Our family's hearts are breaking today.  My sister's best friend, Stephanie lost her battle with ovarian cancer.  Stephanie's daughter was a homecoming attendant last night.  A couple of hours later, Stephanie passed away.  She lived to see her daughter being presented at homecoming.  Her story is here.  Stephanie brought together a community.  People were praying for her who had never prayed before.  We will miss her sweet smile and her big blue eyes. 

I know, it has been a couple of weeks since I posted.  I've been busy getting ready to go out of town and then I was out of town for a few days.

BFF MAB and I went to Williamsburg for a few days.  I had a great time.  I didn't want to come home.   We stayed busy seeing the sights and going to programs.  We both were able to exercise some control over our eating while we were there.  We ate until we were satisfied and then stopped.  We planned our meals so that we could enjoy a dessert at only one meal  We also managed to work in some shopping.

I had some good luck in shopping.  We spent a couple of hours at the outlets.  At Kate Spade, I bought a pair of gold bow earrings and a pair of red/gold bow earrings.  I couldn't walk out of there without buying three bow bangles.  I bought gold, black/gold and kelly green/gold.  They were outlet priced plus 40% off.  At Talbot's, I bought five long sleeved tees.  The colors I bought are burgundy, rust, camel, olive green and gray.  At Pendleton, I bought a navy suit blazer, a navy jumper and two OCBD's - yellow and light blue.  At Brooks Brothers, I bought two blouses.

Most of the things that I bought I got in the historic area and in Merchant's Square.  I bought cardigans at Binn's, a Longchamp Le Pliage at Closet Envy, horn shaped candle holders at Williamsburg at Home.  Some pieces of tavern dishes at Greenhow's store.  I bought my niece a Hotch Potch doll at Tarpley's.  I can't wait to give it to her.  I almost forgot that I bought a black wool duffel coat and a Dress Stewart scarf at Scotland, Ltd.  I just love that store.

I know that I bought a lot of stuff, but I use my fall vacation to do my yearly shopping.

I hope everyone has a great Monday.  Happy Columbus Day!

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Yesterday, my mother and I went to Huntsville to do some shopping.  We had to get my sister a birthday present.  We went to Sam's to pick up a few things.  I like to buy certain magazines at Sam's.  I was excited to get Victoria's Holiday Bliss. I have been reading Victoria magazine since it came out back in the late 80's.  I have every issue.  We then went to Belk's where we got my sister a pair of Lauren by Ralph Lauren jeans, a RL tee plus a few other things.  My mother tried on the jeans for the fit and they looked great on her.  My mother is more the elastic waist blue jean kind of person.  While there I bought some Chanel translucent powder and gray eyeshadow.  We then went to Dillard's so that I could buy some Kiehl's shampoo.  While I was searching, I saw that they had a few bottles of my favorite face soap that was discontinued a few months ago.  I bought two big bottles. I was extra excited about that.  Then it was a late lunch, Petsmart for dog food and back home.  It was a great shopping day.  I haven't had that much fun shopping in about a year.  My changing job situation put a damper on my shopping and when I did shop, I couldn't enjoy myself.  I feel like yesterday was a step back to normal.

I hope everyone has a great Sunday!

This has been a busy week, but I feel good about what I got done at work.  Tomorrow should be better.  This week, we have a employee appreciation week.  Tuesday, our floor provided lunch from Carrabas and today I was treated to a barbecue lunch at the operations center.  Not too good for my diet.

My skirts are fitting a bit looser.  I was able to wear them with cardigans rather than jackets buttoned over them.  Today I wore my navy Pendleton skirt, white Brooks Brothers blouse and my Lands' End gold cardigan.  I got a ton of compliments on my cardigan.  I think it needs some Kate Spade jewelry. That is on my list for when I go to Williamsburg.  I'm going to hit the Kate Spade outlet and see what cute stuff I can find.

I hope everyone has a great Friday!

The weekend is finally almost here.  I am so glad for Friday.  It has been a busy week at work which makes the time go by faster.

I'm still doing my "clean living diet".  I'm scared to weigh but I have lost some inches.  My clothes are fitting better, I feel better, my face is clearer, etc.  I hope that I can stay on it for a few more weeks. 

My boss has approved for me to take 3 vacations days next month.  BFF MAB and I are going to Williamsburg for a few days.  Our main goal: SHOPPING!  I love to shop at the stores in the historic area plus the stores in Merchant's Square.  I can't wait to walk into the Scottish store and Binn's.  We have also planned to set aside some time to go to the outlets.  I definitely want to go to Kate Spade and Brooks Brothers Women.  We also plan to do a lot of historic stuff for a couple of days.  I can't wait.  I haven't had any vacation time in over a year.

I hope everyone has a great weekend.  We all need to take some time to pray for our country and our countrymen that are overseas. I pray that the violence ends soon.

Never Forget

I keep saying that I am going to get better about posting, but for some reason it is just not happening.  I can only blame it on laziness.

Last weekend started out great.  I met an old high school friend and her coworkers for dinner on Friday night.  We stayed for awhile and listened to a band that was playing.  They played all of our favorite songs. 

Saturday, I went to a facebook page reunion.  My mother went along for the ride, but I think she enjoyed it more than anyone else.  After we all met up on the courthouse square, we went to the old high school to see the new renovations.  I didn't go to high school there, so it didn't mean that much to me.  My mother and a couple of the others went to school there.  Others went to school there when it was a junior high.  After lunch, we went to a museum at the old freight depot.  It was very interesting to see all the pictures, newspaper articles, clothing, etc. that families had donated.  We are considering donated a framed print of the old courthouse and an antique adding machine.

Sunday, I was supposed to work at the Arts in the Park from noon to 2:00.  About 11:45, it starting raining extremely hard.  It rained for about 45 minutes.  When I got to my post, I was sent home.  I was lazy the remainder of the day.  About 4:30, bad weather came through.  We went over to my sister's house until all of the tornado warnings had expired.

Now that Labor Day has passed, it is time to get ready for fall.  Last week I ordered two cardigans from Lands End.  I think the Chesterfield, which is sort of a gold color, will be great with a navy skirt and gold tone jewelry and the Merlot will be great with a gray skirt.

Has anyone out there tried the lip stains from Laura Mercier?  I like color on my lips, but do not like lipstick or lip gloss.  I think I might get try the lip stain in Merlot and Scarlet.

I hope everyone has a great Saturday.