Seeing Plaid & Highland Heroines

I don't know if it's the Autumn crispness in the air & the changing colors of the leaves, or my sudden love for all things Scottish {courtesy of Diana Gabaldon's incredible page-turners of the Outlander series!  I'm on book two!}, but I am certainly seeing plaid!  Ooh, it just brings to mind a feeling of warmth & coziness!  The other day, I even went out to a crowded little odds & ends shop in my German town to buy plaid ribbon.  I will use it to hang my heart wreath on the door once the weather cools even more.  I think I'll also use it to tie a cute bow around the rear-view in the Mini!  Yes, I told you that I'm seeing plaid.  Convinced?!

Images from top left: J. Crew catalog cover 2008, the following four photos from Perfect Bound, & the final photo of beautiful plaid blankets courtesy of Katy Elliott.

And really, dears, if you love to read & are looking for delicious new books...read Outlander!  You'll be turning pages faster than you thought you knew how, dreaming of the Highlands & all its tartan, & seeing your living room clad in plaid -- just as I am!  Oh, the heroes & heroines galloping across the Scottish countryside, making their way to their cozy little Scottish homes!  I think you get the point...  Onward...

Images courtesy of Matters of Style.

One of my lovely new readers is Pammy over at Reflectorville.  She lives in Scotland with her husband, & they just celebrated their first wedding anniversary!  Congratulations, dear!  Your wedding photos make me swoon!

New Distractions, & Love Above All Else

Tomorrow, a dear friend of mine & I are going to try out a women's Bible Study on Post!  {Protestant Women of the Chapel, or PWOC.  Of course, everything military related is known by its acronym!}  It's something I've been meaning to do since, well, last May when we moved here to Germany! But, as always, not everything gets done when you'd like it to! Regardless, I'm proud of us for getting out & doing something new! Perhaps we will make some great new friends & find ourselves a new distraction for the next year :)

I hope it will be a wonderful surprise!  ♥

Don & I had such a fun talk on the phone tonight!  It's so good to talk with him & be ourselves.  No big discussion about how hard it is to be apart or how we want this year to go by so quickly!  Yes, we miss each other like mad.  Yes, I wish this deployment was over!  But we have each other & we're doing this together, in love.

...taken the night that he left for the desert...

More than I'm an Army wife & he is my soldier, we are a couple.  A happy, smiling, in love couple!  And oh, it's important for that to come first ♥  That is who we are!  What we do shouldn't make us.  And when he tells me about his day {as much as he can tell me!}, I still beam with pride & admiration!  I don't think I will ever stop being impressed with what he does, what my husband does!  And it should be that way :)

Ooh, now here is another cozy nook I'd like to curl up in with my book!

Off I go to read before bed {I cannot put down Outlander!  Thanks for the tip, ladies!}.  Goodnight, lovelies!  Hug your sweeties, & give them each a kiss!  Love first, before all the cares & issues of the day.  LOVE ♥

Pretty This, Beautiful That, & A Good Day

You all seemed to like my recent post that was all about pretty photos, so I figured...why not do it again? I have to confess, my favorite blogs to read usually consist more of pictures than of words :)  There's something nice about a cheery image, isn't there?  No reading necessary, just smiles!  So here are some favorites of mine from today ♥  Enjoy, dears!

Oh, what a skirt!  How could you not smile & giggle while wearing this & running about with a bunch of balloons!

Marrakech, Morocco.  Why have I been drawn to this place lately?  The colors, the style...  So intriguingly cozy!  Candle-lit lanterns, beautiful tiles... oh I will have to travel here one day.

Love & maps.  This feels like moi.

I'm feeling almost completely recovered today.  I ran errands {including picking up my library copies of Outlander & The Far Pavilions, both of which are big reads!  Nine-hundred-fifty-five pages & 850 respectively!  I'm going to have to stick with it!}, got more tea & kleenexes from the Post Commissary {crucial!}, jump-started our old Beemer {what car designer puts the battery under the back seat?!}, took L & L on a much needed 45 minute walk, & talked to Don for 30 minutes!  He's not able to tell me what he's up to, but at least I can hear his voice!  I'm feeling good, & life is good!

I hope today has been good to you too!  ♥

Three Ways To Keep My Mind Off Current Events

Amanda's Ways To Keep Her Mind Off Current Events, Number One: Read a good book, especially right before going to bed!  Yes, this works!  They say that "Book lovers never go to bed alone!"  I'll take that!  And so, I take book recommendations from friends & keep my eyes peeled for potentially wonderful new reads!  Currently, you can find my nose buried in The Rossetti Letter.  It's an engrossing tale of a modern day historian who is trying to uncover the truth about The Spanish Conspiracy in Venice during the 1600s & of the Venician courtesan who made it all happen.  I'm absolutely flying through this book!

Next up on my list of reads: The Botticelli Secret, Little Lady, Big Apple, & The Far Pavilions.  Any other suggestions?!

Amanda's Ways To Keep Her Mind Off Current Events, Number Two: Find a great TV show or two that will entertain you & make you laugh!  My brother is the King of current shows & movies, so he has hooked me up with some greats {along with the shows I'd already come to love, of course!}.

{ Leverage }     { Ugly Betty }     { White Collar }     { Weeds }     { The Sopranos }     { Covert Affairs }
{ Human Target }     { Saving Grace }

If you haven't checked out some of these new shows, you're depriving yourself of some seriously great sofa time!  Now, I'm not one to veg out in front of the TV for hours on end, but when you're eating dinner alone & going to bed alone {& waking up alone!}, it's great to have a fun way to pass the evening!  And these shows do the trick!

Next, I'd like to check out Mad Men & The Tudors.  Any other suggestions?!

Amanda's Ways To Keep Her Mind Off Current Events, Number Three:  Don't watch the news.  Simple as that!