What's Up Wednesday - August 2019

*This post may contain affiliate links, which means at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through or make a purchase.

On this date 16 years ago, B and I started dating so happy date-iversary to us!  Also, sixteen years ago?!  How is our relationship officially old enough to drive?!  Lol.  

Well, y'all, it’s time to make way for my favorite four months of the year – September, October, November, and December!  I seriously live for these four months each year!  Before we get into September, though, we need to properly close out August, so here’s a little bit of what we’ve had going on…

What We’re Eating This Week

Mon – Fettuccine alfredo with chicken and broccolli

Tue – Pulled pork sandwiches, fruit

Wed – Pizza

Thu – Veggies? 

Fri – Out

Sat – Out

Sun – Sunday dinner

What I’m Reminiscing About

My girlfriend, Lauren, came to town a couple of weekends ago and we were able to spend the whole weekend together.  She and I were inseparable for years so it was hard to say goodbye to her when she left town for another job.  She’s not too far from us since she’s in Atlanta, but we still don’t get to see each other as often as we’d like. 

When she was here a couple of weekends ago we did lots of reminiscing about the past and it was so much fun to take that trip down memory lane.  I was going to share a few of my favorite pictures of the two of us in this post today and then I got sucked down the rabbit hole, so here are, like 30 pictures of us instead!  Haha.  We've had so much fun together these past 18 years!  

2001 (Atlanta Girls Trip)

2002 (Atlanta Girls Trip)

2002 (Atlanta Girls Trip)

2003 (Spring Break in Panama City, FL with our henna tattoos!)

2004 (Spring Break in Panama City)

2004 (Spring Break in Panama City)

2004 (At the movie theater where we both worked and met)

2006 (Out for drinks at a local bar)

2007 (My wedding day!)

2008 (Late night softball game with friends)

2008 (Downtown for Halloween)

2008 (At the movie theater where we worked years prior)

2009 (At a local bar for Cinco de Mayo)

2009 (At a local club for a concert)

2009 (At a local bar celebrating my birthday)

2009 (At a local bar)

2009 (At Opera Nightclub in Atlanta)

2009 (At a local bar)

2009 (Halloween party)

2009 (At the Georgia vs. Auburn game in Athens)

2009 (At a bar in Athens after the Georgia vs. Auburn game)

2010 (Bridesmaids in our friend's wedding)

2012 (Trying on bridesmaids dresses for another friend's wedding... don't worry, we only tried these on as a joke!  Haha)

2013 (At Lauren's going away dinner)

2016 (Visiting Lauren in Atlanta)

2018 (Tailgating at the Dave Matthews Band concert in Atlanta)

2019 (At my house a couple of weekends ago when she was visiting)

What I’m Loving

Lately in the afternoon I’ve been feeling that afternoon brain fog that people tend to get, so last week I whipped up a new diffuser blend and it just clears my head right up – 3 drops of Lime, 2 drops of Tangerine, and 1 drop of Peppermint and I feel invigorated and more focused!

I know I don’t talk about my oils much here on the blog, but rest assured my love for them is still going strong.  If you have any questions or are interested, let me know and I’m happy to talk with you!  Or you can click here for more details.  And as always, you can follow along on my essential oils Instagram account here.  Never mind that I’ve been neglecting it lately.  #Oops

What We’ve Been Up To

The first week of August was our last week of summer break and we spent it doing lots of fun things around town.  We also had our first ever “Kindness Day.”  You can see the recap here. 

School started on August 12 and we had a bit of a rocky start.  You can read all about it here.  Fortunately, day two was much better and every day since then has been, too. 

Olivia started dance on August 15 and she was thrilled to be back.  She’s signed up for another ballet/tap combo class this year again, and she’s officially graduated to the dance school’s signature blue leotards.  Her recital is already scheduled for the end of May and I’m sure it’ll be here before we know it!

Jacob started baseball this past week.  So far we’ve just had a few practices and the games will start next week.  He is throwing and catching and batting pretty darn well, and I have a feeling that baseball may just end up being his sport.  While he loves soccer, he just isn’t as aggressive as needed to have lots of ball time, so I think the individualism that comes with baseball is going to be great for him.  He looks so much more comfortable there than soccer so far.

What I’m Dreading

Fall allergies.  Ugh.  The ragweed has already started here in the south and my body is already seemingly struggling with it.  I’ve had some rough days recently and I’m praying that this fall doesn’t end up being as brutal as last fall.  Last September and October almost killed me.

That said, I actually had a new skin test done earlier this week and according to the skin test, my allergies to trees and weeds are now negative.  My allergies to grasses are still terrible, but since grass doesn't bloom as much this time of year, it's odd that I've been suffering so badly.  In the past I had always assumed it was the ragweed that killed me, but since I'm no longer allergic to it, shouldn't I feel fine now?  Hmmmm.... My ENT has some new theories as to why I'm feeling so bad, so we are getting ready to test them and I'll keep y'all posted if we are able to get me any relief.  Why am I always such a medical enigma?!    

What I’m Working On

Now that the kids are back in school I’m going gangbusters to get all the things done before the busy seasons of fall and Christmas begin.  You may remember that my word for 2019 is DONE, so I’m trying to cross off as many things as I can and get them, well, DONE.  Here are a few of the things I’ve been working on this month.

1. B and I are still working on finishing up cleaning out his home office.  My goal was to have it completely done by the end of the summer, and we’re nearing the end.  I still have a few things to hang and I need to finish cleaning out our storage closet in there and we’ll be done.  B will have lots of projects to keep him busy for months to come, but at least everything is in order.  Most importantly, I can see the floor so there is finally a nice clear path for me to get my seasonal decoration boxes in and out of there.  It used to be a nightmare transporting anything through there!
2. I’m getting all of my blog files on my computer organized.  This is going to take quite some time, but I’m just taking it one file at a time and whittling away at it until the job is done.  I recently revised my master link-ups list and it’s now up-to-date!  I also finally made a list of all of the Evergreen content on my blog so I can easily remember which posts need to be repinned frequently, shared often, and checked for link updates. 
3. I’m organizing all of our back-to-school stuff.  Every school year, after I attend Parent Night at the kids’ school, I always make a sheet of notes with all of the important things to remember for the school year ahead (pick up and dismissal info, homework schedules, important reminders, etc.) and I hang it on our mudroom bulletin board, along with a copy of the school calendar and copies of the kids’ class handbooks.  Our bulletin board is now complete and it makes my life a million times easier!
4. I’m also organizing all of the room mom information for Jacob’s class for this year… I’m going to be the room mom for his class again, along with two other ladies, and I’m working on getting everything organized for the year so I can send out a tentative schedule for all of the class parties and events. 
5. I’m also still whittling away at my Master To Do List, as always.  There will be more details about that in my Five on Friday post later this week, but you may have already seen a few of the things I crossed off this past weekend.
6. And, of course, I’m always working on blogging.  Here are some highlights from this past month:

Five on Friday – Goals

What I Ordered from Amazon in July 2019

What I Wore – July 2019

The First Day of School… Kind Of

My Favorite Shows to Binge

The Best Decorative “Coffee Table” Books

Chicken and Pineapple Stir Fry

What I’m Excited About

Oh my goodness, there is so much to be excited about – impending fall activities, the return of the Pumpkin Spice Latte (yesterday!!) and so many other things on the agenda for the fall.  B and I have booked several concerts/shows for this fall (as if we didn’t already have enough going on!) and we’re going to be trying to squeeze in a lot of date nights between now and Christmas, too!

What I’m Watching/Reading

Watching – B and I just finished The Handmaid’s Tale and OH MY WORD, how will I ever wait an entire year to see what happens next!  We’re also still watching America’s Got Talent, Bachelor in Paradise (hot mess train wreck), Gossip Girl, and we just finished Barry (for Brian).  I’m also really looking forward to all of our network television shows firing up again next month, especially A Million Little Things and This is Us!  But most importantly, #AllTheCollegeFootball  Amen.

Reading – I didn’t read nearly as many books this month as I did last month, mostly because the kids have started school and there’s a lot less downtime than there was during the summer.  I did manage to read 1.5 books, though.  You may remember last month I was halfway through The Nightingale, so I finished that this month (it was excellent) and I also read The Light We Lost.  That one was great, too.  

  

What I’m Listening To

Ed Sheeran’s new album is still on repeat, especially since the kids are back in school now.  I also downloaded Taylor Swift’s new album and I’m positive that one will be on repeat for months to come.  Then in the evenings, we’ve been listening to the Jazz for Studying channel on Pandora and all of the other cozy old standards and jazz albums that I have on my phone – Steve Tyrell, Rod Stewart’s songbooks, Michael Buble, etc.  That music keeps me feeling cozy until it becomes socially acceptable to start listening to Christmas music on November 1.  It’s a nice segway.  Hahahaha.

What I’m Wearing

Well, with the heat index near 110 degrees almost every day this month, I wish I could wear nothing.  Since that’s not socially acceptable, I’m still wearing as little as possible.  I’d love to transition to my fall wardrobe, but since it’s still too painful due to the weather, I’ve started wearing all of the darker summer tops in my wardrobe… navies, hunter greens, and maroons… and pairing them with shorts and sandals.  Because I pretty much have no other choice.  We did have a couple of cool days this past weekend and it was a lovely taste of what’s to come!  For now I'll just be sticking to items like this tank (pictured below), and this top (second picture down)!

What I’m Doing This Weekend

What am I doing this weekend, you ask?  Why, watching the first University of Georgia football game, of course!!!!  And I could not be more excited!  It’s also a long weekend since it’s Labor Day, so I’ll be spending extra time with my lovies!  There is also a hot air balloon festival not too far from our hometown, and I’ve had it on my bucket list to attend that forever… we’ll have to see if we can make it work this year!

What I’m Looking Forward To Next Month

We have soooo much going on in September – like, way more than we usually do – but it’s all fun stuff, and I’m really looking forward to it… college football on TV, back-to-school social and Friday night football games at the kids’ school (and my alma mater), Jacob’s first baseball season, Couple’s Club Trivia Night at our church, and best of all, B and I will be heading to Athens to watch our Dawgs play Notre Dame!!!!  It’s going to be one of the biggest games of the season (just look at how much the tickets are going for on StubHub… seriously insane!) and we cannot wait!  ESPN College Game Day will be there and it’s going to be a night game, so it should be an evening we won’t forget!!  The atmosphere in the stadium will, no doubt, be electric, and I’m counting down the days until we get to experience it! 

In addition to all of those fun things, let’s not forget the start of fall and the fact that it will finally be socially acceptable to decorate with pumpkins and start wearing scarves, weather permitting, of course.  ;o)

What Else Is New

I joined a bible study group!  I’ve been wanting to join one for a couple of years now, but never really pursued it.  I actually already started drafting a few goals for the new year (yes, 2020 is right around the corner!), and this is one of the goals that I had already listed. 

Well, last week, one of the other third grade moms (whom I’ve known for several years and is the wife of one of my old schoolmates and who is also my co-room mom for this year!) invited me to start joining her weekly bible study… it was like she just knew I was looking for one. 

I attended my first one last week and I enjoyed it so much!  We started the evening with homemade biscotti and wine while we all chatted about the new school year (the consensus is that it’s exhausting!), and then we delved into a segment of a video series for our bible study portion of the evening.  Once the segment was over we discussed and shared our feelings about it, and then we ended the evening by sharing our prayer intentions and having a group prayer. 

All of the other ladies in the group are friends from our church and school family (one of whom is one of my BFFs from high school) and all of our kiddos go to school together, and it was just wonderful sharing the evening with so many ladies with whom I have so much in common.  We all prayed over our teachers and school faculty and kiddos for a safe and wonderful school year and I left that evening feeling pretty darn good.  I think it’s safe to say that I’ll be attending as often as our schedule allows!

We discussed devotionals that evening as well, and I wanted to remind all of you that Sarah Young (who writes the popular Jesus Calling devotionals) has a Jesus Calling for Christmas devotional.  I’ll be buying it soon so I can have it in time for the holiday season! 

Happy Wednesday, y’all!

Don't forget to link up with us below!  

Time for a link party! Blogging friends, share your post below and meet your hosts! 

Stefanie at Lexie Loo, Lily, Liam & Dylan Too / Instagram / Twitter / Pinterest / Facebook

Erin at Simple Purposeful Living / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest
Sarah at Sarah E. Frazer / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Pinterest 
Lindsay at Lindsay's Sweet World /  Bloglovin / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest / Twitter
Jaclyn at Coffee, Pancakes, and Dreams / Facebook / Instagram / Pinterest

Keri at Keri Lynn Synder / Facebook / Instagram / Twitter / Pinterest 

*Linking up with Mix and Match Mama for What's Up Wednesday, Jessi's Design and Going the Distance for What's Hap-"Pinning" Wednesday and Pumps & Push Ups for Oh, Hey Girl! Link-Up.