A Couple More Friendtastic Days

Hey there, friend who feels panicky about the last few days before Christmas! Good news! We have a new set of stories to keep you company while you shop/wrap/bake/clean/freak out!

Listen here!

So....two weeks ago today we were leaving the beauty of the beach. You may be unclear about our feelings on that:

This was a lonnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnng day of travel for us. We had to drive across the width of Florida and then all the way up the opposite coast and into Georgia. Here are some highlights from the road:

Orlando? NOT the happiest place on earth. I sincerely did not think we were going to make it through the construction. My SOUL!! It was insane. I pretty much just held onto my handle with my eyes shut and my face threatening to freeze in disgusting contortions. Praise the Lord (seriously!) and thank you Ryan for getting us through that safely.

This was much happier.

Car games!!!

Our plan that night was to stay with my friend Jill, who worked with me at WBCL. She moved away, got married, and I hadn't seen her in years. But she and her husband graciously opened up their home for us to stay with them that night.

We were bone weary when we got there, and Jill and Gary weren't home yet. They were leading a Bible study, but they let us come on in and rest. What a heavenly sight:

We were hungry and we'd never eaten at a Zaxby's, so we decided to try it. Salads for both of us, but I have to say I think it was one of the best fast food salads I'd ever had. Flavorful!!

We brought our salads back to Gary and Jill's to eat there and watch TV. Then they arrived home and we got to talk with them a bit before going to sleep!

Early the next morning, we headed out for our continued adventure!

Ryan has a good friend named Nate that he went to PTA school with. After Ryan and I were married, we discovered Nate and Jenna attended the same church we started going to. The four of us became friends, and they were one of our favorite couple-friends to hang out with! Then, right about the time we moved to Kokomo, Nate and Jenna moved to North Carolina. We miss them! Ryan wanted to see them while were out, so they were our final stop on our Friendtastic Fifth Anniversary Adventure.

We arrived at their house mid-afternoon on Wednesday. Nate was at work, so we hung out with Jenna, the kids, and the dogs for the afternoon. (And we had our own little room there that was so cozy!)

That evening, they decided to take us to one of their favorite restaurants, which was in Durham, North Carolina. It's called Tyler's Taproom, and it has some of the best garlic fries on the planet. (Although I enjoyed them for several days after, so if you don't like garlic with staying power, don't get them. LOL!)

Dinner really was quite delicious, and it was fun to meet up with Nate (he met us there after work) and be together as a whole friend group again!

 (She's watching a video while she eats.)

The kids were so tired, so after we ate, Jenna took them home to put them to bed, and Nate took Ryan and I around the little area where the restaurant was located. It's really neat. It's an old train depot area and has these great waterfalls and other features.

 Yes. Those are bikes.

 Nate had some 3D glasses that turned Christmas lights into trees and snowflakes, and we had fun looking through them.

On the way home, we stopped for coffee at this little shop. It wasn't our favorite coffee of the trip, but it was a very interesting little shop!

And so you can see the whole group together at once, here we are:

The Date Inspired by the Letter W

Remember two weeks ago when we were in shorts and tank tops? No? Just me? Sigh. That was a great day.

Two weeks ago today was our last full day in our beloved Florida, and my goodness, did we ever have a beautiful day!!

We also devoted this day to our date inspired by the letter W: the wonderful waterfront date. (We took our chalkboard picture as a nighttime selfie, so I just apologize for its quality.)

When we had lunch with my college roommate's family the day before, her dad told us about Venice Beach and how it's famous for having an abundance of shark teeth. We thought it might be fun to find ourselves a shark tooth, so we got up, got some coffee, and headed about a half hour south of Siesta Key to check out Venice Beach!

What shocked me the most was the difference in the sand! Even though we had only driven a few miles away, the sand was normal (dark) and not white and powdery like it is at Siesta Key!

We found a great beach with fishing pier (and hula hoop group in full session!) and walked around taking in the sights!

We went on to another beach that was a bit more rugged. There, we saw other people hunting for shark teeth - using all sorts of digging tools and strainers. I thought the teeth were just going to be scattered about waiting for us to pick them up. Not so much! We did narrowly miss stepping on a couple of crabs IN OUR BARE FEET, which totally freaked me out. And we did see millions of shells!

And then...on to the main event! Ryan found (on Groupon) a kayak company that had glass bottom kayaks. We nearly got lost getting there (another half hour south of Venice and out on an island with a toll bridge) but we did find it, and it was SO FUN.

We didn't end up seeing any water creatures swimming under our kayak, but when we were close to shore, we could see through to the bottom, and that was fun. It was a HOT day and we went to a sandbar that looked pretty far to this non-athlete, but it was totally worth it. BEAUTIFUL.

Ready to go! (For the record, Ryan said I'm much better than I was when I kayaked the first time. This marks only my third time, so imagine how great I could be if we lived on the water and I could practice every day??!!)

 Cool kayak, no?

 Under the fishing pier - watch out for lines!!!

 Birds on the dead limbs...

 See that sand bar wayyyyyyyyy out there? That's where we were headed. (And this was halfway!)

 View through the bottom of the boat.

 Made it to the sand bar! It was like a deserted island. So cool.

 Walking the beach....

 I call this piece "boat and bridge."

 He makes a very handsome beach date. (Insert hearts here.)

 Proof that I was there!

 With our kayak!!!

We got back to our resort just in time to watch the final sunset....

And that was a wrap on beach time - and on our wonderful waterfront date.

The only thing that let us leave without legitimate tears was the knowledge that we had planned some fun adventures for the whole way home!

And here are all our alphabetical dates so far if you need some ideas!!!

Linking up with Tamar

The Shafferland Shuffle

Don't panic, but you have a WEEK until Christmas!!! While you deep-breathe about that, take a peek at our adventures from this week!

* Well, we intended to be home when we woke up last Sunday morning, but thanks to icy roads, it didn't happen. We woke up in a hotel room near Cincinnati and hopped in the car to drive the last 170 miles home. We looked awful and smelled worse, but we were home! Braeya was excited to see us and so so so mad at us for being gone. (We are actually still paying for that.)

* Monday morning we were back to working out. Gotta get rid of vacation gut, right? Ohhhhhh it hurt! I felt it for days! Braeya sobbed most of the day and would only be comforted by our laps or sitting on the Sherpa blanket near me in the office while I got back to the daily routine. We ran a bunch of errands that night, including ordering a cake for my sister's retirement party. I would like the record to show that this cake was in our refrigerator for one day and I did not sneak so much as a swipe of icing. Willpower, baby!

* Mom had a therapy appointment on Tuesday, and I'd not seen her since before vacation, so I went! I also made a Christmas gift scrapbook for Ryan's grandma (she doesn't do blogs, so she won't see this) and it turned out really well! And that night, we met up with about half our small group for a Christmas dinner. We had a great time - hadn't seen most of them for about a month, so we enjoyed swapping stories!

* Wednesday I updated all the photos on our gallery wall, and I replaced our wedding canvas with the pallet picture Ryan gave me for our anniversary. I had my first ever green smoothie and discovered I actually like them! And we had a much-needed night at home that evening. Braeya agreed.

* I spent most of Thursday editing a podcast and getting steps. (Our insurance decided to start a two week step challenge, and the first week fell during the height of our vacation driving. Of course. So we came home behind and we have walked and run SO MUCH this week trying to make up for lost time.) I was so sore after that, so sitting in front of the tree was in order!

* Friday night, we went on our Christmas light gallop. LOL! We had two little parks here in Kokomo, so we got coffee and drove through both, and then we went to visit our Pheebs and her people. We had coffee with them and spent some quality time with our part-time girl!

* Ryan worked yesterday, so I made him a peppermint trifle cheesecake, because I thought he deserved a reward! And then last night we went out with my carpool kiddos and had so much fun. We took them Christmas shopping for their mom, took them out to eat (McDonald's) and then brought them back to our house to help them wrap their gifts and watch Christmas movies. We all had a huge blast!

The Saturday Six

One.

Listen here

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of interviewing author Sarah Beckman about her new book, Alongside. Sarah is back for a second Conversation Café visit, not because she has another new book, but because she has some insights on using your talents for God! I know Christmas is looming, but right behind it is a brand new year, and I know many of us will be working on figuring out how we can best serve the Lord in 2018. Listen to Sarah's wisdom on resisting the urge to bury your talents, and instead, digging them out for HIS glory!

Two.

Since we visited the Biltmore last week, I found myself a bit curious about how you actually go about decorating a home of that size. I found this little behind-the-scenes article that was totally fascinating. Even if you've never seen the Biltmore, I think you'll find this interesting!

Three.

I wrote this piece for the Annesley site and wanted to share it with you, too! Just a few thoughts about Christmas lights. (Oh, how I love them!)

Four.

I don't know whether or not you like Little House on the Prairie, but if you do, you should read this article. If you don't, you should still read the article, because it gives a glimpse into what it was like to be a television writer years ago. And if anyone else has ever seen a yearbook writing excerpt with as much depth as the one mentioned within, please tell me! Our high school yearbooks definitely weren't so polished!

Five.

Ryan and I have toured a few fun factories on our trips around the state of Indiana. I found this site that lists factories around the nation you might want to visit as you travel through. Whether you're homeschooling or just marking fun items off your bucket list, see what you can find from this list!

http://factorytoursusa.com/

Six.

Source

This week, my fiction reading took a bit of a different turn, and I have to say, I think it was successful! I enjoy fiction and try to read many different types in my quest to be well-rounded, so when I saw a new book called The Secret Life of Sarah Hollenbeck and read that the main character was a novelist herself, I thought it might be a fun read.

Fun indeed! I actually laughed until I snorted several times and even read snippets to Ryan. (I will occasionally read snippets of non-fiction to him if I find them particularly powerful, but I don't think I've ever subjected him to fiction scenes before.

Here's the basis of the story. Sarah Hollenbeck is a girl very much like any of us. She's trying to find her footing in the world again after her marriage ended. She had spent so many years trying to be the woman and wife his world/career demanded that she honestly isn't even sure who she is or how to behave. In an attempt to make friends, Sarah joins a book club, and secretly, she tries her hand at writing.

When her words are discovered, she's delighted at the positive feedback, but she hides behind a pen name, because her novels are a bit on the (ahem) steamy side.

And then Sarah Hollenbeck finds Jesus. A brand new born-again Christian, she has no idea how to navigate the book contracts that demand more of Raine  de Bourgh's edge, find a place in church, or manage her feelings for the ridiculously handsome pastor of said church.

What I appreciated about Bethany Turner's novel was the raw truth of its pages. Honestly, if you're accustomed to traditional Christian fiction, this book might be a bit prickly for you. It touches on subjects most authors won't address in any kind of depth. But these are real problems that face real people today. (Okay, so maybe most regular people aren't NYT bestselling authors sporting a pen name, but the broader sticky situations are common.)

How do we welcome people into our church if they have a past that doesn't match their present? Do we try at all to see them for who they can become rather than who they have chosen to be? I really appreciated some of the supporting characters in this book and their grace balanced with accountability.

This book is also just flat out funny. Sarah Hollenbeck is hilarious, and since the book is told in first-person, you get to enjoy not just her funny spoken zingers, but her stream-of-consciousness too!

I was entertained, for sure, but I was also challenged to be a friend like Piper (Sarah's BFF) to my baby Christian friends!

* Revell sent me a copy of this book, but all opinions are my own! *