Friday Favorites~a weekly series where we share our favorite books, decor, fashion finds, recipes, podcasts, articles and more.
FRIDAY FAVORITES NO. 583
Good morning friends, it’s Friday, whew, we made it. Have you had a busy week? I’ve had a list a mile long to complete and fell a wee bit short. Perhaps I will catch up this weekend.
The weather this week was perfect, sunny, and beautiful. I spent lots of time in my yard, cleaning what seems like a million pine needles out and refreshing the mulch. Then I dug up, separated catmint and replanted it a new bed and planted some zinnias and some wild flower seeds(a little late), I will keep you posted on their progress. Hopefully this year they will not be decimated by the deer.
As for my peonies, they are almost all in bloom and in a few days will be gone for the season. They are a lesson in patience and savoring the little things in life. We wait all year for them to bloom and their beauty lasts such a short time. I am going to prolong their life by making peony simple syrup, and jelly.
Ok, let’s get to all of my favorites from this week.
FOOD
Chicken Spaghetti with Burrata and Lemon Butter Garlic Sauce, is on the menu this week! I cannot wait to make this.
Doesn’t this spring salad look fresh and delicious! Asparagus, snap peas, creamy avocados, zingy radishes, salty bacon, and tangy goat cheese. with vinaigrette.
Herby Chickpea Salad Sandwich, chickpea salad layered with carrots, radishes, cucumber, avocado and sprouts on a bagel.
Cosmic brownie cheesecake with a chocolate crumb crust, and a dairy-free no-bake cheesecake filling.
Raspberry paloma with raspberries, tart grapefruit juice, tequila, and a splash of ginger beer. Perfect for hot summer days or Cinco de Mayo.
LINKS TO READ+WATCH+LISTEN
Beat Stress Like a Navy SEAL With This Ridiculously Easy Exercise
Be Your Own Designer, 10 Ways to Lay Out a Living Room
8 Favorites: Blue Flowers for the Garden
This is the best frequent flyer program of 2024
Use the ‘365 Less Things’ Method to Declutter Your Home
25 Side Yard Ideas to Make the Most of Unused Space
Stanley Tucci’s 20-Minute Bolognese Will Become a Weeknight Dinner Staple in Your House
How Fit Can You Get Just From Walking
17 Things to Do When You’ve Lost Your Motivation
Best Browsing: France’s Oldest Hardware Store and Home Emporium, Now with a Pop-Up in Paris
BOOKS
These are the books I currently have on order from Amazon or at the library or have recently read. What are you reading or waiting to be released?
Darley, the eldest daughter in the well-connected old money Stockton family, followed her heart, trading her job and her inheritance for motherhood but giving up far too much in the process; Sasha, a middle-class New England girl, has married into the Brooklyn Heights family, and finds herself cast as the arriviste outsider; and Georgiana, the baby of the family, has fallen in love with someone she can’t have, and must decide what kind of person she wants to be.Â
Rife with the indulgent pleasures of life among New York’s one-percenters, Pineapple Street is a smart, escapist novel that sparkles with wit. Full of recognizable, loveable—if fallible—characters, it’s about the peculiar unknowability of someone else’s family, the miles between the haves and have-nots, and the insanity of first love—all wrapped in a story that is a sheer delight.
The Flattery sisters were plunged prematurely into adulthood when their parents died in tragic circumstances. Now in their thirties—all single, all with PhDs—they are each attempting to do meaningful work in a rapidly foundering world. The four lead disparate, distanced lives, from classrooms in Connecticut to ritzy catering gigs in London’s Notting Hill, until one day their oldest sister, a geologist haunted by a terrible awareness of the earth’s future, abruptly vanishes from her work and home. Together for the first time in years, the Flatterys descend on the Irish countryside in search of a sister who doesn’t want to be found. Sheltered in a derelict bungalow, they reach into their common past, confronting both old wounds and a desperately uncertain future. Warm, fiercely witty, and unexpectedly hopeful, The Alternatives is an unforgettable portrait of a family perched on our collective precipice, told by one of Ireland’s most gifted storytellers.
In this uplifting memoir, a professor and activist shares what birds can teach us about life, social change, and protecting the environment.
Trish O’Kane is an accidental ornithologist. In her nearly two decades writing about justice as an investigative journalist, she’d never paid attention to nature. But then Hurricane Katrina destroyed her New Orleans home, sending her into an emotional tailspin.
Enter a scrappy cast of feathered characters—first a cardinal, urban parrots, and sparrows, then a catbird, owls, a bittern, and a woodcock—that cheered her up and showed her a new path. Inspired, O’Kane moved to Madison, Wisconsin, to pursue an environmental studies PhD. There she became a full-on bird obsessive—logging hours in a stunningly biodiverse urban park, filling field notebooks with bird doings and dramas, and teaching ornithology to college students and middle-school kids.
When Warner Park—her daily birdwatching haven—was threatened with development, O’Kane and her neighbors mustered a mighty murmuration of nature lovers, young and old, to save the birds’ homes. Through their efforts, she learned that once you get outside and look around, you’re likely to fall in love with a furred or feathered creature—and find a flock of your own.
MORE BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS
If you have already read these books or missed something I have featured before on the blog check out My Bookshop on Amazon.Â
SHOPPING
OUTFIT OF THE DAY
Blue and white is one of my favorite outfit color combinations. It is the perfect palette to add bright colorful accents, like yellow, fuchsia or green. Today I paired a blue and white skirt with a plain white t-shirt, blue slides and a yellow tote.You could add a yellow shirt or sweater instead of the white t-shirt.
You could wear this on holiday, out for the day or hanging around home. It is light and comfortable.
Click the images for the outfit details. To see more of my outfits follow me on LTK.
UNTIL TOMORROW
I hope you enjoyed the recipes, links and books I discovered this week on Friday Favorites. Thank you for spending part of your day with me, your time is valuable and I am grateful that you spend a little of each day with me. Â Have a wonderful weekend.
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Don’t forget that Kim, Juliet and I will be back tomorrow on Weekend Meanderings!
If you have missed a Friday Favorites post you can find them all here.
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On My Radar
