Good morning! A very happy, sunny Friday to you. I hope that your week was fabulous, that you were able to get out and take advantage of some beautiful summer weather. I don’t know about you but no matter my age I always feel like once summer comes I am “on vacation”, not literally but mentally, just as it was when I was a child. I find myself slowing down, reading more, taking every opportunity to walk in the sand, frolic at the beach, and enjoy sitting out on the porch at night looking for fireflies.
Food
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| Image and Recipe from The Cookie Rookie |
Doesn’t this Baked Cesar Chicken look delicious? I cannot wait to try this.
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| Image and recipe from Closet Cooking |
I am making this Cocoa Crusted Steak with Shishito Peppers for my husband this weekend because it is two of his favorite things, steak and shishito peppers! Wish me luck because I have never grilled before.
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| Drizzle & Dip |
Bread is my weakness( that and donuts) and this Cheddar, Apple and Walnut Loaf is something that I would make and eat hot out of the oven slathered with butter. I also think this would make great gifts for family and friends.
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| Image |
Refreshing Rose, Lemonade Elderflower Sangria from Spices in My DNA.
Articles
It’s Never too Late to Start a Brilliant Career
6 Truths About Exercise That Nobody Wants to Believe
Are you looking to relocate? Tiny Irish Island is Looking for Americans and Australians to Help Repopulate.
Everest Is OVER. This is sad to read.
Last week was the 75th Anniversary of D-Day. These photos made me cry and wonder how anyone survived.
Books
The Bookshop of the Broken Hearted
Can one unlikely bookshop heal two broken souls?
It is 1968 in rural Australia and lonely Tom Hope can’t make heads or tails of Hannah Babel. Newly arrived from Hungary, Hannah is unlike anyone he’s ever met–she’s passionate, brilliant, and fiercely determined to open sleepy Hometown’s first bookshop.
Despite the fact that Tom has only read only one book in his life, when Hannah hires him to install shelving for the shop, the two discover an astonishing spark. Recently abandoned by an unfaithful wife–and still missing her sweet son, Peter–Tom dares to believe that he might make Hannah happy. But Hannah is a haunted woman. Twenty-four years earlier, she had been marched to the gates of Auschwitz.
The Silver Ladies of Penny Lane
Tess and Orla have been best friends throughout most of their adult lives. So when life gave them lemons and their loved ones let them down, they pooled their resources and bought a dressmakers shop on the corner of Penny Lane. And they’ve been doing just fine ever since.
But one day, while studying her tired eyes and shapeless figure in the mirror, sixty-two-year-old Tess realised that she doesn’t want her life to be just fine anymore. She wants it to be extraordinary. For as long as she can remember she’s put everyone else first. Now she wants to rediscover herself – and experience the kind of whirlwind adventure that will have the power make her smile when she’s confined to the armchair of a retirement home.
With the encouragement of fun-loving and quirky Orla, Tess joins an over-the-hill dating agency and the two friends book a singles cruise around the Mediterranean. And that’s when their adventure of a lifetime really begins…
A totally uplifting, heart-warming, hilarious page turner about embracing the moment, learning to love again and the joy of second chances. Perfect for fans of The Kicking the Bucket List and The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry.
India, 1926: Margaret is in love, with her new husband and her new home, a sprawling villa amidst beautiful rolling hills, the air filled with the soft scent of spices and hibiscus flowers. Yet she’s unwelcome with the locals and grows close to Archana, her maid, who reminds Margaret of the beloved sister she lost in the great war.
Overjoyed with her pregnancy, Margaret could stay forever, sipping tea, chatting with Archana, painting in the sun beside the stream full of water lilies. But when Archana finds herself in danger and Margaret makes the choice to save her, she doesn’t realise the devastating consequences that will tear her and Archana apart, destroy her marriage, and haunt her for the rest of her life…
England, 2000: Emma’s relationship is falling apart, and her beloved grandmother, Margaret, is dying. Margaret has one last request: find Archana. It’s the first time Emma has even heard the name, but desperate for an escape and to bring Margaret closure, she travels deep into the heart of the Indian hills, to a crumbling house overgrown with vines, searching for answers.
The more Emma learns, the more she sees of herself in her grandmother, and the stronger her need to uncover Margaret’s secret. But if she finds Archana and the truth is finally revealed – the story of a day spent painting by a stream, and a betrayal that tore three lives to pieces – can it help each woman find peace or are some rifts too deep to heal…?
JUST ORDERED
Dan Hollis lives a happy, solitary life carving exquisite Celtic harps in his barn in the countryside of the English moors. Here he can be himself, away from social situations that he doesn’t always get right or completely understand.
On the anniversary of her beloved father’s death, Ellie Jacobs takes a walk in the woods and comes across Dan’s barn. She is enchanted by his collection. Dan gives her a harp made of cherrywood to match her cherry socks. He stores it for her, ready for whenever she’d like to take lessons.
Ellie begins visiting Dan almost daily and quickly learns that he isn’t like other people. He makes her sandwiches precisely cut into triangles and repeatedly counts the (seventeen) steps of the wooden staircase to the upstairs practice room. Ellie soon realizes Dan isn’t just different; in many ways, his world is better, and he gives her a fresh perspective on her own life.
Finds
I love this dress! It looks comfortable and stylish. The good news is that is is on sale at the Loft for $44.00.
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| Flower Espadrilles |
Cute pair of espadrilles, 40% off.
Although I do not typically wear patterned pants I like these pants.
Pretty summer Scarf.
That is it for this week, I hope that your found something that you enjoyed. Please share your finds, books, recipes and more with us.
Have a happy and safe weekend.
Oh my that steak looks good! I think I'm always on vacation now.
Brenda
I'd go for the steak and pass on the peppers.