Author: Jade

Winery Reviews

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Last weekend we decided to do a winery tour since the weather was rather crappy once again! Lucky for us the sun came out while we were down in Benezette visiting the Elk County Visitor Center, however we unfortunately didn’t see any elk this trip. Clearly we were much more successful with the wine! We visited 4 wineries and had a fantastic time!

Elk Mountain Winery

I’ve been to Elk Mountain Winery several times over the years, it’s a favorite for my family and I was excited to introduce my soon to be in laws to it! As usual they didn’t disappoint! I had a hard time narrowing it down to the 3 bottles I ended up buying! I love their Jack Ass Red it’s one of my absolute favorite wines! I also ended up purchasing Watermelons Can’t Pole Dance and Mae’s Madness. We also tried out their raspberry jelly with cream cheese and crackers while there and it was to die for! I will always stop at this winery when in town if I have the chance!

Copper Fox Winery

Copper Fox Winery was a new winery for all four of us but my family had raved about it from their last visit. Their wine selection was awesome and it was hard to choose just a couple to take home. I ended up picking the Strawberry Rhubarb and Finickey Fox both are amazing but I have to say the Strawberry Rhubarb was the favorite of the day for both Farmer Brad and myself! The service was outstanding, the woman doing the tastings was knowledgeable and funny which made it that much better! We had lunch there and the waitresses were also awesome! Definitely somewhere that we will go back to!

Flickerwood Winery

Flickerwood Winery I have tried them before at wine walks. I bought one of their wines but if I’m being honest they definitely aren’t my favorite.

Twisted Vine Winery

Twisted Vine Winery I first heard about this winery several years ago on a wine walk in Grove City. I had a hard time picking out just a couple bottles to take home and was even more excited to find out that they have store inside of my local Walmart where I can pick up wine while grocery shopping. I visited the winery location in Kane a couple years ago and was super impressed with the service and the location is super cute! I’ve been following them on facebook since and the food they post pictures of makes my mouth water. I have been begging the Mr to take me to try it out for a while. Not only is the wine amazing but the food is too. Totally worth the trip and we will be going back.

Hold Each Other Up

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I was recently at an event where I witnessed a woman telling a story about another woman from 20+ years ago that easily could have been that girl’s lowest point to make fun of the girl for being poor and simply doing what she had to do to get by. All I could think in that moment is you were awful to her then and you are being awful to her now to what end?

I have never understood the whole mean girl bs. The world is mean enough without women ripping each other apart over dumb stuff.

I strive to be…

…the woman reaches out because something just seems off in that last social media post.

…the woman who offers to help without being asked.

…the woman that will show up without asking a bunch of questions if another woman reaches out for help.

Who do you choose to be: the woman that builds others up or the woman that tears them down?

Monday Mood

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I keep thinking it’s Motivational Monday. I’m asking all my Healthy Living ladies to be motivational and inspiring but the truth is I don’t feel it today at all… I feel tired, overwhelmed and beat down. I had an amazing weekend away with my family and for that I’m thankful. But even that isn’t getting me out of this funk.

We are officially in the final count down for the wedding and we are consistently crossing things off the list but I just keep feeling like I’m missing something. I sorta feel like everything has been so easy that I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. I actually feel that way about life in general these days and frankly I blame COVID! It has changed and ruined so many things that I just feel like I’m always waiting for everything to get ruined.

Additionally I’m so sick of losing the same 5-10 lbs over and over again. I feel like such a failure for not being able to lose it and keep that weight off and continue to lose instead of going back up and having to start over. I can see a marked difference when I drinking lots of water and taking the time I need to get out of my own head and stick to my plan.

Thankful to be a Sports Mom

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While I might not agree with a lot of things involving sports in today’s society, I wouldn’t trade getting to watch these two play the sports that they love and grow in those sports for anything! I am totally that crazy fan mom that can tell you every kid on the teams name and know their parents to see them!

The Right Choices

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The truth is I never know if I’m making the right choices as a parent…all I really know is that I’m doing the best that I can.

I want my boys to be respectful of the adults in their lives and their time.

I want them to know that while they might not have paid for that toy that are playing with that someone worked hard in order to give it to them.

I want them to respect the value of those toys and take care of them.

I want them to know that there are consequences for their actions.

I want them to know that they are loved no matter what!

I feel like some days I am killing it as a parent that these lessons are really starting to sink in….Then there are days like the last few where it all comes off the rails and that whole consequences thing comes into play. I struggle with this part because how do you know what is the right consequence…

Motivational Monday 7/26/2021

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Setting goals for the week is not my strong suit I tend to set them and then forget them! Trying something new this week check back Sunday to see how I did.

  • Write a summary of how I did on this weeks goals on Sunday evening
  • Walk at least a mile during a break each day
  • Take a break for lunch every day….Don’t eat lunch at my desk
  • Drink at least 64 oz of water every day this week and track it in carb manager

Thankful Thursday 7/22/2021

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Things have been busy around the farm the last week for the last week! We’ve had a work crew here building what will be my new office! I’ve worked from home since my boys were born over 9 years ago at this point and my office has always been in the center of the house.

When we lived in Mercer I didn’t even really have a dedicated space because I was only remote 3 days a week and I just worked wherever I was comfortable. The kids were little and I needed to be wherever they happened to be playing. Additionally at that time I was in a much lower level role and didn’t spend nearly as much time on the phone as I do these days.

When we moved onto the farm I set up dedicated space as I officially worked from home full time and I brought all my additional equipment home. The downside of that was that the only space for my “office” was in our dining room. It has worked well for the most part as I’m available to the kids and able to monitor what is going on while they are home and I’m working. But they are 9 now almost 10, meaning they are much more independent. Shortly after Farmer Brad moved in we made the decision that we want to try to get some space back in the house and felt that the best way to go about that would be to give me my own dedicated office space. The office will be home to everything for my day job as well as most of the equipment for my side hustles! Meaning I not only get my dining room back but also my guest room! We also built a storage space into the office building so that we don’t have to take as much stuff up and down the attic stairs that I might have fallen down twice last year!

So this week I’m thankful for Farmer Brad talking me into this project and that the building shell is complete so we can move on to the next phase which is adding electric and heating and cooling to the building!

Truthful Tuesday 7/20/2021

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Every year I tell myself it won’t be as crazy busy then I quickly lose control of the calendar! In a way I feel like the kids being in school forces me to make choices and adds a required structure. But in the summer bedtimes are later and the kids can sleep in so I end up piling in as many things as we can fit.

One of the boys plays in a summer soccer league which puts us out of the house two nights a week. Farmer Brad is playing in a softball league so we are out one night a week for that. This late in the summer we add in hockey dry land camps for the other boy around bible school this week and finishing up 4-H projects in time for the fair.

I’m gonna admit it, I mom failed yesterday because it was the first day of bible school and I didn’t realize it until 30 mins after it had started and the kids were still in bed…Needless to say we didn’t make it.

The calendar literally has at least two events per day on it, it’s full! I live by alarms and calendar alerts! But I don’t feel like I can say no to any of it! The kids will only be this age once! And the parents need to fit in that self care time where we can. So once again I will simply say maybe next year will be less crazy!