Sunday, October 26, 2014

Remembering Memaw

I'm sorry friends and family, I know it's been a long time since I've blogged!  But life has been pretty crazy.

For those who don't know, my Memaw passed away two weeks ago, so we had all been spending a lot more time with family and with Papa after that.  My grandma was the youngest of 13--you may remember my posts about going to the family reunion over the years--so we had a lot of family coming from out of town, so it was nice to see them, as well.

I haven't blogged since then, because I knew I wanted my first post back to be about Memaw, and I just hadn't 1) uploaded these pictures, or 2) felt like actually writing this quite yet.

As we were all helping in little ways with making plans for the visitation and funeral, we had several ways we were going to remember Memaw throughout this difficult time.  My aunts went through Memaw's jewelry--she had A LOT--and picked out a watch (she was definitely known for her watches!) and pin for all of the girls in the family to wear for the each of the services.  It was so neat how Memaw had so much jewelry and how each of us had something that fit us so perfectly!!  Also, while we had been cleaning up the house, in preparation for out of town family coming in, Matt found a little Avon box with "for Mallory" written on it in Memaw's handwriting.  Inside was a butterfly necklace (pictured below), which I wore, as well.  I also wore just a red beaded necklace, that had been given to me by Memaw at some point as a birthday gift, and it may or may not have gone well with my outfit the day of the funeral, but I wore it anyway.  You'll see below that it matches the color in the watch I wore, so that's another reason for wearing it ;)

I'm terrible at taking selfies with my camera, haha, but here are the two necklaces:

  
I know, it bugs me that the butterfly necklace isn't centered in that picture.
I don't know WHY I didn't bother to straighten it!!!

You KNOW the Christmas watch would be picked for me!!!


I love this flower pin!


Here's Abby, Alison, Gabrielle and me, sporting our watches and jewelry from Memaw (Abby's teal necklace is also from Memaw's jewelry box).
and Alison sporting her very stylish black and gold beaded vest from Memaw, that only she could pull off!


I also have had a butterfly ring from Memaw (that I failed to take a picture of). When she gave it to me, so told me the story of when she received it.  Well, turns out, that's not the story at all! haha...

As we've been sharing stories and memories about Memaw, we've all laughed and agreed on one thing that Alison read from my Aunt Kandi's letter at her services: Memaw had an answer for everything. She was told, that if you don't know the answer, don't say "I don't know", make something up! I haven't stopped thinking about that, and I can only think that Memaw couldn't remember where she got the butterfly ring from, so she just made up a story to tell me and hope that it would have sentimental meaning to me! haha. But that just makes it have even more of a great story and meaning to it!

Saturday, October 4, 2014

Fall Makes Perfect Scents

As Fall was coming, I noticed I didn't have any fall scented soaps or candles.
Tragic, I know. How would I go on??
Luckily, I knew I had some really great coupons for Bath and Body Works, so I stocked up on a few fall soaps and a candle!  The soaps were on sale 4 for $15, I had a 20% off coupon, and I had a coupon for a free 3-wick candle so I got all of this for $15.16! I was super excited! 

The soap scents are great--the fruity ones are my favorite.  Sweet Cinnamon Pumpkin doesn't quite smell like pumpkin, but I still wanted to buy that was pumpkin related, just because.  Also, it took me forever to pick out a candle.  They had so many choices!!  I can't remember the name of the one I initially liked, but I finally convinced myself I wouldn't get it because it smelled too cinnamon-y, and reminded me of the cinnamon scented pinecones you see at Christmastime.  While you know I love Christmas, but I was specifically looking for a Fall scented candle.  Matt kept coming back to me with this Leaves candle and I kept saying, "I don't want a candle called Leaves! That's weird!" But, it ended up being the scent I enjoyed the most in the end....who knew? (Besides Matt, haha.)

Friday, October 3, 2014

Flashback Friday: Homecomings of the Past

Since it's Homecoming week at Varina, I thought it would be fun to share some old Homecoming pictures from my last 2 years at Varina, and then Matt's last Homecoming that we went to.  I'm so glad I've always liked to take pictures, to always have the memories from football games, pep rallies, dances, or even before or after class! It's fun looking back on these old pictures!

Wednesday, October 1, 2014

2014 To-Do List: 3rd Recap

It's that time again! Time to check back in with where I am in my 2014 to-do list.  No procrastinating here, so here we go!

#1. Blog more realistically.
Let's see, in my first recap, I had only blogged 18 times in 3 months; in my second recap I had blogged 24 times; and in the past three months, I've blogged 22 times.  Meh,not bad, but could be better. Dear Self, please get better at this.

But, the next recap will definitely top the rest, because that will include December, which will include my 25 Days of Christmas posts--they'll be here before you know it!

#2. Cook more.
I've been helping more, but when I look back, it seems like our summer was so busy that we just did something quick, or we weren't even here!  However, I did try a couple new recipes.  This Loaded Baked Potato and Chicken Casserole was pretty good.  I wasn't a huge fan of the chicken part in it, but the baked potato part was great!


I also made this orzo salad recipe, but when I didn't find orzo in the pantry like I thought we had, I just used some other pasta noodles instead.  Still tasted great to me, and it was really great to take to work in my lunch! Also, in that pasta recipe, I used mozzarella cheese instead of feta cheese.

Without sounding like I'm trying to make excuses, I did honestly have better intentions of trying to cook more, but a lot of the time, it just didn't work for our schedules.  Matt is off Mondays and is always home from work before me, so most of the time if it's a crock pot meal, he preps and starts it on Monday, or starts dinner first anyway. I'm very thankful for him and his love for cooking!!

Within the next three months, especially around Christmas, I know more baking will definitely come :)

#3. Participate in more races.
Well, of course we completed the Spartan race!! But, that's the extent of races for these three months, it seems. Bummer.  However, assuming all gets better -*fingers crossed*- there are several fun races to come for the last three months of the year!!

#4. Read more. 
Since I was off for the summer I really knocked this one out of the park! Here are all of the books I've read since July 1st:
  • Wesley the Owl by Stacey O'Brien
  • How I Live Now by Meg Rosoff
  • Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
  • Hairspray and Homicide by Cindy Bell
  • The Women of Duck Commander by Kay, Korie, Missy, Jessica and Lisa Robertson
  • The St. Valentine's Day Cookie Massacre by Elisabeth Crabtre
  • To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
  • Better Off Friends by Elizabeth Eulberg
  • Are You There, Vodka? It's Me, Chelsea by Chelsea Handler by
  • Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan
  • Side Effects May Vary by Julie Murphy
  • Cruel Summer by Alyson Noël
  • The Infinite Moment of Us by Lauren Myracle
  • No Place Like Oz by Danielle Paige
  • Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
  • Say What You Will by Cammie McGovern
  • The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
  • Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles
  • A Sixteenth Summer Novel - Pulled Under by Michelle Dalton
  • How to Ruin a Summer Vacation by Simone Elkeles

Boy, am I missing summer and having SO much free time to read, now!! I'm only on my second book since school started!

If you missed my other 2014 To-Do List Recaps, here are those links for you:
1st Recap
2nd Recap