Tuesday, July 6, 2021

Hey everyone! I took a break from my computer and did not touch it for a full week! I missed you!

How was your 4th of July? We did not do a whole lot, to be honest. We have several friends away on vacation and we had just gotten back from a little getaway. We spent the end of last week in Nashville and I will recap that soon.

I finished this and I really liked it. It was cute! It involved a travel company and a trip to the Galápagos Islands and of course there was some romance! My favorite from this summer is still probably Float Plan. It had everything I want in a summer book. I did enjoy Golden Girl but I didn’t like that the main character was a ghost or a spirit. I am also not sure about a recent quote by Elin; she is retiring from the beach reads in a couple of years and wants to become a book influencer. She said that only writers are qualified to be book influencers and she criticized Oprah and Reese Witherspoon and their book clubs. She also made an Anne Frank reference in Golden Girl that she later apologized for. I am not one to “cancel” someone but it gave me pause and I think I might be done with her books. I have read them all up to this point. I am not sure if I will read the little e-book that follows up with 28 Summers because I didn’t love that book. It made me mad. Any thoughts? Again, I always want you to know you can disagree with me!

I made this red, white, and blue salad for Friday night dinner along with salmon, broccoli, and potatoes. I did romaine, blueberries, strawberries, sunflower seeds, and feta. I used Brianna’s brand dressing. Yum!

I love coming home and going through all the mail and packages (I only had a couple I promise!). Isn’t that the best? One of the things that arrived was this cereal below.

Tom mentioned to me that he wanted to try Magic Spoon and I had been curious as well. This is bad. We spent $30ish on the variety pack – peanut butter, cocoa, fruity, and frosted. I have only tried the peanut butter and the fruity but there is a strange after taste. Tom has tried all but cocoa. Tom hates it, too. I am sorry if this is an unpopular opinion. This is heavily pushed on some of my podcasts and by some of the influencers I follow. Now I know; I will not be buying this again.

The hotel we stayed in in Nashville had full size shampoo, conditioner, and body wash in the shower. I fell in love with the body wash, especially. Has anyone heard of this brand? I can’t wait to splurge and order a bottle! It says it is rum scented, but I don’t really get that. It is a wonderful light smell that I really can’t describe. The whole hotel smells like it and Mason noticed how great it smelled upon first entering!

Saturday I woke from sleeping in my own bed! Isn’t that the best, too? I had to don a sweatshirt. It was so nice.

My new shoes arrived! I love them! I don’t know if it is because I was wearing very worn out shoes to walk in, but these have great support in my opinion. The tongue is attached and you don’t tie them. I like that aspect, too!

Saturday our boys had 3 friends over and they played games in the basement. It made me so happy and I made two platters to be silly. This one had homemade brownies, little cookies from Trader Joe’s, Sour Patch kids, and chocolate rocks that I get from Paul’s Fruit Market.

Then, I popped popcorn and did individual bags of chips. The guys were so appreciative!

After all the friends came around 2, Tom and I were going to take the boat out, but there had been lots of rain and the river was high with lots of debris. We decided to wait until Sunday.

We decided just to go sit on the banks and have a drink at Captain’s Quarters.

I had a glass of prosecco. See how there are hardly any boats out?

We went home at dinner and the boys ordered Domino’s for their friends and Tom had a Totino’s (he loves them!), and I made the skinny biz pizza dough pizza for me.

I also made two little bread sticks and used some spray butter! Yum!

We put our bedroom tv on the patio and watched t.v. and read.

Sunday morning I did a Kroger run and then made the lemonade pie. This is the first one of the season! This is a recipe from my Aunt Sally – mix about half of a frozen lemonade canister with about 1/4 gallon vanilla ice cream. Stir until it’s melted together and pour into the crust. It works best if you let it freeze an entire 24 hours before serving. Yum!

Mason had a 4th of July party to go to and I offered to make brownies in cupcake liners with homemade icing and sprinkles.

Then, Tom and I finally made it out to the river around 1 on Sunday.

We were NOT part of this party. It looked like fun, though!

We just hung out for a few hours and then pulled into Captain’s Quarters and were met by this cute little duck family.

We ordered some spinach and queso dip and ate on the boat.

And, then we went back home and had cheeseburgers, asparagus, and fries for Tom and Jack. I had a veggie burger with asparagus and a baked potato. Mason was at the party until late. We aren’t big fireworks people anymore so we didn’t go anywhere. The sun made me tired and I could hardly keep my eyes open.

Yesterday was a day of all the things – floor mopping, laundry, taking my car to the shop, and other adulting!

Come back Thursday to hear about Nashville. Tomorrow I will tell you what I packed and what I have been wearing. I’m sure you can hardly wait! Just kidding, of course!

How was your holiday weekend? Can you believe we are already to this point of the summer?

THanks for reading,

Amy