I made it down to Florida!!! It’s my last definite visit for the year… I’m going to try to hold my act together at the end of this trip. No promises, though… I grew up being tough and not mushy at all. Or, at least I thought I did. Better than my sister, at least!!! In fact, I remember laughing at Amanda every time she cried over a movie. Guess what. I joined her club. HA! Not sure where that turning point happened, but gosh, I’ve noticed it more since dating Alex. At least he “gets me!”
One thing Alex and I enjoy doing is discussing our “nopes and dopes” from a day or a weekend! Of course,, rooted from being a Young Life leader. π Because I love that theme so much, I might have to change up my “Weekend Recaps” to “Dopes and Nopes!” What do you think? That still keeps my blog posts persona but adds in a little bit of reality since life isn’t this picture-perfect world. π Of course, though, there will be a balance of positivity in these “nopes” because I don’t want my blog posts to be a debbie downer. π But let’s start off with the dopes of the past week/weekend!!!
Dopes
Dope #1
I’m in Florida until next Thursday visiting Alex!!! Best way to start my week, but I want to keep up with business back at home while I’m here. π So you can expect blog posts throughout the week! So, of course, I needed to kick off the week with this “Weekend Recap!” Despite driving 14-hours this past weekend, I managed to squeeze in a lot! With a busy past few days also meant minimal sleep, but I made sure to catch up on my zzz’s last night, so I’m feeling refreshed and ready to conquer my to-do list! Somehow, I built up the energy to play beach volleyball yesterday evening … I was pooped afterward!!!
This past weekend was a WHIRLWIND. Celebrated one of my best friends’ pregnancy and my sister’s Birthday! π And, of course, made the 14-hour hike to Florida!Β Speaking of road tripping, I can say I’m a professional road tripper now. π After five trips down to Florida since April, I am figuring out the best, most comfortable ways to travel the long 1,000 miles. Three of the five were with a growing pup, who is now SEVEN months!!! Crazy! Anyways, I found myself wasting a lot of time and money grabbing not-s0-great-coffee and food on the road. I packed and prepped food for the trips, but coffee was always challenging. I found myself running into gas stations after feeding/walking Ollie, filling up the gas tank, running in for a bathroom break … Gosh, by that point, I had already spent 20-minutes at a stop, and I just wanted to be down in Florida ASAP! This past trip, I decided to cut down my time even more by packing a big container of Starbucks cold brew coffee and a little container of half and half for the road. Not only did it save me time, but it was guaranteed GOOD coffee, and I ultimately saved money!!! This trip was one of the most efficient drives thanks to this little change. π I also enjoy some side adventures along the 1,000 mile hike!! On the way back to Virginia next week, I plan to stop and explore Tallulah Falls in Georgia (I have heard it’s amazing!!), and visit two of my best friends! I will be making PLENTY of these trips next year when I travel back and forth for Virginia and Florida weddings, so I’m sure I’ll discover many more tips for road tripping and adventures along my travels. π
Dope #2
Celebrated my sister’s Birthday!!! What’s even better than celebrating a Birthday? Celebrating her 50-pound weight loss with a photo shoot!!! I could not have been happier watching her confidently standing in front of my camera!!! I’ll be sure to put together a blog post about her success along with her photo shoot! AH! I’m SOOOO excited!!!! What was even better was when we stopped by our favorite coffee shop in downtown Warrenton, the time hopper reminded us that we were at Deja Brew exactly a year ago doing the same thing! So funny! π It was a fun morning!!!
Dope #3
Showered baby Wyatt and his sweet mamma with love! I could not be more excited for Bethany and Justin!!! They have been hoping for a little boy or girl in their life, and after many prayers, they are expecting the arrival of Wyatt in about a month!!! AH! I cannot wait to meet the little guy! <3
Love this cake! And of course, I had to take a photo of her styled shower gift! π I love putting together basket gifts!!
A few of us stuck around to hang out and ended up taking a bunch of photos! π Love these letters Bethany painted!
Dope #4
The little birdies on my front door grew up and survived all of the crazy storms!!! π I’m so happy I was able to witness them grow and catch this quick photo of them before they took flight. SO cute!!!
Dope #5
I’ve never been involved in weightlifting with a barbell until my personal trainer friend encouraged me to tackle the “big boy” part of the gym! Now I’m deadlifting and squatting 135 pounds! I’m still new to it but it’s nice competing against my own best every time I go to the gym!Β π
Nopes
So, because life isn’t perfect, I thought I would share a couple of stories with you to start your Monday! π HA!
Nope #1
The crazy amount of rain!!! That’s definitely a nope because I was only able to successfully photograph one session last month because all of my other sessions were postponed due to the weather! Yikes!! But it’s okay because we are working through plan B!! It will work out for the best. π And yes… If you see what I see below, that is indeed water damage. π After that crazy wind storm back in March, I’m sure some of my shingles on my roof were damaged. Although I had a roofer quickly assess the damage, he didn’t find any visible signs of needing repair. Well, after other storms and a TON of rain the past couple weeks, I heard a dripping noise and found this in my upstairs guest bathroom on the ceiling. Looks like I’ll have to investigate and see how I can get this covered!!! You’re not a real homeowner until you have issues to fix. π HA!
Nope #2
Pets. Oh, man. I LOVE my Ollie and Pixie, but gosh. I had some interesting encounters this past week. Before I dive in, I had to include these cute photos of my fur babes because they really are sweet and innocent. BUT, let’s see if you think they are still innocent and cute after you read what happened. π First of all, I cannot help but love both Pixie and Ollie. They get plenty of love from me too, but first of all… Pixie. That stinker #1. After I got back from Florida, she sneakily schemed how to wake me up for attention. She managed to do so by not crying or scratching something, but instead, POUNCE on top of me at 4 a.m. Every. Night. HAHA! I’ll have to figure out how to entertain her at 4 a.m. … Totally a joke because she needs to sleep too, just like her human mamma!
And then let’s talk about stinker #2 for a minute … Mr. Ollie. That booger this morning ran out of Alex’s house as he was leaving for work. Imagine this … I was in my PJs running around outside on the street as Ollie chased a cat and played “run away from Steph!” Oh man, I had to laugh at myself for a minute and that almost turned into tears when I realized I was locked outside of Alex’s house once I FINALLY trapped Ollie in the backyard. I was locked out without a key … a cell phone … in my PJs at 6:30 a.m. I thought I was going to be stranded with Ollie outside in the backyard all day in the Florida heat. THANK GOODNESS I put on my Apple watch this morning, though!!! After considering how I can break into his house, Siri saved the day!!!! I was able to connect to my cell phone using my watch and call Alex! PTL!!!! <3 He was late this morning (SORRY, ALEX!!!), but he was able to turn around and save me!!! I’m a happy camper inside in the AC writing this blog post. π
WHEW … I can fortunately laugh at the situation now! Especially since I overheard one of the neighbors laughing as I chased Ollie around… Best solution? Just laugh along! π
And there you have it! My first Dopes and Nopes blog post! I hope you enjoyed seeing a preview of my life just from this past week. I’m looking forward to getting some business and personal projects done this week while squeezing in some beach time. π YES.
I hope you had some GREAT dopes and minimal nopes this past week/weekend!Β HAPPY MONDAY!!!!!
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