A Freindly Weekend

What an incredibly beautiful weekend!  So thankful for 3 days of sunshine and warm temperatures!  I would like to think this means that spring is here to stay, but you know this week we dip back into the 

50s and lows in the 30s.  Geez!  

I have been excited for this weekend since March!  My sweet friend Sarai's birthday was in March but due to busy schedules and such, we had not been able to get together to celebrate until this weekend! And friends, I love a girls weekend in Asheville!  

So on Friday I loaded up the car, loaded up Lola (the dog I am dog sitting) and we made our way to Asheville!  Isn't Lola just the cutest? 

I dropped Lola off with Momma Suz, she babysat for the weekend and then headed to Sarai's house in Mars Hill!  We decided since most of us would be traveling Friday night that it might make more sense to stay in Friday night!  Lori and Beth picked us up some takeout from Panera and we enjoyed a fabulous evening in full of laughter, conversation, and friends.  I am so thankful for these gals, and that we have the type of friendship that just picks up right where you leave off!  

One of our many traditions is that we must have a birthday cake that has something crazy wrong with it, well this year did not disappoint!  When Beth and Lori stopped to get the cake they asked the person at the bakery to write "33 and Awesome" on the cake...well this is what we got!  

Saturday morning we headed out to town for brunch and some shopping!  We hit up one of my new favorite places for brunch, Another Broken Egg Cafe!  It is so yummy and such a quaint little place in Biltmore Park! We decided to get the Cinnamon Roll French Toast as an appetizer, and friends, this might have been the best decision I have ever made in my life.  I wish I had a picture of it, it was unbelievable!  

Me and the Birthday Girl Sarai!  Love this gal and thankful for a chance meeting at WCU!

Beth and Lori!  Such blessings in my life!

As we were leaving, we couldn't resist the chance for one more group photo!  These sweet girls who were coming into the cafe offered to take our pictures by telling us that they could save us from the selfie!  So funny!  Little did they know that we have the best selfie taker in the world in our little group of friends!  :)

We shopped around Biltmore Park for a while.  Well actually we spent all of our time in Charming Charlie trying on jewelry and fun stuff!  I really love that store and love how they have their things organized and the prices are great!  

Sarai mentioned on Friday night that she had never been to the French Broad Chocolate Lounge, so I insisted that be on our list of stops for Saturday!  So we headed downtown to visit one of my absolute favorite places!  And friends, if you have never been there you must go!  Everything is so delicious!

Not sure how this is the only picture we have our treats, but this is the Lavender Brulee!  And it is amazing!

I drove to my Mamaw's Saturday afternoon to meet up with my mom and pick up sweet Lola!  And today has been spent catching up on housework, doing some food prep and just relaxing and dreaming of spring break!  This week I have a 4 day work week and I couldn't be more ready for a break from school!  Loved having this seriously fabulous weekend to help prepare me for this week! 

And friends don't forget that tomorrow is our first Made to Crave Monday.  I am so excited about this journey!  I have spent some time today reading and preparing to share my thoughts with you about the introduction and the first 2 chapters!  I will post my thoughts tomorrow evening and would love for you to join in on the conversation in the comments!  It's going to be great!

Did you read this weekend?  What else did you do to refresh for the week? See you tomorrow!  Have a wonderful Monday friends!

Reunion and Exciting News

Last Wednesday I had the opportunity to reconnect with a friend I probably had not seen in around 20 years.  Through the magic of Facebook,  we had chatted a few times and when I found out she was going to be in Asheville for vacation I knew we needed to make a point to see each other.  And I am ridiculously glad we did!  I will admit, I was a little bit nervous, I mean 20 years is a long time and Facebook can be sometimes be a little deceiving.  But friends, this meeting was exactly, I mean exactly what this heart needed!  

Carly and I have known each other since elementary school.  We spent many summer days at the East Asheville ball field, soaking up rays at the East Asheville pool.  I had my first wreck in her driveway.  We spent countless hours at each others houses, at OM meetings and various other things.  But like with so many other relationships, life got in the way.  We drifted apart and then college came, Carly moved to Montana after college, I stayed in NC,  and honestly after that I don't think we ever talked or saw each other.  I did have contact with her mom over the years as we both volunteered at a retreat. I would get my Carly updates from her mom and loved keeping up with her through her momma. 

This meeting this past week was a special one though, we were able to meet as not only friends but sisters in Christ.  And I really can't explain how good it was for my soul.  I am not sure a smile left my face the entire 3 hours we sat at dinner!  I know people say this a lot but it really was as if no time had passed since I had seen her last!  

And it was super fun to have our mommas there as well!  I think this will be the first of many mother/daughter dates for us four!  Well, as long as Carly comes back to visit! :)

These past few months, I have been trying to change some harmful habits in my life, mainly in the area of fitness and food.  Food has always been my enemy.  Well, actually in my head food was my friend, one of my best friends.  I ate when I was happy, I ate when I was sad, I ate when I was celebrating or depressed.  I looked to food as my comfort.  I guess it is the same way some people look to drugs, alcohol, shopping (oh, shopping might be my friend too :) ).  I looked to food to fill a void that it was not meant to fill.  And in the process I started to slowly really dislike myself.  

This year with the help of several friends, I have decided it is time to take charge of that area of my life.  I fully accept the fact that I will never be a size 4.  And I am totally ok with that.  But I do want to be healthy, to feel good, to be happy with the Brooke I see in the mirror.  I have seen some success, it is slow, it is hard, it is challenging.  But everyday is a new day, a day full of choices and grace.  I have had some great weeks, where the scale has been my friend and there have been weeks where I have screwed up in big ways.  The beauty of this journey for me right now though is that for everytime I make a mistake, I can choose to make a different choice next time.  I am slowly, and I do mean slowly learning what grace really looks like.  

What does all this have to do with having dinner with a long lost friend?  Well, that night at dinner Carly challenged me.  She actually kinda pushed me out of my comfort zone a little bit.  And it was a good thing.  I am really very thankful for her boldness in asking me some hard questions and for causing me to think about some things in a new way!  One thing she mentioned to me was a book called "Made to Crave".  She shared that this book had led to some great reflection and revelation in her life and might be one I would want to check out.  Little did she know this book had been on my shelf for the last several years.  At the time I bought the book I wasn't really ready to be on the journey I am on now.  I wasn't ready to think about why I seemed to turn to food instead of God, friends, family, my support system.  But now I think I am ready.  Am I scared?  You have no idea!  I am not one that really likes to come face to face with her shortcomings or weaknesses.  I am a much more of a 'out of sight, out of mind' kind of girl.  However, I know this is the time to face these things head on.  

This is where this little blog comes into play!  I need to be help accountable.  So I am going to do a book study through my blog.  For the next 9 weeks I am going to use Mondays on the blog as Made to Crave Mondays.  

I am going to read 2 chapters each week and share my thoughts, questions, struggles, etc on the blog.  I have never done anything like this before, but I know that this will be a good way to process this book and keep me accountable to actually finishing it!  And I would love for you to join me in this journey! Maybe you have struggled with food as well, or maybe you satisfy those cravings with other things and are ready to let that go.  I would love for you to share your thoughts as well!  

If you think you would like to join up with me on Mondays to share thoughts about this book, go grab a copy!  Here is a link to the book on Amazon!  Right now for the Kindle it is only $4.99!  :)  Next week we will be diving into the intro and Chapters 1 and 2.  Next week I will post a reading plan for the entire book so you will know what is coming!  

Thanks for listening to my rambling about this journey and for all the ways you encourage me!  Can't wait to see the results of this next step!  And so thankful for long time forever friends!  :)

Weekend Update

Gosh, I could get used to weekends full of friends, celebrations and good times!  I was so excited to host two of my sweet friends at my house this weekend, Alisha and Beth!  It just so happened that Alisha's birthday was this past Thursday, so I knew we needed to celebrate that as well!  

Every girls weekend needs a yummy beverage to get it started, so while waiting for the girls to get here, I made a little Sangria to go along with our Mexican fiesta!  I just picked up a bottle of Sangria at Lowes Foods and added a some granny smith apples and oranges!  So yummy and refreshing! 

I added the girls initials to some mason jars to add a little personalized touch!

Friday night was so fun eating, catching up, laughing and celebrating with the birthday girl!  It is always so refreshing to have people in my house.  I love it, absolutely love it!

First selfie of the weekend! :)

Birthday goodies!

Happy Birthday Alisha!

Saturday morning we were lazy and then headed to a local restaurant for brunch.  It was so yummy and the restaurant had the cutest decor!  Great conversation and great food made for a great morning!

We spent the day Saturday shopping around Hickory, of course I didn't buy anything but it was just so nice to have these girls in my town.  We went up to the Tap Room in the afternoon to enjoy some beverages and appetizers.  Really the perfect way to end their visit!

It is always sad to see friends go, I was so thankful for this time with these gals!  They are such strong, confident and caring women!  After they left, I loaded up in the car and headed to Charlotte to meet up with another friend for a fun night!

Beth and I love some Dave Barnes and we were so excited when we found out he was going to be playing at a local theater in Charlotte!  It was obvious that we would get tickets!  I love hanging out with Beth!  The concert was at the Neighborhood Theater in the NoDa area of Charlotte!  I had never been there before and I LOVED it!  It kinda reminded me of the River Arts District in Asheville.  Eclectic people, fun restaurants, street vendors, bars and music venues. We ate dinner and then headed to the theater for Dave!

If you have never heard Dave Barnes, I highly recommend!  He is a very talented artist from Nashville and not to mention he is hilarious!  He wrote the song "God Gave me You" that Blake Shelton made famous!  This concert was super and a great way to end the weekend!  I was pretty excited that he played my favorite song, Until You! 

Today I have stayed in my pjs all day and been super lazy!  And I wouldn't trade it for the world!  Hope you all had a great weekend!  I am excited to share some exciting news on the blog tomorrow, hope you will come back and check it out!  I hope lots of you will want to join in!  Have a great Monday friends! :)

Looking like Spring

This week has been glorious!  The sun has been shining, the flowers blooming and the temperatures rising!  Nothing makes me happier, spring is here friends!  One thing that I really love to do when a new season is upon us is spruce up the decorations in my house.  Tonight I worked on adding a little spring to my sun room!

Here is the whole set up!  I purchased this table when I first moved into my house and really love what it adds to this room!  We are really lucky to have a ton of quality furniture stores in Hickory, the furniture capital of the world!  Excuse the mess underneath, those are all my cute paper products!

I fell in love with this burlap bunny banner at Target a week or so ago, isn't it so cute?  I left it there the first time I saw it, but I knew it needed to be in my house this spring!  And friends, it is a steal, only $5.99!  I love it so much!  And the 3 tier piece is a find from Zulily!  So fun!  The shutters were rescued from my friends The Lemkes!  They were going to throw them out and I figured I could find something to do with them! I think they add a lot to this wall!

Often I tell people my spiritual gift is "fonting".  I love to write, try new fonts and a chalkboard is a really great way for me to use those skills! If you write on a chalkboard, I highly recommend you get chalk markers instead of using real chalk.  Sometimes real chalk just don't go on as smooth and dark.  I love these chalk pens I found on Amazon!

I hit up my favorite store on Monday, Hobby Lobby and got a big bag of Spanish Moss to add some green to my spring decorations.  I think the color adds a lot to these glass containers I also got there.  I had been on the lookout for some colorful, non-plastic eggs and couldn't find them anywhere.  Pier 1 is near Target, so I stopped in and found just what I was looking for and that sweet little rabbit!

The vases with flowers and the small vases were a target find several years ago.  Gotta love target clearance!  I really like what they add to the set up!

How do you decorate for spring?  I would love to hear your ideas!  Have a great Friday friends!

Refrigerator Door Makeover

Do you ever feel overwhelmed with all the clutter on your refrigerator?  I am sure that is probably just me.  And normally, I am not opposed to clutter, you should see the rest of my house.  

Remember when my mom came and we cleaned and purged, well that weekend I was just over all the magnets, pictures etc that were on my fridge.  So I took all the stuff off and was left with a clean slate!  

And it stayed that was for a few weeks.  I just wasn't sure what I wanted to add that was purposeful, functional and of course, cute!  Luckily, my dear friend Sarai gave me a gift for Christmas that fit all three of those categories so I decided to include the frame she gave me for this refrigerator door makeover!

So cute right?  i just attached some magnets to the back of the frame with my handy dandy hot glue gun and there you have it!  I decided I would use this cute frame as my grocery list.  Love that you can write directly on the frame with a dry erase marker!

I wasn't exactly sure what else I wanted to add to but I certainly didn't want it to become the cluttered mess it was before!  I looked through my craft nook and found 3 5x7 black frames that I knew would be perfect to add to the door!  Looking through all my scrapbook paper I found some cute things to add to the frames make them super cute! Y'all this was so simple, just cute the scrapbook paper to fit the frame, hot glue some magnets on the back and you are done!  Not to mention this was such a cheap makeover!  Chances are you have all the supplies you need around your house!  

I decided to use the top frame for a bible verse I would like to focus on for the week!  Love that every time I head to the fridge I can be reminded of some truth!  The middle frame is home to this sweet little print that says "It's an amazing ride".  And isn't that so true!  And the third frame, well I will save that one for another blog post!  

Here is a close up of the middle frame!  Don't you love that cute little bicycle print?

So in about 15 minutes I transformed my refrigerator door into a cute, functional space!  I am really excited about it!

Have a great week friends!  I am loving this sunshine!  Yay, Spring!

Celebrate Good Times: A Weekend Recap

This weekend was a weekend full of celebrating some of my very people!  And it was so much fun!  I love spending time with my family and friends and this weekend was full of just that!

Friday night was super low key, because honestly I am old and by the time Friday comes around I just exhausted.  Around 10:00 Friday evening, I remembered I had not even eaten dinner.  I am actually pretty surprised I made it til 10 o'clock that evening.

I was supposed to run a 5K on Saturday morning but it was raining and I opted to stay in my bed.  Running is hard enough, and running in the rain sounds pretty miserable!  Thankful that my friend Kristi is already on the hunt for another 5K for us to do together!


Saturday's celebrations started with a birthday brunch for my sweet friend Amanda!  She is such a dear friend and I am so glad that our paths crossed a few years ago!  She is more like family and those are the kinds of friends that make my heart super happy!

We had quite the spread for brunch and it was all so good!  We had a waffle bar (including Funfetti waffles), fruit tray, muffins and the most delicious breakfast casserole!  And I might have had some yummy coffee with a little Bailey's mixed in!  :) 

After we ate til we were so stuffed we headed to the movies to continue the day of celebrating Amanda!  Such a fun time with some of the best friends a girl could ask for!  So thankful for my Hickory family!

The celebrations continued on Saturday as I headed down to Forest City to see party with my Grandmother!  What a little fireball!  I love this lady so much and I will say if I look this good at 87 I will be thrilled!

We went to eat Mexican and spent lots of quality time with the family.  It was such a refreshing time. I am so blessed to still have both of my grandmothers and love soaking up time with them.  My favorite cousin Billy Mac was in town and that made the visit even more fun.  He decided he wanted to spend the night at Mamaw's and we had a great time!  I love that little guy.  This is certainly not the best picture of me, but look at how cute he is! :)

One of the highlights of Mamaw's birthday celebration would be the amazing cake my sweet friend Kathryn made!  Check out her blog and leave her some love!  She posts the most amazing recipes and ideas.  No doubt she is one of the most talented people I know from foodie to hair dresser to wedding planner!  She does it all!  I mean guys look at this cake...She is taking orders for Easter, I can honestly say it was one of the most delicious cakes I have ever had!

My weekend was fantastic and then this morning I was greeted with this sunrise.  This week has to be amazing right? 

What did you do this weekend?  I hope you all have an amazing week friends!

Wise Words Wednesday: Fear Not!

Lately I have really been battling with fear.  Not like the kind of fear I have for opossums, but the kind of fear that will cause your heart to skip a beat, make you sick to your stomach, want to cry kinda fear.  If I were to tell you the things that have brought on some of these crippling feelings  you might not think they deserve the kind of reaction they have gotten.  And you are probably right.  I tend to fear the things I honestly have no control over.  Things like people's reactions to me, situations I can't fix, irrational things.  But I do know there are some things that I have a healthy fear of, and I think that is an ok thing.  My goal is to really stop thinking about the things that might go wrong, how people might perceive me, how foolish I might look, and focus on the journey, the dreams, the hopes.  I can only imagine that will be a much more productive way to look at things!  

Here are some wise words about fear...

This one really spoke to me this week.  I know the dreams I have in my heart are put there for a reason, it is time to pursue them, without fear!

What a question!  What would I do?  What would my life look like?  

I love this promise from scripture.  Yes friends, perfect love does cast out fear!

I hope you will start living in that truth!  Have a great week friends!