New Coffee Shop and some happenings...

Last week was full of ups and downs.  So lets start with the best. 💖Saturday was our 2nd sisters coffee date.  We visited a brand new just opened coffee shop in my town and we loved it!

I got the seasonal coffee flight.  It was so yummy. From left to right- Cinnamon Roll, Peppermint Mocha, Peppermint White Bark, and Nutella Latte.  The two peppermint ones were very similar, not surprisingly.  The cinnamon roll one was my favorite!

Also got to snuggle the littlest nephew.

Thursday Chance had to have a mass removed from his back leg. It was stressful.  The vet commented that he was very high stress.  What can I say, Chance is my spirit animal. 😅

We were finally able to pick him up at 6:30 that evening and bring him home.  He was still pretty groggy from the anesthesia. He perked up a bit and gave some serious tail wags when Hannah got home from practice a couple hours later.

By Saturday he was feeling much better and very happy to go on a short walk.

This morning I left him tucked in, warm and cozy in our bed!

Our second child moved out this week.  Its a very surreal feeling. Honestly I'm having a little trouble coming to terms with it.  I am not ready for this new phase.

Friday night I made delicious Chicken Street Tacos.  In the morning I marinated the chicken in Everything Taco Seasoning, juice of a lime, some EVOO.

When I got home I cooked the chicken in my air fryer for around 20 minutes.  It came out so juicy and delicious.

I also had leftovers for lunch as a salad with a Copycat Chipotle Vinaigrette.

I did get in a long run on Saturday outside- much to Bruno's delight!

I am happy January is almost done.  That days are slowly getting longer again.

January Blues

How I am feeling today...

 The sky the other morning

I went to bed and woke up feeling pretty frustrated.  Another Winter weather advisory is part on my angst.

This is my training plan and run from Monday. It was hard and slow and I was super frustrated.  And then yesterday I did nothing. Even my step count was embarrassingly low. HOWEVER- I this morning when I check, I was slightly was encouraged that I am "Right on Target".... trying to trust the process and hope it gets better from here.  Another three miles tonight and my only goal is to do better than Monday even if its just a few seconds.  And to do yoga or stretch before bed.

I did work a little on my crochet project last night (instead of doing anything else productive).  I still have not even completed week 1 (two more stipes to go, week 4 comes out on Friday).  But I am making progress.  I am loving the project and the feel of the yarn in my hands.

A funny story from this morning...

So Monday night when I got home I was missing a slipper. I was fairly certain Bruno was the culprit.  He hasn't actually chewed a shoe in quite sometime.  But he often grabs my slipper and runs away when he's super excited and/or want to play.  It's usually not hard to find as he drops it when he's caught.  But I was perplexed as to where this slipper had gotten too.  I even looked under the couch and our bed.  Under the bench at the table.  I repeatedly asked him where it was, asking him to go find it to no avail.

This morning I was putting out the trash.  On my last two trips to the road with recyclables I let him join me.  He was joyously romping in the snow.  As I was headed back in I noticed him snuffling around in the snow in the front flower bed.  I called him and headed back down the drive to the basement door.  He came running and dropped something at my feet.... MY LOST SLIPPER! I couldn't believe it! 😅  I praised him for bringing it to me.  

I pretty quickly pieced together what had happened.  Monday night after I came home I took both dogs outside.  The romped and played in the snow.  Bruno must have grabbed my slipper in his excitement and then abandoned it in the flower bed.  I am so thankful he returned it to me before tonight's snow came!  I would have been so mad to find it in the spring when all the snow melts! 😂😂😂

2022 Reading Wrap Up and 2023 Goals

This year I hit my all time adult high at 111 books!  

5 years ago I made a resolution to read more and scroll less.  That year my reading increased exponentially!  This year I again set my goal at 100 books.

I just love seeing all the covers together!

Amy's 2022 book montage

Amy's favorite books »

Almost half the books I read were on kindle or ebook format

Almost 80% of the books I read were from the library, only 21% from my own shelves, and one borrowed from my Dad.

87% fiction vs 12ish% non-fiction

Christian  or Faith Based (46%) vs secular (54%) was almost half and half.  I would like to lean into Christian books more this year.

My favorite books of 2022...

• The Hiding Place Corrie Ten Boom
• Sensible Shoes Sharon Garlough Brown
• Mission Possible Marilyn Laszlo
• Redeeming Love Francine Rivers
• All Along Your Were Blooming Morgan Harper Nichols
• Isn't it Bromantic? Lyssa Kay Adams
• The Cartographers Peng Shepherd 
• The Secret Keepers of Old Depot Grocery Amanda Cox
• The Unlikely Yarn of the Dragon Lady Sharon J Mondragon
• Within These Lines Stephanie Morrill

How'd I do on 2022 goals?

• My goodreads goal is 100  update- upon further reflect I decided to change my goal to 52 books. I don't know why I bothered- I read 111 so yeah
• Read at least one book from my own unread shelf each month- its been hit or miss- 
• Read another Jane Austen book- Sense and Sensibility, finished in September
• Read another by CS Lewis- The Four Loves - sometimes I think I'm not smart enough to read CS Lewis- just nope. It's still on my kindle so maybe this year
• Create a physical book journal-  but again considering revisiting this in 2023
• Read at least one book for my presidents project- I started a couple but DNF, also purchased one on George Washington
• Read the books rec'd to me by my FB/Insta friends - did not make it through all these in 2022, but loved the ones I did! 
• The Simple Art of Flying by Cory Leonardo (plan to read in January)
• The Hedgehog of Oz also by Cory Leonardo
• Reset: 20 Ways to Consistent Prayer Life (read)
• Under the Tulip Tree (read)
• Clanlands - (listening to currently and loving it)
• Read the books rec'd to me by SK Bell on her Christian Fiction podcast - 
• The Chair -(read Feb)
• The Hiding Place  (read Jan)
• God is my Hiding Place  (on my shelf)
• Unreasonable Hope (read Nov)
• Crossing the Waters  (abandoned listening, was enjoying but thought would be better in print- still on my TBR)
• A Prairie Girl's Faith (started)

Bring on 2023! I joined a *few* (too many) reading challenges/online book clubs

• Read Middlemarch 
• Work my way through the Outlander series again and read the ones I have not read yet. (I have been binging the TV show while working on my crochet lately) I may purchase the series on Kindle to make this easy.  I own 5 of the mass market paperback, well and loved from 20+ years ago
• Read 1 "growth" book a month, personal, home, spiritual or marriage
• 50 states challenge- read a book set in each of the United States, I'm ok with this taking more than a year if necessary.  I printed a map to color in as I go.
• Maybe read Harry Potter series again- if the mood strikes
• Goodreads goal set at 100, also joined a 52 book challenge group on goodreads with 52 different prompts.

Did you set any reading goals for 2023?  Have a favorite read from 2022 to share?

Weekending and catching up

Wins from last week... I cleaned my pantry and fridge on Saturday. There wasn't really a discernable difference in the look but it made me feel mostly good anyway.

We also tossed out our Christmas tree and I vacuumed the window seat, chair and couch. As well as dusted and swept the living room.

Our tree was pretty dry!

I thought about going for a run Saturday but my mom texted to see if I would like to go with her to my niece's indoor track meet...so I did that instead and enjoyed some quality time with my Mom <3

I spent a bit of time working on my crochet along, I'll do an update on that later in the week.  I am really enjoying this project.  I'm not sure about the turn the colors have taken after this but we'll see how it turns out.

Rhett made these beautiful floating shelves for Hannah's room.

The boys enjoyed the cozy fire yesterday.

I started back in reading A Lineage of Grace yesterday.  (This is our current book club selection, and its a long one! Over 500 pages but it actually contains 5 novellas in one volume).

I set it down after reading the first story for a week or so.  I am really enjoying Rahab's story much more than Tamar's.  I read this paragraph over and over last night. It really struck me how no one is beyond God's reach.

That's all for today.  Hoping to get a little more back on track with an evening run and check off *most* of my boxes for today. Happy Monday!