Friday Favorites~a weekly series where we share our favorite books, decor, fashion finds, recipes, podcasts, articles and more.
FRIDAY FAVORITES NO. 641
Good morning friends! Whew, it’s been hot and it’s getting hotter. This week it is going to be 100! It’s way too early for that kind of heat. Any suggestions for staying cool are welcome.
I read an interesting article this week about summer, it basically said that adults yearn for the carefree days of summer from their childhood. What do you think? I personally don’t but then again I live in a resort community where it always feels like a holiday. Not to mention that most of our summer socializing happens at the pool or the beach club and that makes me feel like I am on summer holidays.
Do you miss the carefree times of summer? What do you do to keep yourself young, and to have fun in the summer?
Ok, I have lots to share so let’s get to Friday Favorites.
FOOD
Creamy lemon zucchini pasta! Grated zucchini, garlic and onions cooked down then topped with cheese and lemon. An easy and delicious summer dinner.
Shortcut Thai Chicken Satay Bowls with caramelized peanut chicken, vermicelli noodles, fresh herbs and cucumber salad, and peanut sauce all over top.
20 Minute Thai Basil Beef Rolls spicy beef, rolled n tortillas with cucumbers, cilantro and served with a spicy sauce.
It’s peach season, if you get tired of eating them plan try this Italian peach coffeecake.
LINKS TO READ+WATCH+LISTEN
These Never-Before-Seen Ceramics Show How Picasso Mastered New Art Forms
The Secret to Better Curb Appeal
How to Store Nuts So They Don’t Go Rancid
How to Pick Between Club Soda, Seltzer, and Tonic
The Effervescent History of Seltzer, From the Early Days of Home Delivery to Today’s Trendy Cans
When to quit: A simple framework for life’s toughest decisions
Pamela Anderson’s Renaissance Started in Her Home Garden: “That’s Where I Found Myself Again”
How Your Brain Controls Aging and Why Zombie Cells Could Be Key
5 Thrift Store Finds that Elevate your foyer
4 ways to start letting go in life
BOOKS~ ON MY LIST AND MY BEDSIDE TABLE
Dorothy Armstrong’s Threads of Empire is a spellbinding look at the history of the world through the stories of twelve carpets. Beautiful, sensuous, and enigmatic, great carpets follow power. Emperors, shahs, sultans and samurai crave them as symbols of earthly domination. Shamans and priests desire them to evoke the spiritual realm. The world’s 1% hunger after them as displays of extreme status. And yet these seductive objects are made by poor and illiterate weavers, using the most basic materials and crafts; hedgerow plants for dyes, fibers from domestic animals, and the millennia-old skills of interweaving warps, wefts and knots.
The Lost Lights of St. Kilda
1927: When Fred Lawson takes a summer job on St. Kilda, little does he realize that he has joined the last community to ever live on that beautiful, isolated island. Only three years later, St. Kilda will be evacuated, the islanders near dead from starvation. But for Fred, memories of that summer – and the island woman, Chrissie, with whom he falls in love – will never leave him. 1940: Fred has been captured behind enemy lines in France and finds himself in a prisoner-of-war camp. Beaten and exhausted, his thoughts return to the island of his youth and the woman he loved and lost. When Fred makes his daring escape, prompting a desperate journey across occupied territory, he is sustained by one thought only: finding his way back to Chrissie. The Lost Lights of St Kilda is a sweeping love story that crosses oceans and decades. It is a moving and deeply vivid portrait of two lovers, a desolate island and the extraordinary power of hope in the face of darkness.
Maya Killgore is twenty-three and still in the process of figuring out her life.
Conor Harkness is thirty-eight, and Maya cannot stop thinking about him.
It’s such a cliché, it almost makes her heart implode: older man and younger woman; successful biotech guy and struggling grad student; brother’s best friend and the girl he never even knew existed. As Conor loves to remind her, the power dynamic is too imbalanced. Any relationship between them would be problematic in too many ways to count, and Maya should just get over him. After all, he has made it clear that he wants her gone from his life.
But not everything is as it seems—and clichés sometimes become plot twists.
When Maya’s brother decides to get married in Taormina, she and Conor end up stuck together in a romantic Sicilian villa for over a week. There, on the beautiful Ionian coast, between ancient ruins, delicious foods, and natural caves, Maya realizes that Conor might be hiding something from her. And as the destination wedding begins to erupt out of control, she decides that a summer fling might be just what she needs—even if it’s a problematic one.
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.
SHOPPING~OUTFIT OF THE DAY
Hot summer days call for easy, effortless outfits. Dresses fit the bill perfectly, I ordered this blue dress from Banana Republic and am waiting for it to arrive. I think it will look great with colorful sandals, a wicker tote and simple jewelry I would probably wear it to the club, out to dinner and a day out.
Outfit Details~Click the Photos Below
Looking for more outfit inspiration? Check my LTK!
UNTIL TOMORROW
I hope you enjoyed the recipes, links and books I discovered this week on Friday Favorites.
Before you go:
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Don’t forget that Kim, Juliet and I will be back tomorrow on Weekend Meanderings!
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On My Radar~Summer
Funny you should say that about the carefree summer days of children. As I was driving home one day I passed the park and playground in my subdivision which also has a pool. Kids were playing everywhere and it just made me smile seeing them outside without the cares that we adults carry around. Especially in this worrisome world we live in. And I thought back to being a child and how that is how it should be. There will be time enough to worry someday.
Ok that dress was interesting…I’m afraid my breasts would be falling out of the slits. So unless one is fairly small chested this will not work. Also seems rather expensive for no more than it is. As I used to say…I could make that dress! Ha!!
I’m now keeping a daily log of joys, kind moments and gratitude to help change my focus off the terrible news we hear. Have a nice weekend
Nanci, I thought the same about the dress, but I am cautiously optimistic that the sides are not as low as they look. I will keep you posted.
As for sewing I never learned how to sew on a flat stich sewing machine but I can sew on a corner stitch machine as I used to work for my parents leather business.
I love watching the kids at the beach and the pool, their antics, laughter and smiles make me smile and laugh too!
Truth be told, I have seen so many fabulous dresses this year at TJMAXX and Marshalls.
The state of the world is frightening! Not just in the USA but world wide. I have been keeping a gratitude journal for years and it does help buoy ones spirits when the world seems dark and scary.
I hope that you have a wonderful weekend!
These recipes look delicious. Oh to be young again in summer, the best. No worries. Walking to the pool with friends, running through the sprinkler at home, eating watermelon and seeing who could spit out the seeds farthest. When my 2 kids were younger I always told them enjoy these days, they are the best. You don’t have adult worries.