Friday, January 29, 2016

Five Loves on Friday


Happy Friday, friends!  This week has been one great big celebratory and productive blur!  I'm exhausted in the best way!  Before the weekend gets here though, let's get to those five lit'l loves, shall we?




One // Celebrating with Family

My nephew's birthday is on Christmas Day.  However, he requested a family birthday party in January which was a pretty perfect idea if you ask me!  As special as it is to have a cake for him when we gather to celebrate Christmas, it is wonderful to enjoy a few hours set aside especially to celebrate him!  His choice of birthday cake was a chocolate layer cake with chocolate frosting.  He's clearly a guy after his aunt's own heart! ;)





Two // Fiesta with Friends

Monday night we met some of our oldest and dearest friends for a (very belated) Christmas celebration.  We enjoyed catching up in our favorite fashion, over food!  


Side note:  If you live near a Qdoba I highly recommend their new Two Timer Knockout Tacos!!  Delicioso!

Afterward we headed back to their place for dessert and a gift exchange.  Check out the yumminess that my friend Tina whipped up for us!


A brownie topped with chocolate pudding, then whipped topping, and a sprinkling of Heath?  Yes, please and thank you! 


We enjoyed every bit and bite of our evening together!




Three // My Handy Hubby



We'd been having trouble with water pressure and temperature throughout our home, and a leaky faucet in our bathtub.  This week Jason took time off work, watched some YouTube tutorials and read up on what needed to be done.  Then he tackled it all on his own, replacing our hot water pipes and bathtub fixtures!  Everything is working better than it ever has in the decade and a half that we've lived here!  I praise God for the blessing of a hubby who is willing to work so hard to care for our family in every way possible!  He amazes me each and every day!  After 17 years of marriage I'm even more smitten with him now than I was the day I said, "I do"!




Four // Minimizing our Excess

A week or two ago I began binge watching YouTube videos on minimalism.  The more I watched, thought, journaled, and talked with my husband about living with less the more appealing this concept became to me!  I started looking around at my home and thinking, Maybe this place isn't too small.  Perhaps I just have too much stuff in it!  So, I have been devoting every free moment I have to doing a major purge of our belongings here!  I'm talking taking every single item in my kitchen out of the cabinets and all of our clothing and collections from our closets.  I'm working my way through all of our possessions and assessing if this is something that I/we love and/or need or has it just been sitting there taking up space indefinitely simply because I found it on clearance, someone passed it on to me, or because everyone thinks you have to have one of these (fill in the blank with any of many gadgets and gizmos)! 

Like many of you, I have chosen a "word of the year".  The word I've chosen is "light".  One of the aspects and focus of this is my goal of living with less - less clutter & less stress because of it!  If you're interested in hearing more please let me know in the comments section below and perhaps I'll do a post(s) on my thoughts/goals/tips I'm picking up along my journey toward living lighter! 




Five // Thoughtfulness in Chocolate Form





One night I mentioned how good a chocolate malt sounded.  What do you suppose Jason surprised me with the next day?  Thoughtfulness in the form of chilled, delicious, malted goodness!  *happy sigh*  It really is the little things in life that can bring the greatest joy sometimes!



*Bonus Love*


{image source}


Today is a very special day as it's my dear friend Nikki's birthday!  Happy, Happy Birthday Nikki!  Wishing you a beautiful day filled with love and laugher, surrounded by those dearest to you!  



Thanks so much for stopping by today, friends!  Having you pop by my nook of the blogosphere for a visit absolutely makes my day!  Wishing you the loveliest of weekends ahead!


Earlier this week at Chatting Over Chocolate:


Linking up with:
 Cup MomfessionalsTHE GOOD LIFE BLOG 


If you're visiting from one of the link ups, be sure to say "Hello!" ...I'd love to come check out your Friday 5 too! ;)


15 comments:

  1. Oh my GOODNESS!!!!! Happy tears are streaming! Thank you SO much, my dear friend, for the birthday wishes! <3

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  2. That meal and dessert looks so yummy!! Enjoy your weekend :)

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  3. Love everything in this post Brenda! Your husband is quite a gem too!! I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!! :-)

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  4. So much amazing looking food! And I love that your nephew requested to celebrate his birthday after the craziness of the holiday season, so much more special <3
    Green Fashionista

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  5. All this food has me starving!! I totally believe most of us just have too much stuff. I am a constant purger and almost always have a bag ready to donate and even with that we still have way too much!! Good for you working on making things "light" for you this year.

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  6. Drooling over those tacos!! What is it about tacos that is just so good?! Hope you have a great weekend girl! xo, Biana -BlovedBoston

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  7. Mmm everything looks so yummy here!! Way to go hubby and live the after Christmas bday idea! Hope you and the fam have a great weekend! Muah! Xoxo

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  8. Um, I want to come over! You had so many delicious meals/desserts this week! I like the way your nephew thinks, planning a separate celebration for his birthday. I have an early December birthday and no matter what, some occasion becomes a combined birthday/Christmas effort for me, especially when meeting up with friends. Such a hard life ;)

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  9. What a sweet hubby you have! I too am blessed with an amazing man :) I hope you can stop by:

    http://collettaskitchensink.blogspot.com/2016/01/tea-time-operation-and-snow-12916.html

    Colletta

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  10. DQ use to be our family go to for treats on a summer night. Haven't seen one in awhile. This was such a fun post. You have the sweetest family. Enjoy the weekend.

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  11. Happy birthday to Nikki too! You know it's funny, I'm doing a post on Ways to win a girls heart on Monday And one of the best ways my husband wins my heart every time is working around the house and getting projects done! I hear you, more smitten every day and chocolate doesn't hurt either, LOL! Have a most wonderful weekend dear heart!

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  12. Fun times, my friend! Those tacos do look amazing - and the brownie explosion, yes please! Props to your handyman - way to go! :)

    Whitney @ Come Home For Comfort

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  13. Those tacos and that dessert...oh my! They both look insanely delicious!
    That DQ picture is making me jealous...I had such a craving for a blizzard today!

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  14. Isn't YouTube great?!! You can find an answer/video to almost everything. That's great that your husband was able to replace/fix your pipes. I am also on a mission to declutter and our family is doing a February minimalism challenge to get rid of "stuff." You had a tasty week with lots of awesome looking food..yum! Have a great weekend!

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  15. All these yummy things are making me so hungry! Lovely post :)
    xo Kiki
    http://colormekiki.com/

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I would love to hear from you today! I enjoy reading each and every comment I receive. (I do moderate them before they're published. Gotta keep it family friendly! ;)) Let's chat! B.Y.O.C. {Bring Your Own Chocolate!}