Welcome to Friday Favorites, a weekly series where I share interesting articles, books, fashion finds, recipes and more.
Good Friday Favorites morning to you friends. Happy almost 2023! Do you have big plans to ring in the New Year?
We will be happily celebrating at home and might watch the ball drop on tv. Although I could easily be sleeping by midnight as well.
I am still enjoying my Christmas trees. Typically we leave them up until the feast of the Three Kings but I have been known to take off the ornaments and leave the trees up until the end of January. It makes the winter a little brighter.
It was a great week; a little work, a little organizing, and lots of time reading.
Now, on to Friday favorites. This post is a little abbreviated but I am sure that you will find something to make, read and enjoy.
Food
Image the Roasted Root
I cannot wait to make Crockpot beef Barbacoa, perfect for beef tacos, burritos and burrito bowls.
Image Valentinas Kitchen
Doesn’t this buffalo chicken flatbread look delicious?
I made a pot of this creamy cauliflower and leek soup this week and it was delicious!
Looking for a cocktail to serve at your New Years party? Sparkling cranberry gin fizz might fit bill!
Links
This Spicy Note Is All I Look for in a Perfume~Cinnamon
Make Time for Curiosity and Creativity
Emma Bridgewater’s Oxfordshire farmhouse is as lovely as her pottery
A reflective English garden with an otherworldly beauty
I love this idea from Annie, How to Make Handmade Thank You Notes
Easy Healthy Food Swaps for 2023
Step inside a grand northern England estate that’s been totally modernised
Interior Designers Are Ditching These Home Trends in 2023
How and why Pantone picked ‘Viva Magenta’ as its 2023 color of the year
Books
I just finished The Secret Hours and loved it!
‘Let the wind take me and the soft rain settle me into the Irish soil from where I came. And may my sins be forgiven.’
Arethusa Clayton has always been formidable, used to getting her own way. On her death, she leaves unexpected instructions. Instead of being buried in America, on the wealthy East Coast where she and her late husband raised their two children, Arethusa has decreed that her ashes be scattered in a remote corner of Ireland, on the hills overlooking the sea.
All Arethusa ever told Faye was that she grew up in a poor farming family and left Ireland, alone, to start a new life in America as did so many in those times of hardship and famine. But who were her family in Ireland and where are they now? What was the real reason that she turned away from them? And who is the mysterious benefactor of a significant share of Arethusa’s estate?
Arethusa is gone. There is no one left to tell her story. Faye feels bereft, as if her mother’s whole family has died with her. Leaving her own husband and children behind, she travels to the picturesque village of Ballinakelly, determined to fulfil her mother’s last wish and to find out the reason for Arethusa’s insistence on being laid to rest in this faraway land.
As it is almost the New Year and many are making resolutions here are a few of my favorite self-improvement books that I have read over the past few years and enjoyed.
I LOVE Mel Robins! You can listen to her podcast and follow her on Instagram too!
Don’t let the title fool you. This isn’t a book about high fiving everyone else in your life. You’re already doing that. Cheering for your favorite teams. Celebrating your friends. Supporting the people you love as they go after what they want in life.
Imagine if you gave that same love and encouragement to yourself. Or even better, you made it a daily habit.
You’d be unstoppable.
In this book, Mel teaches you how to start high fiving the most important person in your life, the one who is staring back at you in the mirror: YOURSELF.
If you struggle with self-doubt (and who doesn’t?) …
If you’re tired of that nagging critic in your head (could somebody evict them already?) …
If you’re wildly successful but all you focus on is what’s going wrong (you’re not alone) …
If you’re sick of watching everybody else get ahead while you sit on the couch with your dog (don’t bring your dog into this) …
…Mel dedicates this book to you.
Using her signature science-backed wisdom, deeply personal stories, and the real-life results that The High 5 Habit is creating in people’s lives around the world (and you’ll meet a lot of them throughout this book), Mel will teach you how to make believing in yourself a habit so that you operate with the confidence that your goals and dreams demand.
The High 5 Habit is a simple yet profound tool that changes your attitude, your mindset, and your behavior. So be prepared to laugh and learn as you take steps to immediately boost your confidence, happiness, and results.
No matter your goals, Atomic Habits offers a proven framework for improving – every day. James Clear, one of the world’s leading experts on habit formation, reveals practical strategies that will teach you exactly how to form good habits, break bad ones, and master the tiny behaviors that lead to remarkable results.
If you’re having trouble changing your habits, the problem isn’t you. The problem is your system. Bad habits repeat themselves again and again not because you don’t want to change, but because you have the wrong system for change. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. Here, you’ll get a proven system that can take you to new heights.
Clear is known for his ability to distill complex topics into simple behaviors that can be easily applied to daily life and work. Here, he draws on the most proven ideas from biology, psychology, and neuroscience to create an easy-to-understand guide for making good habits inevitable and bad habits impossible. Along the way, listeners will be inspired and entertained with true stories from Olympic gold medalists, award-winning artists, business leaders, life-saving physicians, and star comedians who have used the science of small habits to master their craft and vault to the top of their field.
Learn how to:
- Make time for new habits (even when life gets crazy)
- Overcome a lack of motivation and willpower
- Design your environment to make success easier
- Get back on track when you fall off course
- And much more
Atomic Habits will reshape the way you think about progress and success, and give you the tools and strategies you need to transform your habits – whether you are a team looking to win a championship, an organization hoping to redefine an industry, or simply an individual who wishes to quit smoking, lose weight, reduce stress, or achieve any other goal.
Every day we experience the uncertainty, risks, and emotional exposure that define what it means to be vulnerable or to dare greatly. Based on twelve years of pioneering research, Brené Brown PhD, MSW, dispels the cultural myth that vulnerability is weakness and argues that it is, in truth, our most accurate measure of courage.
Brown explains how vulnerability is both the core of difficult emotions like fear, grief, and disappointment, and the birthplace of love, belonging, joy, empathy, innovation, and creativity. She writes: “When we shut ourselves off from vulnerability, we distance ourselves from the experiences that bring purpose and meaning to our lives.”
Daring Greatly is not about winning or losing. It’s about courage. In a world where “never enough” dominates and feeling afraid has become second nature, vulnerability is subversive. Uncomfortable. It’s even a little dangerous at times. And, without question, putting ourselves out there means there’s a far greater risk of getting criticized or feeling hurt. But when we step back and examine our lives, we will find that nothing is as uncomfortable, dangerous, and hurtful as standing on the outside of our lives looking in and wondering what it would be like if we had the courage to step into the arena—whether it’s a new relationship, an important meeting, the creative process, or a difficult family conversation. Daring Greatly is a practice and a powerful new vision for letting ourselves be seen.
In any given day, thousands of devoted people clip into their bikes and have their lives changed by Tunde Oyeneyin. From her platform in a Peloton studio, she encourages riders with her trademark blend of positivity, empathy, and motivational “Tunde-isms,” to push themselves to their limits both on and off the bike. Now, fans and readers everywhere can learn about her personal journey, and discover how they too can “live a life of purpose, on purpose” with Speak, a memoir-manifesto-guide to life inspired by her immensely popular Instagram Live series of the same name.
Taking us through each step of the SPEAK acronym—Surrender, Power, Empathy, Authenticity, and Knowledge—Oyeneyin shares the lessons she has learned about loss, love, body image, and how she has successfully created an intentional, joyful life for herself, offering an accessible blueprint for anyone looking to make a positive change in their lives.
UNTIL NEXT TIME
Have a great day friends, I hope you found something to read, make or enjoy on Friday Favorites. Be safe this weekend and have a wonderful New Year celebration.
Thank you for spending part of your day with me, I always appreciate it. If you have missed a Friday Favorites post you can find them all here.
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There’s a Scottish style New Years thing here. I’ll probably drop by and take some pics, but then go home.
Happy New Year William!