InCourage In {Real Life} Meet up day

So the creators of the blog In{Courage} held their second world-wide meet up day called In{Real Life} ... it was like a women's conference where you didn't have to travel or spend money to attend. Women all over the world hosted gatherings in their homes and invited friends to join in on the fun. When you get together you tune in to watch live video streaming from the InCourage bloggers.

 

I hosted a gathering and it was such a wonderful and encouraging day! The InCourage blog had lots of resources available including printouts for discussion and printables for your home. I printed these out, mounted them on cardstock and stamped the date on the back so each woman who attended could take one home as a bookmark to remember the day by.

 

 

 

My home just needed some fresh flowers and having friends over was a great excuse to pick up some fresh tulips!  You also always need chocolate on hand when you have girlfriends coming over. ;)

 

I had a few small and simple crafts planned - things that we could make and either keep for ourselves or use to bless someone else. Because the main theme was 'community' I wanted a way that we could think about reaching out to other women - even by sending them a simple card or dropping off a small, heartfelt gift.

These are the lovely ladies who attended!

And my friend Jackie brought her super sweet baby girl along too.

 

 

Sweet baby girl! She was so good the whole day!

 

We took old Mason jars and decorated them with ribbons and/or Washi tape - then added a gift tag so we could fill it with something special and give it as a little gift to someone else.

Everyone brought some food to share ... it was all SO good, we had Veggie and Egg Casserole, Chocolate Chocolate Chip Muffins, Baklava, Spinach & Strawberry salad, Cool Veggie Pizza, Cheese and Crackers, a veggie platter, fruit salad and of course coffee, tea and lemon water. 

 

Lovely ladies ... sisters in Christ ... Godly women ... I am blessed to know each of them!!

 

 

 

I had even stuck up a little sign in the bathroom by the sink. Everyone needs a little encouragement while washing their hands, right?

 

My friend Pamela took some photos too ... each friend took home a few goodies at the end of the day.

 

 

I was so blessed to share this time with each of these lovely ladies ... we talked a lot about every day stuff like running and kids and food and such but we also talked about Community and how sometimes it's so hard when life is busy and it can be tough to make time for friendships. It was such an encouragement to my heart!

 

I am so thankful that the ladies of InCourage planned this meet up day and put so many hours of hard work into making it special for all of us women. I am already looking forward to being part of it again next year.

 

If you click over here you can check out more gatherings that happened all over the world. 

Stay-Cation Part THREE!!

Our weeklong staycation continued on Wednesday, otherwise known as

 

Spring Break Day FIVE:

 

We met some friends at the PEZ factory - it was SO cool! Our friends live in another area of the state and we don't get to see them often enough so we sort of met in the middle and had a nice time with them. PEZ was neat, it's a small, self-guided tour that shows you all about the history of the candy. They have a production room with viewing windows as well but they were only boxing candy, not making it the day we were there. And of course there is a souvenir shop area where you can purchase all kinds of neat PEZ candy stuff. If you decide to go, keep in mind it's VERY quick and simple - but I still thought it was fun.

 

 

 

It cost $5 for adults and $4 for kids and they give you a souvenir badge/lanyard thing to keep plus each guest gets a $2 credit to use in the shop. I was also pleasantly surprised to see that the prices weren't jacked up - most of the PEZ dispensers were around $2 or $4.

 

 

 

 

Look how many different PEZ they had!!!

 

The production area ... 

 

Joy with her friend Josie ...

 

 

You could fill a bucket of PEZ from this candy buffet - it was $4.99 for the bucket.

 

Steph and Owen!

 

Josie and Hope!

 

After PEZ we went out to the Olive Garden for lunch ... it was so nice to hang out with Steph and her kiddos, we don't get to see them nearly enough but we have been friends for a LOT of years ...

{about 14 I think?}  

 

 

Then after we parted ways my girls and I stopped on the way home at IKEA! They had fun looking at all the home décor ... especially since Hope is working on changing her room décor right now.

 

By the time we got home we basically just had a little time to change clothes and then headed out for Hope's soccer practice. Joy and I walked laps for a while during the practice. We came home, got some dinner and then chilled out watching the movie Journey 2 together. After the girls went to bed Bob and I watched Survivor - our Wednesday night tradition!

 

Spring Break Day SIX:

 

My in laws wanted to have the girls come over for the day so they went off with Grandpa and Grandma and I had the day to myself ...

First stop was they went out for breakfast, then for a bike ride at a park we love on the ocean ...

 

 

Then they had an art lesson with Grandpa and painted these beautiful paintings. They made them for my bathroom and I can't wait to see them once they get framed and hung up!

 

I spent most of the day cleaning, painting and organizing. I'm on this kick right now where I have this mile long spring to-do list and I'm on a mission to get it done!

 

Spring Break Day SEVEN:

 

So that would be today and I didn't take ANY pictures today! But honestly today was mostly just a chill day ... at least compared to the rest of our week. My girls both had sleepovers planned for tonight, and I wanted to let them rest today. So they both slept in and kind of just hung out relaxing and watching TV for part of the morning which is something they really haven't had the chance to do much of this week. We went and picked up our groceries and I dropped a whole load of stuff off at Goodwill ...  then I continued on my painting mission today while the girls did their own things. Hope was busy trying to declutter and organize her room to get it ready to paint soon. Joy played on the computer, colored and hung around. Definitely a very low-key day which I think was just what they needed.

 

And that brings us to tonight ... Joy is at a sleepover at our church with the rest of the 3rd-5th grade Awana girls. And Hope invited 2 friends to come sleep over here. They are watching movies, eating treats, painting nails and making silly videos while they dance around. =)

 

Bob and I just watched a good movie called Chasing Maverick and now I'm getting ready to head to bed ... it's been a GREAT week and we still have the weekend to enjoy before the girls head back to school.

 

have a great weekend friends!!

 

 

 

 

Stay-Cation Part TWO!

WARNING WARNING - lots of pictures ahead! =)

 

So the past three days have been JAM PACKED with fun. I apologize in advance for the length of this blog post but here we go ...

 

Spring Break Stay-Cation Day THREE:

We had Krispy Kreme donuts for breakfast, oh yes we did ... only on Spring Break, don'tcha know... *grin*

Monday morning the girls and I started out with heading out to a favorite local used bookstore. We brought in a boxful of books to sell and were given a $10 credit which was cool so we each picked out 3 or 4 new-to-us books to read.

 

After that we headed to a favorite local park. It's SUPER gorgeous, right on the ocean, with a huge old mansion that they rent out for weddings and such and lots of big, green, lush lawns to explore. We packed a picnic lunch and met some friends there. Hope brought her rollerblades, something she absolutely LOVES to do lately. Do not be deceived by her shorts and t-shirt though ... it was FREEZING that day and even in jeans and a sweatshirt I was shivering!

 

Some of our dear friends!!

 

The mansion ...

 

 

Beautiful daffodils in bloom!

 

 

There are all these cool gardens and gates and paths ... I snapped a few photos of my girls and some of their friends ...

 

 

And my two beautiful daughters!

 

 

 

Myself and Joy

 

Hope, rollerblading with a friend.

 

 

After that we took one of Joy's friends home with us so she could spend the night - but first we had to make a quick pitstop at my FAVE place ... Rita's!!! The Gelati is my absolute favorite and soooo delicious!

 

 

 

This pretty much says it all!

 

 

That night Hope went to the movies with friends and Joy had her friend sleep over. So we watched 'Diary of a Wimpy Kid' with them and had popcorn and treats.

 

Spring Break Stay-Cation Day FOUR:

 

We got up early and drove Joy's friend home. Then headed out to go to SIX FLAGS for the day! This year we decided to buy Season's Passes since it cost the same as a one day pass PLUS the girls are both big enough {and brave enough} to ride all the big rides with us.

 

We went with our good friends and their kids and it was a BLAST!

 

I have to tell ya ... when I was a kid I LOVED roller coasters and had NO fear. But the older I've gotten {and had kids} I get so scared, I'm such a wimp! So as we drove up there Tuesday morning my stomach was all jittery and feeling anxious but I also knew I wanted to conquer those fears and not let them hold me back this summer. If we were going to have season's passes I was going to enjoy them! Anyway ... we get there and start with a couple mild rides and then we're walking past this roller coaster that goes upside down and backwards and the line was SUPER short so my husband says 'let's go!' and right then and there I got my nerve up and did it! It was so fun and exhilarating!!

 

Here are the girls with their friends...

 

 

 

Here we are waiting to get on one of the mild coasters ...

 

 

My friend Lynn was VERY brave, she gets motion sickness but she tried 2 roller coasters! I don't know if she'll ever go on them again .... but ... she was brave for that one day! LOL

 

This girly of mine ... she wanted to play that game where you shoot baskets and it says 'one in wins' ... so she pays for 3 balls and she MAKES IT IN 2 out of 3 times!! hahaha ... we were so impressed! There was a crowd of boys about her age standing behind her and they looked pretty impressed too! Love it!

 

 

As the day wore on it got a bit cloudy and cool and even sprinkled a little. The lines were SO short, it was awesome cause most big coasters only had a 10-20 minute wait! I told my family, 'we have to take advantage of this cause the lines probably won't be this short all season!' so we ended up going on LOTS of very cool roller coasters.

 

But there was this one - Bizarro - that I just had SO much fear and anxiety about. It goes 77 miles per hour and has a 221 foot drop. I kept looking at that hill all day and thinking I want to conquer that ride but I'm SO afraid of that hill! So later in the day we walked by and wouldn't you know the line was only about 20 minutes long - I knew it was NOW OR NEVER for me as the lines are usually much longer. So only my husband, Hope and I were brave enough to try it, everyone else waited for us or rode other things. As the car got towards the top of the hill I felt so anxious about looking down so I literally closed my eyes and didn't open them until I felt us going back up the next hill! I also screamed my head off ALL DAY on the rides so I have a very sore throat and scratchy voice, even now two days later! But I was so happy that I conquered it and now I know I can do it again when we go back.

 

Anyway, moving on ... just before we were leaving for the day my husband decided to go on Downtime, it's one of those free fall things. He ended up going on about 3 times because there was no line. I wouldn't do it because that kind of thing messes with my stomach! LOL

Here he is before they started ...

 

 

And right as we went to leave the park after a long, fun, full day we saw Porky and his girlfriend and snapped a fun picture ...

 

 

On the way home we stopped at On The Border for dinner ... so good! What a crazy and fun day, we came home happy and exhausted and talking about when we'll go back up again ... =)

 

 

Only 4 days into vacation and still more fun to come ... stay tuned!