Friday Fave: Thimbleberry margaritas

This is something I only get one week a year — and ONLY if we pass through Calumet while Carmelita’s is open!

Thimbleberry Margaritas

The thimbleberry is a berry unique to certain areas of the US — and the upper peninsula is one of them. And they’ve gone and turned it into a delicious drink! (They also make jam but give me the margarita!)

If you’re ever in the area, please stop by and try one! We even get two pitchers to go to enjoy throughout the week since it’s an hour round trip to get them!

Friday Fave: mom’s back yard

This is the back yard I grew up with — mostly. Some trees and stumps have been removed over the years and there’s more green now…but it’s the place of family picnics, birthday parties, campfires, s’mores, reading, croquet, sun bathing, the tree swing, kiddie pools, leaf forts…and tons of photos.

Friday Fave: Red lipstick

Another of my many favorite things? This week it’s actually a SeneGence product — the OG Blu Red LipSense! ♥️💋♥️

Everyone needs a bold red lippy (not kidding!) and this is a great place to start (not kidding!)!

☕️ It won’t rub off on your coffee cup.
🌭 It won’t come off when you eat!
🔆Plus it protects your lips from the sun!

Friday Fave: Sam’s shrimp ceviche

If y’all know anything about me, you know I love Costco and Sam’s Club. I have so many favorites at each place it would be hard to narrow it down to just a few things.

But today, I’m going to tell you about my new favorite thing from Sam’s Club—🦐 Shrimp ceviche! You may scoff at getting something like this from a warehouse club, but it was really good! Plentiful shrimp, fresh veggies, decent cost—I will admit that it needed salt, and then I ended up putting a little too much in … but I still had to stop myself from eating the whole thing in one sitting. 🤤

NIMCon Solo Ensemble

Northern Illinois Music Conference

Thankfully it wasn’t too far to Highland Park Middle School—and they looked pretty alert for 8am.

Lucas and Owen
Our actual view during their piece. LOL — They earned a 2.

Between performances we just hung around the library/cafeteria area with Lucas’ parents. It’s a really nice school.

Owen’s big ensemble did The Entertainer and it was really good!

They earned a 1!

After the performance, the judge gives them a few tips and suggestions and has them practice some bars again to see the difference. It’s really neat.

Pysanky on the River 2022

We were up early this morning to hit the Ukrainian Museum Archives in Cleveland. Surprisingly the bathroom lighting was pretty good—I love Hampton Inn!

I bought a new necklace there (because I broke my necklace on the way here).

With my mom at the museum.

Then it was off to State Meats and eating lunch at Mama Maria’s Ukrainian Kitchen!

Pierogi, potato pancake, and a slaw.

Then we visited a Ukrainian cathedral (to see the gold spires in the sun), grabbed a donut across the street, and then some ice cream at the Honey Hut!

Then it was back to the hotel to grab our stuff to setup for the event!

OMG all the “naked eggs” for sale… Typically you’d have to blow them all out yourself and it’s not complicated but it is a lot of work. These were already blown out and cleaned! And on sale! For less than it would cost to even buy them in the store! Turns out the vendor was getting out of the egg business and just wanted them gone. Stay tuned to see just how many I ended up buying!!!

And then I bought my Christmas present! A goose egg from Pysanky Master Lorrie Popow! It’s absolutely stunning. I couldn’t take my eyes off of it!

I asked her how she could even see to do that and she said “When my eyes were younger!” I eventually looked through her Facebook page to see if I could find it to see when she did it…and it was 2012!!

Lorrie Popow: LorriePopow.com and on Facebook

Cleveland(ish), I am in you.

A few months ago my mom asked me if I’d go with her to a 4-day Pysanky Retreat in northern Ohio. I jumped at the chance—I think I said yes even before she finished asking! I’ve long been wanting to get back into Pysanky—and I never get to spend any alone time with my mom—so it was a no-brainer!

So this morning I was in the car and on the road by 9am (in a super quick and easy road trip look) to Middleburg Heights/Berea!

Tom always does the driving so it kinda stunk not being able to work while on the road, but I did listen to an audiobook (which eventually made me sooo tired I took to eating popcorn to stay awake)! But I made it!

After we got settled and visited for a bit it was off to find dinner. I found a local Chinese place with really great Yelp reviews (Little Hong Kong) about a mile away…where we had some of the best General Tso’s chicken I’ve ever had. Highly recommend!

Then it was back to the hotel to make 65 goodie bags for the event…

And take a Covid test to be able to attend.

It’s been 20+ years!

When you travel to Michigan and are close to your first apartment you officially shared (after my cousin Lisa moved out), you stop for a selfie.

The name of the complex has changed slightly but it looks exactly the same. Tom had to stop me from knocking on our actual apartment door and asking to look around.

We also stopped to check out Horrocks. Holy shit has that place grown (since we were last there 20 years ago)!! I would kill to have something like that by us now! We managed to spend a few hundred dollars on fun food items like flavored meats and cheeses, bulk dried goods and treats, flavored bulk olive oils, and Michigan-themed products just to name a few. If you’re ever in the area, you MUST stop: Horrocks of Lansing

A beautiful wedding day!

An outdoor wedding in Michigan on October 1? It was a daring move but it was the most amazingly gorgeous day to watch my cousin’s daughter (I googled and that makes her a first cousin once removed or I can call her a niece) Jessica marry…a marine!!

Jess was our flower girl 21 years ago!
Congratulations to Mr. & Mrs. Taylor…and Captain!

Book 37

I forgot about going outside to read because I’d had four days of Arizona’s blast furnace weather. But omggggggg today is perfection! And I’m on book #37: The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post

11:11am
1:54pm

I highly recommend this one. I had no idea it was historical fiction. To know that this lady I’m reading about actually existed was really quite cool.

My reading buddy

So much more than makeup and skincare!

My SeneGence business is soooo much more than just makeup and skincare. It’s about going outside my box. It’s about making new friends and making those connections and being able to help each other personally and professionally. And sometimes, yes, sometimes it’s about having a giant pajama party, fangirling over Sene-famous peeps, drinking together in the pool, taking 1000 pictures together, and throwing axes. I’m such a better person because of all these ladies…and it’s only going to get better from here!!

Fab Squad Retreat – Day 4

Unfortunately today was really just a travel day. Since I had to change my flight at the last minute, I had a crappy boarding time on the first flight so I got a middle seat so no cool pics.

Lunch!

Even though I still had crappy boarding times for the second flight, I managed to score a window seat!

Overall it was an amazing weekend… Even if I didn’t get home until 9:30 instead of 4:30. And Olive greeted me like a crazed banshee when I got in the car… And then rode home like this.