Easter 2025

 The Lord is risen!  The Lord is risen, indeed!

I hope everyone had a blessed and happy Easter.  I just woke up this morning to news that Pope Francis has passed away.  I guess he wanted to celebrate one last Easter on earth before he went to heaven to meet the Lord.  

Eternal rest grant unto him, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon him. May his soul and all the souls of the faithful departed, through the mercy of God, rest in peace.  

We had a lovely Easter weekend.  Sarah came home on Friday night after class and work.  Peter had tickets to see Billy Strings at the Koka Booth Amphitheater on Friday so he came home on Saturday.

He and Dan washed all the cars which was much appreciated as mine was filthy.  Thanks, guys!

We went out to dinner at Quanto Bosta to enjoy some delicious Italian food.  I have been reminiscing about our trip to Italy last May and wishing that we were able to go again. Since that's not happening any time soon, it was nice to eat and reminisce together as a family.

After dinner we headed to Wiseman Brewing to listen to some reggae and enjoy some tasty beer.  Sarah's a good sport since she's not twenty one yet but only six more weeks for her.

After that we came home, watched some hockey and then this old lady headed to bed.

On Sunday, the kids got their Easter baskets.  Yes, my kids still get Easter baskets and honestly, they always will.  I mean, I'm 55 and I still get one. :)

We headed to Mass then came home and had lunch with my mom and my brother and then the kids both headed back to school.  It was a quick visit but I'm so glad they were both able to come home.  I'm happiest when we are all together.   

Good for the soul....

It had been about 6 weeks since the kids were home for Christmas break so we were excited when Peter came home last weekend!  Sarah was texting me that she missed up but that she was too busy that weekend to come home.  So we did what any parent that's only one hour from their child would do - we all hoped in the car Saturday afternoon and drove to Charlotte!

Well, technically, we drove to Concord and met Sarah for Mass at St. James the Greater and then headed to dinner.  Since we made the plan so late and it was Valentine's weekend we didn't even try to go to Charlotte for dinner. It was too late for reservations anywhere and I knew I didn't want to spend two plus hours waiting around for a table at a "good" restaurant. So, I made the executive decision that we would eat at the Afton Tavern in Concord.  We'd eaten there the night we moved Sarah in to her apartment this summer.  The restaurant had good food (basic American) and it was large.  It didn't strike me as somewhere that people would be flocking to for Valentine's Day.  And I was right!

We headed there right after Mass and got a table after a short 5 minute wait.  The food was good but oh, my!  Just spending quality time with my family was the best part!  I really love my little family and my biggest joy in the world is when we are all together which doesn't happen much lately.  It was definitely good for the soul.

I had to commemorate the evening with a family selfie and a picture of my babies.

In other child news, Peter is currently in his last semester at NC State and is looking for a job.  Prayers on that front would be appreciated!

Sarah is currently looking for an internship for the summer.  Not only does she need a job but it is a requirement for her major.  Prayers on that front would also be appreciated.

Sarah is serving as the Vice President of Administration for her sorority this year and she sent me some of the photos they took of the board.  You know I have to share them here because I'm so proud of this beautiful (inside and outside) girl.

The 2025 Delta Zeta Executive Board (The girl in the white in the middle is the president.  The VP's are all in pale pink. So cute!)

I've been super busy at work.  The managers got back from Atlanta market several weeks ago and product just keeps rolling which means I've got plenty to do!  I worked 40 hours two weeks in a row and this week only worked about 32 - we actually had some winter weather this week otherwise I would have gotten 36 plus. Things should start to slow down a little bit for me in the next couple of weeks and maybe (just maybe, I can make no promised) I will start up my old lady aging series again.  Because of course, everyone wants to hear me whine about getting old.

So there you have it.  A quick little update from my neck of the woods.  Have a great weekend!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!

December flew by so fast.  And here we are already half way through January.  

We had a lovely Christmas.  The kids both got home for break the second week of December and I have really enjoyed having them home....even though it's meant actual cooking and lots of laundry.  Although, they can  do their own laundry and cook their own meals, I like doing it for them when they are here. :)

We've spent a lot of time watching football (college and professional) as well as a lot of hockey (Carolina Hurricanes).  We've eaten out, gone to breweries, watched tv, talked, laughed, and in general just enjoyed being a family of 4 again.  Peter's classes started on January 6th so he left on the 5th. Sarah's classes start today but she left last Wednesday to go to State to hang out with her boyfriend and their friends. And I didn't blame her.  Dan and I were both back to work last week (well actually before that even) so she was just hanging out around the house alone.  

I'm not going to lie though.  It was a little sad when I came home from work last Wednesday and the house was empty.  It had been so nice coming home and having the kids here.  Back to the empty nest...

On to the Christmas update...

I hosted the annual Christmas Eve party after the Lovefeast and Candlelight service at the church I grew up attending.  Jennifer and her family joined us and we had a great time.  And of course, I got zero pictures.  

Christmas morning was our normal stockings, presents, lots of coffee and then off to Mass.  Cathy and Eric made it in time from D.C. so that Cathy was able to join us at church.  After church we had lunch with my mom and brother (mom prepared  a Thanksgiving feast) and opened more presents. Then we came home and opened even more presents! Our dinner was leftover food from Christmas Eve and  then we watched A Beautiful Mind.  It was a very enjoyable movie. Peter wanted to watch Inception but that seemed to intense for me.

The next day we hung out around the house and I made chicken pot pie soup for lunch and then we piled into the car and headed to Raleigh.  Peter wanted to show Cathy and Eric  his beloved NC State Campus. It was a good time to do it too because we practically had the entire campus to ourselves.

 We  had diner at Player's Retreat and then we went to the Chinese Lantern Festival in Cary. We had never been so I had no idea what to expect but it was really cool.  If you live in NC, I highly recommend it.

I had to work on the 27th and Cathy and Eric had to head back to D.C.  so Christmas was over.  

On New Year's Eve,we met the Waller's for dinner at Tokyo (our longstanding tradition). It was delicious as usual and I love when I get to hang out with Jennifer.  I miss when the kids were little and we got to hang out every day!

I actually had to work New Year's Eve for a couple of hours after the store closed because New Year's Day meant INVENTORY!  I worked a lot of hours but we managed to get it done by end of day on Saturday.  4 days isn't bad when you are counting and reconciling an entire store's worth of inventory! 

And that pretty much sums up the holidays for me!  

Happy New Year!  Although at this point I should probably say, "Happy Valentine's Day!" ")