happy list|five

I love posting these lists, they make me remember just how awesome my life is :)

Writing|| My writer's block surrounding my book seems to be gone, and I've been able to add words each day this last week and that makes me pretty dang happy.

When someone knows my family|| Last night at work there must have been something in the water because hello crabby people, but then my last customer of the day totally made my night when we got to talking about pickleball and I said I didn't play personally but my family has two courts and right then and there she was like OMG! You are too young to be his daughter--you're Rich's granddaughter aren't you? Yes, yes I am and yes I agree he is pretty awesome and yes we love him too.  #smalltownlife

Only two this week, but that's okay, nothing too exciting went down this week which I'm totally fine with!!

What's Up Wednesday June '16

linking up with Shay & company for one of my favorite link-ups! 

 

1. WHAT WE’RE EATING THIS WEEK:

Nothing too exciting around these parts this week. I have been doing a lot of just grabbing something at work on my lunch which is a bad habit to get into. 

2. WHAT I’M REMINISCING ABOUT:

Itasca State Park. After I fell twice crossing the Mississippi at the headwaters. #meghananna2k16

A photo posted by Meghan Brown (@meghanannablogs) on Jun 23, 2016 at 7:25am PDT

In these last 6 weeks I've been "Up North" three times for various graduations and concerts, as well as heading up to my cabin for a quick camper set-up. I love hanging out with my people, but I'm glad July will be a bit slower and more go with the flow. 

3. WHAT I’M LOVING:

My beautiful girl. #meghananna2k16 #goldensofig #goldenretriever

A photo posted by Meghan Brown (@meghanannablogs) on Jun 25, 2016 at 5:57pm PDT

When my Lynn-Mom sends me pictures of my Chloe girl like this one. 

4. WHAT WE’VE BEEN UP TO:

My favorite concert buddy,  even when she's pulling my arm almost out of my socket as we make our way back to the car. We have no concerts lined up now and that makes me a sad panda. #concertbuddy #cousins #meghananna2k16

A photo posted by Meghan Brown (@meghanannablogs) on Jun 24, 2016 at 11:15am PDT

Moondance was Father's Day weekend and it was so much fun to hang out with my concert buddy slash cousin Steph. Father's Day was spent with my Dad, Grandpa H as well as other family and friends.  Great times with great friends. #clichebuttrue

5. WHAT I’M DREADING:

Well 4th of July is less than a week away which means work is CRAZY! I'm ready for my weekend! 

6. WHAT I’M WORKING ON:

My writer's block surrounding my first book seems to have gone away so I'm working on that which is exciting!

7. WHAT I’M EXCITED ABOUT:

Getting to do HB's Summer sesh of her writing intensive since I missed her Spring session!

8. WHAT I’M WATCHING/READING:

Re-watching Army Wives because why not? & reading all of the Colleen Hoover I can get my hands on! 

9. WHAT I’M LISTENING TO:

My current faves playlist on Spotify. 

10. WHAT I’M WEARING:

Nothing too exciting. Concert tees and denim shorts have been the norm.  

11. WHAT I’M DOING THIS WEEKEND:

My apartment needs a good deep clean, so that should probably be in my plans, as well as lunch with my work momma per usual. 

12: WHAT I’M LOOKING FORWARD TO NEXT MONTH:

Hoping to sneak up to the lake for a day or two. 

13. WHAT ELSE IS NEW?

Nothing too earth shattering. Just enjoying the weather and trying to get a little less pale. 

14. WHAT IS MY FAVORITE JULY 4TH TRADITION/RECIPE?

Definitely not a tradition, but every year around this time I remember where I was in July of 1998 over the 4th. I watched the fireworks from my hospital room during my month long hospital stay at Children's. Meningitis, brain surgery and shunt placement is never fun but I'm so grateful to my parents for making it as bearable and dare I say fun as they could.  

Two on Tuesday.

Becca does these type of posts every so often on her blog, so I thought it was a good way to share a couple things today that wouldn't normally make up a full blog post!

Pine Roost (n.)- A place where everybody knows your name and they're all glad you came. Where I wish you could find me on more weekends than not during the summer,  but in reality last nights trip was my first since the summer of 2014. Where I learned to play Texas Hold 'Em & the meaning of its yellow let it mellow. Its where the chief argument between Mady and I was always where we sat on the jet-ski.  On the weekends when my Dad would have to work one of the days he'd bring back Tobie's rolls and buns. Lawn volleyball,  swimming out to the raft and jumping off the high tower. A place that will always hold a special place in my heart. #meghananna2k16 #onmeghansheart

A photo posted by Meghan Brown (@meghanannablogs) on Jun 25, 2016 at 8:27am PDT

1| On Friday evening my parents and I made a quick trip up to our cabin to get our camper situated. We stopped at DQ on the way up for an easy linner and grabbed an ice cream treat on the way out. When we got up to the lake, I ditched my parents across the road so they could set up and I could set eyes on one of my favorite places, Pine Lake, somewhere that I hadn't made it up to at all last year & that I'm not sure how much I'll be able to get up there this year either.  I got to joke around with my great uncle John and other extended family members, we sat on the deck for a while and chatted after my parents came over, but unfortunately my Dad worked early Saturday so it was a short trip but still so great to dip my feet in at the end of the dock.

2| I love my tribe, they are pretty bomb ass people. Yesterday was one of those days where life and I were just not seeing eye to eye. One of my friends was supposed to bring me dinner when I had my hour break and ended up being kept late at work and my work momma told me to come tell her by a certain time if the friend didn't show up and we had a miscommunication, so she called me back once she got to her car and was like HEY! This is me scolding you lovingly, if this happens again, make sure you get into my face and tell me your friend didn't come and I'll make sure you either have cash to go get something or you can have my leftovers, which I absolutely love her for. I should have brought a back up if my friend didn't show, but she told me she'd be there for me so I didn't, so grateful for people in my tribe who love me even when I'm a brat and totally unlovable.

happy list|four

So I've missed the last couple weeks of these posts because hello real life, but I'm back!

Music| Sometimes you just need to shut out the world around you and jam to whatever strikes your fancy. At the moment, my Pandora station is set to Holdin' Her by Chris Janson mixed with Boy and a Girl Thing by Mo Pitney.

Books| I am SO behind on my Goodreads challenge, but I've been devouring books like they're going out of style lately. #finally

Army Wives| Been rewatching this series for only the millionth time, it's my chosen method to wind down after work.  Love me some Claudia Joy & Michael Holden.

What's something that's making you happy this week? Let me know in the comments!

& that's all she wrote.

Laying it Out.

Crap's about to get really real in the post guys, you've been warned.

I feel like I've forgotten how to pray, how to connect with God. My mind understands how to do it, my heart seems to be under lock and key from Him which I know seems silly due to the fact that He's all knowing and He already knows my heart backwards and forwards, inside and out.  Emily from Ember Grey wrote a really great post that I just read today and it helped some, but I don't know how to get away from the feeling of being a Christian fraud to just knowing He loves me no matter what.  If you have any prayers you'd want to spare I'd appreciate it. Any advice as well would be welcome.

My work momma's been on my mind these last few days. She hasn't been at work since Friday, she was off Saturday but has called in since Sunday, I'm getting worried about her, it's not like her to be gone this long and I miss her. I don't want to harass her to make sure she's okay, but I don't want her thinking I'm ignoring her either, just wanting her to rest and be better.

I feel like lately, instead of being so quick to share what's on my mind in real life, I've become even more of an introvert even at work, where if I have something earth shattering to share, I'll do it, but I keep a lot more in, I think that's because my trust in certain people completely shattered a few weeks ago & I don't feel safe sharing certain things with certain people anymore. I'll be a completely open book, but you have to be willing to open me up and I have to have a good deal of trust built up with you.

I've been on a reading kick lately, Colleen Hoover's books have been my jam. I have every book she's written pretty sure on my Kindle app now and I'm just going through them like a camel drinks water.

So I was having a day a week or so ago, you know the kind of day I'm talking about, the one where it's like I really should need to have a license to adult.  Well I texted Jayme as well as another one of my friends and said y'know there are some days where I feel like I totally have this adulting thing down and then there are other days where I feel like I'm a giraffe just learning how to use it's legs.  So now whenever I'm having one of those days, my friend who also happens to work with me asks if I'm having a giraffe day. My life is never dull that's for sure.

I think I'm going to write more of these kinds of posts, I like just brain dumping. It's very therapeutic. Also not even sorry that there's no pictures in this post. I've been posting pictures from my Moondance weekend on my instagram @meghanannablogs #shamelessplug

Meghan out.

My Weekend Shenanigan.

That's not a typo, I didn't have very many shenanigans this weekend, if I'm honest, I only had one major shenanigan, but it made my weekend.

So I was walking home from my lunch with Karen and I hadn't even made it out of the parking lot before I hear someone honking at me, I look back and it's my Grandpa's old pick-up truck. I start walking toward it as this kid below opens the door and shoves me in yelling "GET IN! NOW!" "I'm like all right all right, I'm going!!" My Grandpa's behind the wheel laughing his head off and all I can do is shake my head.  I looked at my brother and said "Y'know, if they didn't know we were family, people would think you were kidnapping me." "GOOD! That's how I wanted it to look" he says to me which my Grandpa responds with "Nobody came out to check and see if you were okay, isn't that sad?" & continued laughing.  Not even sorry, because even when they're kidnapping and embarrassing me, I love my people :)

A photo posted by Meghan Brown (@meghanannablogs) on Dec 27, 2015 at 4:41pm PST

& literally, the rest of Friday was spent reading and taking a nice nap, Saturday was much of the same before I was back to work Sunday, I have a short work week since I'm heading up north for Moondance Country Jam again!

Hey it's Okay..

I haven't linked up with Amber in far too long, but I absolutely love this link-up, so here we go!

It's okay...

-to commit to read books I already own, but go out and buy four new books #whoops

-to really be looking forward to tomorrow because then inventory will be over for another year at work.

-to spend my bonus on treating myself. I got a hair cut, brows done and I got a pedicure as well.

-to think you forgot your iPad at your aunt's house up north, but find it under a couch cushion because you were on it before falling asleep the night your mom stayed at your place.  Oy.

What I'm For.

"You don't have to guess what I'm against, if you know what I'm for" What I'm For- Pat Green.

This song came up on my Pandora this morning and I thought awesome blog post idea!

I'm for weekends spent Up North hanging out with my aunt, uncle and cousins.

I'm for Monday mornings spent watching a rain delayed race at Pocono.

I'm for hugs and lunch dates with my work momma after a week of not seeing her.

I'm for rainy days and awesome clouds.

I'm for sunny afternoons and flip flops.

I'm for puppy cuddles and crazy excitement when I come home.

What's something you're for?

happy list| three.

It's Thursday, so that means it's time for another happy list!

treating myself| I was going to have lunch with my work momma, but she's out sick again and so I was in a sad mood, worried about her and then I decided to turn my frown upside down and at first it was just going to be a hair trim before my mom picked me up for our road trip up north, but it has turned into a hair trim, an eyebrow waxing, pedicure and a date with me, myself and I to Caribou, I have no regrets whatsoever.

late night taco bell runs| This is pretty self-explanatory. After a hard evening at work I like to make a Taco Bell run with my neighborfriend Trisha.

up north| heading up there again this evening with my momma. Going to see the same cousin who graduated with her AA at the beginning of May get her high school diploma. PSEO is an amazing thing :)

What's something that's made you happy this week?

Top 5 Wednesday| Book Theme Songs

 Faith introduced me to the Top 5 Wednesday group on Goodreads and I knew I had to join in on this fun link-up!

5| The Driven Series, K.Bromberg//Just Give Me A Reason.



Rylee and Colton's relationship was defined throughout this series with many different songs, but whenever I hear this song by P!NK it brings me right back to these books!

4| Taking Chances, Molly McAdams//To Make You Feel my Love & Learning to Live Again.



Both of these Garth Brooks songs can describe the relationship not only between Harper and Chase, but Harper and Brandon as well.

3| The Baxter Series by Karen Kingsbury//The House that Built Me



This song by Miranda Lambert just screams the Baxter family, probably because they put such an emphasis on family and coming home all together.

2| The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks//Hurry Home.



This book completely wrecked me, it was a book hangover ugly cry book that I still have a hard time re-reading because of the father daughter relationship and how much I would hurt if I had to say goodbye to my Dad at my age.  This song is a progression much like the book does of a prodigal daughter coming back home to her Daddy.

1| The Ryan White Story by Ryan White and Ann Cunningham//Don't Laugh at Me



 Ryan White, when he was diagnosed with AIDS as a young teenager was made to feel like he was an outsider.  This song reminds people to look past people's differences and know that we are all made special in God's eyes.

What's one of your favorite books and what song would you pair it with?