Five Loves on Friday

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Happy Friday, friends!  This week has been one great big celebratory and productive blur!  I'm exhausted in the best way!  Before the weekend gets here though, let's get to those five lit'l loves, shall we?

One // Celebrating with Family

My nephew's birthday is on Christmas Day.  However, he requested a family birthday party in January which was a pretty perfect idea if you ask me!  As special as it is to have a cake for him when we gather to celebrate Christmas, it is wonderful to enjoy a few hours set aside especially to celebrate him!  His choice of birthday cake was a chocolate layer cake with chocolate frosting.  He's clearly a guy after his aunt's own heart! ;)

Two // Fiesta with Friends

Monday night we met some of our oldest and dearest friends for a (very belated) Christmas celebration.  We enjoyed catching up in our favorite fashion, over food!  

Side note:  If you live near a Qdoba I highly recommend their new Two Timer Knockout Tacos!!  Delicioso!

Afterward we headed back to their place for dessert and a gift exchange.  Check out the yumminess that my friend Tina whipped up for us!

A brownie topped with chocolate pudding, then whipped topping, and a sprinkling of Heath?  Yes, please and thank you! 

We enjoyed every bit and bite of our evening together!

Three // My Handy Hubby

We'd been having trouble with water pressure and temperature throughout our home, and a leaky faucet in our bathtub.  This week Jason took time off work, watched some YouTube tutorials and read up on what needed to be done.  Then he tackled it all on his own, replacing our hot water pipes and bathtub fixtures!  Everything is working better than it ever has in the decade and a half that we've lived here!  I praise God for the blessing of a hubby who is willing to work so hard to care for our family in every way possible!  He amazes me each and every day!  After 17 years of marriage I'm even more smitten with him now than I was the day I said, "I do"!

Four // Minimizing our Excess

A week or two ago I began binge watching YouTube videos on minimalism.  The more I watched, thought, journaled, and talked with my husband about living with less the more appealing this concept became to me!  I started looking around at my home and thinking, Maybe this place isn't too small.  Perhaps I just have too much stuff in it!  So, I have been devoting every free moment I have to doing a major purge of our belongings here!  I'm talking taking every single item in my kitchen out of the cabinets and all of our clothing and collections from our closets.  I'm working my way through all of our possessions and assessing if this is something that I/we love and/or need or has it just been sitting there taking up space indefinitely simply because I found it on clearance, someone passed it on to me, or because everyone thinks you have to have one of these (fill in the blank with any of many gadgets and gizmos)! 

Like many of you, I have chosen a "word of the year".  The word I've chosen is "light".  One of the aspects and focus of this is my goal of living with less - less clutter & less stress because of it!  If you're interested in hearing more please let me know in the comments section below and perhaps I'll do a post(s) on my thoughts/goals/tips I'm picking up along my journey toward living lighter! 

Five // Thoughtfulness in Chocolate Form

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One night I mentioned how good a chocolate malt sounded.  What do you suppose Jason surprised me with the next day?  Thoughtfulness in the form of chilled, delicious, malted goodness!  *happy sigh*  It really is the little things in life that can bring the greatest joy sometimes!

*Bonus Love*

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Today is a very special day as it's my dear friend Nikki's birthday!  Happy, Happy Birthday Nikki!  Wishing you a beautiful day filled with love and laugher, surrounded by those dearest to you!  

Thanks so much for stopping by today, friends!  Having you pop by my nook of the blogosphere for a visit absolutely makes my day!  Wishing you the loveliest of weekends ahead!

Earlier this week at Chatting Over Chocolate:

Trip Report Tuesday: WDW Day 6 {Part One}

Linking up with:

   

If you're visiting from one of the link ups, be sure to say "Hello!" ...I'd love to come check out your Friday 5 too! ;)