Wonderful Weekends

It's Monday again, blogging friends... let's make the most of it with a recap of this past weekend, it was a good one!
On Friday Preston picked up Brinley because she was staying with us for the weekend. After work, I stopped by the grocery store to pick up a couple of things I needed to go with dinner for that evening. I tried a new recipe, cornflake chicken casserole, it was a hit and we will definitely make it again, you can get the recipe here. We enjoyed dinner and watching a movie at home.
Saturday morning we were up early and on the road, we first went to Johnson City to Best Buy to get my phone looked at, they are sending a new one, woohoo! After a quick trip to J. City, we (Chloe included) went to Abingdon for a day on the lake with Preston's Nana and PawPaw. It was a great day, we had lunch on the lake, with perfect weather. We enjoyed fishing, even though we only caught 2 the whole time. After the lake we went to the campground that Nana and Pawpaw have their camper at. Preston and I got in a mile walk before a hotdog dinner and we ended the night with S'mores...yum! We then got back on the road and made it home that night.
Here are some pictures from Saturday:

Sunday included church in the morning and then we went to Kentucky to take Brinley home. Preston and I got back home and decided to do some cleaning, so now we have a freshly cleaned house with all of the laundry caught up, which feels great!
Well, that brings us to this morning.... have a happy Monday and a great week, friends!!

Confessions of Brooke

For some reason, lately I've been noticing some things about myself, things at work, at home, and in between. For what it's worth, here's some truth about me, Brooke.
1. On a daily basis, I use about 20 post it notes at work, seriously, they're everywhere, on my desk, in my planner, in different folders. They are organized, they keep me organized, and their little pop of color (pink, orange, & green) is nice to see.
2. My husband makes our bed almost every morning [Thanks, Preston!]
3. Sweet tea is my coffee, it really helps get me going in the mornings!
4. Sometimes I am very impatient.
5. I need to re paint my fingernails really bad.
6. I hate talking about money, it puts me in a bad mood, I'm trying to work on that.
7. My car needs to be cleaned it, it's usually clean, but it's definitely not right now.
8. I'm happy to be out of school and starting to work on my LCSW licensure next month kind of intimidates me!
9. I'm clueless about all the "Fall shows" everyone has been talking about...
10. I went to Zumba this week for the first time in awhile and I about died.
11. I need to drink more water on a daily basis.
12. I seriously do not want to give up my flip flops... I'm not ready for closed toe shoes.
13. I've started my Christmas shopping, but still have a ways to go.
14. I sleep in until the very last possible minute for me to get up and get ready on time...sleep is precious to me!!
15. Speaking of sleep, I press snooze about 4 times each morning.
16. I've only done 1 of my 2 nice things for strangers so far this week.
17. I haven't done well with meal planning lately, I always do it last minute.
18. Hearing people chew their food/ice/gum gets on my nerves SO badly.
19. I am very indecisive about my hair, I got it cut not to long ago and now I want to grow it out, any tips/suggestions would be great!!
20. I have a tote box FULL of Bath and Body Works products so that I have my own little stock in my closet, and I like it that way.

And there you have it, 20 random confessions/facts about me... see you next time!

Five on Friday

Good morning, and happy FRIDAY to everyone.... I don't know about you all, but it's been a crazy week for me (hence the lack of blog posts)and I am happy to see the weekend. So here I am for Five on Friday!

[ONE] This morning I am SO thankful for casual Fridays at work.... the jeans and hoodie I have on made it just a little bit easier to come to work today, at least I'll be comfortable all day :)

[TWO] I'm excited about this weekend, it starts tonight and we are going to watch my brother's football game (yes, I just watched him last week, but there is nothing wrong with that!). Then my sister and brother are coming back to our house to spend the weekend.... Brinley and I plan to go to zumba and a baby shower, Brice will hang out with Preston...who knows what else the weekend holds.

[THREE] I wish my friends lived closer, some of my closests friends are all spread out in different directions (NC, IN, WV) and it makes it hard to see each other, which really stinks when you just need some friend time. Anybody know what I mean? However, it does make me more grateful for times that are spent with those friends.

[FOUR] I am really liking the devotion book and the discussion I've had about it with friends... if you are interested in a Proverbs 31 devo book, "Beautiful In God's Eyes" is wonderful!

[FIVE] I am setting the goal for myself to be extra kind to at least 2 strangers in the upcoming week, you girls keep me in check if you haven't heard about it next week!

That's all from me today.... have a fantastic weekend!

Wonderful Weekends: Homecoming 2013

Hey everyone! I don't know about you all, but we had a great weekend which consisted of me going Kentucky for some football and the homecoming dance.  I left straight from work on Friday, Preston wasn't able to make this trip.
I got to Pikeville just in time for tailgating with family and friends before the game starting. My brother Bradley had an awesome game having 3 touchdowns and 2 extra points, I was a proud sister! The night was complete with a win of 34-21, it was a good game!

Saturday started early with getting my sister, Brinley, ready for her homecoming dance.  Her twin brother, Brice, was also going to the dance, but as we know, it takes a lot more to get girls ready... while Brinley was at her nail appointment, hair appointment, and make up appointment, Brice was in the bed!  Brinley and I have always been close so it was great being able to be there to help her get ready for the dance.  Seeing them dressed up showed just how much they've grown, they're definitely not babies anymore!  They both looked great for the dance, they said they had a great time! Just so that you can see a "then and now" here is a picture of Brinley and Brice from when they were babies:

And here are pictures from before the dance:

Brinley and Brice

yes, her eyes are really that blue!

so handsome :)

Brice and his date, Caysie

Brinley and her date, Brandon

she kept switching shoes!

Trying Something New.....Curves

Hey girls, hope everyone is off to a good start of the week.

I don't know about you all, but I knew it was time that I had to add something into my normal routine, something for exercise and to get me feeling better about my self image (I'm not negative about my body, but I know that I need change). A few years ago, I was going to Zumba classes like it was going out of style and I loved it, I loved the music, the dancing, the workout, and the fun I had with my friends during the class. Sadly, where I live now, there are only a couple of Zumba classes and they aren't classes that work well with my schedule. A friend and I knew that our town had Curves, so we decided to give it a try.

The location and hours are perfect for me and I can stop at Curves on my way home from work, with it being a 30 minute workout, I know there is no excuse for not going. I am hoping that I will be successful with Curves. One thing I already love about it is that 2 days a week, there is Curves with Zumba! I tried it once last week and it was great.... here is to hoping that this is something that works for me. It is definitely helpful that I have a friend going, too. Have you tried curves? Or, do you have any tips/suggestions for exercise/eating right?

Wonderful Weekends

This past weekend was a good and relaxing weekend, we have not been home on the weekends in about the last 5 or 6 weeks, so it was nice to not be on the road. We didn't do a whole lote, but some of what we did this weekend included a high school football game with friends Friday night, Spritfest Saturday morning where we listened to one of our friends sing, some cleaning and grocery shopping Saturday evening, and then church and a good absolutely wonderful Sunday afternoon nap! This was our first Sunday at our new church that Preston is youth ministering at, everyone was so welcoming so that was nice. Anyways, here are a few pictures from this past weekend. What did you do this weekend?

 

I love our roses outside of our house

Speaking of roses, I walked in to my office on Friday to surprise "just because" roses from the hubby :)

Finally put my new Vera Bradley skin on my laptop, love it!

Five on Friday

[ONE] I don't know about you all, but I'm ready for fall... I know I've said it before about the weather, but I'm ready for the cool days, football, jackets, boots, crunchy leaves, colorful leaves, caramel apple spice, pumpkin rolls, Thanksgiving, warm colors kind of days. I love Summer, but I'm ready for change.

[TWO] Speaking of football, we are going to our local high school's home game tonight... we are really looking forward to it, especially since it will be time spent with friends. I am pretty sure I will miss not having a brother in the game though, but I'm also looking forward to next Friday because I'll be watching my brother's game then.

[THREE] I love Candleberry brand candles. Haven't heard of them? Check it out here.  Their candles smell sooo good and they burn really well, too.  Some of my favorites are hot maple toddy, fall festival, cinnamon broom stick, raspberry lemonade, and pink sugar.  There are tons of different scents! They have candles, room sprays, tarts, and car scents.

[FOUR] Our friend Bruce is in the Navy and him and his wife have been living in Hawaii... he was released and they are coming home for a short week before leaving to go to Japan. We plan to see them this month and it will be so nice, it has been a long time since we saw them last! Please pray for their travels and move!

[FIVE] I am thankful for having a job that I love, I enjoy working with kiddos in my office, at their home, and in school... the fact that I could make the slightest difference gives me motivation to keep going, even when it's hard!

Wonderful Weekends: Labor Day 2013

This past weekend really was wonderful, not only was it a long weekend thanks to Labor day, Preston and I went on a road trip to Indiana.... why Indiana? To see one of my best friends, and you may read her blog, we spent the weekend with Emily and her sweet family!
Let me give you a little back ground on our friendship, I think it is one of the coolest friendship stories!  In 2008, I went on a cruise for my high school graduation present from my parents.  I went with my mom and my aunt.  Carnival happened to seat us at the same dinner table as Emily, her mom, and her grandma.  We started hanging out on the ship, other than at dinner.  We had such a fun time.  After the cruise was over, we continued to stay in touch through facebook/email (I lived in KY, Emily was in FL).  We've managed to develop a wonderful friendship, Emily & her hubby came to our wedding, I went to her baby shower, we went to the vera bradley outlet sale together...even though we don't see each other often, we talk just about every day and I value our friendship.... so now you know why this past weekend was extra special! Anyways, on with the weekend!

 Here's a break down of our truly wonderful weekend:
Friday I left work at 11:30, ran home to get Preston and Chloe girl and load up the car and then we were Indiana bound.  We were on the road the rest of the day, it was a 9 hour drive.  We did good, only stopped twice, but hit construction about an hour from there house where we only moved 3 miles in 30 minutes, after driving all day and being so close to our destination, this was NOT fun.... but, thankfully it wasn't longer than it was.

We were happy to see this sign!

 We made it to Emily's and since it was late, we just went to bed.
Saturday Our plan was to go to lunch at Cerulean's and then head to the Blueberry Festival which is the largest festival in the mid-west.  We had lunch at Cerulean's and I'm so glad Emily suggested that we try it because it was SO good, Preston and I both loved it... especially Asian noodles! After lunch we went to the festival, we thought it had stopped raining, but sure enough, the rain came and we were drenched (not Emily and Miss Lilly, thank goodness).  We went back to the car and opted for plan B: outlet shopping!  I was completely fine with this plan as I love shopping.... but even more so at outlets.  This was great because we don't have an outlet mall.  We all found some great buys, since it was Labor day weekend, there were tons of sales, I think every store I went in was 50% off everything. After shopping a while, we headed back to the house (2 hrs away).  We stopped on the way for dinner at Culver's, another place I'd never been.  It was good! We ended Saturday shortly after getting back to the Donaldson's.
Sunday We got up and all got ready for church, went to church and then had lunch at a Mexican place.  After lunch we changed clothes and decided to try the blueberry festival again.  We stayed a little while, but this time it was so hot and we didn't want Miss Lilly to get over heated, so we left.... I think we were all burning up! We stopped at the grocery store on the way home and got ingredients for different dips for dinner.  Once back at the house, we had dinner and watched some Duck Dynasty before bed.
Monday we needed to get going pretty early so that we could make the trip back to VA.

View of IN wind mills on the drive home

We did pretty decent time wise and had a good trip, we stopped in KY at my grandparents house for a quick visit and then went to my parents house for a visit there, too.  We made it back to our home safely and without any problems or construction, I call that a good day!

Our Labor day weekend spent in Indiana really was such a fun time and I am so glad we were able to make the trip North.  It is always a blessing to spend time with Emily and Stephen, this time was even sweeter because I finally got to meet baby Lilly who is a complete doll that I just love!  Emily is one of my greatest friends and I am thankful for our friendship, we don't get to see each other often, so I am thankful that we spent a long weekend together, it truly was a wonderful weekend!