Girls' Weekend 2026!

 My core group of high school best friends gets together a few times a year, and we try to do a "Girls' Weekend" every year, but it hadn't happened in two years, until the last weekend of January thankfully brought that particular drought to a close. We spent it at the Cape (we stayed at my house because it's free!), and as always, it was really fun to get away together. I love these friends of mine who have known me since I was 13, when I moved to Massachusetts, and they've known each other since they were little kids. There's something very special about lifelong friends, and I'm grateful to have a group of my own. I love them like sisters. 

Dinner at the 99

I'm so glad "mocktails" have become increasingly popular. For non-alcohol drinkers like me, they're really fun!

Shopping in Chatham. They'd never been shopping there, so I was happy to show them!

Cute little kid sweaters

We got pedicures

We stopped at Jen's stepmom's house for a visit. She does interior design, and her house was beautifully decorated. I took some pictures to give me ideas for the Cape house. Someday, I hope to do things like renovate the kitchen into something more like this:

Look at that backsplash! 😍

Cute whale tail coat hooks

I love my glassed-in shower at the Cape, and if/when it gets re-done, I'd love to do something like this with the walls and floor.

Dinner at Captain Parker's

My Shirley Temple is in the back 😋

Jen and I both liked this fun, luxe sweatshirt at one of the Chatham shops, so we each got one!

I got this cute set of whale measuring cups at a consignment shop. Bonnie found them but didn't get them, so I did! They're perfect for the Cape house.

It was a really fun weekend away together, and I hope we'll be able to do it again next year. 

I love my friends!

Wisdom, Humor, and Inspiration in January 2026

 In the order they were taken...

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The power of rituals, routines, and habits

Yes! Write it down.

This is one of the reasons why I love partaking of the sacrament each Sunday.

I enjoy being a member of this club. I'll always be a homebody at heart! 

Help came about six weeks later. The jury's still out on whether that was a good move. 

I think this number of vaccines for a baby and child is unnecessary, harmful to some, and wrong.

We did this!

Beyond the obvious, there's something about this picture that's inaccurate. Do you know what it is?

Missionaries aren't allowed to have facial hair, and one of them does. Get it right, Babylon Bee! 😄

Kindness is key. It's one of my favorite qualities in people.

Agatha Christie is one of my favorite authors and people.

This altogether was an abomination and is one of the reasons I had a hard time with Biden's presidency.

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I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm all for legal immigration. I'm very against illegal immigration. It's harmful in many ways to countries, not to mention it's against the law and dishonest.

Winter Walk in Odiorne State Park

 On Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, after the first big snowstorm of the season, David and I drove up to Odiorne State Park in New Hampshire for a winter walk. I'd been told that snowy owls nest there for the season and that they can be easy to spot, so that was my main motivation in wanting to go there. We didn't see any owls, but we did enjoy our walk in the snow with the ocean on one side and WWII bunkers and the woods on the other. It felt like a magical winter wonderland in spots. Winter really can be so lovely! I appreciate it so much more now than I used to.

There was a nice mix of sun and clouds that day. Good for pictures!

The combination of clouds, sunlight, snow, and ocean here is so cool to me!

😍

Lighthouse

Jetty

American history

Family history

Someday I want to try cross-country skiing. It's the only kind of skiing I'm interested in.

It was a fun way to get outside and enjoy the fresh air and snow in a new (to us) place!