June is off to a good start ♥

Hello Friends! Happy Friday! ♥

We have arrived at the end of a beautiful week here in New England and so far, June has not disappointed me.  After a rainy and stormy Memorial Day weekend, the sun is making up for lost time.  

I've been having my coffee on the porch this past week, watching the birds, with the sweet smell of lilacs in the air.  I can't help but think about the bitter cold winter we had and how I thought it would never end.  So much snow!! And now here we are.  This is why I love the changing seasons.  

There is always something to look forward to.  

I need to come back out here with my clippers later this afternoon and snip some of these before it's too late.  Unfortunately, the season is short.  Blink and you'll miss it! 

This week was a busy one, but I did make sure to get outside and enjoy nature as much as I could.  I've been walking every night after dinner.  Right after I do the dishes, before I've had a chance to even sit down (because if I do...forget it...it aint happening :).  I live at the top of a hill so if you walk in my neighborhood, it's a workout - which I guess is the whole point since it's the only real exercise I get.  

I really like that time of day to walk. I believe it's called twilight so naturally...  It's nice and cool because the sun is setting and it seems all my neighbors are busy doing their dinner dishes or watering their plants or walking their dogs.  It's a cozy time.  And you know me, if I'm going to "work out" it has to have a cozy aspect to it! Lately I've been listening to music (mostly 80's pop) because that gives me a pep in my step up the long hill to my house.  If I go around twice it takes me about 20 minutes and it's a solid mile.  I'll take that.  Then it's back home for my nightly cereal and chocolate chips. I know, it doesn't seem right, but I am who I am : ) 

Tomorrow we will be attending my nephew Anthony's high school graduation.  

Last year was John and now it's Anthony's turn.  

These two have been best buds forever! ♥

John has always had a special relationship with his cousins.  With him being and only child, they have always been more like siblings to him.  

Julia, Sophia, and Anthony.  Such great kids and I'm so grateful for them! 

They've always supported each other! 

And love to spend time together! 

Tomorrow we'll celebrate Anthony! He's the last of the cousins to graduate. 

How time has flown! ♥

The forecast is expected to be warm and sunny (not too hot, but better than that...no rain :) 

Sunday will be my day to relax.  My social battery will no doubt be drained by then.  Rob and I will go to an early mass and hopefully out to breakfast.  He doesn't know it yet, but that's the plan! lol

The rest of day I would like to sit on the porch, sip iced coffee, and do some reading....at least for a little while anyway. I can already picture it in my head and I can't wait.  

I hope you all have a wonderful weekend too! ♥

Happy June! xx

Some relatable fun on a Monday! ♥

 Good morning friends and happy June 1st!  We have arrived! And while I'm not a huge fan of Mondays, since today is officially JUNE I'm going to give it a pass : )

I'm coming off a very nice and restful weekend, so I'm taking my Monday tasks in stride this morning.  It's not even noon and I've already put out at least 3 fires at home, had a work zoom call, and spilled an entire cup of precious coffee off my bedside table.  What a mess. But that's how it goes sometimes.  On a brighter note, it's nice and sunny today, my peonies are opening, and basil plants are looking (and smelling) delightful. I've decided to appreciate the little things today, and the smell of fresh basil is one of them. 

Anyway, it rained most of the weekend, hence the "restful" comment.  It was the perfect weather to recharge my batteries and that's exactly what I did. I read my book, watched a movie with Rob, and did a lot of loafing under a cozy blanket. Basically the "to-do" list got tossed out the window.

That's what rainy weekends are for, right?!  

The week ahead is busy and I knew I would need it.  I did a lot of mindless scrolling from my couch as well.  Again, that's how it goes sometimes and we must give ourselves some grace.  I didn't do the housework that I should have, but I did find some very relatable fun on Pinterest that I must share with you.

Can you relate? 🩷

YUP.

We did manage to go out for a bite to eat on Saturday because I was in no mood for cooking.  It was a nice meal until I went to get out of the booth and I audibly gasped because of a pain I think it was my knee. Or it could have been my back... I blamed the rain just like my Dad does when he has a mystery pain. What is happening?!  

I could only laugh at myself at that point :) 

Happy new week everyone!  I'm off to revisit that "to-do" list and start checking things off! 💗

Have a great day! xx 

Memorial Day, zucchini muffins, melt in your mouth chicken, and a bunch of other random things! Happy Monday! ♥

 Hello Friends! Happy Monday and happy Memorial Day!  ♥

I hope you all had a nice weekend and for all who celebrate - are enjoying this Monday holiday.  I'm currently having a lazy morning, sipping my coffee slowly and intentionally.  Unfortunately, there will be no cookouts or outdoor celebrations in my neck of the woods today because it's pouring rain.  Everything is a washout this morning. Thankfully, we didn't have anything major planned anyway.  Just a quiet day a home, resting, recharging, and remembering.  Our town parade got moved inside one of our municipal buildings.  I'm not quite sure how that will work but John will report back later.  He was meeting up with some friends to check it out.  I'm happy at home, dry, and will probably be in pjs all day. 

That's my idea of a day off : ) 

Yesterday I made a batch of zucchini muffins with these two beauties I picked up at the grocery store.  

Yay for zucchini season! ♥

It's one of my favorites (any which way!) 

They came out yummy!  I had two (heated in the toaster oven with butter) for breakfast. 

Here is the recipe I used.  

I would like to add chocolate chips next time! ♥

On Saturday night some friends invited Rob and I out to dinner at a local winery.  As you probably know we are "out to breakfast" people.  We love getting up early and going out for coffee and breakfast - but sometimes we do go out after dark! LOL  

We had a really fun time! The place was very cool and I even splurged on a glass of wine which I don't normally drink (but when in Rome, I guess :).  

It was delicious, as was the homemade pizza! ♥

We finished the evening with espresso and then went to another place for dessert. 

If you know anything about my husband this behavior is practically unheard of, but I think he's softening in his old(er) age! 

Anyway.....♥

...back around the house the peonies aren't minding the rain at all.  They will be blooming any day now. I can't wait.  One of the best parts of the spring and summer is being your own florist.  There's always something that can be cut and brought indoors to enjoy.  I love having a vase of flowers in the kitchen or on my bedside table.  Even a budvase on the windowsill in the bathroom makes me smile.  It's the little things. 

Before I sign off for today I wanted to quickly share this chicken recipe that promised you last week! It's so good and makes a very easy weeknight meal.  I've made it a few times now and everytime it's a winner ♥

It's called melt in your mouth chicken.  

I didn't name it, the internet did ... but it really does melt in your mouth : ) 

All you need is: 

1lb boneless skinless chicken breasts

2/3 cup mayo

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

1 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp onion powder

1 tsp dried parsley

1/2 tsp pepper 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Mix mayo, parm cheese, and all seasonings in a bowl.

Coat chicken breasts on both sides.

Bake uncovered in a shallow baking dish for 45 -50 minutes.

Mix, coat, bake, enjoy!  ♥

The mayo and the parm cheese combined make the creamiest sauce.  It's really delicious!  

If your plans to grill today are a washout then maybe think about this dish.  You won't regret it! 

Have a lovely day, my friends!  I'm going to spend the day reading, writing a few letters, and we'll see what else.  I'll be around visiting your blogs to say hello too! 

Happy official start to summer! We made it! ♥

Bye! xo 

Madeleines and a special anniversary! ♥

Hello Lovely Friends! ♥

Good afternoon and happy Monday! Guess what? It's almost over! YAY! 

Actually, I shouldn't complain.  Today has been a beautiful day (I mean, for a Monday and all...it hasn't been half bad ♥)

The weather is absolutely gorgeous! It's high 70's, sunny, with a nice light warm breeze.  I have all my windows and sliders open.  I can faintly smell the lilacs in yard blooming, and all the birds are singing. They don't mind one bit that it's Monday.  Maybe I should take lesson from them.  I even have some laundry hanging outside to dry which reminds me so much of my mom. 

Anyway, all is well over here.  I had a nice weekend - naturally it went by all too quickly, but I did enjoy it as it whizzed by! Rob and I did our usual coffee and shopping on Saturday morning.  I even convinced him to go to the thrift store with me afterwards.  We had fun looking at the leisure suits in the men's section!  

Funny random fact - Saturday was the anniversary of the day we met.  And the only reason I know this is because we met at my cousin's wedding and I saw on Facebook that it was their anniversary on Saturday.  I wished Rob a happy 33 year anniversary of meeting me! I kept reminding him of this fun fact all weekend! :) 

**back when I had bangs and he had a lot of hair....LOL**

(ages 19 & 21)

Sunday was hot.  It was SUMMER weather.  I put my capris on for the first time of the season! We went for a nice walk on the beach after church.  There were a thousand other people doing the same thing, but it was still nice.  Then we hit Lowes to look at some house things.  I wandered off to the garden section while he looked at some kind of tool for something I don't even know what.  I love fun weekends like that where we just wander around and browse with no real stress.  It was fun. We got iced coffees and talked about summer plans too.  

Meanwhile...my Dad was generous to treat us to an order of meat from Omaha Steaks, so we planned burgers for last night.  Spoiler - they were delicious!  I wanted to make a little treat for dessert.  I remember seeing a madeleine pan in my mother's pantry not too long ago.  I don't remember her ever using it, so maybe she never got the chance.  I've never made madeleines either, but I thought why not give it a try.   

I found a recipe online.  Not too many ingredients and they only bake for 10 minutes.  

Simple ♥

Plus, the batter has lemon zest in it and anything with lemon zest has to be good.  At least I think so! 

  

 

The recipe comes from Mon Petit Four  ♥

A gorgeous website with all things French. I'm a bit obsessed TBH.

Dusted with powdered sugar they are absolutely divine.  Very light and lemony.  More like a little cake than a cookie which surprised me in the best way possible.  

Next time I'll try with orange zest.  I think that would be good too! ♥

And now I'm off to wrap up work for the day.  

I just poured a tea and it's time to start to think about dinner.  

Tonight is melt in your mouth chicken.  I'll share the recipe tomorrow! 

Have a great night friends! I hope your week is off to a good start! ♥

Mother's Day Weekend ♥

Hello Friends! Happy Tuesday! ♥

 How are you?! 

I hope you all had a nice weekend and a happy Mother's Day. I am coming off a busy weekend, and it took pretty much the entire Monday to get me motivated for the week. I really don't like Mondays...but you probably already knew that. I had lots of coffee and survived :)

 I was able to get to the movies to see Michael on Friday night with my sister-in-law.  We both loved it.  The actor who portrayed him (his real-life nephew) was incredible. As was the music! Michael Jackson was such a misunderstood person. It's sad to even think about.  But his talents in music and dance were beyond genius and I felt this movie focused more on that which was interesting to watch.  As a kid born in the 70's who grew up in the 80's and 90's it really brought back memories for me.  I've had some of the songs stuck in my head for days : ) 

Saturday was filled with errands, laundry, and house chores. Rob took me to Panera in the morning, we went to the farmers market and the library. I think he was being extra nice to me because it was Mother's Day weekend! LOL  

Anyway, on to Sunday....John gave me this pink rose he got at church.  So sweet! ♥

We were invited to Rob's sister's house for brunch (my favorite meal).  There was 12 of us and it was a lot of fun.  I was missing my mother of course and thought of her often, but I was also very grateful to be surrounded by family. 

 

I offered to bring dessert. I decided on trifle! So easy and everyone loves it (and is pretty much impossible to mess up!) On Saturday I baked a chocolate cake and made the pudding.  I put it all together Sunday morning before church so it had enough time to set, but not too much time to be soggy.  It worked out just fine :)

We were blessed with a 73 degree day!  I opened my sunroof for the first time! I just got this car in January, and I've never had a sunroof before.  It was lovely!  Fresh air but I wasn't windblown. 

That's a win-win for me! ♥

Rob's sister and her husband did an amazing job hosting us.  We were greeted with mimosas!  

We had two kinds of quiche, bacon, hash browns, bagels, and a yogurt bar.  My other sister-in-law brought a delicious blueberry coffee cake.  It was all so good! 

Needless to say I didn't need lunch after that!  We got home early afternoon, and I went for a nice walk, then promptly hit the couch.

Bliss! ♥

 

Meanwhille Rob planted some tomatoes and basil for me.  He filled big Terracotta pots with soil and put them in the sun.  He's hoping for a garlic, tomato, and basil pizza in the future.  I hope so! Fingers crossed I'll have good luck this year.  

I have a few more pots I can fill and I'm still deciding what to plant in those.  I don't have a ton of room, so it has to be small.  I'd like some more herbs (definitely mint and parsley) and maybe some cucumbers. I also heard radishes are easy to grow and I do like them in salads. We'll see.  

OH HOW I WISH I had room for a big garden. Sadly I don't, so the pots will have to do for now.  Someday when Rob and I retire and live in my dream countryside cottage somewhere, I'll be sure to have enough room for a garden with a white fence around it and I can grow everything I want. Including pumpkins in the fall! #goals 

And now here we are.  Tuesday, it's a beautiful spring day, and it's just about time for tea and my afternoon walk.  I was thinking this morning how so very different this spring has been from last spring.  This time last year I was planning for John's graduation (and all the feels that went along with that) and my Dad was also very sick.  He was in the hospital for weeks and it was very scary.  Balancing those two things is something looking back I can't believe I survived.  Thankfully John is doing great (more on that later...) and so is my Dad. We just had lunch and he's currently sitting at the table across from me watching YouTube videos on his phone and laughing his head off.  He loves the Carol Burnett show!  I like to work down here at the kitchen table so I can keep an eye on him, but honestly, it's quite entertaining sometimes! 

This is much better than the hospital ♥

Hope you're having a great day, friends! What are you cooking this week? I need ideas! 

Be back soon! xo 

Happy almost Friday! ♥

Hello Lovely Friends! ♥

I'm coming to you this afternoon from the "quad" at John's school. He had an appointment with one of his teachers this morning and I decided to bring my laptop and go along for the ride.  It's a beautiful day and I was dying for a change of scenery.  While I was here, I made a quick appointment with financial aid to answer a few questions I had about summer courses.  I like talking face to face instead of a phone call if possible. It all worked out very well and now I'm just waiting for him to finish up so we can head home for lunch.  I'm sitting at a table outside in the sun, working, getting some lovely fresh air.  Don't get me wrong, I do love being home, but once in a while I need to get out beyond those four walls.  And Rob is home today so my Dad has company.  A few hours away can do wonders if you know what I mean! 

Anyway.... Tomorrow is Friday! YAY!  I had a good week.  I was very productive at work.  I had a zoom meeting this week where I had to actually TALK. Do you know how much I hate that?!  I got through it.  I did get my walk in at the ocean early one morning. It was glorious!  I did my best to eat healthy, drink lots of water, and get my rest in too.  Oh, and I had a dental appointment because I needed a routine cleaning and a filling. Thanks to nova cane it wasn't painful, but even so, I do not consider that as "getting out." And FYI: the noise of that drill is almost as bad as actual pain...eeeek! 

♥

On Saturday Rob is taking me to the nursery to get tomato plants, herbs, and some flowers for the porch.  He doesn't know it yet, but we'll be stopping off at the farmers market too! It's Mother's Day weekend after all, so there can be no complaints : ) 

I'm looking forward to it ♥

We had beautiful sunny weather this week, with a few showers sprinkled in here and there.  I noticed buds on my hydrangeas which is very exciting and my peony is really taking off.  I can't wait for it to bloom.  It's amazing how flowers and sunshine can make me so happy.  I've been working very hard to keep my stresses at bay, so whatever helps...I'll take it! 

I enjoyed the company of this little guy too : ) 

I'm a little obsessed.  As my neighbors are actively scaring them away, I'm discretely trying to make friends, hoping desperately one day one will let me pat him.  So far it's not working...♥

It wasn't a very exiting week in the kitchen, but you know, some weeks are like that.  In fact, last night I made omelets because I didn't feel like doing anything else.  And guess what? They were delicious so sometimes it works out.  We had some left-over veggies in the fridge so the one I made for myself had cheese, spinach, and mushrooms in it.

I'm making up for it tonight with roasted chicken, stuffing, squash, and green beans.  

We are due for a comfort meal over here ♥

I finished a book that I absolutely hated. It was called The Good Daughter by Karen Slaughter.  First, I found it to be very depressing, and then it got very boring. I kept waiting for something good to happen.  Something interesting.  Do you DNF books? I do sometimes, but this time I was really hoping for an incredible twist.  Some kind of payoff for the long boring hours I put into this book. You know what I got? Nada.  It wasn't worth it. Oh well.  Not every thriller is thrilling I guess... I will definitely read Karen Slaughter again. This story just wasn't for me. 

The good news is now I am reading an absolutely CHARMING book.  

I'm LOVING it! ♥ 

This is not the type of book that I would normally pick up, but it came highly recommended to me and I'm so glad I gave it go.  Basically, a woman's life story is told through various letters she's written and received.  I don't want to give it away, just know it's soooo good! Half my weekend will consist of a hot beverage and this book.  I'll be sad when it's over : ) 

We are heading to my sister in laws for brunch on Sunday. I am bringing a dessert but I'm not sure which one.  I'm going back and forth between a custard pie, a trifle, or classic chocolate chip cookies. I'm leaning toward the trifle but it's not in stone.  I'm going to flip through some of my cookbooks tonight before I make my shopping list.  It's still so strange to me to plan for Mother's Day without my mom.  I noticed today that the lilies of the valley are starting to pop up in our front yard. They were her absolute favorite.  I'm going to pick some for her and put them in the kitchen.  

I know she would have loved that ♥

Well, I hope you all have a wonderful end to the week and a beautiful weekend! 

Happy Mother's Day! 

And if you're missing your mom like I am, just know you're not alone ♥♥♥

Update - I'm home now.  John and I had a fun morning together.  The ride to the school is about 40 minutes, and honestly - it was the best part ♥ 

After lunch, I finished the rest of my work for the day, got a load of laundry going, and now I'm about to put that roast chicken I mentioned in the oven.  He's stuffed with lemons and onions just like Julia Child taught me. I can't wait to crawl into bed tonight with my book!

Byeeeee!! Xx