September 2025 Randoms

 September was full of ups and downs. It had beautiful weather and the excitement of my wedding coming up. It also had the shooting of Charlie Kirk, President Nelson's passing, and a horrific attack and killing at an LDS church in Michigan. Happiness and grief can indeed co-exist. Fortunately, the former is eternal, and for those who choose it, the latter is not. Anyway, enough philosophizing, and on to the randoms!

A cute bee wreath at Poly Arts. I like bee things now beecause of David. 😊

But owls will always be #1 for me! I saw this at PolyArts, too.

Mini tacos in a heart shape. They came out of the box like that.

Sam is into rap music (unfortunately). He plays the edited versions of his favorites for me, because most of them (unfortunately) need editing. This one, however, didn't. It's a Kanye West song that I actually really like, "God Is."

A woman in David's ward loves the Book of Mormon and has such a strong testimony of it. Check out her car! What a great member missionary.

😍

This was a rather delicious lunch I made one day with pico de gallo, tomatoes, avocados, and tortilla chips.

Cute children's book spotted at the library. It felt fitting because of my own wedding coming up, even though it wasn't a woodland wedding. (But wouldn't that be nice?)

Also, I would have loved this book series if it had been around when I was a kid.

Back-to-school night is always informative and interesting. These are the books Sam is reading this year for his English class.

This is an excerpt from Elder Conner Sofoul's weekly email, and the last sentence especially cracked me up. 😆

Pretty afternoon sunlight on my pretty fall comforter.

I like Rachel Hollis's books. This was a new one that I checked in at the library that I didn't know about. I want to read it at some point.

More pretty afternoon light, this time reflected on my September wall calendar from the stained glass owl up in my window.

I love streaming these various YouTube scenes with their relaxing nature sounds for most of the day on the TV.

I liked these candles that I saw at Target.

And this cute bookshelf sign! I ended up getting it the next time I went. It will be perfect on one of my shelves of mystery books, once I get shelves and books back in my home again (I miss them!).

Cute notecards that I've had forever that I finally used up the last of.

David and I went to the Cape and got this apple cider donut ice cream sundae, and he photographed it for a Cape Cod Moms article that I was editing and publishing the following week, and needed a good picture for. This is the picture I used for the article (you'll see it if you click on the link in the previous sentence):

The sundae was good, too!

I'm finally using the fireplace in the Cape house after 12 years of never using it. David is good at building fires. 🔥So cozy in the fall and winter!

There happened to be a heart-shaped chocolate chip in the banana chocolate chip bread that David mad!

My friend Beth's purse matched perfectly with my dress one Sunday. A picture needed to be taken to document this cool coincidence: 

A doctored picture (obviously) of Ben Franklin from my alumni magazine. Ben is the founder of Penn (they rhyme!). 

When I was in my 30s, Saltwaters were my absolute favorite sandals. I wore them every summer, all summer, just about everywhere, and they went with me on cruises and Florida vacations and on Cape Cod. They went well with just about everything. Once I got into my 40s, my feet rebelled, and I couldn't wear them comfortably anymore. Feet in their 40s apparently need comfortable soles with padding, or at least my feet do, and Saltwaters don't have that. In September, as I went through my summer shoes and got out the cold-weather ones, I was finally able to accept the fact that my Saltwater days are done. I bid them a fond farewell with this picture and then put them in the donation box. It's the end of an era!

A cute fall owl that I didn't buy at T.J.Maxx.

I'm going to miss President Nelson so much. His guidance changed the course of my life forever.

Wisdom, Humor, Inspiration, and Crazy Times in September 2025

 Fall is my second favorite season!

...and this fall was definitive proof in my life that change is beautiful!

I was so upset by the shocking murder of Charlie Kirk, who I liked a lot. What a tragic loss for our country, no matter where you stand politically. Despite how the mainstream spins him, he was civil and kind and logical and highly intelligent. I liked how he stood up for good principles and was trying to help the young people and young men of this country. I'm thankful for the legacy he left behind. Earth's loss is heaven's gain.

Ha ha

I've always believed that legal immigration is good and that people need to follow the rules when they want to immigrate to another country. Yes, the process really needs to be improved, but the rules still need to be followed. When people break the law by coming into a country illegally, they and their families will have to deal with the consequences. Countries need to solve their own problems so that their citizens can have a good or at least decent life there. The U.S. needs to take care of its own first, and we're already floundering. This is one of the big reasons why I support Trump. I agree with him 100% on immigration.

From Trump's speech at the U.N.:

✔✔✔ "They have to solve the problem, and they have to solve it in their countries, not create new problems in our countries." ✔✔✔

I'm also 100% with Trump on the futility of extreme "climate change" measures. 

As a related aside, I hate wind turbines. Solar is fine, but there are so many problems with wind turbines. They don't work that well, and they hurt and kill sea life and birds, and they're not at all environmentally friendly when they break and can't be disposed of. Plus, they're ugly and a blight on the landscape or seascape on which they're situated. Get rid of them!

I believe that President Nelson, our wonderful prophet who passed away on September 27th, was at times in close communication with the Lord Himself.

That will be a special day!

The Month Before the Wedding

It was nice to have a more simple wedding this time around. It still kept me busy, but not unreasonably so. Getting married the second time around is twice as nice!(?) 😄

David and I went to Men's Wearhouse and he got a nice gray suit for the wedding. Gray is a great (grayte? 😆) color on him. We waited on a tie, but these were three options we were considering. I went back a few weeks later and got him one for a wedding gift—the one on the left.

I got this nice clutch at Target for the big day (and ended up barely using it!).

I bought this pretty bridal headband on Etsy. It cost around three times less than the one I'd bought from Anthropologie (in the second picture below), and I liked it better than that one, too. Win!

I returned this one to Anthropologie. 

It's notable that things that are expensive are sometimes lower in quality than things that cost a lot less. This headband was definitely pretty, but it wasn't nearly as sturdy and secure as the keeper one above (or as pretty, in my opinion!).

Two weeks!

I found the perfect lipstick and shade for me, Clinique's Almost Lipstick in Pink Honey.

10 days left! I felt calm and excited and not very nervous. All good signs!