Happy Mother's Day and Happy May!

Happy May!  I'm excited to link up with Andrea from Momfessionals and Erika from A Little Bit of Everything for:

Student Drawn Portraits

My student, Blessings, drew this picture of me, and the resemblance is pretty close.  Of course, I do appreciate the long, thick eyelashes Blessings gave me!

Even after retiring last June (how is it almost a year!?), I still have all these student drawn portraits ~ they are very special!

Playing Corn Hole:

Yesterday I was browsing around in T.J. Maxx when a pink box caught my eye.  I pulled it out from underneath a display, and it turned out to be a Corn Hole game with a donut theme!

For $40, I got a one of a kind game!  If you go online at T.J. Maxx, you can get a similar version with an American flag theme right here!  We were outside in the cool, damp weather playing

Spring?:

I remember to check the weather every day lately ~ just in the event that the sun might peek out.  Here in Massachusetts, it's been a very changeable spring with 

Plus, I'm trying to not wear winter clothes which is challenging due to the low temperatures and rainy weather.

Reading: 

I have been reading online books on the OverDrive app.

Right now I'm reading Hopeful Hearts at the Cornish Cove.  

What I'm especially loving about this book is that the main character, Meredith, is 50 years old!  She decides to jump start her life by buying a lighthouse on the coast.  How cool is that!  If you're looking for an endearing book to read, check out this book! 

A while ago, I read a really fun book, Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine, by Gail Honeyman:

 Eleanor is completely honest and sees everything in black and white terms until circumstances, beyond her control, force her out of her comfort zone.  She is forced to assimilate into "normal" society and experience "normal" social situations which cause her to blurt out her own viewpoints ~ which are so true and funny!  If you're looking for a book that you'll remember for years to come, check out this one!

Well, thank you so much for checking in today!  Please let me know what another good book would be!  

Happy Mother's Day and Happy Spring ~ hopefully the weather is more cooperative where you live!

Also, remember to check out more great blogs at:

Friday Favorites: Sunny Savannah ~ A Walkable and Historic City!

Hello there!  We recently came back from a five day trip to Savannah, Georgia.  If you like to walk and learn about history, you'll love Savannah!  Today I am linking up with Erika from A Little Bit of Everything and Andrea from Momfessionals for:

Savannah, Georgia

This was my first trip to this beautiful city, and it definitely lived up to its reputation!  We arrived on a Saturday at lunch time and hit the ground walking.

That day we visited Forsyth Park:

It's worth visiting for several reasons:  the beautiful fountain surrounded by flowers and watching the people walking by.  Not surprisingly, we saw many photographers taking pictures of their clients for graduations or proms.

After that we headed to Basilica of St. John.  We learned that a church becomes a basilica when it is recognized by the Vatican and has a special canopy to hold over the pope, if he ever visits.

This basilica is being renovated, but look at how beautiful it is inside:

This is called an umbraculum.   It is used to provide shade for the pope, just in case he visits.

We also went to Tybee Island which is about a 30 minute drive from Savannah.  We found a super deal on Trip Advisor for $95 which included round trip transportation from our hotel, beach chairs and umbrellas.  My favorite part of the beach were these brown pelicans: 

These pelicans dive bomb for fish.  When they land in the ocean, there's a big splash.  I could have watched them forever!

Here are some other highlights of our trip:

*Going on a ghost walking tour.  Savannah is a very haunted city.

*Watching giant container ships travel on the Savannah River.  Savannah is one of the busiest seaports in the US.  If you go directly north from Savannah, you end up in Ohio so all those containers can easily access the middle of the country.

That bridge in the picture goes to South Carolina!

That's all for now.  Have you ever been to Savannah?

Friday Favorites: OK Day; What I'm Reading; Gyres Are Not OK; NYT Spelling Bee Picture Submission

Hello Friday!  Today I'm linking up with Erika from A Little Bit of Everything and Andrea from Momfessionals for:

March 23rd (last Sunday) was O.K. Day!

I do love the Checkiday site as a way to discover little known holidays ~ like O.K. Day!  According to Allan Metcalf, the author who started this celebration, O.K. is such an important word in the American language that he's written an entire book about it.  

Click on cover to discover more at Amazon.

On March 23, 1839, in The Boston Morning Post, the word OK was first seen in print.  The purpose of OK Day is to celebrate the word OK and its history.  Can you even imagine a world without the word OK?

If you're looking for a fun children's book, check out:

The OK Book by one of my favorite authors, Amy Krouse Rosenthal.

Currently Reading:

Right now I am reading another engaging book by Jo Jo Moyes:

I am only at the very beginning, but the main character has quite a chaotic life:  recently divorced; two children including one angry teenager; a big house with plumbing issues,...

What are gyres?  They are not OK!

Change Is Simple is a non-profit group that visits our school four times a year to teach us about keeping our world cleaner and healthier.  During one visit, we learned about the ocean and its different layers:

In our oceans, there are areas of large whirlpools called gyres.  Some of these areas become filled with trash and debris.  The biggest one is in the Pacific Ocean.  I never knew any of this was happening.  In addition, a lot of the debris includes plastic by-products, and that's why it's so important to use reusable bags and as little plastic as possible.

Photo Submission for Spelling Bee

I always love checking out the bee pictures for NYT Spelling Bee!  I finally got around to submitting this photo and hope to have it published some day:

Happy weekend, and thanks for checking in today!