Bittersweet Farewells

This week was my last week at my job here and I had to say some "keep in touch" farewells to some great friends I've made here. Thankfully, with all of the ways we have to stay in touch these days, we won't be "far" away in the social media world, but it's a change for sure. I'm a very relational person so my friendships are dear to my heart so the good news is we can keep in touch. Friends - if you're reading- you all mean a lot and have a piece of my heart:)

Minnesota and I on the other hand, aren't good friends at the moment. This week has been dreary, rainy, gray skies and chilly. I'm ready for summer warmth and it isn't here in the Twin Cities yet! We've seen a few glimpses, but it's been back and forth. And remember, our apartment turned off the heat (with no going back) early in May. We've had some of the coldest nights in our apartment since then without heat! Texas has plenty of that warm air for us though, so I'm preparing to jump right into summer this coming week.

Minneapolis vs Dallas:

Notice the Minneapolis highs are just about the Dallas Lows. I cannot wait to feel the warmth! 

Here are some of our rainy dreary (April-like!) days in photos lately...

Last Saturday:

Wednesday:

My body doesn't love this type of weather either. Too many rainy {and painful} days for me lately.

Signs of spring are still happening around here though. These little buds from last weekend...

 ...Turned into beautiful blossoms this weekend. So precious and full of life.

That's the blessing of spring we've waited for during our {LONG} winter months. New growth and everything coming back to life. It's a beautiful process (...minus the long winter part...).

Back to the farewells - my co-workers joined together for a going away happy hour that made my heart happy! These friends are great and will be missed. 

 I also had a great dinner {that was nearly rained out toward the end - ha!} with two sweet friends I met within weeks of moving here nearly a year and a half ago. These girls are funny, are adorable fashionistas and have such big hearts. 

I hope you all know you're invited to Texas anytime you want ;) Friends grow the heart bigger and deeper, I've definitely felt that living here.

I have to throw in a photo of this adorable dog that belongs to one of my friends from work. Does he not melt your heart?! Oh my goodness, that face. Someone help me convince Nick that we need a dog when we get settled into our new place ;)

 

Take-out cashew chicken we enjoyed last weekend. Oh my deliciousness, it was so good. 

This post has already gotten long, but I can't pass this week without mentioning the devastating tornado in Moore, Oklahoma on Monday. My heart completely broke watching coverage of the recovery efforts that night, the clean up as the week as gone on, etc. We've driven through Moore so many times on our way to and from Dallas and it's just hard to imagine living through/in that area right now. They're in our prayers.

My aunt and uncle were visiting my parents in Dallas last week for a vacation and actually drove home (back to Iowa) on Monday. They passed through Moore (driving on I-35, which the tornado crossed) a few hours before the tornado touched down. Too close for comfort. 

I watched many videos this week (I'm sure many of you have too), I thought I would share these (from youtube) if you hadn't seen them:

A blogger I follow lives in Oklahoma (I think about an hour from Moore) and posted this post with photos that show more of the devastation. Not to mention the lives lost in that tornado. So hard to grasp. Our prayers have been going to all of the families affected by all of this severe weather, especially in Moore. I read that more than 13,000 homes are damaged or destroyed from that tornado. It heavies my heart, but I know how communities can rally together and that sounds like what is happening in Moore. 

Now, I have to get to packing/organizing, etc. Honestly, I haven't started, I've been so exhausted. We have some time in our timeline before we're out of here completely (though I'll go down earlier to start my new job), but we have some work to do:)

Today's Pinspiration:

(Pinterest source)

(Pinterest source)

December Happenings

I'm not sure about you, but I feel like these past few months have completely flown by. It doesn't feel like it's as close as it is to Christmas. I have things to do and last week, realized this is our only free weekend this month! It overwhelmed me to realize that, but we'll be able to see lots of family this month which we don't get to see nearly enough. 

I have random things to catch up on!

I've started a Sunday night tradition of taking epsom salt baths. It's great for my fibro pains and gives me time to do some deep breathing and stretches that can help me too. 

A few weeks ago, I also made a batch of chili using random ingredients I had around, even adding ketchup, tomato sauce, and pasta sauce to get the good tomato flavor Nick's mom, Diane, has in her chili recipe. To make sure I had enough flavor, I added some beef broth substitution, 1 tbsp soy sauce and I did about 3/4 to 1 cup water with it. I also added some hot sauce to give it some spice and a few cans of beans, including garbanzo beans. Anyway, I added things here and there and this batch, to my surprise, was amazing! 

I thought I'd share a few of my seasonal swap-outs from fall to Christmas.

We put up our Christmas tree last weekend and I just loooove it. It's also the first year we're using that topper and I love that along with our nativity scenes! Are you feeling the love?! ;) 

I've also been busy working in Santa's shop on some gifts;)

I seeded a pomegranate for the first time. It wasn't all that difficult and the seeds are so delicious and juicy.

We ate salads with pomegranate seeds and also just ate the seeds plain for snacks.

I found a new favorite store too! 

There is so much cute stuff to look at. It looks like there are multiple locations in the Twin Cities. 

Last night, we enjoyed a date night to the Holidazzle (hey, Cameron Diaz!) 

 Hiiii Santa!

We enjoyed dinner afterwards at Taste of Thailand

My date. He's the best. 

 Observing the busyness of downtown Minneapolis on a Saturday night.

It's been snowing all day here today which is our first real snow storm. Local weather guys predicted 3-5 inches, but The Weather Channel says 6-9 inches. We'll see! It's already really adding up out there.

I took these this morning and it's snowed a lot since then. I'll have more pictures to share on my next post. I'm enjoying the beauty outside, but even as we were out earlier, we saw many cars in ditches and getting stuck, probably not realizing how slick it really is. 

Today's Snowy Pinspiration:

(source)

Our 80-degree Fall Sunday Afternoon

 I'm trying to capture fall in photos everywhere I go right now. My theory is that living in Texas for the last two falls, we missed many of these vibrant fall colors, so they stand out even more to me this year. It's like artwork everywhere we go! I'm completely amazed at the beauty around every corner. 

Last Sunday after church, Nick suggested we eat lunch out somewhere (such a treat to eat out!) and go on a nice walk at a park since the weather was so great. With talks of temps in the 50s in the coming days (that are here today), we had to soak it up! So we had lunch at Pei Wei (yum!) and I enjoyed an awesome dairy and gluten free meal (Pei Wei Spicy, they even gave me gluten free soy sauce packets!) and we ventured to a regional park we haven't been to before.

 It was a spontaneous mini-day-date and I loved it! We had so much fun exploring the area. This beach's busy summer days are long gone at this point.

The trails have been taken over by the beauty of fall. I was in awe pretty much the whole time. 

 The old established trees in such bright colors was quite the sight. 

Some of the trees on the trail were bending over backwards (see it?) to provide shade. 

I really liked this tree.

Here's a closer look 

 This one makes me want to sing, "over the bridges and through the woods..." 

 Colorful ivy growing up the tree trunk

There were trails off the trails as well - some are for cross country skiing in the winter while other trails are for frisbee golf. We could've gotten lost in there taking all of these little paths.

Reaching for the sky before fall turns to winter...

Such fun colors. 

I just love these non-green colors! I told Nick I wish trees were always fall colored. He (smartly) said if they were always these colors, we wouldn't appreciate them as much. Well said, honey! The time we enjoy these colors is only special since it happens for a short time.

I'm trying to live in each moment and soak up each day. It isn't easy as it goes so fast, but taking photos helps me at lease re-live these moments after they pass. 

 One off-trail led us to this quiet pond. It was so quiet and still. It felt like we were the only ones there - we weren't the only ones on the trails that day, but this whole area had such a quaint and peaceful feeling. 

As Nick took this photo, that security truck drove into the frame. We got off the path for him to drive by and he had the window down and said, "Sorry for photobombing your picture!" it gave us a good laugh:) 

So we did a take two. Me + fall trees = love

 I love these overgrown stairs in the side of this steep hill. 

Oh fall, you are so beautiful! I can't get enough of you right now. Please don't get too cold too soon...

Today's "Living in the moment" Pinspiration:

(source)