Friday Five-O #40 {The End of the Holidays...the Beginning of a Brand New Year!}

Happy New Year, Everyone!

I hope this finds you all doing well

and staying warm.

I don't know what the weather is like where you are,

but here in Central Illinois we are dealing with an Arctic Blast.

The last few days, the temperatures have been in the negatives,

Yeah...its COLD!

Anyway, enough about the weather.

Let me start off this Friday Five-O post 

by saying how happy I am to be back.

I really missed documenting my weekly activities,

but with the craziness of the Holidays

it just seemed like there weren't enough hours in the day.

But now that things are (somewhat) back to normal,

I'm looking forward to continuing my Friday Five-O Posts.

This week has been all about getting back into the swing of things...

well, at least it WAS...until the Arctic Blast hit and re-scrambled everything.

Friday, I went and had a Starbucks date with my dear friend, Alisha.

She and I have been friends for many years

but both are quite caught up in our individual lives

and don't get to see each other as much as we would like to.

With that in mind, we decided we HAD to see each other

before the Holiday Season was over.

And I'm very glad we did.

The coffee, of course, was to die for

and the fellowship was sweet.

We are hoping to get together for a Chinese date next time...

which hopefully will before 2016...

Sunday at church, I was given this late Christmas gift

from my lovely cousin, Madi.

She had told me that she was planning to "sharpie" a mug for me,

but I had no idea it would be like this...

I'M ABSOLUTELY IN LOVE WITH IT!

Monday, in an effort to start the New Year off right

and to be prepared for the snowstorm that was predicted,

I made a trip to library to stock up on reading material

both for myself as well as my darling little TJ kiddos 

(who I was glad to see after the Winter Break!)

As you can see, the snow had already started...

By Tuesday morning,

it looked like this:

I know, I know...
FROZEN BLISS!!!! :)
I'm SO glad I took a minute to photograph it!

Wednesday and Thursday were absolutely FREEZING!
The local school districts canceled school
so I got to work at the YMCA.
On my way in on Thursday morning,
this sight greeted me when I turned onto the YMCA lane:

Yes, winter is cold and blustery and the sun often hides away,
but you've HAVE to admit,
THIS is gorgeous! :)

How was your week?
Are you getting back into a "normal" routine after the Holidays?
Are you staying warm?
Or has the Arctic Blast hit your home too?

I would love to hear your stories!

Thank you so much for visiting today!
Please come back soon!