Five Loves on Friday

Happy first Friday of August, friends!  I hope the month is getting off to a sweet start for you!  Here are a handful of loves from mine . . . 

One  //  A Saturday Sweetly Spent

Last weekend started with a chat with my hubby about how dissatisfied I was with the current state of our home.  During the first couple weeks with our precious new puppy, Little One and I had spent the bulk of our time, energy, and attention on Toffee's care and training.  This was time well spent, yet my typical cleaning schedule had been somewhat neglected with many things being left for later which in turn had me feeling like our home could some extra attention.  I shared this with Jason saying that I'd like to some time Saturday morning working on the house.  Without any prompting he immediately grabbed our vacuum and carpet shampooer and went to town freshening up our carpets.  This had a huge impact both on our home and my heart.  I know he couldn't care less about our carpets, but he does care deeply for me and it showed in his eagerness to lend a helpful hand on that sweet Saturday morning!  It also felt like a Team Platt moment (which I love), as he covered the carpet care and I was able to work on other tidying and organization throughout our home.  By early afternoon it was once again one of my favorite places to be!  Home sweet home!

We did want to get out for just a bit after being cooped up a good portion of the week with puppy care, so Jason suggested we take a nice drive to pick up one of my all-time favorite meals, Thai Pie with extra peanut sauce!  So good!  Two of Sam & Louie's pizza shops that were nearer to our home have closed making it a bit of a trek for us to pick up a pie, but that makes it even more special when we do enjoy it!  It was our first Thai Pie of 2021 and I savored the flavor during every last bite!

After lunch we enjoyed a wonderfully restful day at home with the family.  Then as evening approached my dear hubby made a final fun suggestion asking if I'd like to go for a ride out to our hometown happy place, the lake.  Naturally I loved the idea and off we went.  Along the way while he was stopped at a red light he passed me his phone.  Then just as he made an unexpected turn I looked down to find what he'd planned before we ever left our driveway.  He had Culver's frozen custard digital dessert menu already pulled up on his phone which was now glowing in my hand with pics depicting delicious dessert options.  He told me I had a moment to pick the treat of my choice.  So fun!  

We both went with custard concretes (their version of a DQ blizzard).  I chose hot fudge and cookie dough mix-ins while he opted for fresh strawberries and bananas.  Yum!

Cheers to an impromptu dessert date at dusk!  The sweetest treat of all was the one on one time with my Love!  His thoughtfulness and care displayed in so many wonderful ways throughout that day made my heart light!

Our girls enjoyed a fun Sister's Day with sweet little Toffee in tow.  Here are some adorable pics they snapped and shared while out picking up some lunch to-go.

It was a super sweet day, thoroughly enjoyed by our entire family!  These memories sure do make my heart smile!

Two  //  Surprise Happy Mail

Our dear friend Chrissy sent such a fun and completely unexpected package our way this week!  Happy mail always makes my day!

She picked up this super cute celebratory tumbler for us when Disneyland reopened following their covid closure and the annual passholder magnet, created to mark Disneyland's 65th anniversary!

I'm so thankful for her thoughtfulness in sending us these special gifts, each marking historic occasions!  As a lover of Disney and Disney history, cute cups and magnets too, these sweet items will both be much enjoyed!

Three  //  Olympic Catch-Up & Love for the U.S.A.!

My oldest daughter and I had really been looking forward to the olympics, but due to the timing of when events aired we had yet to tune in.  This week I decided to subscribe for a month of Peacock Premium to serve as our olympics DVR as all the previously aired events can be streamed via their app.  It was money well spent as we had a ball binging women's gymnastics.  Seeing our stars and stripes rise and hearing our national anthem played brought tears to my eyes and happiness to our mother/daughter evening!  

I am thankful to be an American and my heart fills with joy over the stories of athletes who are proud to represent our great nation.  Here is one such story . . . 

{my image and quote source}

"I surprised myself!  It's by the grace of God I'm able even to move my feet.  I just leave it in his hands. And I pray that all the practice and ... my coaches put me through, pays off.  And every single time it does.  And I get better and better.  And it's so weird that there's no cap to the limit I can do.  And I'm excited to see what I have next," Tamyra Mensah-Stock said.  When asked how it felt to represent her country she responded, "It feels amazing.  I love representing the U.S..  I freaking love living there.  I love it.  And I'm so happy I get to represent USA!"  

What she said she plans to do with her $37,500 gold medal earnings also brought tears to my eyes.  She said, "I wanted to give my mom $30,000 so she can get a food truck.  It's her dream.  My mom's getting her food truck!  She's going to have a little cooking business.  She can cook really, really, really well - barbecue."  How awesome is that?  I'm looking forward to watching more and supporting athletes like her, who are proud to represent this country I call my home sweet home!

Four  //  Puppy Snuggles

Toffee spent much of Thursday afternoon cozy on my lap.  This sweet time with our darling doggy was most certainly a love of this week.  We adore her so and are grateful to have this pretty pooch as part of the Platt family.

Five  //  NEW Trip Reports Coming Next Week!

Something I've really enjoyed working on this week and look forward to finishing up before Tuesday morn, is a fresh new addition to my Trip Report Tuesday series!  Unlike previous TRT posts this one isn't covering a trip we recently returned home from, but instead will be sharing long cherished memories from a vacation I've regretted skipping over capturing here in trip report form.  I'll be spending the next 8 weeks sharing an incredible trip that Jason and I took back in 2018 on the week of our 2oth wedding anniversary!  

Spending free time this week going through photos and recalling the memories of that special celebratory getaway has been so wonderful!  God gives such good gifts - that getaway and the marriage it was celebrating are two that I'm oh so thankful for!  I invite you to return Tuesday to hear all about the start of those delightful Disney adventures!  

Thanks so much for spending a bit of your day with me here today!  Wishing you a wonderful upcoming weekend!