weekend clicks

  1.  Highly anticipated April 2023 book releases

  2.  A Collection of 1698 blogs about every topic

  3.  99 reflection questions to ask yourself for personal growth

  4.  Meditation to ease anxiety & boost your immunity

  5.  Loving this Mexican fire opal ring

  6.  This darling London flat captures the essence of an English cottage

  7.  How to edge flower beds like a pro

  8.  Ina's potato-fennel gratin would be perfect for Easter

  9.  An easy way to remove labels from jars

10.  7 ideas to show off your book collection in a dreamy way

Hope your weekend has been filled with play and rest!
Happy April. 🎕

weekend clicks

(Woodstock Opera House, Woodstock IL)

 1.  This beautiful poem by Philip Larkin will remind you of spring

 2.  30 prompts for gratitude journaling

 3. The 5 minute kitchen workout

 4. What a cool boho home!

 5. Meditation to ease anxiety & boost immunity

 6. What movie to watch this weekend?

 7. These healthy chocolate chip muffins are perfect for weekend baking

 8. Listen to the best of soul,jazz & blues

 9. Did I love well?

10. This book just came out about Highly Sensitive Persons

HAVE A BEAUTIFUL WEEKEND!

weekend fun

This past Saturday, me, my mom and aunt hopped in the car and went to a barn sale out in the country. It was only half an hour from my house, but that half hour further west makes a lot of difference in the landscape as far as open land goes. 

The house and grounds were so beautiful. I could definitely live in a place like this.

Check out the cute shed!

Couldn't you picture relaxing around this fire pit on a cool October evening, talking and laughing with friends or family, having a glass of wine or beer and making s'mores? (No phones!) 

Just gazing around at all the beautiful, open land makes your blood pressure drop. I sure wouldn't mind this view from my back yard instead of neighbor's houses.

We were greeted at the entrance to the barn by a pair of turkeys.

Before I went into the barn, I went to the side where the turkeys started heading and I found more turkeys and some ducks. Pee-yew, was it smelly over there! And turkeys are noisy. I had no idea.

That did it for me - I headed quickly into the barn where I had a more pleasant greeting: free coffee and make-your-own Bloody Mary's!

 

The barn was filled with antique furniture and all kinds of vintage and antique treasures for the home.

This piece already had a sold sign on it. I wasn't surprised. I would love something like this in my kitchen instead of the tall, narrow china cabinet that's currently there.

Me, my aunt and my mom.

After the barn sale, we went to a couple of nearby shops in town to peruse more treasures. Here's a few things I came home with, both from the barn sale and the shops ~ a gorgeous made-in-England pitcher, antique french lace wooden pins, and a small piece of pottery. I also bought a vintage glass deep pie dish and a vintage blue and white speckled pottery mug (RRP Pottery, Roseville, OH) ~ not pictured. I love different coffee/tea mugs in general and have far too many, but my tastes change every so often and now it's leaning towards the pottery ones.

More fun on Sunday with going to see the Linda Ronstadt documentary ("The Sound of my Voice") with a couple of girlfriends. It was excellent! If you get a chance to see this movie, I highly recommend it if you were ~ and still are ~ a Linda Ronstadt fan.

Hope your week is off to a good start. We've had sunshine and temps near 70 so far this week, but rain moving in tomorrow night (which is the last thing we need) and then cold this weekend. Not ready for that!

beautiful weather and a few delicious autumn meals

Yesterday we spent the day in central Illinois with extended relatives and we couldn't have asked for a more lovely day...sun, 70 degrees, hanging out on the patio talking, and playing cornhole/bags (whichever you want to call it) in my cousin's beautiful back yard. Pretty much the entire month of September was perfect, weather-wise. I don't remember a September where the skies were this blue and cloudless every day, though we now desperately need rain. We barely have a color change here yet. Most trees are still green, but the leaves that are falling are brown and crispy.

The sunsets have been amazing every night, too. This one was taken on our evening walk tonight.

Today was back to reality with lots of work around the house and laundry, but that's OK, because we got a lot accomplished. I made a hearty dinner: a sheet pan with apple gouda chicken sausages, potatoes, sweet potatoes and onions - which were roasted in the oven; a pot of quinoa; and fried apples (fried in coconut oil, sprinkled with cinnamon, and sweetened with a drizzle of pure maple syrup).

Speaking of delicious food, I have a few other fall dinner ideas for you.

We're all familiar with spaghetti with meat sauce, but when I came across this simple way of making it, I had to give it a try. (I can't remember what magazine I cut this recipe out of, but I think it was Real Simple.) I was dubious about cooking the noodles right in the sauce, but it turned out perfect! I used brown rice spaghetti noodles and organic, grass-fed beef. If you make this, be aware that it makes a lot. I think we got about 7-8 servings from this dish. And the leftovers thicken after being stored in the fridge, so when I heated up the leftovers in a pot on the stove, I added more water and a little bottled organic marinara sauce.

This is one of our favorite soups. It's simple but yet has deep flavor and is easy to make. I always double this recipe. We had the leftovers for lunch today.

Red Lentil Soup - The Kitchn

Stuffed zucchini is another easy-to-make, yummy and healthy dish. Preheat oven to 350F. Trim ends from zucchini and cut in half lengthwise, then scoop out the pulp and seeds with a spoon. Spray the insides of the zucchini with olive oil cooking spray or brush lightly with olive oil. Bake zucchini shells for 15-20 minutes or until slightly tender. Remove from oven and stuff with filling of your choice. There are so many possibilities, depending on what flavors you're in the mood for. You can basically stuff with any kind of cooked meats (or not) and veggies, sprinkle with shredded cheese (or not), and bake another 20 minutes. This filling was diced cooked chicken with enchilada sauce, corn, and cheese. When it came out of the oven, I topped with chopped fresh tomato and cilantro.

Hope you all had a great weekend and were blessed to also have enough good food to eat and share with loved ones. Even if it was just yourself, you are a loved one, too. Treat yourself as such.

how to combat cabin fever

Hello, February! We're one month closer to spring. If you live in a cold climate like me, where you're already tired of bitter cold temps, days on end of cloudy skies, perhaps lots of snow, then you know how cabin fever sets in once the holidays are over. Going to and from work or running errands just doesn't cut it for "getting out of the house". 

So, when the weekends roll around, I'm always looking for something to do ~ antique shopping, museums, a new restaurant ~ something, anything to keep the feeling of the four walls closing in around me.

A couple of weekends ago, me, Brian and my aunt went to Milwaukee, Wisconsin for the day. We love going to the Public Market - an indoor venue with different fresh food vendors, artisan markets, a couple of restaurants, and a wine bar. We had lunch there at a place called The Green Market. I had the most incredible salad of mixed greens and just about every kind of veggie you can think of - except for mushrooms and beets. Those are the only two veggies I can't tolerate. What's really cool is that it's build-your-own. You can pick and choose from 50 different vegetables and toppings! 

Across the street was a West Elm store. I was familiar with West Elm online, but I've never been in one of their on-site stores. It was ultra-modern with really loud music, so not my taste, but was fun to look around.

At least Brian found a comfortable chair to relax in!

On from West Elm, we took a walk around the neighborhood and all of a sudden, the fog rolled in from Lake Michigan. Was really cool to be walking around in the fog, but glad we weren't driving in it.

Loved the architecture of these buildings.

Our walk brought us to an Anthropologie store, so we just had to go in and look around. (Poor Brian. He's such a good sport.) I rarely buy anything from Anthro - overpriced and most things made in China - but the eye candy is fun. And they certainly have a knack for creating beautiful displays.

Later in the day, we stopped at our favorite Milwaukee coffee shop to relax and have a warm drink.

The inside is hip and painted in vibrant colors with local art, lots of plants, homemade treats, and wonderful coffee.

Speaking of art, last weekend a friend invited me to one of those painting classes that are so popular now. What was the first thing I noticed when we walked in? The decor, of course! We had time to linger before the actual start time, so I walked around and took some photos. Love this green sofa!

The little kitchen had an interesting backsplash - squares of wood.

This industrial style mirror was in the bathroom.

All set up and ready to go. We were painting coffee mugs with creamy coffee and a heart design in the middle. It was harder than it looked!

Here we are, all done. I'm standing by the window in the beige sweater. Don't look too closely at my masterpiece. ;-) I really messed up on the hearts and couldn't fix it. And I think my cup handle looks more like a bunny ear. 

Not sure what we're going to do this weekend, but I'm sure we'll find somewhere to go or something to do. We do have some home projects to work on, but we have to throw in a little fun, too, right? 

What fun things have you been doing lately on the weekends?

snippets of the weekend

I'm a little late...it's Monday night, but if the days rush as quickly for you as they do for me, I can hardly believe the weekend is over.

We had some mild, sunny weather again - hooray! Too nice to stay inside.

 We headed to a small, neighboring town for an art crawl and to walk around in the lovely spring-like weather. Best of all, I got to meet Ginene of Fox and Finch Antiques! She is even more lovely and sweet in person, if that's possible. She gave me a big, warm hug and expressed how nice it was to meet me. The three of us had a wonderful conversation. Her store is in an old bank building with a beautiful assortment of antique and vintage items. Silly me didn't think to have Brian take a picture of me and Ginene until we were in the car on the way home. So instead, you get a picture of Brian. ;-)

Brian found this in a vintage shop ~ read the bottom of the package. If you're missing a heart...

On Sunday, our travels brought us to Tim's place to visit with him...we all love his roommate's dog, Stanley. He's so sweet, obedient, friendly and full of personality. He's totally posing and smiling for the camera.

Sunday night, I met up with some friends at Chili's for drinks and appetizers. The young lady on the left, in the middle (aqua hoodie) was one of Phil's coworker-friends. I love that we still keep in touch. I never knew her mom (sitting behind me, with the long brown hair and glasses) until after Phil passed away. We've since become good friends.

A little something I picked up at Target...

First signs of spring in these parts! These are chives in my herb garden.

Mother Nature is such a tease. It's now snowing and sleeting. We're under another winter weather advisory and are supposed to get 4-7" of wet, heavy snow into tomorrow. March is coming in like a lion, for sure.

weekend shenanigans

 Yesterday evening as the sun was going down, I thought I'd grab my camera and head outside to take some photos. The sky was so beautiful. I snapped some photos, then headed back into the house. I was going to feed the cats their dinner, then heat up some leftover soup for myself. Brian was working and wouldn't be home for another couple of hours. I wasn't planning on watching the Super Bowl, as I'm not a football fan (unless it had've been the Chicago Bears playing, but I won't hold my breath on that one).

I turned the doorknob to go into the house and the door was locked. At first I was confused, because you need a key to lock the deadbolt. I hadn't brought my keys outside with me, and I never lock the door when I'm only going to the side of the house for a moment. I tried the door again and then realized it was the doorknob that was locked. There is a turn knob on the doorknob inside the house. We always leave those unlocked. There was another momentary "what the hell" pause, and then I remembered that my mom and aunt had left my house through the front door the day before, while I had left the house through the garage door. Aha! I'm guessing one of them turned the turn knob from force of habit at their own house. 

Good thing I had my phone with me, because it was darn cold out there!I called a nearby friend and she came and rescued me. I ended up watching part of the Super Bowl with Rescue Friend and her boyfriend. I was in bleached stained yoga pants since I had been at home all day, but hey, at least I was wearing a bra. ;-) The boyfriend took pity on me and wined and dined me with a glass of wine and a piece of pizza, so all was well. 

 So, speaking of guilty culprits my mom and my aunt (on the left...that's me on the right in the blue coat), we spent the day at the local antique mall on Saturday. Mom and Aunt both found a couple of treasures, while I actually came home empty-handed this time. I never even noticed the Maxfield Parrish print behind me until I saw this photo. There is just so much to look at, that it's easy to overlook things. I ended up zooming in on the price tag on my phone and I believe it says $269. Way overpriced! I found the same print ("Daybreak") on eBay for $98. 

 I love when the mail brings something "good" - a magazine, a book, a card or package from a friend - instead of junk mail and bills. Patty from Lemon Lane Style had an Instagram giveaway for her darling fabric flags ~ and I won! I played around with how to display these, and they finally ended up in a vintage milk bottle in my china cabinet.

The colors are perfect for my kitchen. Thank you, Patty!

It's another gray, cold day here with bursts of light snow. I had a dentist appointment first thing this morning and now that the Novocaine has worn off, my tooth is very sore. I have terrible dental phobia, so between being "worked up" this morning over my appointment and now with the soreness of my tooth, I am worn out. Time for a cat nap!