Thankful Thursday's!

It's Thursday!!!! So here is your weekly addition of Thankful Thursday's! Remember there is always something to be thankful for! 

1. I am thankful that I have been blessed with so much! I know that my husband and I are beyond blessed with all that we have in the world. In general, I know that we live so much better and can afford so many things that many people in the world cannot. I was reminded of that today, being able to go out shopping for new furniture. So many people are not as lucky.

2. I am thankful for great doctor's! I got a phone call today from one of my doctor's who was reviewing some of my most recent blood work (which was just from Tuesday!) She saw something irregular, and wants to run another test. I love how thorough she is, and how quick she was to contact me. I am really going to miss this particular doctor when I move in just over a month. 

What are you thankful for this week? 

Hugs, 

Caroline 

Weekend Recap: Memorial Day!

Happy Tuesday! I hope each and everyone of you had an enjoyable Memorial Day Weekend! Did you do anything fun? I know it is the unofficial kickoff to Summer, but I hope sometime during the three day weekend, you took a moment to remember why we have the three day weekend, to remember all the brave men and women who paid the ultimate price for the love of their country and fellow citizens. 

 My brother and sister-in-law, Anne, came down for the long weekend, and Saturday we headed out to a furniture restoration center in Mananas. My parents are giving my brother and I both a trunk from my  Dad's dad(who I only met when I was a baby). They need some work, but I am looking forward to using it when it all restored! I see blanket storage in it's future!

 
I am also getting a small folding rocking chair refurnished too! It belonged to my great-great grandparents on my mom's side. The fabric above is the fabric that I picked out, and I can't wait till it is done.  I am seriously in the decorating mood since I am getting ready to move back to New York and into a new place. I can't wait to decorate and get all settled in! 

While I was picking out the fabric for the rocking chair, I found some other cute fabric that I want to make into pillows for our new couch. Yes, I think I have decided on a gray sectional for our new living room. Won't this fabric look good with the gray? Like I mentioned I am in major decorating mode, and have been spending way too much time looking at curtains! 

Saturday night, we had a family birthday dinner at Rustico in  Alexandria.  They have really yummy wood-oven pizzas and a large selection of beers, for all you beer lovers. Plus they do happy hour on Saturday's, so that is always nice. Shaun and I actually celebrated his 30th birthday there a few years ago! 

Sunday we had a cook-out with family and enjoyed the beautiful weather! My sister-in-law Anne is from Germany and had never had dirt cake before, so I thought it would a fun and yummy dessert to make.  And, you can't have dirt cake without some "worms"! I will be sharing the recipe for this yummy and easy dessert later this week.

I also contributed this awesome and delicious veggie plate for the BBQ! It was in honor of Shaun, and his love for veggie plates at events! ;) I will have to share that story in another blog post, but even though my hubby may be far away, I am still thinking of him.

It was seriously a BEAUTIFUL day to be outside, and just enjoying time with family! I know I will miss being so close to so much of my family when I move back to New York, but I am so looking forward to having the hubs home, and being with our Army family!

 

Another American ritual Anne had yet to experience was roasting marshmallows and making s'mores.  Our lovely neighbors invited us over to enjoy their fire pit, hang out, and of course roast marshmallows!  The picture above is Anne enjoying her first S'more! She loved it!

Fire, wine (in a plastic cup--made me think back to my good ole college days!), friends, and family! A perfect evening! 

Hope everyone else had a safe holiday weekend, and were able to spend time with the ones you love, and remembered the friends and families who have lost loved ones.

Hugs, 

Caroline

 

Thankful Thursday's!

It's Thursday, and you know there is always something to be thankful for!

1. I am thankful for skype chats with my husband! The past week and half we had not been able to skype. I had started to take for granted our almost daily skype chats. so it was strange not being able to see his face for more than a week. I am glad that he is back safe and sound, and that we can skype again! 

2. I am thankful for good friends from college, and the ability to meet up for dinner. Caitlin and I met the summer before my junior year of college at Christopher Newport University. She is loads of fun, a fellow Mexican food lover, and an Eagles fan, so you know the hubby is also a fan! We are meeting up tonight at our FAVORITE Mexican restaurant from college, Plaza Azteca, that has migrated a little north and has a location in Sterling. Can't wait to catch up! Oh, and for some yummy chips and salsa! :)

What are you thankful for? 

Hugs, 

Caroline 

Green Thumb!

Today we said goodbye to my Omi's 1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass. Omi had decided that she no longer needed to be driving, so we made a trip down to Carmax to sell them her car. While my aunt, mom, and Omi took care of business, I walked around the Carmax lot to do a little recon mission. Since I sold Shaun's beloved Black Stallion back in January, we will be buying a car sometime in the near future, so it is always good to see what is out there. There are so many different kinds of cars out there, who knows what we will end up with! Choices, choices, choices...

 Speaking of choices, who is impressed with the flowers I picked out? Later that afternoon, my mom and I ventured to the nursery, and bought some flowers. For those of you who know me, I do not have a green thumb at all, but I felt inspired by these beautiful flowers and I am going to try my hardest not to kill them.

I even got them all placed in my little garden bed, and will plant them tomorrow. I really hope they live, and I am really excited about this new venture. I might even plant some flowers up in Watertown. Baby steps with this new gardening venture, but there is something really nice about having a little garden. Maybe I will discover I do have a green thumb! :) 

While I was finishing up my placement of the flowers (okay, with a little help from my mom) I heard this little jingle from down the street. I looked up and low and behold the ice cream man is slowly coming down the street. The ice cream man just screams summer time, and I love that he still comes around! I can't wait to buy some ice cream from him the next time he drives down my street! 

I hope everyone is starting to enjoy the warm weather! What have you been doing to enjoy the nice weather? 

Hugs, 

Caroline 

 

Weekend Recap: Birthdays, BBQ's, and Housewarmings...Oh my!

Hello and Happy Monday! Where did this past week go? It literally flew by, but when you are waiting for your husband to come home from deployment it is not a bad thing for the weeks to fly by! :) 

I was a very bad blogger last week and only wrote one post! I didn't even do my usual Thankful Thursday's even though last Thursday was a special day, it was my Birthday! So I am going to include Thursday with my weekend recap, because you know Thursday can be part of the weekend, right? 

I had a great actual birthday day! I skipped the gym that morning, and slept in! I had a pedicure at my favorite place, lunch with one of my oldest friends, Kira, (who is actually younger than me) who was in town for a quick visit with her family, and then dinner with my parents at ThaiBox, a really yummy Thai/Cajun restaurant jn Lorton right near Ft. Belvoir. I know some of you may be thinking Thai/Cajun food but it is really GOOD! Very authentic Thai food, and the sweetest family that runs and owns the place. I can only vouch for their Thai food as being AMAZING, but some visit I will have to try out some of their Cajun dishes.

Even though my sweetie was far away, and we were unable to talk on my actual birthday, he still knows how to surprise me and make me feel special. He sent me my favorite flowers, Tulips, and a gourmet basket filled with yummy treats and goodies! There was even a birthday balloon on the flowers! :) He is a keeper!

Friday was a pretty quiet day, but I did end up seeing the movie The Grand Budapest Hotel.
It was a good movie, a little quirky, but funny. You should check it out! 

Saturday, I headed over to my good friend's Jenifer's housewarming party for her new roommate. She moved to the Northern VA/DC area from Southern California this past January.  We had to reassure her that this past Winter here in DC was more of an anomaly, and that it will get warm here eventually! It was fun to meet her, and some of her friends, as well as catch up with some old friends. As per my usual lately, I didn't take any pictures but it was a fun evening with lots of yummy homemade Mexican food! 

Sunday, I hosted a Birthday BBQ to celebrate my birthday! It was a causal afternoon out on the deck, eating yummy food, and hanging out with great friends! I had a great time, and thank you to everyone who was able to make it! You all know how to make a girl feel special!  I also failed with picture taking at the BBQ but I did manage to take one picture of the birthday cupcakes! A girl has priorities! :) 

I hope everyone else had a great weekend, and just think next week is Memorial Day weekend! 

Hugs,

Caroline 


 

Weekend Recap!

Hello all my lovely readers! Yes, I know it's Tuesday, and I am now just posting about my weekend! I needed a whole day to recover yesterday! Okay, not really, I was just a little busy and didn't get around to posting.  Last weekend's recap I know was very photo heavy, and this weekend's not so much. I did have a very busy weekend, but just didn't take to many pictures. Some of you may love that, and some of you can just be creative and imagine what it all looked like! 

Friday evening my graduate school, American Public University, had an alumni dinner in Arlington. I had RSVP'd back in early April, and wasn't really feeling like going since I didn't know anyone who would be there, but I went since I had RSVP'd. It actually turned out to be a fun evening, and I met a lot of interesting people from all over the DC Metro area. The table I sat at was full of fun young people, and we have ended up being that table, but hey, we had fun!  I even ended up sitting next to a man who had been stationed at Ft. Eustis and had overlapped some of the time Shaun and I were there. He used to run the Noland Trail which is the trail that is maintained by The Mariners' Museum, where I used to work. I even was in charge of the 10k on The Noland Trail one year.  He was also a big fan of Cheddar's and says whenever he is down in the Hampton Roads area, he stops by and eats there. When he mentioned that I knew he was a good person! Or at least had good taste! :)  Oh Cheddar's, you are a great restaurant! 

I even won a raffle prize, The Anywhere Leader! The book's author, Mike Thompson, was also the guest speaker that evening, and he was really great. A very engaging speaker, who really made you think about the qualities of a leader, and how we can all be leaders in the workplace. I can't wait to start reading his book.

Saturday, I had a very important Daughter's of the American Revolution(DAR) meeting. This meeting was held at Woodlawn Plantation, and was also the meeting where all the members voted whether or not they approved me for membership into the chapter. Luckily they did! Now all my paperwork has to be approved and I will be an official Daughter of the American Revolution member! 

For those of you that might be unfamiliar with the organization, you have to trace your lineage back to a patriot who fought in the American Revolution and be a female who is at least 18 years old. That's it! :)  Groups today are non-profit, non-political volunteer women's service organization dedicated to promoting patriotism, preserving American history, and securing America's future through better education for children. One of the patriotic services the chapter I now belong to participates in, is meeting the WWII , Korean and Vietnam Honor flights that fly into Reagan National Airport. 

Saturday night, we started to celebrate my amazing mother a little early! We went out to dinner at Silverado's. Sunday the celebration continued as we went to church with my mom, and it was Youth Sunday. The youth of the church do all the planning and leading of the service, including the music, and they even decorated the front of the bulletin. Didn't they do a great job? 

Sunday afternoon my mom's whole side of the family came over for lunch and we had a nice time spoiling my mom, grandma and aunt (all the mother's of the group!) It was fun, and I am so beyond blessed with the amazing mom I have! She has been there for me through so much, and continues to be my biggest fan! I love her! 

Hope everyone had a nice weekend! 

Hugs, 

Caroline

Thankful Thursday's!

It feels like Summer outside!!!! It is flip-flop weather, and I love it! That is something I am very thankful for! Well it's Thursday, and you know how I roll, there is always something to be thankful for! 

1. I am thankful for hard (but good) choices and decisions. Shaun told me today when his leave dates are for when he returns. I am getting a little overwhelmed by all the choices, and what all to do, but I am thankful that we are able to have time to visit with friends and family, and go on an adventure just the two of us as well. I can't wait! :)

2. Here is an awesome story that will warm your heart about a group of teenagers in Virginia. I know teens sometimes get a bad rap, but the majority I meet are usually pretty awesome kids, just like this group. I am thankful that there are amazing kids out there who will support a friend! Check out the link to read the story. You will be happy and thankful you did! :)

Friends Support Friend With Cancer on Prom Night

What are you thankful for today?

Hugs,

Caroline