Birthdays, Gifts, and Goodwill

Have I mentioned Sunday's my birthday?

What? Only daily? Oh! Okay. Well then I won't tell you again.

(That Sunday is my birthday, I mean.)

A couple of years ago, my parents started a tradition of taking Ryan and me out for dinner in between our birthdays. A big birthday palooza for all. This year, we decided to go to Cracker Barrel, and Mom said we could order whatevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver we wanted. (That's a joke from my childhood. On regular days, the goal was to eat frugally. On birthdays, you could get whatevvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvvver you wanted.)

 Sorry about my hair and our halos. I promise my hair looks better earlier in the day. It seems to fade fast by evening.

Anyway. We got delicious dinners, and our waitress, who was amazing by the way, brought us birthday desserts!!

After we left, we headed to the Goodwill to look for some boots for Ryan, and LOOK WHAT WE FOUND ACROSS THE STREET? IT IS ALMOST READY!!!

Best. Birthday. Gift. Ever.

We were looking for boots to wear in his sister's wedding, and we found them, but he also found this and wanted to wear it. (Possibly with the flamingo suit. You remember the flamingo suit.)

Before we came home, we went to Kohl's, and apparently I took too long trying on dresses. Found these on my phone when I came out of the dressing room.

So now you're caught up on our birthday celebrations! Until Sunday. My birthday. ;)

Wedding Fun!

It's taken me this whole week to tell you about our weekend! After Ryan and I got home from my speaking engagement Saturday morning, we had about an hour of rest time before we hopped back in the car and headed to Indianapolis to attend our friend's wedding! She's one of my friends from high school, and we really enjoyed the ceremony and reception! Here are a few pictures from it:

Pre-wedding selfie. :) 

 Our row! If you heard the podcast yesterday, you heard us talking about our 8th grade science teacher who still water skis at age 74. She's the one sitting two down from me. Looks exactly the same as when we had her in the early 90's.

 The happy couple!

 Awwww, they were nice to each other.

 Photo opp with the bride!

So that was Saturday.

Then there was Sunday. After church, Ryan came home and napped, and I went to his sister's bridal shower. My job was to take pictures, which I did at an alarming rate. But I was so nervous, because Ryan's mom is a photographer extraordinaire, and I am sort of a capture on the fly girl, and I freaked out that my pictures wouldn't be good enough! Alas, I cannot redo any of them now, so here's a peek at the shower.

Ryan's family does parties up right. Lots of hard work goes into every shower and party they throw! This was no exception!

The gift table. There were eventually a lot more gifts, but there were also a lot more people and I couldn't get a clear shot by that time. HA!

 Denim-inspired placemats and cups with daisies and baby's breath - and party favors of wooden spoons! (TOTALLY FORGOT TO GET ONE!)

 Our sister-in-law Megan makes phenomenal cakes, and there were two tasty examples at the shower. Guess who didn't get any of that either? WHAT?!?!!? I know!

 Ryan's cousin won the game. She declared she never wins ANYTHING, so this was a photo worthy moment!

 The happy bride-to-be!

 So I stood on this step stool for an hour and a half, taking pictures, and the ONE TIME I paused to text Ryan, I missed that she was waiting for a photo with this monogram. They had to shout my name to get my attention. WHOOPSIE! Photographer fail!

 Also. It is good that was an H and not an S, or I might have tucked that in my belongings on the way out the door!!

This is classic Bre right here!! :)

 Our nephew helped with the end of the gift opening. He was very eager for her to see this cookie sheet!

 Lots of group pictures at the end! Here is Bre with her dad, her sister, and her grandma.

 Bre with her mom (also Ryan's mom) and Aunt Debbie. Nita and Aunt Debbie were the hostesses of the party and did all the hard work to prepare it!

 This is what happens when the niece sneaks into the picture with the mother and mother-in-law! She jumped up right into my frame!

 But she's also a good little photographer and took this one of Bre and me!

 And this one.

So that was our Sunday! The year of weddings is officially underway!

Huntington Baptist Church

It is, of course, podcast Tuesday, so I begin by bringing you this week's episode of Spill the Beans, with stories from the detox fail and our weekend! ENJOY!

Listen right here!

Yesterday I told you about my trek to Fort Wayne for photography fun at Daddy Daughter Date Night. Our weekend of busyness continued into Saturday, because I had my first speaking engagement of May on Saturday!

Ryan and I traveled to Huntington Baptist Church to speak to their ladies group during their spring luncheon. (And we narrowly escaped a speeding ticket on the way there. EEK!)

It was supposed to be a cold and rainy Saturday, but it was sunny the whole day. What a blessing!

I'd been invited to speak at this church because my friend Debbie attends there and called a few weeks ago to ask me if I would join them. I first met Debbie over 10 years ago when she attended a different church, and I visited their women's Bible group for a Beth Moore study. Debbie took me under her wing and was so kind to me, even though I didn't regularly attend there. I've never forgotten that!

Debbie is a sweetheart and is completely devoted the Lord. Always an encouragement!

I was so glad to have Ryan with me that day. As I tell him every single time he comes with me, things just go better when he's there. He has a very calming way about him!

We arrived early so I could get set up. Ryan was in charge of the camera, so he did test pictures while I set up the podium area. LOL!

He also helped me set up my book table, and then took pictures of me and my coffee with my table. #priorities

 The ladies carried in breakfast/brunch foods, and it was all so delicious. The great part of speaking at churches for meals is that church folk are the best cooks ever. The worst part of speaking at churches for meals is that I don't want to overeat before I get up and speak. Except I really want to overeat!

There was such an amazing atmosphere in the room that day. You could tell it had been well-prayed-over and the Holy Spirit was present in a big way! I thoroughly enjoyed my time of sharing and felt so relaxed!

After I spoke, I got to stay and meet with some of the women. PeggySue (who took my job at WBCL) was there, and it was good to see her!

And I got to meet in real life my Facebook friend, Sarah!

All in all, a wonderful morning with the ladies! Thankful for new friends and Ryan's support!

Daddy Daughter Date Night 2017

Two years ago, after I'd resigned at WBCL, the very last station event I worked was Daddy Daughter Date Night. It was an emotionally charged evening for me, because not only was it my last event, but it was one Ryan hadn't been able to attend, and somehow it didn't feel right to me that he missed my last-ever event!

A few months ago, the station reached out and asked if I'd be interested in coming back to Daddy Daughter Date Night to serve as a volunteer photographer for the night. I said yes - and that's how this last Friday, I made my way back to Fort Wayne to see my work buddies!

Again, Ryan wasn't able to go with me (sadness!), and pretty much everyone I saw said, "HI! Great to see you! Where's Ryan?" LOL!!!

Thought I'd share with you a few pictures from our night!

Remember when I used to be part of PB&J in the morning? (Phil, Bekah, Jim). Well I found the morning team right away when I went in!

Clearly I should have taken the selfie stick! Larry (the news guy), Jim, Phil, and Phil's beautiful daughter Faith! These guys all picked up RIGHT where they left off two years ago - picking on me like you would not believe. I do miss them. They may have given me a hard time, but I do miss them. (DO NOT TELL THEM I ADMITTED THAT IN PRINT.)

I think I heard somewhere that the evening had sold out with 500 tickets. So clearly not all 500 seats are in this photo, but I wanted to get a picture of the room before it started filling up. The color scheme was so beautiful, and I LOVED all the lights!!

While I'm here, I'll show you the place settings and cupcakes!

 The photography team!!

Behind me is Jeri, who hired in right about the same time I did, and next to her (in the striped dress) is Dana, who answered the Mid-Morning phones for the last couple of years before I left. (She does many other things as well, but that's when we got to work together!) The three of us ran cameras for the photo booths, and the two girls on the right are Dana's sisters, who served as our lovely assistants!

I was surprised to actually see people I knew! I saw six people from my old church in Marion! One of them was my mentor for a while, so I had to get a picture with her!

My dear Cindy - I miss her so much!

The photography booths were open as soon as the dads and daughters came in, but when they served dinner, of course, most sat down to eat. So the photography team sat to eat too! We had just started, when we saw lines beginning to form at our stations again. I was so afraid if I walked away from my plate, the waiters would think I lost interest. UH NO!!!! So this was my attempt to hang onto my dinner!

It worked!

That cupcake...

The concert for the evening featured JJ Heller, and while I didn't get to hear a lot of it (chose to spend part of that time visiting with friends I never get to see), I was entirely impressed at how well she related to those girls!! Very personable!

At the end of the night, I did manage to get a few minutes to talk to this lovely lady right here:

Lynne!! We had a great (although quick) talk, and we remembered just how much we miss having long talks!

By the time I packed up my camera bag and limped (stupid shoes!!) out to the car, it was getting late, and by the time I rolled through a drive-thru for caffeine to get me home, I discovered it was going to be after 11 before I got home. Now, I'm not so old that getting home after 11 is late, but this was the first stop on a VERY BUSY WEEKEND, so I wanted to try to get a decent amount of sleep if I could!

So wonderful to see my friends, and so thankful they were kind enough to invite me back! :)

The Shafferland Shuffle

WHEW! Hope you are not floating away in all this rain we've had! What a lotta water!! Here's a peek into the dry parts of our week.

* Last Sunday was the second and final day of Ryan's continuing education course, and it was also the second (and turned out to be final) day of my 3 Day Refresh detox. I felt like I had the flu, so I pretty much stayed on Mo the entire day, with big hair and no makeup. Ryan got home from class that evening, and I was so happy to see him and so sad to be unable to drink coffee that I just cried.

* Because I called it quits on the detox at 4:03 Monday morning (after a long/short night of hallucinations and no sleep), I enjoyed the most amazing cup of coffee when the alarm went off. I've never loved it more. And I mean that. Ryan had a chance to try out a genuine Mayberry sheriff's car that day. Doesn't he look so cute in it? And I was excited to see a preview of Erica Wiggenhorn's forthcoming study on the book of Acts! It's gonna be great!

* Tuesday was our monthiverary. 53 months! We both spent the day working hard on our respective jobs, but that evening, we enjoyed dinner, a Dashing Dish dessert, and a lovely evening at home together. Even got in a nice, hard workout!

* Wednesday was a big office day for me. Lots of writing and practicing for upcoming talks. When I finally flipped my sign to closed at the end of the day, I was pleased with how much I had accomplished! Know what I was not pleased about? The manicure I got at the double-date mani/pedi last Friday completely fell apart. Had to do my own less than a week later. I think it turned out well, though!

* Thursday the rain began to fall...and it was just one wet, nasty day. What a birthday gift for Braeya, huh? She mostly napped all day and I didn't blame her. Wanted to do the same, myself! :) We didn't have nearly the flooding that some areas had, but it still was a soppy wet mess.

* Friday began our crazy busy weekend! I headed up to Fort Wayne to be a volunteer at WBCL's Daddy Daughter Date Night - photography night for me! It was so good to see all my former work buddies! I also got the chance to meet one of my friends' new little baby! :) Ryan spent the evening helping out my parents and enjoying a dinner out with them. Definitely odd to be apart, but we both had great nights!

* I'd gotten home after 11 on Friday night and we were back on the road by 8:15 Saturday morning so I could speak at the Huntington Baptist Church brunch. Ryan went with me, and we had a great morning with the ladies there! We got home just in time to drive the opposite direction, down to Indianapolis, to attend the wedding of one of my high school/game night friends. A full and fun day!