Birthday!

 My birthday may or may not have been last week. :) It was a good day!

I went on my morning walk that day and ran into this in my neighborhood (which I had never seen before). It made me giggle. :) (I love all of the clever Halloween decorations people have come up with for 2020.)

There was a knock on the front door while I was working at my computer in the basement that day. That rarely happens (especially during the day). I looked out the kitchen window before opening the door and saw this edible arrangement. My brother, P, and his family sent it to me. It brought a large smile to my face! :)

Since there was so much fruit (and I was worried it would go bad before I could eat it all), I shared with my roommates. It was delicious!

 

A few days before my birthday, I was reminded of Kiki's Delivery Service (which I had seen before and really liked). I wanted to watch it again but there was no way to do it without paying for another streaming service (which I didn't want to do) so I bought the blu-ray. I received the blu-ray in the mail on my birthday. :)

I decided I wanted pictures of myself taken on my birthday. One of my roommates agreed to be the photographer and we went to the backyard and she took pictures of me.

One of my roommates offered to make cake or cupcakes for my birthday so I found a recipe that looked good to me and then sent it to her. 

The cupcakes were delicious!

Marshmallow inside of the cupcake!

Yes, I blew out candles. 😱

 

After we ordered take-out from Artie's for dinner, we watched Kiki's Delivery Service to end the evening. Overall it was a good day!

I received many text messages and calls on my birthday from family and friends wishing me a happy birthday. I also received a few cards in the mail. 

I felt very loved on my birthday and I'm grateful for my family and friends.

Nature

I feel like I need to write right now, but I can't focus enough to decide what I should write about. For now, just enjoy these beautiful nature pictures I've taken in the last week.

One evening, I went out to my car to get something and this was the sky that greeted me. Isn't it beautiful?! (Taken on Friday, October 16, 2020)

Same evening as the picture above.

The last couple of mornings it has been foggy outside. I like fog; it can make things look cool. :) (This picture was taken this morning.)

The sun was coming up in that direction and the fog sure made it look magical! (This is also from this morning.)

I just thought this tree was cool looking! (Taken this morning.)

I also really liked this tree! (Taken this morning.) 

 

Autumn time is the best!

Books

I've been reading a lot recently but at the beginning of the pandemic I hardly read anything. Reading took too much brain power. At the beginning, all I could do to stay sane was watch movies and TV shows that could help me forget what was happening in the crazy world. It was a stressful time (and it still is stressful but in a different way). 

Now, though, I can't stop reading and I love it! Here's a list of books and the ratings I gave them (on goodreads) that I've read or listened to since the pandemic started. (Ratings are out of 5 stars).

The Merry Lives of Spinsters by Rebecca Connolly (3 stars)

The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill (3 stars)

Edgedancer by Brandon Sanderson (3 stars)

A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles (4 stars)

The How and the Why by Cynthia Hand (3 stars)

The Spinster and I by Rebecca Connolly (3 stars)

Girl, Stop Apologizing: A Shame-Free Plan for Embracing and Achieving Your Goals by Rachel Hollis (audiobook) (4 stars)

Man's Search for Meaning by Viktor E Frankl (audiobook) (4 stars)

The Dearly Beloved by Cara Wall (4 stars)

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins (audiobook) (4 stars)

Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (audiobook) (4 stars)

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (audiobook) (4 stars)

Dark Angel by Robert Kirby (4 stars)

Skyward by Brandon Sanderson (4 stars)

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline (audiobook) (4 stars)

School for Spirits by Aron Lewes (2.5 stars)

The Lonesome Gods by Louis L'Amour (audiobook) (3 stars)

By the Book by Amanda Sellet (3 stars)

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens (4 stars)

The 7-1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton (audiobook) (3 stars)

The 100-Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson (audiobook) (2.5 stars)

Starsight by Brandon Sanderson (4 stars)

Finding Chika: A Little Girl, an Earthquake, and the Making of a Family by Mitch Albom (5 stars)

The Adventures of a Girl Called Bicycle by Christina Uss (4 stars)

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig (4 stars)

Have you been reading recently? Do you have any book recommendations?

Burke Lake

This past week I've been thinking about where I could go for a walk to have a change of scenery. I didn't want to go too far away and I had to feel okay about going there by myself. I narrowed it down to either Burke Lake or Great Falls. I chose Burke Lake. 

It's about a 5 mile loop hike around the lake and it's beautiful! I've been there before but it's been awhile. 

 

There were a few pops of color here and there for the changing of the leaves, but I'd like to go back in a couple of weeks and see more of the autumn colors. :)

If you look closely you can see a great blue heron in the water!

I love this shot because you can see some of the autumn colors!

Isn't it beautiful?!

I took my time going around the lake and I'm glad I went earlier in the morning because it got more and more crowded as the morning went on. I think next time, I'll go even earlier. 

But I'm really glad I got to go this morning! My soul needed it. My soul really needed it.

Valley Forge

Our brother, T, came up on Saturday evening to hang out with us too. L, G, and I decided that walking around Valley Forge was a perfect Sunday morning activity. I had never been there before and can I just say it was gorgeous?! Well it was and I thoroughly enjoyed our time there. :) 

 And as I mentioned in my previous post, the weather was perfect the whole weekend too.

 

I dressed up a little bit for our walk so that I could get some pictures of myself in front of the pretty flowers in bloom you'll see in the next pictures. :)

Such a pretty field of flowers!

Siblings!

I seriously couldn't get enough of these flowers! :)

George Washington!

We did a three-mile loop hike on the grounds at Valley Forge and it was so pretty! 

We saw painted rocks all along our hike. We think someone must have played a game of some sort with the rocks.

The Washington Memorial Chapel! The church was closed but we walked through the cemetery behind it.

I loved walking around Valley Forge! It was so pretty!

I'm grateful for the time I got to spend with family that weekend and I'm glad the weather was so nice too so we could spend a lot of time outside. Thank you L and G for the invitation to visit you!