What I'm Loving Wednesday!

It's the first What I'm Loving Wednesday of 2018! Here's to many more posts from me this year. I'm looking for blogging motivation. :)

I'm loving...

My new One Year Bible that folks gave to me for Christmas. It has sections that you can color in- I love to color (I will never grow out of it). :)

I'm loving...

That I completed my 365 thankful challenge last year. Every day in 2017 I wrote down something I was thankful for (or something of significance that happened that day). I look forward to reading through these soon.

I'm loving...

That I'm slowly working through my 40 by 40 list. Five months to go- I need to step it up! I can finally cross another item off my list though. Number 18- try sushi (non seafood kind since I don't eat seafood). I can't say I'm now a sushi lover. Or ever liker. Maybe if I was starving to death and sushi was the only option would I ever eat it again. I wasn't a fan of the cold rice. And this sushi had avocado in it (I can't stand avocado). Oh well. I at least tried it!

I'm loving...

That even though I was sick in bed on New Year's Eve, I still stayed awake until midnight to ring in the new year (it was looking iffy for a while, about 9:30 I started to doze off). I celebrated with a glass of sparkling grape juice. 

I'm loving...

My Best Nine Instagram posts from 2017. I like that they will tell you your top nine photos of the year- it's fun to look back and see which pictures people liked the most. :) If you don't follow me already- my handle on Instagram is Averyfan! :) That's also my handle on Twitter. :)

I'm loving...

After Christmas sales. I got these items for about $3 each. The Norman Rockwell book was normally $27. I need to get a table so I can work on the Star Wars puzzle. :)

What are YOU loving today??

XOXO!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas. I'll do a Rachel Christmas recap in another post- I have to organize all the photos first, but I did want to write a What I'm Loving post since I missed it last week. :)

I'm loving...
That I was able to attend my nephew Jacob's wedding. My sweet boy got married last weekend to his beautiful bride Amber. I'm so happy for them! 

I'm loving...

That my friends and I were able to drive around and look at Christmas lights a few weeks ago. It was the 10th annual judging of Christmas decorations and lights. Negative ten points if the wise men were by baby Jesus. Lol.

The Christmas decoration judges! 

I'm loving...
That I got to see Star Wars on opening weekend with my friend Allan. We have known each other since elementary school and I lovingly call him my fake husband (I'm his fake wife). :) 

I'm loving...
Snapchat filters. My great-nephews and great-niece always enjoy taking photos with Snapchat whenever they see me. :)

I'm loving...

Chick Fil-A. Last week it was pouring down rain and the manager of the Chick Fil-A by my office was outside with a huge umbrella escorting customers to and from their vehicles. He had several employees helping him out. Such great service! The manager is named Curt- he knows me by name because my coworkers and I eat there about once a week (sometimes twice a week- don't judge). :)

I'm loving...

That my sister Martha and I were able to see It's A Wonderful Life in the theater last week. Yes, we've seen it 100 times on TV or DVD, but never on the big screen. It was awesome. :) Spoiler alert: Clarence got his wings (again). :)

What are YOU loving today?

XOXO!

Mobile Monday!

I realize I haven't posted in a while, so I thought I would catch y'all up on what I've been up to!

A few weeks ago I went home for my mom's 80th birthday party. She had so much fun. All six of her kids were able to be there and a good amount of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were there too. Her best friend (a woman I've always called Aunt Beth) surprised her by showing up for the party, none of us knew she would be there. I hadn't seen her in years. A fun time was had by all!

The birthday girl!

We had a table with items representing some of my mom's favorite things

An arrangement of photos of my mom over the years

We love our Blue Bell

My Aunt Beth!

My nieces and nephews who were able to attend the party (I have 16 total). Somehow my nephew Danny escaped the mandatory photo with Aunt Rachel- he was there too. Lol

I have five great-nephews and three great-nieces. Three of them were able to attend the party. Oh, and we found out my niece Stephanie is pregnant, so I will have another great-niece or great-nephew to add to the bunch. Yes, my family is huge. 

The same weekend as my mom's birthday party, I rushed back to Dallas for the last day of the Fan Expo (formerly Dallas Comic Con). I wasn't originally going to go, but I decided to go at least one day. I'm so glad I did! I had a once in a lifetime opportunity to meet both Mark Hamill and Tim Curry. I also got to meet one of my teenage crushes, Sean Patrick Flanery. He played the young Indiana Jones in a short-lived TV series and TV movies. If you bought an autograph, he took a selfie with you. He actually took my phone and took a few selfies of us together. He called me darling twice. I will confess that I swooned. Lol.

He's 51 and still makes my heart swoon, I'm not gonna lie. 

For those who never saw The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, here is a glimpse of the greatness that you missed.

Yes, I had a moment when he followed me on Twitter

I had a Star Wars nerd moment when I met Luke Skywalker himself- Mark Hamill. He laughed at my shirt

This was the line we had to wait in so we could even meet Mark Hamill- it was crazy, but worth it

I was a little tempted to buy the life-size cut-out of Jensen Ackles, but I refrained. Mainly because I was out of cash and they didn't take credit cards. Lol

I love Back to the Future so I was super excited to meet Tom Wilson (Biff)

I got a hug from King Ezekiel himself (The Walking Dead), Khary Payton. This guy was probably the nicest person I met all day (well, besides Sean Patrick Flanery). I didn't tell him, but I've never seen The Walking Dead. It's not my thing. But, my friend wanted a picture with him and I agreed to split the cost and be in it too. He kept getting pulled away for professional pictures but he always came back to his booth and promised everyone he would meet them. One of the convention workers said the day before they were trying to get him to cut off his line so he could leave and he said he was going to stay until every person had a chance to meet him. He spent a lot of time with each fan, so it wasn't like a quick picture and you were gone. You can tell he really appreciates his fans. He gained a new one that day.

Tim Curry. What an icon. I love his movies. He had a stroke in 2012 and doesn't talk a whole lot, but he still wants to make an effort to give back to the fans. As we were walking away I told him thank you and he said "you are welcome". 

April 3 was Opening Day for my Texas Rangers. Well, technically it was Opening Night since the game started at 6pm, but we started tailgating at one, so it was a day long event. Despite the outcome of the game, I still had fun with my friends at the Ballpark. I'll take a bad day at the Ballpark over being at work any day. Lol.

Tailgating fun

Before the game some friends and I got to meet country singer Neal McCoy. He was one of my favorite country singers when I was in high school and college. He's a huge Rangers fan and is at a lot of games. I finally ran into him for a picture!

A view from my seats this year (I got a 20 game pack again)

I met up with my friend Corina (she wasn't able to make the tailgate). It's a must for us to take a picture together any time we see each other! :)

My friend Bob got last minute tickets and stopped by our section to say hi

Don't worry, I will have plenty more Rangers pictures throughout the season, you have been warned! :)

Oh, I have more book reviews coming soon- I know, I know. I'm way behind again!

XOXO!

What I'm Loving Wednesday!

I know I stopped doing the link up (because being in charge of a link up is hard, lol), but I'm still gonna use this idea. MAYBE I'll start the link up again if I have people ask about it. :)

I'm loving...

The Gustave Caillebotte exhibit on display at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Some friends and I went last weekend to see it. I'm a big fan of Impressionism. I knew of his painting Paris Street; Rainy Day (because it was in so many of my art history books) but I really wasn't familiar with the rest of his work. I absolutely loved this exhibit. If you live in DFW, the exhibit is here until February 14, I highly recommend checking it out!

The Kimbell had a replica of Paris Street; Rainy Day that you could pose in front of (they even had props) 

I'm loving...

Dallas Stars hockey games. I went to two games last week with some friends. It was a lot of fun, especially the night that the Stars actually won! :)

With my hockey-loving peeps!

I'm loving...
This sweet picture with my best friend's kiddos, Miss E and Mr. A. I saw them last month when I was in Austin.

I'm loving...
These amazing, tasty treats. My friend Alan bought some for me. I love them!

Why yes, I do have the complete sets of Diagnosis Murder AND The Waltons on DVD

I'm loving (kinda)...

That I've had to put this on every form of social media since so many random people kept asking if I was a fan of Steven Avery from the documentary Making A Murderer (if you know me, I KNOW you know my Averyfan obsession is from Steve Avery, the former baseball player). :)

I'm loving...

That after having it planned for five months (no lie, I wrote about this in September) my best friend Mandy and I are FINALLY going to the Supernatural Convention in Houston next weekend. We've known each other for 27 years and neither one of us can remember taking a road trip by ourselves together. This is LONG overdo! :) We may or may not need bail money by the time the weekend is over with- stay tuned. :)

I'm loving...

That my first "midnight showing" in the theater was for the new Stars Wars movie (yes I know, that was almost two months ago, I'm way behind on updating my blog). :) 

I love this shirt!

I'm loving...

My sweet nephews C and E. I spent a lot of time with them over Christmas. I can't wait to see them next month! 

On Christmas morning C wanted to get a picture with me. I told him I didn't have any make up on and I didn't look good. He hugged me and told me I always looked good (THIS KID!! Love him.)

After my carjacking in December 2012, I spent a week with my family on the beach in Galveston. E and I took a picture while collecting shells (L). We went back to Galveston after Christmas this past year and took another picture (R). Again, we were collecting shells. If you hear of a shell shortage on the beaches of Galveston, it's because my nephews picked up most of them. :) I can tell how tall he's getting by comparing these pictures!

What are YOU loving today??

XOXO!