To say the least, blogging in 2018 was rather sporadic at Fiddle Dee Dee.  Honestly, life was different and hard to explain, although it wasn’t a bad year. As old as my kids are, a lot of last year was parenting related and since I’m definitely not a “mommy blogger” didn’t want to focus on these things, all the time. It was also an emotional year as my youngest graduated from high school, leaving Audley & Me, for all practical purposes, empty nesters!

While I’ve been absent from the blog, my Instagram and Facebook pages stay active and you may have caught a glimpse of our beautiful holiday season among other fun things!

I would love to have you follow me if you don’t already!

On the technical side of things, blogging has been a challenge as my 7-year-old MacBook needs to be replaced thanks to Apple’s way of doing updates (just like with an iPhone) and I can’t update the latest operating system which has rendered my Photoshop useless and slowed down my laptop to discouraging speeds. Hopefully this will all be corrected soon, and I’ve just decided to do the best I can with what I have for now!

January (all 795 days of it) was a trial month, so to kick off this new year & set the tone for 2019, I thought it would be good to update you on where I am in this season of life. It’s an all new adventure!

While I don’t talk parenting, my family has been a huge part of my blogging lifestyle over the years as we travel, cook, celebrate, go out and share, I wanted to update where they are. They were so young when I began this blog.  Now they are making their mark on the world as productive and disciplined Millennials and GenZ’ers.

I’m very proud for people to know my kids and the influence they share on the world!

Samantha and her husband, Justin celebrated their 6th anniversary in December!

 

She’s working for a primary care doctor in Tennessee and Justin was just honored with law enforcement officer of the year for the entire state of Tennessee and will be honored next weekend in Nashville.

Samantha has the DIY bug, and has been doing a lot of work on the little house she and Justin live in. She’s become the unofficial party planner for just about everything at work and pulls together fun events for her co-workers.  Healthcare may be her calling, but she has a gift for decorating and entertaining.  It’s so much fun to see her latest projects and plans!

MacKenzie celebrated her first anniversary with Michael and turned 21 all in the same week. They bought their first house last year as well.

She began her senior year of college, is finishing her major in exercise science, and is a personal trainer in Greenville.

The Golden Strip Church of Christ where Michael has preached for 3 years, has grown immensely, and they just purchased a new building for their use. It’s an exciting time for these two newlyweds.

Madeline played lacrosse her freshman year at Point University, but decided to change her major to interior design, attend tech school (a very smart move for her creative spirit), and move home for her sophomore to keep her loans and other costs down.

As you know, I’m a firm believer that a 4-year degree isn’t for, or necessary for everyone. Having one definitely does not guarantee a job! She’s doing well and I love her vision board projects she has had to pull together. Ethan Allen furniture at The Mall of Georgia featured one of her holiday table settings during the month of November which was voted on by the public and received the honor of “best in class”. Madeline did a fantastic job!

Bradley: Our baby graduated high school and 10 days later left for Parris Island where he earned the title of United States Marine.

He’s in his schooling right now to become a MP. Let me tell you, Audley and I are two extremely proud parents!

As for us, Audley & I celebrated 23 years of marriage in August, purchased a much needed new vehicle for all the road trips we make (we have kids in 3 different states now), took an empty nesters cruise to the Bahamas and Cuba that turned into a couple cruise with Samantha and Justin, and went all out for Halloween.

We traveled to Parris Island, I visited Camp Lejeune, and we celebrated Thanksgiving in Missouri with Madeline, Bradley and five other Marines who were also stuck for Thanksgiving.

Christmas brought our children home which will probably be the last one we celebrate together for a while as Bradley will get his orders for a permanent duty station soon.

Missing Justin as he was on duty… support the Blue y’all; they sacrifice so much.

This month wraps up two years since we moved to metro Atlanta. It’s not the first time we’ve lived in the Atlanta area since we married, and I grew up here, but it’s not the same.  Atlanta doesn’t feel like home, and I can’t say I enjoy living here. I do love the convenience of a real store for baking supplies (not Michael’s or Hobby Lobby), a really awesome gym, and shopping for virtually anything I need if feeling chill enough to face the traffic, but honesty I do not call Atlanta home.  Atlanta is a cold and lonely place, and while it is in the South, it’s not really a Southern city.

Audley changed companies last December, leaving the corporate world behind, which has done wonders for his stress levels. The down side is he drives 75 miles one-way to work everyday.  I’m really hoping 2019 brings a move our way!

To where, I have no clue, but I can be packed in a week.

So here we are, the first full week of February throwing out the old and embracing 2019.  I’m focused on keeping our house feeling cozy and warm, engaged on our marriage (a little differently now that the kids are grown), getting back to healthy habits and self-care that has taken a back burner again (making me feel rather slobby and frazzled), and finding out who I am now that I’m no longer a full-time mom (I seemed to forget there was life outside mothering).

It’s amazing how much can change in just a year, but I hope you will be patient with me, and join me as I embrace this new season of life!