What I'm Loving!

I know, it's been months since I've done this link-up, but I wanted to try and get back to it. There has been so much hateful talk and negativity on social media lately, I wanted to try and bring something positive to everyone.

I'm loving...

That I'm finally feeling better. I was sick in bed for about a week. I'm happy to be back in the land of the living!

I'm loving...

That I was finally able to see the Monet: The Early Years exhibit at the Kimbell in Fort Worth. I was supposed to go a few weeks ago but I got sick. I also went to the Amon Carter American Art Museum for the first time- it was awesome! It's down the street from the Kimbell (and it's free), I highly recommend checking it out!

It's a game of "Where's Aaron" whenever we take pictures. Lol

This is at the Amon Carter museum, it's a piece by William Harnett. I was fascinated by it. It almost looked 3-D.

As always, I see a statue, I pose by a statue

I'm loving...

The TV show Timeless- I just discovered it on Hulu. I really hope it gets renewed for a new season.

I'm loving...

That I get to see my lifelong BFF this weekend, I'm going to Austin to celebrate her *29th birthday with her!

I'm loving...

That I got to see my friend Donny this week. He lives in North Carolina and we maybe get to see him once a year. I'm sad his beautiful wife Katie couldn't make the trip this time. She is also a blogger, check her blog out here!

I'm loving...

That I've extended my 101 in 1001 challenge. Hey, it's my challenge, I can extend it if I want. I was supposed to have completed it October 30 of last year, but I've extended it until April 30 of this year. So it's technically 101 in 1183, but whatever. 

What are YOU loving today?

*age changed to protect the innocent

Happy 2017!

First of all, HAPPY 2017!! I hope your holidays and New Year were FANTASTIC! I know, I haven't posted in two months. Shame. On. Me. You have probably been wondering what I've been up to lately (okay, you probably couldn't care less, but humor me). I've just been so busy (so you can understand why I've been absent from the blogging world). I know, where are my priorities? Well, as you will see below, a lot of things were more important to me.

I have been hanging out with friends.

I went to San Antonio to see Billy Joel in concert. Shout out to my sweet friend Eric for taking me (it was my Christmas gift). We made the round trip in a day. San Antonio is about 4.5 hours from Dallas, so you can imagine, we got back like at 3:30am. Thanks to Eric for driving the whole trip as well!

I spent the holidays with my family.

My cousin Travis surprised my folks with a visit at Christmas. We hadn't seen him in eight years.  

I saw a handful of my nieces and nephews at Thanksgiving (no, this isn't all of them). Everyone takes a picture with Aunt Rachel (whether they want to or not). Lol.

I went to several Christmas parties.

My Sunday School class Christmas party

My friend invited some of his favorite co-workers (that would include me) to his church's Christmas party (which involves free steak). I won a door prize that included a free set of steak knives and a $100 gift card to a nice steak restaurant. Funny story: It was almost 80 degrees when I went to the party, so I didn't take a coat. A cold front hit during dinner, and it dropped to the 40s. I was quite cold when I left! 

I saw Breakfast At Tiffany's in the theater. Yes, I own it on DVD and have seen it 100 times (not an exaggeration), BUT, it was my first time to see Audrey Hepburn on the big screen. It was awesome!

I spent New Year's Eve with Stan Lee and a bunch of nerds/geeks (I say that lovingly). 

Stan Lee was super nice. He was so full of energy too. I hope I'm like that when I'm 94!

Maurice LaMarche and Rob Paulsen- better known as the voices of Pinky and the Brain (I'm standing by Rob- the voice of Pinky). Fun fact: When I worked for a newspaper, my nickname was Pinky. My friend was The Brain. We still call each other that to this day. When I got my picture signed, I told Rob that my nickname was Pinky, he signed it "From one Pinky to another". 

Peter Mayhew, better known as Chewbacca from Star Wars. Yes, he's tall. He's sitting down (and he's still almost taller than me).

I won an Emmy. Okay, I didn't. BUT, this is a real Emmy. It belongs to Mark Kistler. He's the host of a children's art program on PBS. He let me take a picture with it.

I would like to thank all my fans for making this possible....

I survived the great cold front of 2017. It dropped to temperatures my Texas body cannot handle. It was maybe 12 degrees at one point (all of you up north kindly stop laughing at me). HOW DO YOU PEOPLE LIVE LIKE THIS FOR MONTHS??

Okay, I am HOPEFULLY getting back to my What I'm Loving Wednesday post next week. Stay tuned!! :)

XOXO!

I Choose to Be Thankful

It seems lately (especially over the past few days) social media and the news has been full of hate, ugliness, name-calling, and just plain rudeness. It's so easy to get caught up in that and lash out at your hurt, anger, and disappointment. Instead of doing that, I choose to focus on positive things right now. If other people want to vent, that is their right and I will let them, but for me, focusing on things that make me happy is helping me get through these tough times right now. I know the world is full of awful things, but right now I want to focus on what is good, not evil. So today I give you things I'm thankful for (no matter how big or small they may seem to you). Please feel free to comment on things you are thankful for as well! It's time to be thankful for what we have instead of upset over what we don't.

I'm thankful for...

My friends. I love that my friends make time to see me, whether it's for a sporting event, movie night, lunch, dinner, or just meeting up to say "hi". I couldn't ask for better people to be in my life.

Recent meet-ups with friends

My church family. I've been a member almost a year (I've been attending for 18 months). My Sunday School class is wonderful and I'm excited to get involved with different church activities. The ladies in my Sunday School class recently did a Secret Sister exchange and a few weeks ago I was in charge of the decorations for my class' "trunk" for our annual Trunk or Treat event (act surprised that I picked a baseball theme).

Some ladies from my Sunday School class

My pastor

My wonderful Sunday School class!

Text from friends just to say hi. Sometimes I'm having a rough day and I'll get a text from a friend that just says they were thinking about me.

Baby snuggles. Snuggles from a baby always seem to make a bad day better, don't they? My friend's son came up to the office to visit her this week, and she let me steal some snuggles. It was just what I needed! I hope by the time he's grown, we've left the world in better shape for him.

Thanks to my friend for permission to use her son's picture on my blog! :)

Norma's Cafe. Hey- when you find good food, you have to be thankful, right? I've built a friendship with Norma's Cafe through social media and recently I was asked to be part of their National Chicken Fried Steak Day tour. I got to spend the day with awesome people and we basically traveled around the area eating chicken fried steak all day. I got to meet actor Burton Gilliam (best known for the movie Blazing Saddles), as well as Ed Murph, the owner of Norma's Cafe. And it's always good to see Bill Ziegler, director of operations. It was a great day. I made a new friend (who is a fellow blogger) and it turns out we live in the same apartment complex- small world!

My new car! I mentioned a few weeks ago I was in a wreck. Unfortunately my car was totaled, but that means I got a new car (I'm trying to look on the bright side of things). From the outside it looks a lot like my old car (I love Mazda), but it's a lot fancier inside. I now have Bluetooth and a back-up camera. It's the little things that make me happy. :)

I've named it Silver 2.0

My awesome salesman 

My niece made me this angel when she was five (she's now 18). It's been in every car I've own since then- I call it my guardian angel

Early Christmas gifts. A friend of mine told me last week that my Christmas gift from him was a ticket to the Billy Joel concert in San Antonio next month. I'm SUPER excited! **squeal**

Having the movie theater practically to myself. I guess when you go see a bad "B" horror movie, there aren't a lot of people. But who cares, it's still fun. And I love the recliner seats!

For the record, this was taken before the previews started. I keep my phone put up during a movie

This reminder whenever I'm feeling anxious and stressed.

Dr Pepper. A friend gave me a case of pure sugar cane Dr Pepper. I will not confirm how much of this is already gone. :)

That in 2 weeks, I'll be home with my family for Thanksgiving. I haven't been "home" since August. I'm looking forward to much needed family time!

Tell me, what are YOU thankful for?

XOXO!

Thursday 13: 13 Things I Wish I Were Doing

I wish I were...

1. Reading a book. It's BEAUTIFUL outside, the perfect weather to be on my balcony reading, but alas, I'm stuck inside.

2. Working on my novel. I haven't written anything in a while, I need to find something to snap me out of my writer's block. 

3. Watching the Rangers play baseball. Sadly our postseason run ended earlier than I wanted it to, but hey, at least the Blue Jays are now out of it (suck it Jose Bautista). 

4. Having a Supernatural marathon with my bestie Mandy. She lives in Austin and sadly we don't get to see each other as often as we would like. BUT, we do text daily (in fact she just sent me a text as soon as I started writing this- it's like she knew I was talking about her!) :) We love the show Supernatural and we sometimes watch episodes over the phone together (don't judge us). But it would be nice to have a marathon with her in person. 

Me and Mandy with the stars of Supernatural, Jensen Ackles and Jared Padalecki (yes, I'll use any excuse to post this picture again). :)

5. Going to my great-nephew E's birthday party this weekend. Sadly I am unable to get out of town to celebrate his 7th birthday. :(

Aunt Rachel's sweet boy

6. In better shape so my High Intensity Interval Training workouts weren't kicking my butt. I'm determined to stick with them though, my goal is to be in shape for my cruise in January. 

7. Better at updating my blog. I seem to update on average once a week, sometimes twice if you are I am lucky. I need motivation and a purpose to keep up with it. I did change my header last night though (did you notice??)

8. Better at expressing my emotions. Sometimes I just keep things bottled up because it's easier than talking about them (I know, that's not healthy). My therapist would not be pleased hearing me say that.

9. Going to the Billy Joel concert in San Antonio in December. I saw him last year in Dallas and it was one of the best concerts I've ever been to. I would love to see him again. I just would want him to sing SOMETHING from his An Innocent Man album (it's my favorite). Last time he didn't sing one song from it. :(

10. Having a girls night out with my bestie Brandy (I CAN HAVE MORE THAN ONE BESTIE- STOP JUDGING ME). We had one last month and it was a lot of fun. We have plans to get together next month, but it's literally a month away. Sigh.

11. A better cook. I'm trying, I really am. My spiritual gift is not cooking though. But if you want some form of chicken or pasta or cauliflower rice, I got those recipes down pat. Lol.

12. Out of debt (I know, everyone wishes that). One day I will be, one day!

13. Going on vacation. I need a vacation. Even if it's just a stay-cation. I just need time for me. I've been so busy lately.

XOXO!

Check out other's Thursday 13 posts here!