Adams County Coffee Experience...CHECK!

 

Well, friends, WE DID IT!! We completed the Adams County Coffee Experience, and it was so much fun.

                When I made my 50 Before 50 list earlier this year, I made note that I wanted to do some kind of coffee adventure. I kept the idea open-ended, because I wasn’t sure what might work for us. I thought maybe we’d find a coffee flight or do a coffee crawl on one of our vacations.

                And then…our very own county released the Coffee Experience passport, giving us a chance to visit six different shops throughout the county, trying their coffee, food (in some cases), and atmosphere!

                I’ve written about our fun along the way, but today I wanted to give my final report on this adventure.

                Our first stop was Sorinna’s, and it was also the newest establishment on the trail. It was our first time to go there, and for me, this stop won best food. I had a cinnamon roll, and it was delicious.

                Our next stop was Oliver’s at the Brickhouse, and it won best ambience, mostly because I’m a sucker for exposed brick walls and wooden floors.

                My favorite coffee (Ryan’s too) remains the Shaka Shack. This has forever been our favorite coffee shop, and even though we had fun visiting all the other places, the Shaka Shack still has our loyalty. We’ve never found anyplace that makes an Americano like they do.

                We had been to the other three shops before, but we enjoyed visiting them again.

                The Filling Station has an amazing scotcharoo latte, but I didn’t have it on this visit. (I ordered an Americano at each stop to keep my comparisons consistent.)

                The Java Bean had my favorite décor…this little Lego replica of Central Perk.

                And our final stop this past weekend was Alpine Rose in Berne. We ended up getting breakfast for lunch, and it was good! I love their new giant coffee cup on their building.

                I took pictures of our passport pages and submitted them to the visitor’s center, so we could be entered in the drawing for completing the Coffee Experience. We aren’t known for winning, so I don’t anticipate any kind of prize, but getting to enjoy these coffee dates with Ryan WAS a win! Thanks, Adams County!

Annual Recreated Wedding Photos

 

I will always be grateful for whatever random, now-forgotten Pinterest post led me to suggest that we recreate some wedding photos as part of our first anniversary celebration. We went into that anniversary with no plan, really. We had a tripod, camera, and our wedding scrapbook on hand, and throughout the day, I found pictures to recreate.

                Every year after that, we recreated the same photos. I love our collages. I love seeing the reminders of all the places we’ve visited, the weather conditions of our Decembers, and the hair colors I’ve had over the years!

                Today I present to you thirteen years of wedding recreations! Enjoy…

Christmas Tour of Homes

 

Back in the day, one of my favorite things to do with Mom was to visit show homes or go on home tours whenever we had any near home. I just love looking at houses, which might explain my ongoing fascination with Zillow and Realtor websites. So, weeks ago, when I saw that Adams County was going to host a holiday tour of homes, Ryan and I made plans to go one a home tour date.

                The homes were open this weekend, but we could only go on Saturday, and of course, it started snowing right before the tour began. Of course! Ryan was amazing and navigated us safely around to nine locations across the county, and today I wanted to show you some of my favorite things!

                The first home we saw was built in 1880 and still had tons of original character. We met the homeowners while we were there, and they told us they are working on continuing to restore it to its original beauty.

We loved the little upstairs porch they said they enjoy using in the warm months (which excludes this one, for sure!) and my favorite room was the kitchen. I always find kitchens challenging to decorate, because there isn’t a ton of extra room. I loved the bows on the cabinets and the gifts above the cabinets. I can’t use the gift idea in our home, because we don’t have room above our cabinets, but I would have loved doing it in ANY of our previous homes if I’d thought of it!

The second home was built in 1902 and has over 4300 square feet! This house is now home to the Historical Society and museum, so while it is partially set up with home furnishings, it also has a lot of memorabilia inside it.

We loved walking all over the grand house, and I loved the nod to Christmases gone by throughout the rooms.

Our third stop was an old train depot, built in 1902, that has been restored. It was the most adorable building, and I couldn’t get over the cuteness of it from the moment we pulled up in front!

We loved the nod to Mackinaw City, especially since we just visited there this year!

Our last stop in Decatur was the heart-stopper for me. It was the home of the couple that owns the local bookstore, and they live above it. It was hard to get a picture here, since we parked beside the building and I couldn’t get a good angle for photographing the building. It was built in 1876 and was originally a bank and general store. Anyway, I did take this picture of the stairs we walked up to get to the home. Look at all those gorgeous books…right there! I told the homeowner if I lived above a bookstore, I might never leave.

I didn’t get a picture of the main part of the house, because we were too busy talking to them about what it’s like to live above a bookstore. But I did get this picture of the soaker tub. Isn’t it darling???

We moved on to Berne, where we stopped at the Swiss Heritage Village to visit both the church and school buildings. The church was built in 1860 and the notes said it has no bell or steeple as a nod to the churches in Switzerland. (Berne is a Swiss community.) This church no longer serves a congregation but it is used for a Christmas Eve service and small weddings.

They had the stove fired up and warming the place, and I just loved the simple decorations inside!

The school was built in 1881 and housed classes for 64 years. The building was moved to this site, which was an undertaking, because it weighs 128 tons!

You know me: I’m a wannabe teacher. Being inside here with all the desks and the chalkboard…ahhhhhh.

Then we went to two homes in Berne. This one was quite stunning from the outside. It was built in 1898, and at that time, the local newspaper said it was the most beautiful and costliest house in town. Over time, it fell into disrepair, and the current owners purchased it in 2013 at a tax sale.

We saw the before pictures while we were there, and whew! It was indeed a project! The family worked on it over six years, and while we weren’t able to see most of the house, the parts open to the tour were lovely and well done. (It’s a 6500 square foot home!)

I loved this pretty tree best!

The last home in Berne was filled with Christmas to the max – more than any other home!

This house was built in 1930, and the current owners have done a beautiful job with it. It had Christmas in every corner, and we loved it. What I loved most, though, had nothing to do with Christmas. The husband of the couple that owns the house has the most enviable collection of commentaries. I drooled forever over them, and it was a treat to get to talk to both homeowners about that library!!!

Our very last stop was in Geneva – at the Limberlost Cabin, built by Gene Stratton Porter. We’ve never visited here before, and it’s on my 50 Before 50 list. I didn’t count this as a visit, because we didn’t do the proper tour where we learn all about Gene and her life, but I plan to go back and enjoy that!

Gene Stratton Porter was an author and nature lover, so her house reflects that. I’ve driven by it hundreds of times and was surprised to learn that the interior is much more Victorian than the cabin-esque outside would indicate. I loved standing in the room that I presumed was her writing space. (It had a typewriter.)

I also loved her conservatory. So many plants!

What a fun date this was!!! We enjoyed every moment! It was so kind of all these homeowners and businesses to make space for us to enjoy their beautiful Christmas décor!

Sunday Snapshots: Memorable Moments from the Week

 

I told you yesterday that we had such a busy week. Most of the things on our list really were quite fun, but we just sort of ran through the week at a crazy fast pace. We are both hoping that the week to come is a little less congested.

This is certainly not a comprehensive list of our week, but here are some of the many highlights.

Last Sunday, after church, Ryan and I hosted a training lunch for our new deacons at church. It was the SWEETEST time. Our deacon chairs offered to hold the lunch at their house, where they have a great entertaining space in their barn, and we did a build-your-own sandwich bar and topped off the meal with Christmas cookies. We went through all the training materials for deacon life and ended our time together with communion. It was so sweet.

Monday was Christmas at the Village, which I told you about earlier this week. Ryan worked the event, helping to staff the train room. I hated being apart from him for the evening, but I was proud of him for doing a great job with his role!

Tuesday was a big day in Shafferland! It was my one-year mark working at the church and it was Ryan’s debut as an announcer for the wrestlers at the local high school! If you didn’t know, Ryan was a wrestler in high school (a good one!) and though he hasn’t been part of the wrestling world in any way since, he was invited to announce the wrestlers as they competed. He’ll get to do this again a few times throughout the season, but this was the first night. It was also my first time to ANYTHING wrestling-related. I had no idea what was happening, but I enjoyed watching people!

I worked from home a little bit on Wednesday, and the eagles were out in full force! There were several all over the lake for hours. It was hard to get a good picture (they tend to stay out in the middle) but they were there and so pretty. So majestic.

Ryan helped transport and serve at the resident Christmas dinner at Swiss Village. He looked so handsome in his serving uniform! 😊 Lexi and I looked a little less polished for chores and jammies night.

Ryan had Friday off work, and we made a full, full day of appointments and errands! I loved being with him and catching up on so many things. The day was fraught with a handful of mind-blowing detours, but they made for great journal stories at the end of the day!

Yesterday was craziness from morning until night. We had more places we should have been than time to be at each of those places. And as if the day wasn’t fun enough already, we had SNOW! Ryan got us safely to and from each of our destinations and we had the best day. I’ll tell you more about the day next week, but meanwhile you can know that we crossed off the last coffee shop on the Adams County Coffee Experience! WE DID IT!!!!!

Saturday Suggestions: Inspirations for Your Weekend

 

                I feel like every December, we have one week that can best be summarized with whaaaaaaaaaaattttttttt?  This was that week. We have almost made it through! I look forward to hunkering down on the couch to read some of my favorite blogs, but until I have a chance for that, here are some fun things for YOU to read!

I love this little tutorial for drawing cute gingerbread houses on the window!! It even includes free templates for tracing…for those of us who struggle with any measure of artistic talent.

Who doesn’t love a good hot chocolate bar in the winter?? I always like reading about the different ways people set up their hot chocolate bars, so stumbling on this one was a win!

Calling all fiction lovers!! Have you seen this Christian fiction reading challenge for 2026? I think it looks really fun! I haven’t read many of the authors on this list, so it could be fun to find new authors I enjoy reading.

I have certainly had years when I struggled to get in the Christmas spirit. (Actually, my Advent book was born out of one of those years!) Yvonne made a list of cheer-filled ideas to help you if you’re struggling this year. Cutting back on the to-do list might be the best bet of all!

I love reading about homesteading, even if there are parts of the lifestyle we can’t do where we live. Mary’s post about 10 ways to get started homesteading was a fun read. We still can’t do chickens here, but we’ve started some of the other skills!

Are you hosting a Christmas gathering? If you need some trivia games, here’s a link to a freebie of White Christmas questions, this one is for It’s a Wonderful Life, here’s one for While You Were Sleeping, and this one is for Elf.