The Secret Ingredient is Always Love

I have had such a great day today! I’m literally excited just writing about it tonight.The girls were very cute and sweet and extra precious this morning, looking so adorable in their little school outfits.

As good as my day was, the one not-so-bright part was getting to the coffee truck this morning, and finding out today was their last day parking in my office parking lot 🙁 They were only here on Thursdays during the summer, and next week their moving their location back to FSU’s campus, since all the students will back. But they had a special drink created just for us, so of course I had to get “The DOC” for my drink this morning. And it was so good! It was perfect, actually. Gonna miss this every week! (But coincidentally, the coffee money a family friend donated for me just ran out today, so that was actually really good timing.) But to help cushion the blow, I got a chocolate chocolate chip muffin to go with it, which was also super yummy.

And now for the BEST part of my day! One of my besties Jenni, for all of college and many years afterwards (and one of my bridesmaids!) was driving through town today (from Orlando, on her way to a work retreat in Seaside), and we met up for lunch! I actually used a couple hours of leave-time, so I could take a nice looooong 3-hour lunch, so we wouldn’t be rushed. We had about 6 years of life to catch up on! We’ve kept up with each other, but hadn’t seen other other in real life since before I had kids, and that was just way too ridiculously long.

We met up the new-ish Jeri’s Cafe on Market Street, and had really good food. But as good as the food was, our time together just chatting about everything under the sun was obviously the highlight. We sat outside on the patio to eat, then after the lunch rush was over, we ordered iced coffees and went inside to sit for another hour and a half in the a/c.

We promised not to let another six years pass before we see each other again, and might even try to meet up again this fall, sometime in the next few months. Life gets busy, and we both have a lot going on these days, but I really hope that happens!

After our awesome three-hours lunch together, I did some reminiscing on our old times together by looking at a bunch of old photos, and had to create this cute collage. From road trips up the East Coast, all the way to Times Square, to kayaking in Tennessee, roommate dates at the fort in St. Augustine in college, Rascal Flatts concerts in Orlando, beach days and lake-house weekends during college summers, graduation celebrations, friends’ bachelorette parties and friends’ weddings, and her as one of my very own bridesmaids. There were so many great memories!

After our lunch, her and I also both listened to some old school music we both loved back in our college days. (She listened on her drive to Seaside and I listened while working.) We actually spent a random day in the Atlantic Ocean one summer, with her teaching me all the words to this song, because she introduced me to it and I became obsessed and needed to know every single word.

Addison had herself a great day at school today, and went pee-pee in the potty again today, for only the second time!! Loved getting that exciting notification from our parent app!

I picked up Emerson from school first today, and then when we got to daycare to pick up Addison, we ran into Uncle Bo picking up the triplets. My girls got into the van to say hi to all of them, and they were sweet enough to share a few of their smarties with my girls.

Jeff still wasn’t feeling well today, so he went to the doctor, and turns out he has a sinus infection. So they gave him some antibiotics and a z-pack, and he took the day off. Hopefully once he gets all those meds into his system, he’ll start feeling better.

He didn’t really feel like eating dinner tonight, so I just warmed up the sesame chicken leftovers from a few nights ago for Emmie, and Addie basically just ate a pita and Saltines for her dinner, but I made this super delicious Greek chicken & rice bowl for myself, along with some cucumber ice water.

The night was pretty chill, and we didn’t do too much after dinner,until it was finally time to get the girls ready for bed. Jeff held Addie, and I read with Emmie, and things went pretty well. (Emerson did have a mild freakout over needing another snack, but waiting to tell me until we had already gone through her whole routine, but we let her have something small and quick, and diffused the breakdown.)

I got all the food and everything packed up for my lunch tomorrow, and then put everything away, but I’m not up for washing dishes tonight, so that’ll just have to wait… For now, I’ve still got a lot more reading to do before book club tomorrow, so we’ll see how much I can accomplish before I fall asleep.

Still just feeling super thankful for the great time I had with Jenni today, and that it worked out for us to get together for lunch. Thankful for old friends, and relationships that pick back up right where you left off!