The first Friday of the new school year is upon us (well those of us who live in the Northeast/New England/NY area). It was a busy, but good week. I'm here to share the blessings from the week and am sharing my FIVE FAVE ones. Check out Susanne's site to learn more about this and read other bloggers' fave blessings.
FIVE FAVES
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| image courtesy of feast magazine |
- IN HOME DAUGHTER DATE! Friday evening, Dave had a missions dinner to attend and although I was invited, I opted to stay home and have our oldest daughter pop in after her work with pizza from one of our fave places. I haven't had one of their za's in a long time so I ordered the Green Stripe one pictured above. It's a chicken, arugula, roasted red pepper and garlic pizza with cheese and a drizzle of pesto. So good. Claire popped her head in when she got home from work to say 'Hi" to her sister. Courtney wanted to hear about the rest of our week in Long Lake and what we did after she left us up there. We had so much fun chatting and looking at the photos I took. I'm so thankful she wanted to pop in before heading back to her apartment.
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| The bridge from the trailhead had a very steep step down to the trail. back of line to front: my sister Hope, then Dave, then her husband Donny in the lead |
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| the trail to Mud Lake Southern Adirondacks 3 September |
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| Mud Lake along the Northville/Placid Trail |
- DOUBLE DATE HIKE! On Saturday, Dave and I met my sister Hope (she's 5 years younger than me) and her husband Donny in a town an hour northwest of us in the Southern Region of the Adirondacks and we hiked a new-to-us trail to a beautiful, pristine lake. The name of the lake is Mud Lake (there are 30 Mud Lakes or Mud Ponds in NYS with several in the Adks!). The trail is part of the Northville/Placid trail so we were thrilled to hike yet another part of the NPT that we've never hiked before. The trail wasn't as easy to hike as we were led to believe. There were a lot of switchbacks over the Shaker Mountain Wild Forest area and also we had to navigate over a lot of blowdown and steep sections. All in all, once we got to the destination 1.8 miles in, we sat and ate lunch and talked to other hikers that were there. We all had a really good time and the weather was just perfect! The temp was only 76 degrees and the sun shone the entire time. I'm thankful we all had a great time even though we were all exhausted afterwards.
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| Top Box: whole wheat crackers; boiled egg; raw honeycrisp apple slices; cashew/almond/cranberry mix Bottom Box: lemon-garlic hummus in the closed container; raw red/yellow peppers, organic baby carrots; organic cherry tomatoes, European cucumber slices |
- BENTO BOX LUNCHES: For the new school year, I bought a bento box so I can make healthier lunches. If I don't pack my own lunch, I tend to order food from Panera down the street from work and waste time and money driving to pick it up, eating carb heavy foods or not so healthy foods. So this week I've been packing more nutritious real/raw/plant-based foods and so far so good! Plus, a bento box keeps everything together and I can slide it into my work tote and right into the fridge once I get to work. I'm thankful for easy lunches.
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| In the center: the badge for being an Adirondack Club Member top center: The Fire Tower Challenge badge (took me 11 years to complete all 24 required towers) 2nd row left: The Indian Lake 4-3-2-1 Challenge (4 easy, 3 moderate, 2 difficult and 1 high peak) 2nd row right: The Adirondack 100 Mile Challenge which I just completed between May 29-Sept 5th at 213 miles....I went 13 miles over my personal goal of 200 miles during the summer) Bottom left: Hamilton County Waterfalls Challenge (took me 5 years to complete) Bottom Center: Tupper Lake Triad (completed 2 mountains in 1 day and the 3rd a month later) Bottom Right: The badge for hiking Cascade Mountain (elevation: 4098' and the 36th tallest mountain in NYS and I have climbed it twice in 2 years) |
- PILLOW!! A very dear and talented work colleague who is a master at sewing, agreed to do some work for me. I bought a pillow and material over vacation and gathered all the hiking challenge badges I have earned over the years, and she turned everything into the above adorable pillow to go in my living room (which has an Adirondack/mountain theme). She didn't charge much at all! I'm so thankful she has made this for me. I have 2 other badges to put on there. One is actually a pin. The other badge I haven't earned yet as I'm still working on that challenge.
- A GREAT FIRST 2 DAYS! We had a really good first 2 days with our students (Wednesday and Thursday) in the 12:1:2 classroom. I have an entire new language group and they are YOUNG (both physically and developmentally) so this is going to be a huge challenge for me. Due to confidentiality laws I cannot show pics or explain what they are like but so far the entire class is having fun and beginning to learn routines. I'm thankful for a new group of students.
That wraps up my fave blessings from the week.
Summer is almost to an end and I'm thankful we have had some awesome weather this week for sitting on the deck or backyard swing to read after work and to grill food for dinner.
What were your blessings from the week? do share!
9 comments:
Hi Faith. So glad you had a good week. I love that hike you went on with Dave, your sister and brother-in-law. Looks like a great one. I also love your healthy lunches. It's always good when the kids come home for a good visit. I am glad that Courtney came to have dinner with your last week. It's great that your school year is off to a good start. Have a good weekend. See you again soon!
That is such a unique pillow! And a great way to show off your badges. I had mother/daughter time this past week as well. It was wonderful. The pizza looks very good. While I was visiting with my daughter and son-in-law we had a Reuben pizza complete with corned beef and sauerkraut. It was delicious! Have a great weekend.
Good afternoon, Faith, so great to read your dear post about your first week back to school! I will be lifting you up in prayer for a great year , and that bento box looks like the perfect thing for healthy tasty lunches. I’m praying this will be your best year, yet! God bless!
LOL Faith. The baby shower was for my grandson's wife (my grand-daughter-in-law?) Other comments also mentioned it was for my daughter, so I don't think I expressed myself very well!
I'm glad your school year has gotten off to a good start and you had such a lovely time with your daughters and then your sister and brother-in-law. What a great idea that pillow was! Nice way to display your badges. The bento box lunches sound like a good idea.
What a great idea for the pillow! You will be able to see all of your accomplishments and have happy memories handy as well. Love the bento box idea. I love Bento boxes for adults but not for the children in my class as we some things need to be warmed up and then we have to scoop them out.
Love the pillow! It shows what you love.
Bento box is a good idea to use. I will mention that to my girls. I know they are working toward better lunch choices.
That trail date sounds like a good day. And perfect weather too! (I have spent my few quiet hours this week outside either in the garden, on the deck or walking around the neighborhood.)
Enjoy your weekend!
That pizza looks fabulous! It's so nice that you and your sister get to double date with your spouses for hikes. It's a great way to spend time together. I love the idea of the pillow and patches. I have a bagful of patches. I should go through them and do something similar. Most are from my kids. That will be one way to get them back to them:) Hope you're having a good weekend!
Some nice highlights to your week. Nice to have a daughter/mom time with great pizza. We used to have a Blaze but it closed down. Glad you had a good start to your school year!
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