Along the Journey
Welcome to Along the Journey! This is where I like to share the things we have been up to lately, some behind the scenes of our life and some of the useful items I have found on the web! Thanks for joining me today!
How was your Christmas and New Year? I hope it was wonderful! We get to celebrate those two holidays but we also get to celebrate two birthdays in our family!
One of our daughters was born on December 23, 37 years ago. She came home on Christmas Day! She is such a great gift!
Our son was born on January 1, 39 years ago! He was the first baby born in our area and it was quite the celebration!
BTW, our third baby was born in the month of June!
You can tell by those birthdays that our household was a happening place during the holiday season. Hubby and I wanted our kids to feel special on their birthdays so our Christmas tree did not go up until December 24th. And then it was always down and put away by New Year’s Eve.
I’m just tired thinking about the 20+ years we did all that! But that’s what you do for your kids, right?
Sadly, this year I had to miss our family Christmas celebration. We had decided to gather as a family on December 26. Everyone is married with their own children and they live far away from our home. I woke up that morning with a fever! So hubby went and they had a nice time. Thank the Lord for Facetime! I was able to participate via the screen. I’m thankful for that!
For the last few weeks, I have been terrible at capturing my good morning image on Instagram. This is a practice I have done for the last four years and lately, I have been struggling with keeping it up!
Here is a pretty shot of our rhododendron in late fall. I’m looking forward to the blooms this spring!
Do you have rhododendron in your yard? What’s your favorite flowering shrub?
On the blog, we shared our vintage-inspired Christmas home tour and our best-repurposed projects for 2022. See the gray bowl on the right? I painted a thrift store bowl that I only paid a couple of dollars for and it stirred quite an uproar on YouTube!
Click each image below to see the post!
This country-style hutch started out as a $60 yard sale find and to date has had three makeovers! Click the image to hear the story!
The shutter hanging sconce light on the right was part of a collaboration where nine of my upcycling friends and I got together and shared some of our most popular projects.
Click the images to go to the post!
We’ve been busy over on YouTube as well! You’ll enjoy the Christmas Home Tour of our home. I filmed it to look old-fashioned to create even more of a nostalgic feeling.
Tap the images to watch!
Hubby and I went live on YouTube the other night to talk about our plan for the coming year as far as our videos and blog post tutorials are concerned.
We are looking forward to the coming year and all we want to share with you!
Four of my blogging friends and I are getting together and sharing our hand-picked favorite finds just ‘four’ you! We will each be sharing four things we are currently loving and we know you will love them too!
You can check the links below for our faves and be sure to pop over to visit their blogs. Each of these ladies has a beautiful vintage-loving style like you and I do. I’m sure you will enjoy reading their posts!
Reinvented Delaware – Cindy
- Holiday decorating can make our muscles hurt, am I right? My back and shoulders can really get sore fast after all of the lifting, moving, rearranging, taking down….you know, all the things! My Bob and Brad Massage Gun takes care of all of my aches and pains. The great thing is, I can use this massage gun for about 5-10 minutes in the evening while watching TV and I get instant relief! Currently, it’s 37% off!!
- You might know I am a big planner! The pen and paper type of planner. For the last 6 years, I have used the bullet journal system to keep my life straight and I’ve never looked back! This year I found an amazing dot-grid journal that is perfect for my bullet journal needs. I purchased several, one for a personal daily writing journal, one for note-taking for my business meetings, and of course, one for my bullet journal. As a side note, Pentel Energel pens with .3 Needle tips are the best pens on the planet!
- We don’t hire anyone to come to clean our home although I have considered it lately! But our Roomba vacuum keeps things tidy between cleanings. We have had one for the last 10 years. I have mine set to vacuum 3 times each week and I empty the dirt container on the weekends. It’s such an easy way to stay on top of the mess the floors can become!
- Last year, I got serious about making homemade yogurt in our Instant Pot. It’s so tasty and I have it each morning with frozen berries or in a smoothie. Then I found the perfect container to strain off the whey to make greek yogurt. Hubby and I were talking about the savings at dinner last night: One qt store-bought greek yogurt costs about $5. One quart of homemade greek yogurt costs about $1! That’s a huge savings!
Lora Bloomquist – Lora
- After all the decorating for the holidays, it’s nice to have one easy decor change! I love THIS vintage book I found years ago. Each month it features beautiful, seasonal watercolor images of nature scenes. I simply prop open a page on a pretty easel to welcome in the new month. You can find vintage versions HERE, or newly published versions HERE. The only difference is the texture of paper used for publishing.
- Cleaning is always on the agenda after the holidays, and my favorite tool is my Dyson stick vacuum. I will never go back to a cord vacuum again. Even my big boys love using it in their rooms and their cars! I bought mine directly from Dyson and opted to get the extra tools, too. Definitely worth it. Bonus-they’re on sale for the new year. Find the vacuum my family and I love HERE.
- Yes, fasting is the new health craze and I have jumped on board whole-heartedly! I started learning from Dr. Fung and am now learning more about women’s fasting from Dr. Mindy. It’s amazing to learn how our bodies were created to function at their best. I’ve lost 25 lbs, many inches, and am heading to reverse my Type 2 diabetes; I feel great! Find my favorite health books and more HERE.
- Winter decor is a thing where it lasts for months! We got 15″ this week in 2 days; we have SO MUCH SNOW on the ground this year! I bought this pretty, glittery wreath on Amazon while I was Christmas shopping (because we all do it;) and am amazed at how beautiful it is for the price! Love when decor can be enjoyed longer than the holidays. Find it HERE.
Saved from Salvage – Regina
- You know how after Christmas you just want to organize and clean everything? We just purchased 5 of these COMMERCIAL GRADE SHELVES for the garage. They have six shelves, are easy to assemble and are super sturdy. They hold so much. I’m headed back for more soon.
- I’ve been crazy busy organizing and these are my go to STORAGE TUBS. I like things to match so I picked up more of these to add to the decor in the attic and now on the garage shelves. Just make sure when you are putting the shelving together you space them far enough apart to fit your tubs.
- I saw these and had to have them. How can you not love these SPRING BLOOMS. It’s too early for us in Maryland but leave it to Terrain to have these gorgeous blooms to add some color to your winter home.
- You know what else I’m loving? This beautiful CASHMERE SCARF. It’s super soft and is 40% off. Yes please. The cream color goes with everything, well except Dempsey’s dog hair.
Sky Lark House – Anna
- This yoga mat is fabulous.
- These yoga blocks are a must
- This diffuser to use before going to sleep
- This essential oil helps to ensure a good night’s sleep
Visit my Amazon Storefront!
Click the button below and head over to our online shop on Amazon!
Thanks for stopping by today! I hope you have a great weekend!
Hi Cindy – I am so sorry you weren’t feeling well on Christmas. I hope you are on the mend and doing better now. In spite of not feeling well, it looks like you were pretty darn busy working on projects in December. I will hop on over and read the posts.
Thanks, Anna! Unfortunately, the crud is still hanging around!
Happy New Year, my friend. So sad that you weren’t feeling well for your Christmas gathering. HUgs to you.
Thanks, Renae! I’m slowing getting better 🙂