got everything done but the vacuuming!  So pretty productive in my book!!  Maybe I'll have the energy to vacuum tonight!! Or not...

Saturday morning, I was up bright and early.  My nephew Timothy made his First Holy Communion.  It was a beautiful day for it!   A little chilly for my liking but by the time the party rolled around that afternoon, the sun had warmed everything up.  The Mass was lovely.  The priest busted out his guitar and sang an awesome song to the kids during the homily that was just beautiful.  I wish I could have recorded it.   The church itself was packed.  I will say that after three years, of the "new" (but old) changes to the missal and prayers, I am amazed that people are still saying the wrong thing...and some people don't participate at all!  But anyway!

Some pictures of Tim on his big day!

The party was nice too...what I participated in.  I ended up feeling sick there so I laid down a lot and spent a lot of time in the ladies room!.  That's the thing with parties like that...when you're not feeling good, people think it's a drunk thing! HA! But I really only had two glasses of wine!!

Sunday, I woke up feeling ok...not fabulous but ok!  I lounged on the couch for the good maturity of the day watching cheesy Hallmark movies (my most favorite kind ever!)  and crying at the Hallmark Mother's Day commercials (Have you seen?!  All the Hallmark commercials just KILL me...#solitarylifeprobs).  I ended up laying down around 5 before dinner, and not waking up again until like 9:30!!  Sadly, I slept through the planned Google Hangout with the Style Me Bloggers (and now that I'm writing this, I realized I didn't eat dinner either!)

And speaking of the Style Me Bloggers, the winner of our Nordstrom Gift Card Giveaway is

Darcy Lynn!!

Congratulations Darcy!!

Monday, Monday is here again.  Eeeewwww....
I just can't wait for Summer vacation!!  I need a complete recharge!!

If you missed the coffee blog, I did for Wayfair on Friday, please check it out here!!  And come back on Wednesday for the next group of outfits I put together for the GYPO Spring Challenge.  I can't believe we are in the last week already!!

Have a great week!!!

Linking up today for:
Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs
Manic Monday with On the Daily Express and More Pieces of Me
Monday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle

A family-filled, super fun weekend!

My weekend was so busy and so fun!!

After a snow-filled Friday night-in cooking up another Hello Fresh meal, I cleaned up the house and headed to be early, because Saturday was gonna be a big day!!

This Hello Fresh meal just might be my favorite so far , so I had to include it!  It was called Warm Grain Salad.  Barley, butter beans, shallots,  avocado, and grape tomatoes in a mustard, vinaigrette topped with basil.  So good, so easy..and perfect for a Friday during Lent!  I will definitely be getting these ingredients and making this again!

On Saturday I was fortunate enough to be able to go see Aladdin on Broadway! (Score for me that my cousin broke up with his girlfriend...LOL!!) It was an awesome show! Highly recommend the show when it comes to your city.

It was the 8 o'clock show, so we ate dinner beforehand. The rest of my family, (who I went to the with) were already in the city for the day, so I met them all at the restaurant after my train got in and I cabbed it! (I actually walked 10 minutes looking around for the place!) It was a really nice, laid back restaurant and since we had plenty of time before the show, it was just nice to chat and eat and drink, and chat and eat some more. My aunt Uncle and two cousins live in Pennsylvania, so we don't see them nearly as frequently as we like. So that was great!

The drink menu was really cool.  Specialty cocktails and Mocktails were named after shows:

Drinks like the OZ-mopolitan was named for Wicked 

Stormin' Mormon for the Book of Mormon 

And the Rye 'n King for The Lion King

We were thinking that The Best Friggin' Margarita in the City, might've been just that but now I'm thinking it's named for the best Little Whore House in Texas which was on Broadway in the 70's and 80's.

The mocktails were cute too!

Sippin' like Pippin' and Mary Pompins.

After dinner, we headed out toward the show. Stopping in Times Square to “soak it all in” as my aunt said! 

 Little known fact.... the New Year's Eve Ball that they drop in Times Square is actually up there all year round. When it's time for the celebration each year, they go up and change the lights for the year!

The view of the ball as we were waiting to head into the show

Aladdin was really phenomenal! The guy who played the Genie was absolutely hilarious and stole the show. The magic carpet ride was my favorite part. Very cool. Someone at work today asked me if they changed it from the movie. The story is much the same but the show has some elements updated for today and a new song or two. The Genie had an extra song. It was just really, really cute! I was so happy to go!

After the show, I stayed in the city with my sister and her family, who had been in there since Friday! Then I got up bright and early and headed home to my town's St. Patrick's Day parade.

Three seconds after I walked in the door, the rest of my family showed up at my door, ready to go to the parade. It was chilly out but a bright, beautiful day! It was a lot of fun. And we had a prime spot in front of my favorite place in town. It wasn't too crowded, so the kids were able to stand right out in front and had a great view of the whole parade.

Some fun pics from the day

The bagpipe bands were my fave!

And pretty cool that a beer Company has their on Pipes and Drums Band

There's players on the float and Mom screams for the duck! 

The old time cars, trucks,fire trucks and even an old time ambulance were fun too!

My niece actually got in the parade for a hot second with...this guy

My sister and BIL's niece was in the parade with her twirling group!

Photo Shoot at my house after the parade...

Following the parade, everything was so crowded, so we headed back home. My dad and I stopped in the liquor store to pick up some Bailey's (being the awful hostess I am, I had nothing IRISHY to serve).  We hung out a little. My sister and her family had to head home, as they were going to a birthday party later on in the day. My other sister and I convinced my mom and I to go back out to the bar and listen to the Irish band that was playing. Because it was still only 2:30 and we had the whole afternoon ahead of us.

When we walked in, it was still crowded, way more crowded than the first time (and I thought mom was going to kill us!) but my sister was able to wind her way to the front of the bar and after about 20 minutes of standing, by some miracle, 3 people left! So we hopped in their seats and settled in for an afternoon of fun and music. We love our Irish music!! Mom only had a diet coke but before we left my sister thought it would be funny if mom and I did a shot together! I picked an easy one: Baby Guinness! This is how mom does shots....

Because according to her it's to good not to sip and it's a waste of money!!

#shemayberight

All in all it was a great weekend!!!! I have so much fun with all my fam. I wish though that Monday didn't arrive so quickly, so I could've stayed in bed today! But already, it's here! THANK GOD for COFFEE!!

Have a great week everyone!!

Linking up today for:
Weekending with B Loved Boston and Champagne & Suburbs
Manic Monday with On the Daily Express and More Pieces of Me
Monday Madness with Ashley at A Cute Angle

Winter was way more fun....

Home today for another SNOW DAY!!  Even though the calendar says March 5th, things are not looking up for us at ALL!!  The third snow "event" (thank you weatherman for that one!) has dumped a fresh 6-8 inches around these here parts!!)  Condo living affords me the luxury of sitting on my couch and blogging while the plow and pay load drivers and shovelers do the work for me. They all must be making a KILLING this Winter. I for one am so over this.  I was not made for this!  Sure I do my best to bundle up in my scarves, hats and gloves, and still look cute, but I was not made for this weather.  I was made for MEXICO.

The custodian at my school is our unofficial weatherman. He always jokes with me about the weather and I tell him I'm moving to Mexico.  The other day he told me he's had enough of this weather too and was coming with me to Mexico...and would pay for the whole trip!!  Now he asks me everyday, when I'm asking him for his credit card number!  TOMORROW will be that day!!  HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA


Now I know this might sound like a contradiction, but I don't ever remember being OVERLY EXCITED about the snow, but I do know one thing is for sure...it was WAY MORE FUN when I was a kid!!

When I was a kid, my Poppy, my Dad's dad,  had a home in East Durham, NY where it snowed ALL the time!!  We spent Winter Recess (and my birthday) up there for so many years and there was always so much snow. I absolutely didn't mind the snow here!! HA!  Behind the house was nothing but woods and I remember us snowmobiling and sledding down this huge hill...for hours!! We'd have massive snow ball fights!  Sometimes, even though it wasn't the safest thing in the world, my dad and uncle would hitch the sleds up to the back of the snowmobiles and we'd  go spinning around around that way too!  It was such a thrill as a little kid going down that hill and such a blast!!
Once though, and only once, it wasn't fun, when my sled veered off course and into branches that cut my face up and landed way to close to my eye!!  LOL.

After fun days in the snow, all the kids would come in, drink hot cocoa (while the adults had something stronger!) and play...and argue, I'm sure!!

This is very random, but I have a memory of all of us sitting around my Poppy's very small TV and watching Days of Our Lives and my Uncle Ed all of a sudden busting out "Like Sands through the hour glass...so are the Days of Our Lives"...that got us all laughing!  Was Uncle Ed a closet Days watcher?!?!

Now that I'm recalling all this, it kinda of makes me wish we still had that place in East Durham so that my nieces and nephews could enjoy it!  I'm also wishing that shutterfly was around in those days so I had pics to share!

Back to reality...I'm home again...cozy in my house as the snow falls, NOT having to use the sick day that was planned, today.  Seriously...every sickness known to man, I have had this winter!!!  Ugh!!  I'll do some blogging, some reading, realxing, and clean out my DVR.  Has anyone watched Secrets and Lies?  I have the first two eps on my DVR!  And looking forward to tomorrow...FRIDAY!!  Silver Linings people!!  Silver Linings!!

Linking up with X-tremelyV and Penny's Passionfor Thinking Out Loud Thursday!

Come back tomorrow when I link up with the Style Me girls...showing off my crafty side!

Weekend Recap: Mom's 65th Birthday Bash Edition!!

Wanted to get this post up earlier but didn't have a chance to write it!  I was so tired yesterday!  On Friday I mentioned my mom's birthday was Sunday!  What I didn't mention was that since she was 65, my dad, sisters, and I threw her a surprise party!  It was on Saturday night.  My mom will never fully admit that she wasn't surprised, but she really wasn't.  And it was probably the lamest of birthday "surprise shouts" of all time, because, no one really did that til it was too late, but regardless it all turned out great and everyone had a blast!!  Here's a few pics....

Mom thanking everyone for coming!!

My Family 

The Original 6

My bestie Mel is like my dad's fifth daughter!!  We've been friends since we were three and each of my sisters baby-sat her at one time!!!  

Following the party mostly everyone came back for cake and drinks at my mom and dad's place.  Mom's cake was a Bailey's cake...soooo yummy!!

Dad toasting mom!

After celebrating Mom with an "adults only party" out on Saturday, a Sunday brunch with the grandkids was in order.  Everyone gathered at my sisters for brunch and birthday gifts.  My mom is Nana to all these littles.

   My oldest nephew Billy was the Master of the Waffle Maker!!

Another toast to Mom on her real birthday!

I'd say all-and-all mom had a great birthday weekend!  65 looks great on her!!

Mom had to get her sister, my Aunt Laurie, to the airport by noon so the day wrapped up pretty early, which was ok with everyone.  We were so tired.  I actually came home and took a nap...something I never do!  And even after the nap, I was still asleep pretty early.  Right after Downtown!

Now it's already Monday night and I'm settled in for a snow day tomorrow!  Up to three feet of snow (yes, you read that right!) is expected!!  EKKKK!!!!  #ThankYouJUNO  I love me a Snow Day, but I really wasn't made for this weather...I'm made for MEXICO!!!  I'm ready though....

Who said bread and milk are the staples during a blizzard???  Wine and coffee are all I need!!

And I have books and movies to keep me company!  And I MUST take my tree down!!  LOL!!

Maybe there will even be a blog post tomorrow!!

Until then, stay warm and have a great night!

Linking up today with Ashley at A Cute Angle for Monday Madness and Biana at B Loved Boston for Weekending!