Merry Christmas!

Hoping everyone's Christmas was...

And...

Lucy Belle wishes you all...

#AskAwayFriday, #10!

Welcome to Week 10 of #AskAwayFriday!!

I am honored to be Co-Hosting the 10th session of the AAF! When Amber from Bold Fab Mom and Penny from The Real Housewife of Caroline County started this silly question session weeks ago they never imagined that it would become such a great way for bloggers to connect or become this big!  With the entrance into Week 10, some small changes have been made to the #AskAwayFriday set up.

Amber and Penny will be having monthly co-hosts (2 or 3 depends on the interest level), along with your hosts, only co-hosts will have the code for the link up.  This means that anyone posting #AskAwayFriday would need to visit one of our pages to link up.

For the month of October our co-hosts will be (drum roll please)...

Wendy from EffieGirl

Tiffany from Mrs. Tee - Love, Life and Laughter

Megan from The Patchwork Paisley

These ladies have been wonderful additions to #AskAwayFriday and always have great posts that everyone enjoys to read! 

Second, there is a button change!!  While we loved the button Amber created originally...we wanted to freshen it up a little.  Here is the debut of the brand new #AskAwayFriday button...

<div align="center">
<a href="http://rhocc.blogspot.com" title="The Real Housewife of Caroline County"><img src="http://i808.photobucket.com/albums/zz4/pennychevalley/aafjoint_zps10cb59ff.jpg" alt="The Real Housewife of Caroline County" style="border:none;" /></a></div>

Without further adieu let's kick off Week 10 of #AskAwayFriday!!!

I've partnered up with Amber my Co, Co-Host, and blog owner of Bold Fab Mom!  Here are my answers, to her 10-questions given to me, this week:

1. How long have you been blogging? I have been blogging since May 29th of this year! You can check out my very first post, here!

2. What was your inspiration to begin blogging? A couple of things; ending a website I had that felt to be too demanding, like blogging isn't - ha!, and a book that I read gave me the ultimate push.  I'll be sharing that in another post, next week! Stayed tuned.  You won't want to miss it. 

3. What has been your most successful DIY project? I have so many projects that I haven't finished...but here is a sneak-peek of a collection that I'll finishing this weekend. I think it might be my most fave of all, so far!  

4. Just how bad of a jewelry hoarder are you? (I'd love to see a picture hehe.)Ooohhh, you shouldn't have asked for photos!!  THIS, is bad.  :)  Some you might see for sale, since I sell jewelry, and others you will start seeing as 'used', for my 'flea market' type sales.  As I mentioned in this post.

This, is just some of the jewelry
Procrastinator needs to step up her game!

5. Do you travel often? If so, where has been your favorite place so far? I used to travel a lot!  New Zealand 2x, Italy/Sicily-Venice, France, London, Ireland, many, many travels.  Now, mainly CA, NJ and FL, haha.  My most favorite is Paris!!  Been there several times, want to go back several times.  Like, today :) Like now.  

6. How many pups do you have & what are their names? I have two pups, my fur-babies. Lucy Belle, 10-years old.  Our newest rescue is Chewbacca, "Chewy", 7-years old.  LOVE them!!  Obsessed with them.  

7. So, you're a RAW eater.  What is your favorite RAW recipe?  My most favorite is the green smoothies in the morning.  I make so many dishes (I should really share more!), that I really enjoy.  My first creations, Raw Gorilla Wrap and Tuna Fishless are faves I could say.  

8. Do you ever eat sweets?  If so, what is your favorite treat? I do fall off the wagon when I'm out and about on the weekends.  CUPCAKES are my weakness, big time!  I hardly do them, but when I do, look out! Just something about their cuteness and pretty setting.  It's a big disappointment when the taste or freshness doesn't match up to the packaging!  

9. What is the most embarrassing band and/or song that you secretly love listening to? Well, this Miley Cyrus stuff went crazy, and while I'm not the biggest fan of her/her behavior, I'm kind of liking her song, Wrecking Ball.   

Source

10. What is the best piece of advice you can give others about life?  Be happy, deserve happy, take nothing less than happy.  Everything else will happen from there. 

Thanks much Amber, for your great questions. 

Now go see Amber's answers to my questions, here! 

TOPIC: What are the things you love to do during rainy days? 

My little Fuzzy-Girl, is coming to stay tonight!! What a perfect time to have this question.  

My step-beauty. This is fuzzy-girl.
How I came up with that nickname, is a mystery, even to me :)

- Snuggle with fuzzygirl, and fur-babies
- Watch a movie
- Eat popcorn
- Read a good book
- Start a fire, if it chilly, like today (in the fireplace of course, flip the gas switch on! ha)
- Play games
- Light candles
- Couch potato
- Bake cookies

Cheers, loves!

Drivin' it on home, Part #1

So now we are on our way home. After a pit-stop in Savannah, that is.  It's always nice to be away, but I really like it when I get back home. 

I feel like we've been gone forever-and-a-day. I usually don't like being gone for so long.  Although this trip is no exception, it's been fun to travel with the hubster on-the-road.  We are both pretty easy going, so it's easy to make decisions and just go-with-it.  No pressure. We are having fun.

BUT...!

I miss my fur-babies sooo much! I cannot wait to get home and couch potato with my Lucy-girl and hear Chewbacca lull me to sleep with his loud snoring!  Only a furbaby-mamma can appreciate that.

My last post ended with Charlotte, moving on to Ocala, FL.  My mother is moving back up north, so we were going to fly down and help her with yard sales and packing and such.  We botched that idea when we decided to keep-on-truckin' after dropping the college kid off at WVU.  

This is my mom and me. 

My mom wants to move back to where her family is, but she's been in FL for a long time and since her husband passed in 2002, she's been alone.  Except for the job (now gone), friends she's had, also have moved on or passed.  It's sad, to see her so overwhelmed with getting rid of everything she's known for so long and return to her roots with mostly nothing. She moves slow, health has been her enemy in some tough times.  My hubster is so patient and kind with her, he makes her laugh-cry through the tough stuff.  Cute to watch.  So, we packed some things and have brought some home for her, but have decided to let her take her time, since there is no hurry. Let her do things in the time frame she needs, to feel right and good within herself.  No hurry.  

Unfortunately while there, we had to put down her nearly 16-year old girl, Sasha.  The poor girl was walking around like a mechanical-stuffed-pooch.  She was sweet as could be, nearly 100% blind and deaf.  Fortunately, Sasha told us it was time for her to go.  I am so happy we were there to help and say goodbye. We stayed an extra night, to be with my mother. 

The vet experience was horrid!  So ridiculously rude, with little compassion.  I posted my furious experience on FB, but I can't seem to copy and past here as I ride in the car using my iPad.  (I really need to take Blogger lessons or something!)

We stayed at my mother's for four nights.  We had decent weather and some time in the pool.

Some down pours as FL often has, daily.  

My favorite part was finding some pictures and memories. This is my boy, the just turned 30-year old!  

Me and my little-sis', wayyyy back! 1981

Lake Weir, in Belleview.  In all these years, I never ventured there.  Hubster had a good idea.  Look how beautiful!  Ocala isn't the most happening place, but to see this surely proves it has beauty.  

I just love these trees!  The lake was so nice. 

I could imagine the family crowds during the weekends. 

As we head to Savannah, only a short 13-miles away, I wonder how many blogger peeps I've passed along the way down South, and now back up North.  

BTW, the kid we dropped off at college?  

We've heard from him, believe it or not.  The first night actually, "I love it here" was all he said.  Ha. The hubster and I looked at each other and giggled.  We're just hoping he loves it enough to study hard and stay the good kid he is, or else! :)

As we park to check-in at our hotel, I'll sign off.  See you tomorrow, for Part #2!

Do you have elderly parents to care for?

What road have you traveled lately?

Are any of my blogger-peeps in my path?

Weekend Wonderfuls in Pictures

I have erased what I was going to blog about today, several times. Written and rewritten. Nothing sounded right, no matter what I tried to write. I had great subject ideas, but I just couldn't put my mind to it to have it make sense. Life seems to just hand me rotten lemons lately, no matter how many bags of lemons I buy. Believe me, I'm digging deep trying find a good one, or even one I can slice to find some good pieces of.  So, there I sat at 1:00am, finally writing this paragraph. Who knows what time I'll actually get this done.  Nibbling on goldfish crackers, listening to Pandora. Ehhh, poop. Processed food, late night, not a good morning ahead when I awake. IF I get to sleep!

At least I have my little kiddies with me, no matter where I am.  Lucy is on my Spa bed in my skin/craft room, and Chewy is never too far behind.  They had a full-fun-packed weekend, and they are tired today!

So, I'm going to move right into the picture weekend I had with family, and bring something positive to this post. Forgive my ho-hum-bumming attitude.  Enjoy!  

Boardwalk fun with the cutest kiddies, B & B.  Caramel popcorn, still warm in the bucket as we walk along the boards. Chalkboard fun on our beach house walls. We even did Cape May County Zoo!  

This is mommy of the kiddies, Jackie, carrying #3, "B" :) We hit Bongo's for lunch. B & B loved the hubster. Of course he's a kid himself, so they got along great. We did Gillian's Wonderland for rides.  Another photo from the Zoo!  

I showed little Missy B, how to be Miss. Napkin Face.  That was a big hit!  Look at her attitude.  (Did you see The Holiday with Jude Law, Jack Black, Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, and how he did Mr. Napkin face with his kids?) So fun.  Photo of my handsome son, Ryan, with little Mr. B.  Rides and more rides!! 

Portobello burger, topped with zucchini butter, asparagus, shrimp to die for, & gotta have the veggie baked beans

We ate healthy, for the most part. Minus the twizzlers, the caramel corn, Mallons Sticky Buns, Fritos, ok I can't tell you anymore on that.  I promise, I didn't eat all of that stuff, just some of it.  Ok, I fell off the wagon BIG TIME. I still had my green smoothies and lots of water and fruit. Honest :)

And, we had a sunset moment.  It was beautiful, I haven't seen a sunset in a long time.  Wow, I've really been missing the beauty of the quiet calm.

I hope everyone had a wonderful weekend!! 

Tryin' to keep it positive, xo