All in Randomness
My birthday this year was quite different. Brad was on the other side of the world, and Melody ended up sick the next day when we had planned to celebrate with my parents. But we celebrated the best we could with the circumstances given. And Melody was so proud of herself!
Melody decided she wanted to do store bought Valentine’s this year for her school. This did break my heart a bit, but she seemed so happy about it. But I was able to come up with a cute idea for her teacher.
Valentine’s Day was traditional and simple. We had a festive breakfast, swapped gifts, and made homemade lasagna.
Brad travels often for work. Sometimes the trips last 4-5 days, sometimes 4-5 weeks. When he takes short trips, we try to include a small happy. This is usually something like a small lego set or keychain. For longer trips, I try to do something bigger. Now this doesn’t always happen, but if I know about a trip long enough, I try to plan something to give him some encouragement while away for so long.
January has been quite the month. Brad had to go out of town basically the entire month. We went to school some but also started virtual school. We went to Opryland. And we caught COVID!
Christmas is always so much fun. It can be so magical to see it all through Melody’s eyes. Now it can also be super stressful. This year I made sure to finish my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving. Most was done before November. We also cut back on our traveling this year because we wanted some time at home because Brad’s work travel will pick by up in 2022. But we kept busy, and I decided to just throw all of the fun in one post!
As I mentioned earlier this week, December was a month of survival. It was also a really fun and memorable month too. We saw a lot of family, spent time with a lot of friends, experienced Melody’s first ER trip, and spent a lot of time with each other.
We had what was probably our most laid back New Year’s Eve that we have had in quite some time. Alabama was playing football, and we just made the most of spending the day at home relaxing. We did add a few bits of fun in the mix too!
So I have been a little MIA for the last few weeks as I focused on spending all of my time with our families and friends during the holiday season. During the holidays, we dealt with sickness (not COVID related thankfully), lots of traveling, spending time with everyone that we could, playing with Melody as much as possible, and surviving. The key word was definitely surviving. Don’t get me wrong, I did enjoy the last few weeks for the most part. But now that the return of normalcy is upon us, I am exhausted!! I feel like I need a break, but technically we just had a two and a half week break. So I decided to start this year with more intention.
If my lack of blogging in November didn’t make this obvious, November was a busy month. Dance, gymnastics, school, Christmas decorating, baking, Thanksgiving, and more!
So while we celebrated Brad’s birthday after he arrived home for his long work trip, we celebrated his dinner the weekend after. He wanted to give Texas de Brazil a try. We love eating there, but with COVID, we had not been there in person in around two years.
Our favorite brunch spot was Grille 29. We loved going there, and it was our go to spot for out of town guests. Unfortunately they did not survive COVID. I am not entirely sure COVID was the true cause of their closure. Rumor is they had issues with their landlord. But the closure happened during the pandemic, so it is hard to really know for sure why. But it was replaced with a restaurant named Grille on Main. While similar in name, it is a different owner and different foods. They do offer a brunch they we visited a while back. Check it out below.
Thanksgiving definitely did not go as planned. This year was my family’s year for Thanksgiving. It would be the first time seeing some of my family in quite a few years (most in two due to COVID). But the day before, Brad came down with strep. Melody and I still were able to visit my parents’ side of the family on Thanksgiving day however.
We had such a fun Halloween this year. We kind of went all out in the costumes this year which required a lot of work from me, but Melody loved it. So I supposed the work was worth it.
So I have definitely been MIA the last few weeks (and basically the last two months). Things have been busy around here it seems like. And I just have not had the time to really sit down and concentrate as much as I would like to on my blog. I hope to make up for that over the next month or so. I have a lot of content planned including all about the holidays and more! But let’s wrap up October. We had a busy month with Brad being back home (for the most part). Check it out below!
Back in September, my aunt did a photoshoot at an old diner back in Florence. She had an opening, so Emily and I took the girls. We went vintage with blue jeans and white shirts. I think the pictures turned out adorable!
So unfortunately we have missed the Pumpkin Patch the last two years. In 2019, every chance we could go it rained. In 2020, COVID happened. So this year I was determined we were going to go back. Once again, our opportunities to go were limited. We finally narrowed down a date, and it was supposed to rain. But we decided to go anyhow. The forecast projected it to miss us until later that evening. Unfortunately Brad was told to travel for work last minutes, so he was unable to go. But we met up with the Owen clan.
September was a full month full of a lot of carlines, football, and family fun!
I felt like the summer flew by. And with that, I feel like we didn’t get as much time on the boat as I had hoped. I guess that is life these days though. We did go a few times to Smith Lake, however. Usually when we go, we either camp overnight or at least spend time at the campsite. So you’ll see some of that too. We even got caught in a not so fun storm at the end of the summer.
I have wanted to try a meal delivery service for quite some time. My problem has been the overall cost, lack meal options that both Brad and I both like, and delivery day. Ideally I would like something that could delivery on a Monday so we can eat on it all week, but that has been near impossible to find. One day while listening to a podcast, I heard about Green Chef. The meal option sounded good, and they delivered on Wednesdays. Price was not great, but I did have a decent discount to at least make it reasonable to try.
