A Scenic Surprise

A few weeks back when we were traveling, there were (of course) the occasional stops for gas.  We had planned in advance to pack lunches for this trip, so that we weren't spending time eating in restaurants.  We were determined to reach our destination as quickly as possible in order to spend the most amount of time with family.

The day we started out was such a beautiful day.  Blue, blue skies, and cotton candy clouds. As we rolled through West Virginia, and then Virginia it was so incredibly scenic.  And then... pit stop -- and you know how it is.  You roll into the gas station, and the scenery kind of JAMS on the brakes.  Or so I thought.

At this particular stop, it was lunch-time -- and so I dug out the sandwiches and the yogurts. While everyone else was busy or in conversation, I strolled away from the van.  We were sort of in a wide open place with a huge view of the sky.  There wasn't too much around -- except the actual gas station. Spotting a pretty white fence towards the rear of the gas station, I strolled while eating my yogurt.  So, picture this: me, camera in pocket, yogurt in one hand, spoon in the other -- and along came a view.

This view.

I'm telling you, it was like this little white church was tucked in right behind the gas station for my own little moment of joy.  Look at that cute triangular steeple.  And those triangular window panes? Love them.

Thank you Bastian, Virginia for this beautiful little surprise!

Thank you Pine Grove United Methodist Church congregation, and Pastor Alan Ashworth for being good stewards of this little jewel-box of a church that God has gifted you with! Though I never set foot inside, I thoroughly enjoyed my brief visit.

Pine Grove United Methodist Church

Bastian, Virginia (Bland County)

Est. 1866

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God Bless America

Patriotism is your conviction that this country is superior to all other countries

because you were born in it.

~George Bernard Shaw

My New Favorite Commercial

is for a fast food establishment... and their new fruity oatmeal -- or whatever it's called. You know the two ladies -- seemingly not together, but sitting next to one another inside the restaurant?  The older lady raises questions about the oatmeal that the younger lady is eating, and says "in my day..."  And then, proceeds to snap a photo of said oatmeal, commenting that she's gonna hafta blog about THIS!

It makes me laugh.  Every.  Time.  So, I did an on-line search for it, thinking I would show it to you -- you know, in case you haven't seen it.  But, the remarks on the video-page were so disparaging that... I didn't even want it linked to my blog.  The negative comments were all kinds of things that I had not even stopped to consider (gosh, how ignorant and/or innocent am I?)

But one comment in particular really cracked me up.  In essence, it said, "who on earth would blog about a cup of oatmeal?"  Yep.  THIS was the comment that stopped me in my tracks because...

HELLO?  Can we safely say that not everyone understands the concept of blogging?

Isn't it fair to say {fellow bloggers} that inspiration comes from everywhere?   -- even our morning oatmeal? Also, that we {as bloggers} share from the overflow of our lives?  The happy, the sad, the overwhelming, the "in-search-of" moments?

Suffice it to say, that I had no cause to wonder why the lady in the commercial might have wanted to blog about the oatmeal.  There could've been a million different reasons.

I mean, that may have been one rootin'-tootin' good oatmeal recipe that I found on Pinterest, and really wanted to share.  Or it could have been served in some aMAzing bowl that I NEEDED to find the manufacturer of.  OR (wonder of wonders) it could've been the first time I've ever EATEN oatmeal, and I just had to share the joy of the moment.

So what about you?

What inspires you to write a blog post?

Life events?  Great finds?

-- or just your favorite bowl of something delicious?

Inspiration from LMM

One my of favorite blogs is Lemonade Makin' Mama.  I am a "visual" person, and this lovely blog is picture-heavy -- which is a great thing for photo lovers like myself!!!

And then there's the fact that Sasha, the lovely blogger at LMM loves the Lord -- same as me. She is sweet, thoughtful, and full of thought... if you know what I mean.  [Speaking of thoughtful: I ordered a necklace from her ETSY SHOP.  As part of the order process, I typed her a little note that said I was excited to receive my necklace -- that I had set aside some birthday money to get myself this treat.  The other day, the necklace came in the mail with a "Happy Birthday!" tag attached.  How sweet is that?]

Anyways, I love to read Sasha's heartfelt posts about her family, and about lessons in faith. She also has lots to share about her home.

A couple months ago, I was struck by THIS POST -- one of those posts about making simple things beautiful. I'm all about that these days.  And, if I can do it without spending a lot of money?  All the better.  While I enjoyed the entire post, it was this picture that caught my eye.  It's dish soap in a beautiful corked decanter.

                                                                       Source: lemonademakinmama.com via Sally on Pinterest

While I've often admired the beautiful color of dish soap sitting on my counter-top in the sunlight, I don't keep my soap on the counter because the labeled bottle isn't particularly beautiful.

But now?  Well, color me inspired!  I sent a message to Sasha asking where she had found such a pretty bottle, and she directed me to Pier 1, saying the bottles were not expensive. (She was speaking my language!  This bottle was only $6.00.)

Of course, the soap was already at home... waiting for the perfect bottle.  Here's what I came up with:

Seriously, how pretty is that soap in the sunlight?

And here's the final result on my counter-top.  (Did you notice a sneak-peek of it yesterday in my post?)

Another happy ending.

Thanks for the inspiration Sasha!

Thrift Score Thursday 6.28

Finally, an evening I had been looking forward to for months.  Two girlfriends and I had planned to meet for dinner.  We couldn't have known (God is in the details!) that the date we picked would be the evening before the day one friend's divorce would be finalized. We worked to make the mood light.  We ate.  We chose comfort food instead of worrying about calories.  We talked about the fact that my most recent birthday had been the big "5-Oh."  We told funny stories.  We laughed.  One of us may have even seemingly taken a picture of the other two so that a Twilight "Bella" double could be seen in the booth behind. AND, I'm just saying... THAT photographer would not have been me, because I don't know one thing about Twilight.  But... moving on.
We talked about Goodwill hunting.  No, not the movie.  Just Goodwill hunting -- you know, as in thrift shop bargains?  In fact, we talked about it so much that we actually talked ourselves into going to the closest Goodwill after dinner.
My friends hunted through racks of clothing.  I was in the mood for housewares, but the shelves were on the BARE side!  Everyone found bargains but me (cue sad face).
I walked around to the end of the check-out counter to meet my friends as they were paying for their items, and I spotted something that I hadn't noticed my friend carrying before.  It was a mug.

"Cute mug!"  I said to her.  She got a funny look on her face and started laughing.

"I'm glad you like it," she said.  "It's for you."  I was so confused until I turned it around and saw this:

I have great friends!