Author: Allie Zottola

Hello

Hi there! Well, it’s been quite some time since I last blogged. Actually, I just looked at the date and noticed it has been exactly four months. How weird! I totally didn’t plan that, haha.

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When I stopped blogging, I didn’t specifically plan on taking a break, I just let it fall to the wayside and focused more on everything else going on in my life. Looking back, I probably should have written a post saying something instead of just dropping off the face of the internet. Sorry, guys! I wasn’t sure if I would come back to this space, or if I had become too busy to blog or write. Over time, I realized that writing has always been a huge part of who I am, and blogging is one of my favorite ways to record my life, express creativity, and reflect on everything going on in and around me. I hope I will never become “too busy” to write because it is the easiest way I express and evaluate myself.

Anyways, I’m back! Four months feels like an eternity, and I have never stepped away from my blog for such a long period of time. I have some catching up and updating to do. I feel refreshed and renewed after the long break. I’m also feeling much more focused. I’ve always been pretty random in my posting, but I’m hoping to be at least a little more organized from now on.

A lot has happened since April! Jimmy and I turned this…

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Into this…

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According to our neighbors, the previous owners of our home used to have a rockin’ garden. We decided to try and follow in their footsteps and have had wonderful results. We actually planted way, way, way too much haha. I’ll blog about the garden another time because I could go on for hours!

Jimmy and I celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary at Savage River Lodge in Frostburg, Maryland. We even brought Lola along for the celebration :). It was wonderful to spend a weekend reflecting on a year of marriage in such a beautiful setting.

Savage River Lodge

I spent a lot of time taking pictures of Hannah over the past few months to practice my photography. I ended up taking senior pictures for her and her best friend. I don’t claim to know much about photography, but I enjoy learning more every time I look through my lens and take another photo.

My family graciously took Jimmy, Lola, and I to the Outer Banks last week, so that was awesome. Some time away from work and responsibility was just what we all needed. Since moving out of my parent’s house, I’ve missed my family a lot, so having a week with everyone together again was a tremendous blessing.

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Other happenings for me since April include plenty of working and pet sitting. Previously, I never really discussed the specifics of my “regular” job. I was hired as a household manager for a family of four in January. Basically, I run errands, grocery shop, cook, clean, take care of their pets, occasionally nanny, and do any other random tasks that they need me to do. I love my job, and the family I work for is very good to me. I won’t go into too much detail about my job because I respect my employer’s privacy, but I figured it’s okay for me to at least say what I do for a living, haha.

Pet sitting has also been keeping me super busy. I adore every single second of it, too. I’ve only had one bad incident where a dog I was watching in our home bit Lola on the nose. Poor little gal. Since then, I’ve been focusing on pet sitting outside the home more often.

Dog sitting

I’m sure I’m forgetting about a million other things that have happened since I last blogged, but I’ll probably remember and post about them eventually.

It feels good to be back. The main things I want to focus on and blog about nowadays are life (as always!), faith, photography, dog sitting, book reviews, and some fun writing topics and prompts. I used to blog a lot about fitness and food, but my interestes have changed over time. I’m always going to stay true to myself and blog about what is interesting to me because I feel that naturally produces quality writing, you know?

Okay, this post is getting super long so I’m going to go and try to catch up a bit on everyone’s blogs in the next few days :). Thanks for reading, and I’ll be back soon!

Wild and Wonderful

West Virginia, wild and wonderful.

As I mentioned in my previous post, Jimmy and I went to Wheeling, WV for a one-night getaway. It was our first vacation since our honeymoon, and I was beyond excited! We headed out to Wheeling after work on Friday evening, and stayed until Saturday afternoon. Not a super long trip by any means, but it was perfect for us.

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We went out to eat, checked into our hotel, visited Cabelas (a super big outdoors/hunting retail store), and relaxed in the hotel’s hot tub on Friday night. We talked about everything and nothing at the same time, and it was lovely. I truly enjoy just being with my husband, you know? We can be sitting together, not talking or doing anything, and I really cherish those moments of togetherness.

Just hanging out with a huge taxidermy moose in Cabelas...

Just hanging out with a huge (taxidermized) moose in Cabelas…

I forgot how relaxing hot tubs are!

I forgot how relaxing hot tubs are!

After a good night’s sleep, we woke up on Saturday morning and ate breakfast (and drank lots of coffee!) at the hotel. I read my devotions book and the newspaper. I love reading the newspaper wherever I travel! After breakfast, we decided to get back in the hot tub. Yeah, we were in that hot tub at 8:30 AM! It felt so good to just do nothing for once.

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After getting ready for the day, we wandered around Wheeling, stopping in a bookstore and Petco to look at kittens for adoption. This is dangerous for me to do–both the bookstore browsing and looking at kittens, ha.

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We grabbed lunch at Bob Evans, and then made the trek home in time to mow the lawn and head out to see a friend in a musical. It was a lovely little getaway, and very relaxing. I’m glad I blogged about this so I can look back and remember our first little vacation together!