Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa

Monday, June 1, 2026

It’s June! How did that happen? Let’s link up with Sarah and Holly to share our weekends…

Let’s start with Thursday…

After visiting my school on Thursday around lunchtime and having some feelings surrounding that, I was ready for a happy hour. My high school friend Beth came to my house and I drove us to a place I had been once several years ago but had wanted to try again called South Seas. I knew they had the trend of the soft serve alcohol drinks, and your girl was having FOMO (Fear of Missing Out). The bartender was so friendly and nice to us and explained how they made them and let us try some samples.

We both picked blueberry margarita…

I liked it, but you have to eat it with a spoon and it melts really fast, so the jury was still out on this trend for me.

We also had some plantain chips and dips:

We had some nice conversation, and it was really fun!

We got home in time for dinner and I had prepared early. We had orzo with chicken and spinach and I didn’t eat much, but I was glad I had prepped it ahead of time.

Friday morning I was excited to go get some new library books since I had decided to abandon my last book and my other books weren’t appealing to me.

Look at my fun summer stack:

I love my library!

After the library, I stopped at Whole Foods to get some turkey, sliced sourdough, bagels, and a couple of other impulse purchases.

By the way…

I think Dazzle Dry nail polish is really good. I am not the best at polishing perfectly, but I enjoyed the red color for about 5 days and then took it off:

Next, I decided to just do a traditional OPI mani on myself. My nails are damaged from about 1/3 of the way to the top of the nail from my two gel manis. I am letting that grow out and just keeping them short. They are not strong at all right now, so they are breaking quite often.

I started this and finished this over the weekend. The story hooked me and I really enjoyed it.

Friday night has meant eating at home lately. I decided to try to make fried goat cheese balls (as one does, you know?) for a salad and they turned out great! I made a homemade dressing.

I also made these tater skin rounds and they were delicious. Tom had some leftover pizza from lunch, too.

We watched a couple of shows together and it was a nice evening.

Saturday was gorgeous and I opened the sun roof!

I went to see how high the river was…

You should be able to walk on that ramp to the dock.

I think this photos shows it better:

So, sadly, even with such a gorgeous day, the river is not safe for recreational boating. There is lots of debris, too.

I called Heather and she said she was on the way to Sassy Fox so I met her there. I have never seen so much summer consignment. Good stuff! I put out an APB/Instagram post to tell my friends to go check it out.

Weird photo:

I left with a pair of black J.Crew shorts for $7. I could have bought more, but I am being very practical.

Did you read this? I couldn’t tell you any details but I know I read it.

I watched the movie in the afternoon and it was ok.

Tom and I went to a new to us Mexican place that was really good and had a really lively decor:

I had to try this one, too:

Here’s my verdict on the soft serve alcohol: You have to eat it with a spoon. I wasn’t excited to do that while trying to eat my weight in chips and salsa. It’s very cold. It’s very strong. It was $16. I have determined that I shall drink my alcohol and eat my ice cream with a spoon. I was only able to eat about 5 spoonfuls. So, I believe I now have JOMO (Joy of Missing Out).

I ordered a chicken burrito and we were glad we hadn’t ordered queso because we were both dipping chips into the vast amount of queso on my burrito – lol.

Tom got birria tacos and we brought home two big boxes of leftover food. We both wished for Mason to be here to eat it.

We walked EO when we got home and then watched some tv.

We capped off the weekend by going to see a late Sunday afternoon matinee of this:

It exceeded my expectations. Tom and I laughed through the whole movie. He is really clean and I told my sisters it would be appropriate for their 6th and 7th grade boys, too.

Yes, we do take our leftover popcorn home with us.

I started this:

It seems cute so far!

A couple of reminders…

Fashion Files is tomorrow! Show us what you’ve been wearing, what you have dug out for the season, what you hope to wear, your summer shoes – anything to do with fashion. You can show one photo or multiple photos. Maybe participating will force you to wear and evaluate your summer clothing? What do you think about us adding themes throughout the summer like “white pants” or “linen” or “Pinterest copycat”?

Currently is Wednesday, June 3. If you also do Hodgepodge with Joyce, feel free to combo them.

The prompts are: enjoying, wearing, watching, listening to, and buying.

What was the highlight of your weekend? I would love to know!

Amy

PS – I did a Saturday post. If you missed it, click here!

Saturday, May 30, 2026

Today is the last Saturday of the month and I’m joining in with Jenn for her Share 4 Somethings link up…

Something I loved

As my first May not in school, I loved enjoying the weather and soaking up the sun. This is my favorite place to read! I am not using self-tanner right now. I went to Suntan City and cancelled my membership that I had had on freeze. I am not trying to “tan” but have a little natural color (while using sunscreen) from my little pockets of sunshine.

All the walks I can take with EO during the day. I still struggle with leaving him and going to walk alone. I haven’t figured that out, but we walk usually twice a day and my step count is way up since winter.

I loved getting to take the boat out in mid-May!

Something that sustained me

My little social activities – mah jong, or a happy hour or meal out with a friend. I am spending so much more time at home and these little times to be social give me something to look forward to and a little time out. I like to be home in time for dinner with Tom most nights and we eat and watch a show together.

Chatting with my friend Dan!

I don’t always have a cocktail. This one was just the yummy dip with my friend Jessica!

It was so fun to get to hear about Beth’s daughter’s time in Germany!

Lunch with Mason in a garden was such a treat!

This week I tried the trend of soft serve alcohol with another friend named Beth – this was a blueberry margarita. You have to use a spoon. The bartender gave us a sample of the soft serve espresso martini, too. I want to try one other place, but I’m calling this a trend that isn’t for me. I would rather drink a cocktail and have a non-alcoholic tasting ice cream treat.

I usually am the asker/inviter these days and it works well to just meet up with one person because when you start trying to mesh multiple schedules it can be like a math story problem.

Something I’m carrying forward

I am working on a post, but I am carrying forward the adaptation to my retired lifestyle, I suppose. We have now hit the one-year mark which seems impossible.

I walked EO on my school grounds a couple of weeks ago and this week I visited my school to say happy retirement to some old colleagues and to visit my department – the other world language teachers. It was nice to see some people, but I also left with the realization that life goes on, your job goes on, and you aren’t imperative to an organization when it comes right down to it.

I didn’t feel sad. I felt like that was a whole other lifetime ago. I didn’t miss the industrial feel and the hard floors and the muggy humid building and the talk about meetings and initiatives.

I think I struggle more with the great number of life changes that happened all at once in my life.

Something I’m making space for

My motto as a teacher was “people before paper” which meant to drop tasks when I had the opportunity to connect with a student or a colleague. I tend to thrive on checking off tasks and I am a pretty efficient person, so that needed to be a reminder that some tasks could wait.

The way that looks now is having time for family and friends in person, via text, or via a phone chat. I want to keep space in my calendar for spontaneity. I want to be easy and flexible to schedule things with.

It also looks like being present when kids stop by and being present when Tom wants to talk.

What about you? What would you share?

Amy

Friday, May 29, 2026

Happy Friday! How was your short week after the Monday Memorial Day holiday? I’m always thrown off a bit – yes, even in retirement!

Let’s link up with Andrea and Erika to share some favorites from the week.

On Memorial Day, I finished cleaning – I cleaned a ton on Sunday – and then did an old fashioned Target wander. It was nice! I returned the two coolers I had bought and I am in search of something a little different. I want it to be more tote bag-like, I think.

Then, Tom and I decided to go to lunch! We were going to go out for fish and chips, but the place was too busy, so we ended up at Five Guys! Yum! I hadn’t had a burger or fries for that matter in a really long time. So, this was basically our Memorial Day cook out! I reminded Tom that the junior is quite big enough but he ordered the regular sized and then stated, “this is just too big”. Always listen to your wife, Tom!

We had no plans. Kids had to work and many of our friends were out of town. Boating was out due to the high river from all the rains. Ho hum. Tom mowed and I watched some tv and then I was able to sit outside and read until it started raining – again! Oh well.

I posted my May books yesterday but I hadn’t finished this at the time of the posting and I don’t think I will finish it now. This might be an unpopular opinion, but it’s too far-fetched and southern cheesy. Spoiler coming so scroll to after the paragraph after the photo of the book jacket.

Parents of 3-year-old twins leave them to be watched by a woman they have met like twice to go on a trip out of the country! The main character wants to lie/not reveal information about the birth parents of a foster baby so she can adopt said baby! She gets an Easter basket for a couple week old baby! Lol – the last one is not that big of a deal. It’s just crazy. I read many far-fetched books but this one is apparently my limit. I am sorry if you are a fan of this author.

SPOILER OVER!

I made Memorial Day manicotti – Maria talked about it and I thought I would try it – with brussel sprouts and turkey sausage. The manicotti is vegetarian and Tom requires meat at each meal thus the sausage.

It’s hard to get the filling in the tubular pasta – I used both a baggie with the tip cut and a long spoon. Neither was very easy. It turned out great, though!

I also had a glass of this:

If you belong to Costco, you can’t beat some of their wines for $8!

While at Target, I discovered they now carry three flavors of Laundry Sauce so you no longer have to buy it “sight unsmelled”. It’s too expensive. Have we gone too far with our scented laundry needs? I need to look at my household products and opt for cleaner versions, I know.

The Dollar Spot/$5 Spot at the front of the store had some cute things but I resisted:

I am thinking of decorating my porches in red, white, and blue or nautical themed items but can Eddie Otis handle my accessories this summer? That is the question. I will test out my old lemon pillows and see if he can resist.

Favorite blog comment I received this week…

“I increasingly suspect the last interesting people on the internet are hiding in corners like this, quietly exchanging thoughts while the rest of civilization live-streams itself eating drywall.”

It made me laugh and I took it to mean that I am interesting? I really love the blog world. I am hanging tight to the old school blog style.

I have been telling you/told you that we got a bakery chain right by my house. There is a line out the door every time I pass! It’s crazy! This photo was taken at 6:00 am on my way to the gym so this would be the only time I could go! They are open from 6 am until 9 pm. Wow!

I am enjoying this type of clip in my hair. I got this one and a pink pearlized one.

I broke out my fan, and it reminded me how great fans are. Lol. Duh. Get you a fan if you don’t have one!

I made a coffee cake because I was craving it and this brand is so good.

My umbrella broke so I ordered a clear one from Target. Clear are so great! You can still see!

I didn’t realize the NYX Butter Gloss came in clear – speaking of clear – so you can turn any lipstick into a gloss.

I like a coral in the summer so I bought this:

It is Revlon Dewy Peach and a nice light formula.

The topic of our names on Hodgepodge was really fun on Wednesday if you missed it! I should have also mentioned that I love my sisters’ names – Kate Eileen and Molly Anne. Kate is not short for anything and she is not a “Katie”. Sometimes one of our cousins calls her that but she is simply “Kate” and it really fits her. Molly has always thought she had a dog name. I took horseback riding lessons and my horse was named “Molly” and that really ticked her off. Molly totally fits her as the baby of the family, the one who made all of us laugh, you know?

Speaking of dogs and horses…

This thing is amazing! My basement stairs and basement are carpeted and even though EO is not allowed in the basement yet, his hair migrates to the stairs. It was $6.99. I plan to use it before vacuuming in the future. You do not want to know the amount of hair this got up for me.

A big change to our daily routine already is the fact that school is out and that matters to me because I live in front of an elementary school yard!

Eddie Otis trotting around the playground like he owns the place now:

I made a homemade tick spray with stuff I already had at home. I did leave out the geranium oil.

Yes, I am kind of nervous about the ticks this season.

And I will leave you with something just too cute for words, in my opinion.

Eddie Otis is not allowed in the basement yet. We keep a baby gate at the top of the stairs. When Tom is home in the evenings, I can go down. Yes, it’s crazy the things we do for our dogs or the things we sacrifice for our dogs.

We have these rungs and when I go down he likes to “play” with me. I stick my hand through a rung to him and he “guesses” which one I am going to go through and he sticks his paw through to me. It’s hard to get a photo of this but you will have to trust me that his big ol’ furry paws are so cute and I just love playing this with him. I know he hates that he can’t come down yet. I am going to EO proof it soon. We are gradually leaving more doors and spaces open to him.

Tell me something that was a favorite of yours this week!

Thanks for reading,

Amy

Thursday, May 28, 2026

I realize it’s not quite over, but my May wrap up made sense to do today!

May was a weird reading month for me. In the past, I bet I hardly read in May at all. May was a crazy month for teachers, and any down time was spent in front of the mindless tv!

If you are looking for books, feel free to go back through my 2026 reads here: January Books, February Books, March Books, and April Books.

May was off to a bad reading start coming off the cute book Anne of a Different Island. I loved that book. If you are an Anne of Green Gables fan, you would like it.

Look at this list of DNF’s – Did Not Finish. Here is how I feel about DNF’s. I get all of my books from the library and life is too short to read a book you are not enjoying. Period.

This is so highly talked about and I might come back to it, but I just couldn’t get into it:

Too redundant and rated R:

Meh:

This one is so controversial. I just decided I wasn’t that interested:

I remembered why I don’t like Jane Green books – choppy and repetitive writing:

This was cute and cheesy. It was what I needed.

I really liked this book – It was cool to read about seventies families and family dynamics and I enjoyed the story:

This was hands down the best book of May and one of the top for 2026. I think This Book Made me Think of You is still my favorite.

Super far-fetched but charming most of the time. It is rated RRRR and the repetitiveness of the rated R content got old.

Southern cheesy but I’m here for it. I think I’ve only read a couple of her books so I will do a deep dive and see what else I can read:

Groceries:

I started to keep my monthly spending diary again but I just couldn’t keep up with it. I feel like I needed so many Amazon things like toiletries, summer supplies, stuff like that. So, my spending has been not great.

I don’t think I have set foot in my Kroger! I have only done pick ups! In addition, I have gone to Whole Foods maybe three times, Trader Joe’s once or twice, and Fresh Market once, and Paul’s Fruit Market once. We have hardly eaten out this month.

Drumroll….

$606

Go Amy! This is down about $200 from last month!

What have you read this month?

What about your groceries? May can be super expensive with Mother’s Day and end of school year festivities and gifts.

Wednesday, May 27, 2026

It’s Hodgepodge with Joyce day!

1. Do you like your name? Are you named after someone (grandparent, etc)? If you have children how did you choose their names? 

I used to think “Amy” was too common but now I either just never think about it, or I had more people calling me “mom” or “Señora” than “Amy”. I think it fits me. It’s short which I like, and I think it’s kind of a happy name. It means “beloved”. The verb in Spanish to love is “amar”. My middle name is Elizabeth. My niece Lena was named after me “Lena Elizabeth”.

I was Amy W. growing up and there was another Amy W. who was my friend, Amy Wooden. We had sleepovers, were in the same girl scout troop, were both cheerleaders. She was also my competition. She accidentally won the typing award instead of me because the teacher couldn’t keep us straight. I really wanted that award because I loved typing. I could type 128 words a minute and my fingers would do imaginary typing while I read books. You could say I’m still disgruntled over it.

When I would call home I would say, “Dad, it’s Amy” and he would say “Amy Wooden?” That’s a sweet memory.

I am not named after anyone.

Choosing twin boys names was difficult because we had to choose four names! Also, Tom was opinionated and I had taught so many kids by that time and some names had bad connotations.

We decided on “James Jackson” as James was a family name on both sides and “William Mason” as my maiden name was Williams and Tom’s German grandfather was Wilhelm/William. Mason was a family friend that Tom knew. Tom wanted to call them “Jimmy Jack” and “Willie Mac” but I vetoed that.

2.  A piece of red velvet cake, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a slice of blueberry pie? You can only have one…which will you choose? If you could pick any red, white, or blue dessert other than those listed here, what would you choose? 

I think I would have to go with red velvet. I might pick fruit pizza – crescent roll dough, white frosting, blueberries and strawberries. I bought stuff to make it for Memorial Day but didn’t end up making it.

3.  What’s a job you’d like to try for just one day? 

I would like to be a nail polish color namer for one day.

4. Any patriotic decor in your home currently or coming up this summer? 

I didn’t go search for it for Memorial Day so I will for 4th of July and I will put it up early. I love red, white, and blue all year ’round anyway.

5. It’s the end of May, so let’s exercise our brains. Sum up your month with an acrostic using the word MAY. We can do it!!  

I went back to my blog media for May to do this; I had 348 photos in the month of May!

M- Markets (farmer’s), Mah Jong, Mother’s Day, Mad Mabel (favorite book of May)

A – About and Out/Out and About – I went to a new bakery, a new provisions place where I found my new fave pimento cheese, new Mexican restaurant, new little shop, and had a patio lunch with Mason at a relatively new place. One of my April goals was going to new places and I carried that over to May.

Y – Yippee! We took the boat out once before the rains and high river came and I was thrilled that EO did well. We will see if that continues. It could have been beginner’s luck for this season.

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

If you rearrange “May” it can be “Amy”. Mind blown? Way to tie up this whole hodgepodge, no?

Amy

Tuesday May 26, 2026

Hello! What have you been wearing? Honestly, I have been wearing my rain jacket! It rained all last week and into the weekend. I love my rain jacket if you are looking for one. Here it is! Mine is sadly about double the price right now of what I paid. Here’s one on major sale that is lined and long. It’s Columbia and only $24!

One day last week I paired my navy Old Navy blouse with my Old Navy lime green and white striped linen shorts during the day for walking the dog and some errands and then…

switched to jeans for my happy hour plans…

I wore my espadrille wedges, and they need to be stretched and broken in a bit more, but I had them on for several hours and they were pretty good.

I wore this to dinner in the rain. This is a very old TJ Maxx blouse with Amazon jeans and gold Mary Janes.

I wore this to grab a drink with my friend. The rain brought cooler weather and this cardigan was perfect. This is from Target this spring.

Saturday pedicure outfit. I am wearing Aerie shorts and an Aerie shirt! Call me, Aerie!

This is how I looked part of every day!

I dug these little shoes out of the garage. I bought them at Costco years ago. They are little rain flats. If I see these at Costco again, I will buy another pair. I also need to start looking for short rain boot replacements. This stuff isn’t necessarily fun to buy but it’s needed!

Purse straps can really add a little something something. Jenn talked about hers in her accessories post last week. I have three. I have this one:

this one:

And I have my red and green one:

They can be clipped on to any little purse that has hooks.

Here are some Amazon options!

So, what have you been wearing lately?

Join the link up here!

Once again, thank you so much for participating!

Amy (along with co-host Marsha)

Monday, May 25, 2026

We have Memorial Day and Labor Day – our bookends for the unofficial start and end to summer. It’s hard to believe we are here already.

Let us not forget that Memorial Day does have a meaning. Our Dad joined Air Force ROTC in college and went on to become a fighter pilot with a Lt. Colonel rank in the US Air Force. He did a stint in Vietnam before I was born. Did I tell you that I read Kristin Hannah’s The Women and then read my Dad’s Vietnam journal?

Our hometown flags:

My Dad adored us and was not like a typical father (in my opinion) of that time period. He was on the floor with us playing dolls and a drawing game where we had to guess what he was drawing (pre-Pictionary!) and he had off on Mondays and was in charge of carting us to piano lessons and allergy shots (Molly).

Even though it’s old and grainy, I love this photo of my Dad and I…

Our parents are buried in the veteran’s cemetary and we chose the Methodist symbol and this quote: “the engine is the heart of an airplane but the pilot is its soul”.

Then we wanted to find a quote for my mom that also used the word “soul” and we found “art is the journey of a free soul” because my mom was a lifelong artist and art teacher.

It was a wet week around here and that carried over into the weekend. When you boat on the river, you have to pay attention to the river levels and it is high right now and too dangerous for boating even if it did stop raining. Boo! It makes me glad we got to go out last Sunday.

Let’s go back to Thursday…

Thursday afternoon I had a happy hour with my buddy Dan. It was really nice to catch up!

I came home and made spinach salmon salad. It’s a copycat from a restaurant salad that Tom likes.

With the salmon:

Friday morning and Friday during the day it literally did not stop raining for a second. It was the last day of school so it was not very summer like at all. It did make for a cozy morning with my coffee and candle.

No kiddies got to play outside before saying bye for the summer which is kind of sad. I decided to scream in their honor.

I went to the library and found some free magazines along with my book. They have a bin where you can leave a magazine and take a magazine. I love that!

I wasn’t quite finished with my last book but was anxious to get into my new book and I made myself a little rainy patio happy hour.

You know what you can’t do in the rain? Blow leaves.

I lied to Tom and told him I didn’t feel like cooking and sorry but we were having sandwiches but then he walked in and I had made one of his favorite childhood meals! I’m sneaky!

It is BBQ beef and consommé rice. I cooked the beef in the slow cooker with a homemade sauce and the rice gets baked in the oven with a can of beef consommé, water, and butter. Ewww… look at those peas!

You’ll never believe this…it rained on Saturday! This might have been a tiny respite from it.

I made myself a beautiful omelet…

Oopsie, I think I put too much salt on the plate.

I went and got a fresh pedi…

It stopped raining Saturday, but it was still cloudy. There was standing water and it was just so saturated and gross.

Remember what I said about what you can’t do in the rain? The neighbor’s ex started using the leaf blower and Tom said, “He’s blow drying the grass”. He said some other things, too, but those won’t get repeated here. By the way, we ran into the neighbor on the other side of the serial blower, and she literally imitated the sound of his blower. Ha!

Later on Tom and I took chili down to Mason’s work for him, returned Tom’s shoes from last weekend, got gas and a car wash, and got sushi for dinner at Fresh Market. Could there be a more married adult date?

At the car wash!

Then, the sun came out when we got home!

Sushi for dinner!

Eddie Otis has started really sleeping in. This is him yesterday morning when I said I was going to get up at 7. He has the funniest facial expressions.

I tried to make some egg bites with shredded hasbrowns. I made some big and some small. They were pretty good.

I think we are supposed to take the flag down in the rain?

I watched a few episodes of The Other Bennet Sister on Prime on the patio Sunday afternoon and it’s really cute.

I had a Target pick up that included a new clear umbrella – lol!

And, for dinner we had the very traditional Memorial Day weekend chili – womp womp.

I also made the Chuy’s dip!

Next Currently is Wednesday, June 3 and the prompts are enjoying, wearing, watching, listening (to), and buying. I wasn’t feeling very out of the box this month!

And, don’t forget tomorrow is Fashion Files. I know it’s weird with the holiday so if you can’t link up it’s no big deal.

Amy

Friday, May 22, 2026

How was your week? The school children are out as of today at 3:20 around these parts. What about in your neck of the woods? Let’s link up with Andrea and Erika to share some favorites!

It’s been a busy and social week around here despite the rain! I hear we have more coming this weekend!

Monday Jack came over to learn some kitchen stuff and to meal prep together. We made spaghetti and taco meat and then I sent him home with meals. It was nice. Jack is not as interested in cooking as Mason is but he’s trying.

Tuesday my sister Molly completed her 24th year of teaching first grade. She has also taught second grade.

She ended her 14-year streak of having one of her own four kids in her school with the baby of the family. He is moving on to middle school where her husband teaches! Those poor kids can’t escape!

She has 19-year-old boy/girl twins, a 16-year-old girl, and this guy. He won the sportsmanship award for all of the 5th grade!

How cute are they?

I got a sweet DM this week from a former student. He is a senior and I also taught his sis. He works at one of my favorite restaurants, so I have seen him a few times. This is why I love Instagram.

There was no school on primary election day and EO and I went to my old school and walked. He enjoyed it!

My old classroom or in other words where the magic happened:

It’s really crazy that we have now completed a full school year of my retirement as of today at 3:20 when school lets out for summer in my district!

I have been enjoying yogurt this week. I have tiny wild blueberries in my freezer and I put them in a bowl and let them get all juicy, add vanilla Greek yogurt, and top with a little granola.

One afternoon I got to have happy hour with my friend and her daughter who just came back from study abroad in Germany. It was so fun to hear about her experience. We went to a cool place with a piano on the porch…

We did wine flights and it looks crazy!

And, then went to the garden for a German beer…

Aren’t they so cute? And, aren’t I so sweaty? It rained like crazy and we were inside at first and then it was so humid in the garden.

We ended up having appetizers and dinner in the garden, too.

I did press on nails for years and was really happy with them until I wasn’t. That isn’t to say I won’t ever do them again. Then, I got two gel manis and wasn’t pleased with one of them and the second one didn’t last as long as it should have and that isn’t to say I won’t do it again, but I will say my nails are pretty damaged after just two manis.

I decided to try the Dazzle Dry system of regular old polish and ordered a starter kit.

It’s quick drying and was very easy to do. I will let you know how it goes since it’s too early to tell! I only have one color right now, too.

I got some magazines! I am saving them for this weekend!

I pulled all my red, white, and blue clothing out for this weekend. I don’t have any plans yet but you gotta be patriotic, no?

I had a surprising amount of r, w, and b clothing!

A new chain bakery opened right by my house so I had to check it out!

I was so busy at 4:00 in the afternoon that I didn’t buy anything but it’s really pretty!

I had a fun Mexican restaurant dinner with my friend Jessica at a new place with three floors. The third floor is adults only and much quieter so we asked for that.

They have jalapeño ranch dip! Here is a copycat recipe and it’s so good! I might make it this weekend. The surprising ingredient is buttermilk, but remember you can make your own with regular milk and vinegar.

It’s just typical Mexican food but in a really pretty environment!

I came home to this view…

It’s been a nice week!

What about you? Tell me a favorite!

Happy weekend and Happy Memorial Day!

Amy

Thursday, May 21, 2026

Tom and I bought a used boat 12 years ago and we have thoroughly enjoyed it. We got to take our 2026 Maiden Voyage on Sunday and here is how it went…

Tom: We need towels.

Amy: Don’t forget all the boat accessories in the garage.

Tom: I forgot this, this, this, this, this, and this.

Amy:

So, we do forget all about what summer staples we need over the long dark winter, don’t we? It takes a bit to get our footing in the new season.

Here is my advice. I don’t have young kids so those of you with young kids have even more to gather! And you might need to tailor your list to the pool, the lake, or the baseball field.

Step One: Shop your house. See what bug spray you still have, what sunscreens you still have, find and wash your towels, pull out your swimsuits and coverups, etc. I don’t believe that you have to buy new sunscreen before the old is used up – unless your sunscreen is from 1995. I bought a ton of sunscreen last summer and then I just wasn’t outside as much as in previous summers. It was a weird summer. It was either storming or miserably hot every weekend.

Step Two: Make your list and shop! Have fun with it and enjoy the season. Maybe start out slowly and don’t buy everything at once but gradually add a couple of things to your online order each week.

Here are the must haves in my opinion:

Bug spray – the mosquitoes freaking love me. I am also trying the original Jergens this season to see if that keeps them away. I have heard it does!

No matter how hard you try to avoid it, flies will come in the house. I stand behind my Zevo! It really works. It’s a device you plug into the wall and then you replace the filter thingy. I have bought mine on Amazon and at Target.

Fans – I bought a little fan for my patio and it really helps!

Spray bottle for water – this is a trick my SIL taught me for the boat. Spraying some water cools you down really well. I have already used mine on my patio this year.

Insulated big cup for water – treat yourself to a new one or dig out your options and keep one everywhere. I have one or two in my car that I keep filled, Tom has two in his car, I keep one next to my coffee pot, etc. I especially love the ones that keep ice intact for a long time.

Sunscreen that smells like summer – for me that is good old Coppertone. I usually buy one like this and then do store brand for the rest. Pro Tip: Apply sunscreen at home in front of a mirror. Use lotion – not spray – it really works better. Then, when you get to your destination you can reapply with the spray. You don’t want to spray inside your house anyway. Do not get burned. It is extremely painful and it happens quickly. Keep a t-shirt if you have had too much sun and need to cover up.

Soft sided cooler – We take it on the boat but I feel like it’s good to have one in the car for groceries (if you have another errand you need to run and worry about your food getting too hot), for any outdoor event like concerts, for taking things to someone’s house, etc. Keep it in your car!

I think mine must have been totally too far gone by the end of last summer because I couldn’t find any around my garage or my house.

I ordered two to see which one I liked better. I picked these up at Target and I like both and might keep both. They were less than $20 each!

Car sunshade – I keep my car in my garage but when I go places in the summer the car gets so hot and these really help. I am going to purchase a new one for this season.

Beach towels and a drying rack/clothesline for wet towels – I think we have had our Costco towels for 10 years and they still look brand new. They are bigger and really good quality. They might be Tommy Bahama brand. I don’t think you have to wash towels every single time. They are big and that wastes a lot of energy. Put them on a clothesline or on a drying rack. Give each person a dedicated towel so they are using their own. Exception would be our river towels or lake towels. Those need to be washed each time.

Swim cover up – you can also use a button up and look chic

Hat or ballcaps

Flip flops

Swimsuit

babypool, sprinkler toys, pool toys, etc.

Coconut scented lotion – change up your scent for the new season. It’s fun! I have orange scented body wash in my shower now, too, and it smells all summer citrusy!

Summer candle – a citronella one for outside, too

Folding chairs for outdoor concerts, reunions, and picnics

Summer canned cocktails if you partake – I love the skinny cans. Anyone have a favorite? I am over Truly and White Claw and would like to try something new. Surfside maybe?

Skinny can insulator – I love mine! I found it at Target several years ago. Sadly, I had a pink monogrammed one that accidentally got thrown away so I had to replace it.

Summer cocktail ingredients like my skinny marg – 1/2 stick Crystal light lemonade, one shot white tequila, squirt some lime juice from a real lime or from a plastic lime shaped bottle with lime juice, mix all up, add ice, top with Fresca – gonna try this with my Wild Strawberry, too for a skinny strawberry marg!

I tell you what – you can start any cocktail with a half stick of Crystal Light, vodka or white tequila and top with Fresca! Why half a stick? I feel like a whole stick is too much for me. Add a bit of fresh lemon juice or lime juice, too.

I am sure I have forgotten some things! What else would you include? Give brand recommendations if you have them!

In addition…

Write out your summer bucket list

Print out blank calendars of the summer months so you can record community events and see the summer laid out

List of outdoor summer concerts where you can see it (or other summer community activities), list of summer farmer’s markets and locations, etc.

What better time than this weekend (as the unofficial start of summer) to have fun with this? Memorial Day is also a time to honor our fallen, don’t forget.

Happy weekend and start of summer!

Amy

Wednesday, May 20, 2026

Let’s link up with Joyce for Hodgepodge!

1. What do you make more complicated than it needs to be? 

The better question is what don’t I make more complicated? I am really working on this. I think some of it stems from anxiety and some from perfectionism. You know those memes about the type A, high achieving, first born daughter? Yeah, that’s me. I wouldn’t say I was a high achiever after high school, but I held my own before I was 18.

I overthink things as little as when I should go to the grocery store. I overcomplicate what we are having for dinner. Argh. I second guess the smallest decisions.

In the words of Michael Scott, “why am I the way that I am?”

2. What impresses you? 

I am not really impressed by material things. I am impressed by people who have done a lot with a little, who have traveled, who have lived life experiences, that kind of thing.

3. On a scale of 1-10 how picky of an eater are you?  (1=extremely and 10=not at all) If you had to eat a meal made entirely of one color what color would you choose? 

I would say I’m a 7. I don’t like nuts. I don’t like peas or lima beans. I don’t want to eat weird meats and seafood like rabbit, oysters, clams, chicken livers.

I can, however, go to any restaurant and find something to eat. I would never say if I didn’t like something at someone’s home.

WHITE – bread, potatoes, eggs, frosting, creamer, lol.

4. What does balance in life mean to you? Does your life currently feel ‘balanced’? 

Balance in life means margin. I didn’t overschedule myself when I was working. I had time at home, took days off when needed, and made sure to have open space in my calendar for spontaneity. Balance means a good mix of alone time, spouse time, family time, too.

My life currently is probably lopsided on the side of time at home and unscheduled time, but I made myself a promise to take this first year of retirement slowly and not overcommit or commit to anything before I was ready.

I have always made time for hobbies, though. How sad would it be if one didn’t have time to sit on the patio with a glass of wine and a book? I think everyone should do a “time audit” and see where their time is taken up on a normal day.

5. If you could travel the world for a year what would be your first destination? 

What a good question! I would probably start in Scandinavia and work my way down through Europe? I would linger and spend time in the smaller towns and not just visit the big cities. Also, can Tom and Eddie Otis go?

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

The story of the wedding dresses being saved made national news! Well, People.com news, at least. , so maybe it was more of national pop culture news.

What would you say to one or more of these questions?

Amy