It's been a while! Definitely not an intended break but I've been wanting to get back to blogging for a while now. My family had a pretty rough go of it at the beginning of the year. We had 3 deaths in the family within 5 months. Two of which were within 6 days of each other. All three deaths were extremely unexpected so as you can imagine it's been a difficult time for us.
Losing my grandpa on my mom's side has been the most difficult though. I'm so grateful for the two weeks we got to spend in Washington last spring with my grandma and grandpa as that was the last time we got to see my grandpa.
My family traveled to Washington to be with my grandma as well as my entire extended family. My sister even flew in from Germany which was so nice. And also kind of crazy because she came home for Christmas and then less than 2 weeks later made a last minute decision to fly to Washington to be with everyone. We were all so glad she did.
It was really nice to get to see family that we hadn't seen in a long time despite the fact it was for a difficult reason. My cousin asked at one point when the last time the siblings (meaning my mom, aunt, and uncles) had last all been together and we figured it had probably been over 10 years. It's just hard when everyone lives all over the country! So it was really nice to get to be with everyone.
Prior to that we had a lot of travel last year which included multiple trips up to Northern Virginia to help both of my siblings move. My brother bought his first place and we helped him move out of his previous place, brought some of his stuff here (things that couldn't be stored like food and other perishables) because there was about a month gap between when his lease ended on his apartment to when he could move into his new place. So then we drove back up to help him move in. Then my sister got relocated to Germany so we helped her clean out her apartment and deal with some of her moving stuff.
And then just last week my parents and I got back from visiting my sister in Germany! We took 3 weeks to visit my sister and travel around Europe which was pretty fun. We got to see and do so many things! So I will have a lot to share about that sometime soon!
Anyways, I want to start blogging regularly again and I have quite a few things to start sharing!
Buying - New clothes. Spring is typically when I like to buy new clothes as it's usually when I can find more things that I like. My family went on a big trip and I had been needing some specific things that I can bring with me. So I've been looking for sales and for some items that would work for me!
Playing - Still playing Animal Crossing New Horizons. I am well on my way to having my whole island done. I struggled with designing the entrance for a long time and I finally have it where I like it. I want to have a completed island and I think I'm well on my way!
Back in February I finished playing Zelda Tears of the Kingdom. I had put off the final battle for a long time but I had completed pretty much every single other thing there was to do (side quests/adventures, found all the Koroks, etc. The only things I didn't do were upgrade all the gear or find all the treasure chests.) so I finally went ahead and finished the game. The final battle was pretty difficult and I was surprised I completed it in one go (But just barely! I really thought I wasn't going to make it.) and now that I've finished it I'm thinking about starting it over again.
Finishing - I finished this new blog layout. I had been wanting to make one for a while but decided to work on a new one while I was taking a break from blogging. I'm pleased with how it turned out and I also went ahead and updated all of the pages! Well, all of the pages except for the About Me one. Writing about yourself is a bit challenging!
Reading - I've recently finished Fatal Domain by Steven James and I really enjoyed it. I really liked the first book in the series, Broker of Lies, so I was really interested in the second book. I also finished The Roads We Follow by Nicole Deese.
Watching - Getting caught up on all the shows on the DVR from when we were gone. I've been watching Dateline, 20/20, The Amazing Race, Home Town, and American Idol.
Looking forward to - Not too much right now. We're hoping to visit my brother up in Northern Virginia sometime soon. He wasn't able to come to Europe with us (he had just gotten back from a trip to Italy and then is going to Europe again this summer for a friend's wedding). His birthday was in May so we are hoping to go spend some time with him and celebrate his birthday.
Eating - Since getting back from our trip to Europe I've really been craving salads, berries, and vegetables. I've started finding strawberries at Costco so I have been very into eating those. And I'm always buying blueberries, which are my favorite! Eating out so much while we were gone and not being able to eat how we normally do was hard. Obviously that's expected while traveling but it's always nice to be home and get back to eating how you like to.
And I have also really been enjoying this chocolate chip cookie recipe. I really really like chocolate chip cookies and these are the perfect soft and chewy cookie!
Trying - I've tried a few new recipes lately. I've made this homemade cinnamon swirl bread 3 times over the last several months. It's so good and makes excellent toast.
And I've also made a couple versions of a Taco Bell crunchwrap. I've never actually had a Taco Bell crunchwrap but both of these recipes sounded good so I gave them a try. I tried this one from Half Baked Harvest and then I came across this breakfast one from Ambitious Kitchen on Instagram. Both recipes were a bit time consuming to make, but they were very good and very filling.
Working on - Several things. Scheduling and finishing up some blog posts. I have a lot of things I want to share. I have taken several trips I want to share photos from as well as some other fun things to post!
And I'm also working on going through all the pictures I took during our 3 weeks in Europe.
Since it's been so long, how have you been? What have you been up to lately?
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