Four for Friday!

I’ve debated on how to start this first post after a three month break from blogging. I considered bombarding you with the nitty gritty details of my departure. I mentally strewed together a rant on all the wrongs with society and life. But instead, I’ll say this…

I left without warning, and for that, I’m sorry.

I found myself in limbo, trying to decide whether or not blogging was really a worthwhile part of my life. Thanks to my dear, sweet followers who reached out to tell me you missed seeing my posts. Hearing from people who enjoy seeing what I share with the world through this little ole’ blog is what makes me want to do it more!

And Facebook.

I know, you’re thinking, How could Facebook make you want to blog?

You’re going to have to wait until #3 in today’s Four for Friday to find out.

1. Hawaii

For our 10-year wedding anniversary, Hubby and I went to Hawaii. We started our trip with a short visit with his uncle, Gordon, who lives in San Jose. In three short days with him, we visited San Francisco, Napa Valley, and Monterey.

We stayed in Honolulu a few nights then flew to Maui. After four days enraptured in this magical island, we flew back to Oahu and stayed in the North Shore.

I expected to find Hawaii to be the tropical paradise all of us from the main land imagine it to be, but I didn’t expect to love it so much I’d begin considering a one-day future there*.

*Yes, I might have grabbed one or twenty real estate magazines to read on the plane ride home.

2. NaNoWriMo

My fellow Communications majors and writing enthusiasts might know what this strange letter combination means, but for those of you who don’t:

NaNoWriMo = National Novel Writing Month

The basic idea? Participants work towards a goal of writing a 50,000 word novel from November 1st until November 30th.

I’ve always wanted to attempt this venture, but the excuses for why not were abundant:

I don’t have enough time.
I work full-time.
What if I can’t do it?
I’ll have to get up early.
I’ll have to go to bed late.
I’ll have to give up watching TV.
It’s in November!

This year I decided was my year. I had put a pause on blogging, I was no longer working full-time, and my only focus was writing and baking. It would seem this was my time to shine.

Then #3 in today’s Four for Friday happened. As of November 30th, my word count was teetering around 25,000 words. It was a worthy attempt and has me already set on doing it again next year.

3. Dogs

We lost complete sense of the time of year, of everything we have going on in our lives, and adopted a dog.

Stitch has turned our world upside down in the most beautiful of ways. Having never really been a dog person, he has already transformed me into a doting, loving dog mommy.

I sent my SIL, Sam, pictures of him the other day and her response was, “Put them on Facebook!”*. And so, I said I would.

*Actually, it was, “Put them on Facebook, Punk!”, but you really don’t need to know about the sweet nicknames we call each other.

As I collected an assortment of the perfect pictures to share, I realized I’m not about the Facebook world. This is something you probably already knew about me if you’ve been reading my blog for some time now.

I don’t judge those who are, but it’s just not for me. I want more of a connection and meaning to be built around the things I share. I do this through attempting to string together words in a way which might enhance the meaning of each picture placed in a blog post. So, as I gathered my pictures of my adorable French/English bulldog puppy to share with the world, I decided the only way I wanted to was in this special place I have built.*

*That being said, you’ll have to wait for a soon approaching post which will be dedicated 100% to Stitch.

4. Thanksgiving

We adopted Stitch a few days shy of two weeks before Thanksgiving.

In case you forgot, Thanksgiving is my holiday and Thanksgiving breakfast is one of the things for which this body of mine lives.

And so nothing, not even my adorable, slobbery little pup, could keep this from happening:

Just looking at this picture is making me hungry.

We had pumpkin pie, apple pie, S’More pie, cheese pie, scones, croissants, cinnamon rolls, cookies, zucchini cupcakes, brownies, cherry pecan bites, boozy candied bacon, and a few savory dishes for those who can’t handle the sweet.

I miss it already.