It's Been a Year!

Hello dear Friends! 

Happy TGIF to you.

First of all, I want to send all my friends in the states my extra love and hugs. This country feels so full of chaos and violence lately. All of these recent horrible shootings just hurt my heart. I believe evil is running rampant and loving this chaos. The only real peace I find is in my Lord and believing in His promises. I continue to be a prayer warrior. I love on my friends and family that much more. And I try to put out positivity, peace, and love in everything I do. I hope we can find a way to love our neighbors as ourselves. I hope we don't put people into boxes of one political party or another. That we don't judge and put our thoughts into "I'm right and you're wrong". I hope instead we find ways to move forward and work TOGETHER to heal and fix the issues in this country. 

Thank you for letting me share that moment from my heart. 🙏🏻💗

 I'm getting to this post late because I was giving time at the hospice facility. There sure are lots of moments of Fall around there. Here are some pics I caught:

But what I wanted to post and share a little today is about the fact that Matt and I celebrate our 1st Anniversary this weekend! Yay! 🎉❤️

I can't believe how fast that year has flown. It's been so wonderful and I guess time does fly when you're having fun. :) To be honest... I feel like I had some years there where my life was like in the movie the Wizard of Oz. Always feeling in kind of gloomy black and white. And then Matt came into my life and it was full blown technicolor! And it just gets brighter with each new day. He has brought such goodness, love and light to my world (& my kiddos too). I am so very grateful for the man he is and that I get to call him husband. I have never felt more seen, understood, loved and treasured by another human being. I love him SO MUCH! 

Thank you God for the gift of this amazing man and this marriage. 

Here are a few of my favorite photos from our day:

I loved everything about our day. It all felt so perfect. And one of my favorite memories was this....how beautiful the night became and how we gathered around a campfire together with our loved ones. Listening to music, chatting, laughing, and just taking it all in.  

My sweet Matthew just had these delivered for me. Aren't they stunning? I have always loved roses...but now sunflowers have my heart ever since they were such a big part of our wedding. 🌻💛

And they lived happily ever after...

Tonight we're going out on a date night with our besties, the C's. It will be so nice to get catch up time with them! 

 Tomorrow night we'll go out for dinner for our anniversary (which is actually on Sunday). And then in October we will be staying a weekend up at the resort where we were married. It should be beautiful with Fall color then. Feeling so blessed. 🙏🏻

Thank you for letting me go down memory lane and share. It feels extra special being the 1st anniversary. And I'm so grateful to all of you for sharing in this journey with me all along! Your friendship, support & love has meant so much!! 

Wishing you all an amazing weekend ahead. 

xoxo

Friday Catch Up: Arizona Time & it's almost Easter!

 

Hello my dear Friends 

I've missed you! 

We got back late Wednesday from our trip to Arizona and I spent yesterday catching up on life around here. 

But I thought today I would catch up with you and also share with Cathy of Our Creative Life for Friday Catch Up and you can find her here.

Our trip was lovely for many reasons. We had wonderfully warm weather that felt amazing! We soaked it up along with all the blooming flowers and cacti, as well as the best part, as we had lots of time with family. 💗

Matt & I traveled there together, but he stayed with his parents while we were there and I stayed with my Dad and step Mom. They all live in the same city, so that made it very convenient. Annie flew in from FL for part of our visit and stayed with me at my Dad's. Both of our families got together for a dinner one night. And other then that we did "divide & conquer" and shared time as some days Matt spent time with me and my family. And others I spent time with Matt and his. We also got time with my Uncle and Aunt that live in a nearby city. And another night we spent time with Matt's Aunt and Uncle. 

We did some fun shopping, hung out at the pool, did some sun soaking, watched The Masters golf tourney & some movies, ate great food, played games, did a puzzle, did Top golf (Matt kicked butt), and just enjoyed family time. Also, Matt & I explored a retirement community we may be interested in sometime in the future. All and all a lovely little vacation away. 

I apologize in advance for photo overload :) 

*got a bit of our Polish heritage on in AZ!

And now onto Easter. For those that celebrate I wish Good Friday to you. This is such a sacred day to me, as this is the day I believe my Lord and Savior was crucified for my sins.  I spent a lot of this morning in devotional prayer time and did my rosary. I will spend the afternoon up at the facility doing hospice work. 

 Even though it's far from AZ temps here, it was nice to see the bay has fully opened up now. A true sign of Spring! And this little sweet little bunny was on the deck to greet me - perfect for Easter time. :) 

Just like I did for Annie and her bf's visit last month -I put together an Easter basket for my other favorite couple...my son and Jill. 💗 I put in some things for their apartment, as well as some treats. They will be visiting for the holiday weekend and Aaron will stay here. We will be hosting Easter and also have my Mom and step Dad and my Brother and SIL over for an Easter meal after church. 

Thank you that some of you checked in about my Annie because of the recent shooting at the college campus of FSU(Florida State University). Annie actually goes to USF (University of South Florida) so she was not affected...but it still hit very close to home! Thank you for the support and prayers and feel free to continue them as I worry for anyone on campuses these days. Or anywhere really, sad to say. I pray for those students and families affected. It's absolutely tragic. 🙏🏻

Also, have you seen the social media trend where chat GPT can turn your pics into Beatrix Potter type illustrations? I was playing when I was out in AZ and I took some pics from my home and transformed them. And took some pics I had of my Dad and step Mom and their place and cute dog, Dusty Doodle, and transformed them too. My step Mom got such a kick out of it! 

Beatrix Potter fits Easter time a bit too, right? 💗

I wish you all a blessed weekend ahead and Happy Easter blessings for those that celebrate! 

✝️🌸🐰💗💚