Five Things on Friday [vol. 12]

Happy. happy Friday!  I hope that you all had a great week.  It felt like a long week over here, but not in a bad way.  Instead, I feel like we were able to get so much accomplished this week around home and life and not be so crazy this week.  I attribute it to Hubs having off of work on Monday, which only reaffirms my belief that if you could take Monday or Friday off of work, Monday is the day to do it.  Am I the only one who feels this way?

Friday always feels like Friday to me and even if you’re at work, most people are looking forward to the weekend and trying to wrap things up on Friday afternoons.  Fridays are more casual and treats are always allowed.  Likewise, Monday is still Monday.  It’s the start of the work week whether you’re going into work or taking the day off.  What this means to me, is that I always feel like starting fresh and getting things done on Monday.  So, if I have the day off and to myself, I feel way more relaxed on the weekend and way more productive on personal things on Monday.  THEN, I’m ready to start the work week.

I’m not actually sure if that made any sense, but I’ve thought this every since I was in graduate school at night and working two part time jobs during the day.  I had Mondays off and was able to use the whole day to plan and organize the week, catch up on school work, etc.  This week reaffirmed that for me.  We got so much stuff done around our house on Monday, it was truly wonderful and set the tone for a much more productive week.

With all that said, today is Friday, which means another round of Five Things on Friday, where I share five tid-bits of information either from the week or just on my mind with you all.

Shall we begin?

A New Dress

First up is this new fall dress that I received from eShakti.  You may have seen me mention them before in this post.  Basically, eShakti is an online clothing store that specializes in custom clothing.  You choose the basic style and then customize it to your exact preferences.  You not only give them your measurements, but can choose to customize things like the length, sleeves, neckline, with or without pockets (is without even an option?!).  They make the piece just for you and ship it over.   Be on the lookout for all the details of this dress in the next few weeks.

A Day Trip with Little

Little is really into animals these days.  He loves all kinds of farm animals and is hoping to get to go to the zoo later this month.  Our family visited a farm a few months ago and he LOVED it.  We’ve also been to a museum with farm animals, so he gets really excited anytime you mention the farm.  I had been doing some research to find anything resembling a farm that was inexpensive or free and within driving distance for a day trip and a friend recommended the Historic Oak View Park.  It’s a nineteenth century farmstead that used to operate as a cotton farm.  The park itself is pretty expansive, not to mention gorgeous, but most importantly for our purposes, they have goats and chickens to see and if you bring carrots or apples, you can feed the goats.

They also have great displays inside the main barn for the kids to explore.  I hope to share more photos soon.  This was just what we needed to end the week.  It was great one on one time with Little and he really enjoyed it.  We packed our lunch and made a day of it.

A Whole Bunch of Family

This week also marks the start of both of my sisters living nearby again.  You may remember when we went to Charleston, I mentioned that my sister was moving.  Well, she and her husband are actually staying with us for a little while to get used to their new jobs and find a great place to live.  Little absolutely loves having family around all the time.  Of course, my other sister still comes by often, and Hub’s parents are coming this weekend for a visit.  We’ve got my brother’s wedding this month also, so we are preparing for and looking forward to lots and lots of family time and celebrations this month.

An Excuse to Bake a Cheesecake

With all that family up here (and some cream cheese in the fridge that was nearing expiration within the week), I had the perfect excuse to bake a cheesecake.  I’ve got a real sweet tooth and Hubs doesn’t, so almost anytime I bake something here I end up sharing it with Little and eating the rest.  Having so many people around, we were able to pass it around and I didn’t feel so bad about it.  Spoiler alert: Yes.  It was delicious.  Early birthday cake, am I right?!

Hurricane Irma (?!)

Finally, can we talk for a minute about this hurricane?  I am still so shocked to see all the damage in Houston from Hurricane Harvey and all the photos coming out of the Caribbean with Irma.  The models keep changing, so it’s a tough call to say what we can expect, but all the uncertainty makes me a little nervous.  I want to prepare, but don’t want to panic.  More selfishly, I want it to be over before my brother’s wedding coming up so we can travel safely there and back.  Are any of you in the line of the storm?  How are you preparing?

In Case You Missed It

In regular Live Well Play Together fashion this week, there as just one post up earlier this week, which you can find here.  It’s another installment of the What Mama Wore series and I’m talking about community in life and blogging.  I’d love you to check it out if you haven’t already seen it!

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You can see more of my Five Things on Friday posts here.

And be sure to check out other great Five on Friday posts at these link ups:

Five on Friday | Friday Favorites | Friday Favorites | High Five for Friday | Friday Faves