Let's catch up, shall we?

Hi friends, I sure hope you are all doing well.  I've been great, just busy as always.  We've had insane storms around here lately, so my house seems to be in a constant state of quiet, dark, glowy goodness.  And I'm not complaining......I like it this way :)

But back to where I've been the past few days, well It's quite funny actually, I used to think that life was moving so slow at times, and some days would drag on.  I've often also said that as my children have grown older and become more self sufficient, my days will no doubt slow down, but to be completely honest, it feels like the opposite.  I'm busier than ever.

Summer is over, school has started again for us.  I now have just one child in school and it feels bitter sweet.  My little boy started High School, can you imagine?  Little Nicholas is now in 9th Grade, and my little Jasmine is graduated and looking for a job.  Life is crazy.

I thought I would come in and do a little catch up, show you what I've been up to, my birthday gifts and a quick peek at a great organizing book I'll be sharing with you on Thursday.

Last week Thursday was my birthday, but because it fell between paychecks, we didn't do anything, we waited until the weekend to celebrate, also because Saturday was my 19th wedding Anniversary too.

I got some pretty cool gifts and I'm gonna jump right in and show you.

One of the things I got was this free Sephora makeup bag, filled with little goodies.

My husband bought me these lashes.  As the years have gone by, my own lashes have gotten weaker, fallen out and are just not as good as they used to be.  I've been trying to give them a break from mascara, so once in a while I will pop on some fake lashes.

However, I am not a fan of the huge bulky lashes, I like them to look pretty but natural, so I love the plume lashes from Sephora.

I am a member of the Sephora Club, or the Beauty Insider.  Every year on your birthday month, you can pick something for free.  It's usually either a little make up set or skin care.   Since I'm 43 years old, and have enough makeup I figured that I would rather have the skin cream, so this set from Caudalie is what I chose.

Inside it is a Moisturizing Sorbet and a Radiance Serum.

Then I had 210 points to spend, so I got the two products above.  The first is from Tarte and it's the Rainforest of the Sea Deep Dive Cleansing Gel and the Make Up For Ever Artist Liquid Matte lipstick.

Now the next few things were all inside the make up bag.  I thought it was just the bag, but the girl quickly opened it up to show me that there were a few samples in there.  I was so excited!!!

So Rose Face Mask which smells phenomenal.  Boscia Charcoal Makeup Melter and the Kat Von D Setting Powder.

A Sephora Cream Lip Stain in red, and though I don't usually wear red lipstick, I will definitely give this one a try.  Stila Stay all Day Waterproof Liquid Eye Liner.

And last but not least, the Bumble and Bumble Repair Blow Dry and the Make Up For Ever Skin Booster.

I honestly can't wait to play with all of that.

Clothes wise, I really need new clothes, mainly just needed a new pair of jeans and a lot of tops.  As I've gotten older my taste has shifted and I'm finding that I'm not really liking the tank tops and tight fitting clothes look, I'm more into looser fitting but still cute, longish tops.

Lucky for me, my local Bealls was having a HUGE summer sale.  Tons and tons of racks with clothes for $4.99.  My amazing husband told me to just go on in and get whatever I wanted.  He had already bought me a pair of jeans at JC Penney, and I'll tell you I don't like buying expensive jeans, I just can't, I'm not one to spend tons of money on clothes.  But yeah he got me some really nice jeans, they fit so well and they feel amazing.

Anyway, Jasmine and I grabbed my sister in law and we all headed up to Bealls to see what they had.  I ended up getting 4 tops for Jasmine, and 7 for me.

All marked down, the cheapest was $40 and the most expensive was $80.  I mean, oh my word.

But yeah, got some really pretty tops and saved a ton of money.  I paid $50 for it all, that's for the 7 tops for me and the 4 for Jasmine.  We actually saved over $450.  Can't get any better than that right?

I got one last thing that my husband actually made for me.  He wanted me to have something on my birth day, and he had come up with an idea and kinda just ran with it.  He was so worried that I wouldn't like it, but I loved it, to the point where I started crying when he gave it to me.

For some it may not seem like anything special but it means so much to me, and I think it's by far the sweetest gift I have ever received.

As you can see, it is filled with pennies, that he had been collecting and polishing.  He made sure he had one from 1974 when I was born and all the way to 2017.  How sweet is that?

He's still working on it, and cleaning it all up and such, but I grabbed it to take a photo for the blog.  He asked me to wait until it was finished but I couldn't.  Sorry honey.

I'll definitely be treasuring this gift for many years.

Aside, from birthday, we had our Anniversary, and went out to lunch together at our favorite Mexican place.  It was so good, we ended up going back last night and taking the kids too.  Had a wonderful family dinner, lots of laughs and jokes and just enjoyed spending time together.

I'm now working on two book reviews for tomorrow, and then Thursday I have another book that I want to share with you and it's all about Organizing.  I've actually had this one for quite a while but I've had so many other reviews to get through first, and I'm now finally getting to it.  I think it's a book you all will enjoy too.



Well friends, there you have it, summer is over, we're back to a normal school routine, and I'll tell you all about the classes Nick is taking this year in another post.

We have a family reunion coming up over Labor Day weekend, so we'll be at the Lake for that.  Looking forward to seeing everyone, eating good food, getting some fresh air and just relaxing a bit.

I'm off to start dinner, it will be a yummy chicken curry tonight.

I hope you all have a fantastic rest of Tuesday and that your week is going well so far.  See you all tomorrow.  :)

{ Handmade is best }

Over my almost 11 years of blogging, I have met some amazing women.  We have forged a friendship, merely through words on a computer screen, a common goal, a thread that is woven through decades and decades of women who make a home.

The friendships that I have made through this little blog, have come to be some of the most pivotal and encouraging in my life, even above some people I know personally.  There are no conditions, there are no judgements, no rude comments or "maybe you shouldn't do it that way".

There's understanding, there are genuine words of love and comfort, and giving without asking for anything in return.

As I continue on this journey through blogdom, I am daily reminded that there are like minded souls out there, who understand me, who know what I'm going through or what I've been through, who just want to reach out and do something which to them may be so simple, but to me, means the absolute world.

I received a package this morning, a plain white envelope with my address on it.  It was filled to the brim with sweet little goodies, from a very sweet lady who has been reading my blog for quite a while.  Rhonda from Dirt Road Primitives.  :)

Rhonda has emailed me a few times, offering words of comfort through especially difficult moments, she's shared her life with he, we've exchanged friendly words and I guess somehow through this, I've touched her heart so that she saw fit to send me a few things that she and another friend made.  All because she knows how much I love handmade, and primitive and all things of that sort.

The first thing that struck me as I pulled the contents out, one by one, was the amazing scent.  I can only describe it as ME!!!  My husband took one whiff and said, plainly and simply "that smells like the country stores you like to hang out in".  HA!!!

And the next thing that struck me was just how well she knew what I would love.  I could have easily hand picked every.single.one of these items.

You all know how much I enjoy handmade and homemade.  I find that it's one of the best things we can do for ourselves and for those we love, to actually make something with our own hands, something that we can proudly display in our homes.

It is also no secret that I've had a huge love affair with Primitive and Country decorating.  I haven't quite been able to achieve that completely in this house.  Then again, I haven't had the time the past 2 years to really get down to the nitty gritty of making it my own.

Not until this past month, where I rolled up my sleeves and got to it.

These beautiful items that Rhonda made and graciously sent to me, are going to be proudly displayed in my home, and I know that every time I walk past one, I'll be able to think of her and how incredibly kind and sweet she is.

Rhonda made this table mat with her own hands, every stitch, lovingly sewn through the beautiful fabric.

And again I was struck by how truly ME these colors were, and how perfectly it goes on my dining table.

It brings happiness to my dining room and I'm sure I'll be smiling whenever I walk by.

These tarts were made by a friend of hers, and they smell phenomenal, matter of fact the above one "The Keeping Room" is already on my warmer in the living room and oh my.....I couldn't even begin to describe the scent other than heavenly.

Thank you Rhonda, so very much for these sweet gifts, they mean the world to me and I will treasure them for a very long time.

Also, like I said above Rhonda makes and sells amazing items for your farmhouse primitive decorating, so you can see what she has to offer at her page at Earlywork - Dirt Road Primitives, and also on her Etsy Shop.

She did NOT ask me to mention either of those, nor did she send me any of these with the intention of me reviewing or promoting her work, but I felt that it needed mentioning because she does incredible work and is truly one of the sweetest souls you will ever encounter :)

I'm off to go place these around my home, can not wait!!!