Friday, June 26, 2020

The weeks are flying! I know I keep saying that but I think we all feel that we are in some strange time and space continuum, right? I am happy to link up today with Andrea, etc. so go right here!

In addition to my favorites this week I will walk you through my week…

Monday my son Mason left for a few days at a cabin at a lake about 1.5 hours away. Tom and I decided to let him go as he was going to be with the mom, and aunt and uncle of his best friend along with three other boys. It’s a little scary because you can’t really control the other people they have been around but we knew this would be good for Mason and he really wanted to go. These days at the cabin were a graduation gift for his best friend from the aunt and uncle who own the cabin.

He did his laundry a couple of days before he left and he made a list of what he should pack and then he packed everything. I started having my boys pack their own stuff around 5th grade. I always gave them a list and then they had to lay everything out to be checked by me. I taught them to roll their stuff and always pack a trash bag for their dirty clothes. He went to Europe last fall and had to re-pack multiple times at all of the different hotels so I think he learned a thing or two about packing. Organization does not come naturally for either of my boys, unfortunately! But, he is super low maintenance and he did a good job.

On Tuesday I posted my home tour and you guys are so sweet. I realized I left out a photo of the front of my house so here it is.

Facebook has been showing me some Father’s Day photos. I love this picture of Tom and the boys at the zoo from when they were 10 years old. Jack is on the left and Mason is on the right. Both Tom and I are feeling so nostalgic about our little boys.

And, this one from a Reds game when they were 9 years old was bittersweet. We had to put our first chocolate lab Archie to sleep the day before. He was 12 years old and was in pain. Mason is on the left and Jack is on the right and you can see that all three of my boys have sad faces.

I heard about something cool that Panera is doing and I have a Panera really close so I signed up. Normally they have a 8.99 a month unlimited coffee, iced coffee, or tea plan. That would pay for itself with just a few coffees a month, right? Until September it is totally free. I had recently said that I don’t even think about going out for coffee anymore, but I thought this would be a nice treat for the summer. It isn’t really unlimited but you can get a new coffee every two hours. Come on now, you wouldn’t want unlimited – you would be up all night! So, I thought I would share this in case anyone is interested.

I got a hot hazelnut in the morning.

And an iced coffee in the afternoon on Tuesday.

I had extra dough so I made homemade pizza for Jack for lunch on Tuesday. I’m getting better at it!

I also made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies – actually I only made a half of the recipe so we wouldn’t be tempted by too many.

One night we had a taco salad.

Jack was interested in shopping for new clothes for college while Mason was gone. He and I masked up and went to Steinmart and Kohl’s and he found some great bargains. He wanted button down shirts and pants mainly. I told Jack he was getting all of my attention while Mason was gone. He looked at me like that was a threat!

Almost everyone is wearing a mask. I think there were only 2 people without them and they looked silly. We have to normalize mask wearing in my opinion! What about in your area?

He also watched New Girl with me and we both just think it’s the best. If you have never watched it, give it a try. It’s just what I need right now.

So, I haven’t made any official announcements with college details on this space. I only told you that Mason made his decision at the beginning of quarantine and Jack made his a couple of weeks later.

They both made their decision independently without telling the other and Tom and I also didn’t say anything. We wanted them both to make the right decision for themselves without worrying about the other. It’s a very unique situation to be an identical twin. Tom and I will never understand it.

When we started the college search junior year we said they had to go somewhere they could use their state money (they get 2,500 a year for good grades and high ACT score) unless they got an amazing scholarship. So, they both applied to a big state school, two small liberal arts schools, and Jack also applied to one other school that Mason didn’t apply to. This may seem limiting but I am a firm believer that kids need guidelines or else it is overwhelming. Also, we don’t believe in letting our kids end up in major debt. We think that they need to have some skin in the game and pay for some of it themselves. I am not judging if you feel differently – just explaining how we feel as parents.

Tom and I were thrilled when they picked the same college – one of the small liberal arts schools that is only 30 minutes from home. Both boys were given super generous scholarships to make this education affordable. On top of that, they have a four year guarantee. If you don’t graduate in four years, they pay for the extra year or years.They are going to live on campus and they applied to be in different dorms with different roommates – but we don’t have dorm assignments yet.

We were so happy because it was our favorite as parents (we kept this quiet) and because we just felt it was the right fit for each of our sons (again we didn’t say this). We also knew that they may not know it now but they might like having the support of their brother if needed. We split them up K-5, never called them “twin”, and treated them very much as their own people, by the way. In middle school and high school it was rare that they had a class together, too. So, we really tried to help them have their own identity. They adore each other. They think the other one is so funny and they truly enjoy each other’s company and it’s a joy to listen to them having fun together. I honestly can’t remember a fight between them.

So, this is a weird time to be getting ready for college. This college, though, has jumped through hoops to make the kids and the parents feel connected. They have had all kinds of online programs, including online orientation. Wednesday night was a parent happy hour with incoming students’ parents and faculty. You were supposed to fix yourself a drink and log on. Tom and I participated on the patio complete with charcuterie.

We continue to be impressed by this school! They also sent socks to the boys with the school’s mascot this week with a card that said “one step closer”. Last month they sent them a bandana. They will also be sending face masks with the school logo. Even though I am so impressed, I hate that they have to start college this way. But, with it being close and having smaller class size, I think that will give them an advantage and make us feel more comfortable. Like many colleges, they are sending them home at Thanksgiving and there will be no breaks from August-then.

Our state published guidelines this week for K-12, also, and we can go back to school! I am waiting to see how my district, the largest in the state, interprets these, though. It’s going to be crazy but I really want to go back and I know our kids desperately NEED to be back in the classroom if we can do it safely.

Well, this week’s favorites turned out to be pretty serious!

What were your favorites from the week?

Thanks for reading!

Amy

Thursday, June 25, 2020

I invited my co-worker/fellow Spanish teacher over for a patio lunch and it was so much fun! She had said she hadn’t mastered cooking one of my favorite Spanish foods that I have mastered (after messing it up countless times, I assure you!) and I had promised to make it for her some time. So, I asked her to come for lunch recently and it was so much fun for me to plan and execute and it really wasn’t much work. I asked if she was comfortable with my cooking but said we would eat outside on my patio and socially distance.

The day before I went to Trader Joe’s. I could have gone anywhere, but I knew they had cheese and meats from Spain.

I bought Iberico cheese which is sooooo good! And, I bought the variety package of Spanish charcuterie/tapas meats. Also, I picked up one of their cute little 99 cent pouches of olives. I don’t like olives, personally.

This next thing is so simple and I make this in my classroom every August – it is called Pan Con Tomate or bread with tomato. I am very sad thinking I probably can’t do this when we go back. I am sure we will have lots of rules in place regarding sharing foods.

You take a baguette and slice it either way and brush some EVOO (from Spain, preferably!) and then you grate or rub tomato on the bread. I always had it in Spain topped with Serrano ham which is above and looks like prosciutto. I lived in Spain with a family when I was 17 and the 15 year old daughter taught me this. The reason I make it for my students every August is because of La Tomatina – the giant tomato food fight. Then, I introduce this snack.

The salads I had in Spain looked very basic but I loved them so much! They simply had lettuce leaves and tomato cut in slices and then you made your own dressing at the table. Every table in Spain has EVOO, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Please don’t go to Spain and ask for Ranch dressing – lol!

And, this is the dish that my co-worker hadn’t mastered – the tortilla or Spanish omelette with potato and onion served room temperature. A tortilla in Spain is an omelette and a tortilla in Mexico is a flat bread.

And, to drink I made tinto de verano which is red wine with lemon lime soda or my preference as you know – Fresca!

For dessert, I veered a bit from Spain and made Sopapilla Cheesecake bars. You use Crescent Roll dough, cream cheese, sugar and cinnamon and they are delish!

It was a lovely lunch if I do say so myself and it was fun to share food from Spain with someone else who appreciates it.

We sat on my patio and I spaced us pretty far apart. I knew she was comfortable with eating my cooking and I asked ahead of time.

Have you done any entertaining?

Amy

Wednesday, June 24, 2020

It is hard to wear earrings with my mask! But, on the rare occasions I go out and can wear earrings – I like to change up my earrings for the season. I gravitate toward white in the summer and I need earrings that work with my new red sandals, don’tcha know? Ha! I love that I am not alone in planning outfits around my shoes.

I took myself to Versona this week. It was my one outing of the day and I wore a mask. There were 3 employees and 2 shoppers besides me and it’s a huge store. I love how they have their earrings organized by color.

I came home with 4 pairs for $22 total.

I have these in burgundy and wear them quite a bit in the fall and winter. I like this style and love the lucite I think it is.

This next pair are gold hoops with little seed beads.

I have a multicolored pair like these below but since I love black and white outfits I thought these would be worn a lot. Again, it is the lucite material.

And, finally these were on the sale rack and I had been thinking about getting leopard. I think these will be worn more in the fall.

One pair was $7.99 and the rest were $4.99 or $2.99 each. You can’t beat that. I don’t want to be shopping much and I hate shopping in a mask, but the stores are having some great deals right now. I feel so bad for them!

What are your favorites types of earrings?

Where do you find your earrings?

Amy

Tuesday, June 23, 2020

O.k. guys, I have finally gotten up the courage to invite you in. Are you ready? I’m not sure I am. Why am I scared? There are spaces in my house that are not great. It’s hard to believe that we haven’t gotten around to fixing them yet, but life happens and I have been a happier person by being content and looking at the positives. We live well in this country. Our most modest homes are mansions by the standards of many other countries.

First a little history…we bought this house right before we got married. My husband had lived next door with his roommates for several years (one of the roommates owned it and the others rented rooms from him) and this house came on the market. Tom was friends with the family who lived here – a precious mom, dad, and cute little girl and boy who adored Tom. He didn’t want to move far because he loved the area of town, he loved the mature trees in the neighborhood, he loved the elementary school playground behind the houses for added green spaces and for dogs to run around. I lived alone in an apartment not far away. Everything came together and we were so lucky to start our married life in this home – it has been good to us for almost 20 years! We have done so much but we still have more to do. I will talk you through it as we tour. I will also try to explain future remodeling plans and what we have already accomplished. Bonus to this house – one of the best public high schools is a short walk away and Tom convinced me to apply right before we bought the house. I had been driving 30 minutes to another district. I got the job! The year 2000 was a big one for me as I got the house, the husband, and the job I still have today… I was a lucky gal. The other thing I want to mention is that it was a bit bigger than a starter home which I think was a good decision. It had room to grow so that is why we never moved – that, and the fact that we love this area.

Come on in…

We replaced the outdated door with this beautiful door and recently re-stained it. It needed it badly.

I don’t love how there is no transition area but we always come in the back anyway.

This is our family room. We will be changing the paint color soon and ripping up the carpet and replacing it with the same hard wood as in the new Master bedroom.

We used Agreeable Gray in the mudroom and Egret White in the Master bedroom. They are both a greige and I will most likely use Egret in the living room and hallways and Agreeable Gray in the kitchen and maybe dining room. They work well together and we bought a ton of paint so we have plenty. Rainwashed and Sea Salt are potential for Master bath.

This is our hallway off of the family room. I will be replacing the mis-matched rugs. It was a quick buy for Ernie and I just never changed it. Ernie doesn’t like hardwood floors which could be a problem as we will have even more hardwood. This paint color has been here the whole time. We will be changing this soon, too, but I have liked it. It is like a latte color tan? It is the only paint I didn’t change when we moved in. We are also replacing all of the wood floors here to match the Master bedroom flooring.

This is the hall bath. This will be demolished soon, I hope. The sink is messed up. It works but see how the basin is off of the pedestal. I didn’t even ask for an explanation from Tom because I was pretty sure I wouldn’t understand.

Jack’s bedroom door.

Mason’s bedroom door. We replaced the doors recently. The handles will be replaced to match the rest of the new handles soon. I can’t show you the insides because this isn’t their blog – ha!

This is our old bedroom. This will become the Master bath. The dark green looks so dated now but I really do like a dark bedroom for sleeping. The paintings on the wall were 25 cents at a garage sale 20 years ago and I paid to have them professionally framed.

This is the current Master bath which is a joke because it is the size of a shoebox. It will be demolished soon and this will be combined with the hall bath to make a bigger hall bath. I can’t wait. The virus set us back a bit. I am thankful our project was in a good transition state when it hit. This will be a solid wall and there will be a hallway leading to the Master bed and bath.

Tom’s new closet.

My new closet

New Master bedroom. We haven’t bought anything new yet. We moved into the room right when quarantine started.

Master bedroom doors

We want to put a bigger flatscreen on the wall and get rid of this piece of furniture I bought when I was 22. I added the little plant. This is the flooring we have already purchased for the rest of the house – J and M’s bedrooms, the hall, the living room, and the dining room. I cannot wait to rip up the carpet in the living room.

The dining room which is next to the living room. I am tired of this mustard yellow and this will match the new kitchen or living room or both with the aforementioned Egret White or Agreeable Gray. I can’t wait to see this room lightened up. So, the dining room will get new paint, new flooring like the Master bedroom, and a new light fixture. I loved the fixture 20 years ago, though! We love, love, love our table. It folds open to seat at least 8.

O.k., this is the room I have tried to hide. And, you know I love to cook and entertain. The kitchen will be the last part of the renovation. The footprint will be slightly larger as we have about two feet behind the current sink that will butt up against the new mudroom. We are thinking we will do white again with the new cabinetry that will go all the way up to the ceiling with no soffet, the slate tile floor from the mudroom, new countertops (not sure what material yet) and new peninsula that is raised higher. We are talking about a custom wood countertop for the peninsula.

As ugly as my kitchen is, the layout has been functional and I have always had nice appliances. The ugly table and floor have allowed me to let my kids and my nieces make messes without me worrying! So, there is the bright side to an ugly eyesore kitchen! I sound like a brat, but the paint is peeling and it looks so bad.

The hallway has this pantry that was already here.

The pantry door has our heights measured throughout the years. My nieces are on here. They came over one day each week in the summer and we always measured them, too, for some reason! The boys adored their older girl cousins. They are almost 21 and 19 and Jack and Mason are almost 18 so they were good ages to play together.

This is our staircase that leads to the basement. We put in a basement bathroom and did drywall where there had been paneling. We did new fireplace surround and built ins, new paint, and new carpet about 10 years ago. We plan to do something to this banister but we don’t know what yet.

Looking down to the basement

Looking up from the basement. That is the mudroom you see at the top, too.

This area is cluttered from distance learning. I need to work on that. I also need to work on the shelf stuff.

The bathroom we added. Jack uses this bathroom which is the nicest in the house. Tom uses the tiny one and Mason and I share the hall one. Not ideal, but it worked for us.

Our basement storage space has a sliding door. This is where my washer and dryer were until the mudroom was finished. I need to work on this clutter, too.

Also, there is a giant room that has a ping pong table, an L shaped desk, another desk, a futon, a giant bean bag and this is where the boys do homework, game, have friends over. I can’t show you right now because it is a mess that the boys need to deal with.

New mudroom off of the kitchen

And, that is it for the inside of our house.

When we bought the house it didn’t have a garage. Tom designed and built a lot of this himself but also had subcontractors help. The house also didn’t have a fence and Tom and some friends and family built our first fence which has now been replaced.

New addition on the back of the house where the Master and the mudroom are. We added on 560 square feet.

Patio off of the side of the garage

And, that’s it! I am so happy with what we have accomplished, but we still have some big projects ahead as you can see. Our boys are supposed to leave for college mid August and we have decided to not disrupt their summer by doing any work. But, also, the virus makes it maybe not a great time to proceed. I am so thankful we got to the point we did by mid-March, you guys. I am not great with having workers here making noise and messes. Of course, that may end up happening if we do distance learning from home again in the fall, but that will be o.k. and may even make it easier. In the meantime, hopefully we can make final design decisions and map out a plan for finishing this. But, in all honesty, is a house ever really finished? Ha!

Any advice is appreciated! Tom is very opinionated but I am open to ideas when it comes to construction.

Amy

Monday, June 22, 2020

Every time I type a Monday date I can’t believe how fast time is flying now. Some days it feels like typical summer and some days it feels nothing like typical summer. I am linking up today with Heather, Tanya, and many more so go here to check out some blogs!

Friday morning I did a Kroger pick up. I’ve decided to continue doing this for the time being. I may run in to Kroger once a week for a couple of forgotten things, but for the most part I like the Kroger app for grocery shopping and picking up my groceries. Now it is easy to get same day pick up if that is what you want. Back in the early days of the virus, you couldn’t get a pick up slot for at least 5 days.

Tom wasn’t able to take off Friday because he had some bids due. My friend called early afternoon and asked if we wanted to bring take out to their boat and ride around while they let their kids tube and ride alongside on the waverunner. We picked up McAllister’s for the boys to eat at home and for us to take and we spent a few hours on a gorgeous summer night on the river.

We almost never get donuts, but I decided to go out early Saturday morning and get Father’s Day donuts a day early. Tom likes glazed. I also got a few different varieties. I don’t think the Fruity Pebbles really work because the cereal gets soggy. But, it was a nice treat for everyone.

I read a lighter book after American Dirt – The Honey Don’t List by Christina Lauren. This was a fun book that reminded me of Chip and Joanna or any of the dynamic design couples on HGTV. I finished it quickly and I do recommend if you like this subject and need something fun. I made my signature iced coffee in a mason jar with a big straw. I drink about 1.5 cups of hot coffee in the morning and then mid morning I like an iced coffee. I like drinking it out of a mason jar.

I was kind of dragging my feet Saturday but around 1:30 Tom and I took our boat out for a few hours. We have not yet invited anyone out because it’s hard to social distance. Our friends’ boat is much bigger but we were still pretty close to the people on the boat.

Tom got all the way in when we anchored. The water was really cold and I wasn’t that hot so I just put my feet in.

I had put this in the crockpot before we left. It is so easy and so good – onions, frozen green beans, and cut up red potatoes with seasoning and chicken broth and water. But, this was for Sunday. Saturday night we ate leftovers with the boys and watched our new show we are watching as a family – Scrubs! I never watched it when it was on normal t.v.

Sunday morning Tom and the boys went to visit Tom’s parents – specifically his Dad for Father’s Day. I sent the above, BBQ, buns, and brownies for his parents. I stayed home to do some chores and errands and to let them have some father son bonding time.

I had to go to Costco for the first time – Tom went back in April. They have really added a lot of safety protocols. I wore my mask and I didn’t see a single person without one. Are people wearing masks in your neck of the woods? I don’t go many places, but I do think most are wearing them around here except to restaurants.

I came home and spent a bit of time watching bad t.v. and the rest of the time doing more cleaning and chores and then I read my next book with a Paloma cocktail. I didn’t plan for my cocktail to match my book!

The boys returned home around dinner time and we had some Father’s Day gifts for Tom and dinner together.

This week will be weird because Mason is going to his friend’s lake house for three days. Jack and I are going to shop for some clothes for him – for now and for college. We will probably do some of our shopping online and then go in to a few stores together. Dressing rooms are still closed but we will be o.k. as long as we can return them later. I took Mason to Target last week and we found 2 pairs of pants for him and 2 pairs for Jack that I just guessed he would like and I was right! They were on the clearance rack. Mason likes nicer looking pants – like khakis but in different colors so we found grey and rust. The Goodfellow and Co. brand is pretty nice. Jack likes joggers so I found him black and charcoal. Neither of my boys cares about brand names and never has. Their clothes come from Costco, Old Navy, Kohl’s, Target, Goodwill, and Tom’s rejects mainly. Tom and the boys wear the same shirt size now which is funny. Their pant size is really close, too. Mason will wear Tom’s old clothes from the 90s – because Tom never gets rid of anything!

How was your weekend? I hope it was good!

What’s on tap for you this week?

Amy

Friday, June 19, 2020

It’s Friday again! I am linking up with Andrea, etc. so go here to see more posts.

Here are a few things that made me happy this week…

My kitchen sink needed new soap so I picked this up this week during a quick run in to Kroger. The hand soap section is almost empty, you all! This smells amazing and I really like this brand.

I really like this light denim color polish. I’m doing my own nails once or twice a week. I hate that it doesn’t last long, but it’s o.k.

I saw a commercial for this so I ordered it in my Kroger pick up. This stuff is great! I love Dawn brand dishwashing soap anyway and it is my dish soap of choice. You spray this onto a messy pan and it starts to dissolve the mess.

The wonderfuly Amanda of That Inspired Chick let us know about this two pack deal for 8.99. One is waterproof. I love this mascara!

My library still hasn’t called me for my next curbside pick up so I ordered this and

this. I will let you know what I think. I’m still thinking about American Dirt but I need something a bit lighter now.

I wanted to let you know that I got an email from the Dr. Scholl’s website. The originals are not on sale, but there are some really cute sandals that are 50% off. Here are a couple of examples. These are slightly different than the originals.

These are like the originals but with a flatter heel made from a different material.

And, these are cute and apparently they are from the Urban Outfitters collection.

Anyway, check out the website if you are in the market for new sandals. I think Dr. Scholl’s is known for comfortable footwear!

You guys – I did it. I ordered the Saltwaters in red. I thought about cognac and I thought about mustard yellow, but I decided to go with my first instinct.

First thoughts after just wearing them around the house: I really like them. I normally always wear an 8 in sandals and 8 1/2 in closed toe shoes. These only come in whole sizes and I read to go up slightly. I chose the 9 and it’s perfect. Also, there are direction on the box for how to try them on, so you should follow those. These are fine to get wet and it even says that getting them wet will help them soften and mold to your foot. I will keep you posted but I think I am really going to like them!

Yesterday I visited a couple of little shops while wearing a mask. I hadn’t been to any of these since maybe December?

I went in Lotsa Pasta to get good mozzarella for homemade pizza.

It’s a cute little area and it was good to get out. Most of the stores have changed their hours and are opening later and closing earlier. I’m worried about our little locally owned shops.

Jack was happy this week because his theatre group got to meet in a park while staying 6 feet away and wearing masks. The leader wanted to be very strict about that for liability reasons, I presume. Jack said he was sad to not see people’s whole faces. I got teary eyed when he told me this. It’s not that hard for me, really, but I am sad for them.

Our weekend plans are still up in the air. Sunday is Father’s Day, of course, and I will be thinking about anyone who has a hard time with this day. Last year was my first year without my Dad to celebrate and it was hard. We will have a couple of small gifts for Tom and maybe we will make him some of his favorite foods. He just had his birthday and we have some house things to buy that will make him happy – like a new flat screen t.v.!

Hope you had a good week!

Amy

Thursday, June 18, 2020

Lemon is one of my favorite flavors of summer! Do you want the easiest dessert recipe? I don’t even know if it will count as a recipe, to be honest! My sweet Aunt Sally made this for us when we were visiting her Michigan house on the lake. Tom loves it!

You need:

a graham cracker crust

vanilla ice cream (about 1/4 gallon)

frozen container of lemonade (you will only use half)

Or, you could buy two crusts and make two pies?

Place the ice cream in a bowl and pour in half of the lemonade. Let it melt to the point that you can stir it into a soupy consistency.

Pour into the crust and re-freeze. I needed about 8 hours so it’s best to make this the day before you are planning to serve.

So good!

This was Tom’s birthday “cake” and he was really happy!

Thanks, Aunt Sally!

Amy

Wednesday, June 17, 2020

You all are my people! I loved reading your comments about my new red Dr. Scholl’s sandals yesterday! I am linking up today with The Style Six so go here for more fashion posts.

So, my outfits from the past week both involve the aforementioned red Dr. Scholl’s!

First, this is what I wore on Tom’s birthday last Saturday. Tom and Jack went to the guitar store while Mason and I went to World Market. We got Mexican take out and came back home. I have on my simple knit button down from Loft and my Target Universal Thread cut offs.

This is not a good angle. Mason is my photographer and we are trying to figure out lighting and locations. But, again I wore the simple Loft knit button down and my Loft knit pants. I fell in love with the print a couple of summers ago.

Before I ordered the sandals, I thought carefully about what I would wear them with. I had about 3 things in mind. But, when I went into my closet, I couldn’t actually believe all the things I could see them with.

I love this combo. It’s a sleeveless Loft top and a kimono from TJ Maxx. This is an easy combo to put on when I don’t have much time to plan.

I love my white knit skort (I think it looks like a skirt) from Kohl’s several years ago. I love to wear these navy tops with it – so nautical. The short sleeve is Target Universal Thread and the tie-dye is Kohl’s. Adding the red sandals I hope will be fun and not look too costumey.

I love my light denim skirt from Old Navy a couple of seasons ago. I could wear this plain white blouse from Old Navy this year or this knit embroidered blouse from Kohl’s several years ago. I am not a big fan of Kohl’s, but I do love both the navy tie dye above and the embroidered top below. They are both the Chaps brand. I find this brand to be of good quality.

I thought they would also look cute with my black and white gingham blouse – old from Loft. I love this fruit blouse from the brand Democracy that I found at Steinmart last year.

I love how one new item can help breathe new life into pieces that I already have in my closet. Do you find that to be true, too?

Also, shhhh – don’t tell anyone. I ordered the red Saltwater sandals yesterday. I read some mixed reviews so I will totally send them back if I think they are too flat or too little girly/young looking for me.

Also, will you judge me if I buy red clogs in the fall? This is kind of what I do, so I have to be careful. I go ALL IN. I love the style trick of copying something from one season into another with adjustments – for example, if your winter look is black pants, an olive sweater, and black booties you can switch to black shorts and an olive top and black sandals. Do you do that? I do! So, I could carry the red sandal look from summer into the fall with the red clogs. But, then I would also need red flats because I can’t wear clogs every day, you know? I could become known as that lady that wears only red shoes. I could also sport a red lip? Help! Stop me now!

What have you worn lately? I was happy to have two days that I got a little more dressed!

Thanks for reading!

Amy

“Let’s dance. Put on your red shoes and dance the blues.” – David Bowie

Tuesday, June 16, 2020

I haven’t done many fashion posts lately and I think we all know why! There has not been much fashion in my life! But, now I am starting to do a bit more; fashion has always been a hobby of mine.

So, today we are going to talk about red shoes! You didn’t expect that, did you?

For the past two years I have been grappling with a decision. Should I buy red flats? Rothy’s? Tieks? What about red clogs? How about red sandals?

Why was I so intrigued? I don’t know! I don’t even wear much red clothing, to be honest.

Dorothy’s red shoes were magical and could take her home.

Carrie Bradshaw’s BFF Stanford told her that only little girls and loose women wear red shoes.

While I was preparing this post I read that red shoes were historically a sign of an unruly woman! I like that!

So, where do you get outfit inspiration? It can be found anywhere. I find it in blogs, catalogs, magazines, movies and t.v., friends, strangers out and about. I wasn’t, however, expecting to find inspiration from a Facebook ad for the Peach Truck coming to a parking lot near me.

Look how cute!

You know I love a white blouse and we all have jeans or denim shorts or denim skirts, and then look at the pop of red. These look like Saltwater Sandals which have also intrigued me for a while. Anyone have them? Advice?

So I did a little more “research” and look how cute they look with this Mexican embroidered top.

And, the red clogs! I can see these looking great with an all black outfit.

And, again, just a simple pop of color adds a lot to this outfit, in my opinion.

After I finish each school year, I buy myself a little gift. So, this year I decided on the red sandal. I decided to go with the classic Dr. Scholl’s – yes, they still make them.

They are so comfortable to me. You can adjust the strap to how it best fits your foot. I have a long history of these. I begged for fake ones when I was little and got them. I also had custom painted ones in the early 2000s. It was a brief trend.

From the website: “From the moment its iconic exercise sandals hit the shelves in 1968, Dr. Scholl’s has been a brand synonymous with comfortable footwear and healthy feet.” So, apparently you get exercise while wearing these, too!

Get ready for some real life outfits with these! I actually can’t believe how much I have that works with these. Even though I don’t wear a great deal of the color red, I have a lot of pieces with a hint of red in them. I also have things that just work with this color.

Where do you stand on red shoes?

Is there another color of shoes that you like?

I need to know!

Amy

Monday, June 15, 2020

What a full weekend! How was yours? I am linking up today with Heather, Tanya, and many more so go here to see some weekend recaps!

Let’s go back to Thursday morning… my highlight appointment. My stylist came out to check my temp before I could go in. The processing part was not fun. I could smell it really bad under my mask at first but then I got used to it. Each station had a plexiglass partition and there were only a couple of other people. When I processed I had the room to myself for part of the time so I loosened my mask. Anyway, my hair looks much better!

The boys and I also did a book store trip that day. I picked these two and I am already finished with American Dirt. I could not put it down! Anyone else read it?

Thursday afternoon I had a friend come over for happy hour but I forgot to take any pictures. It was so nice to see her and it had probably been since January since we had gotten together in person.

The mornings have been cool like Michigan lately. I say that because I love summer Michigan weather. I wore a sweatshirt and brought a blanket each morning to the deck.

Friday Tom was off and we decided to go boating for a picnic lunch – just the two of us!

It was gorgeous and we had the river to ourselves almost!

That evening the boys wanted me to make homemade pizza again using the Skinny Biz recipe so I did and it turned out even better. I preheated the pizza stone and cranked the oven to 500. Next time I am going to do real mozzarella and a better sauce and we will be in business! Thanks again to my reader Kim for telling me about this!

So we left the boys with the pizza and went to the grand opening of these little temporary shops. They were too crowded so we just set our chairs out and listened to the singer.

It was really nice to be out in the nice weather and hear music!

Saturday was Tom’s birthday so I got him an Ale 8 slushie from the gas station (we are very fancy!), a bacon, egg, and cheese biscuit from McDonald’s, and a glazed donut from a local shop. One present was from me and one was from Mason. Jack told him his gift was going to the guitar shop to get a couple of things Tom needed.

This made Tom’s day and he is wearing my gift while eating his breakfast treats. If you need a Father’s Day gift this might be an idea. Tom is very picky about his clothing and he is obsessed with these Free Fly brand lightweight long sleeve tees with hood. His favorite store in town is Quest Outdoors and they carry the brand. You can also go on the Free Fly website and maybe have something in time for Sunday?

I made a delicious iced coffee late morning. I bought these milkshake straws that I found at Kroger and they make it a little nicer, too. It’s so funny that I don’t even think about buying coffee out any more. It just doesn’t even cross my mind.

The whole family got in the car to do the guitar shop excursion in the afternoon. Mason and I went to World Market next door while they did their guitar accessory shopping.

And, Tom picked Taco Luchador for his birthday lunch/dinner. I think we ordered around 4:00 and it wasn’t busy at all. We did wear masks while ordering and then went outside to wait. We thought about eating on the patio but decided to just take it home. Jack didn’t feel comfortable eating on the patio for some reason. This is the frozen sangria swirl margarita to go!

I got a vegetarian taco that was delicious and we ordered sweet potato fries along with many other things. This was my plate.

Then, after we ate we went to a small brewery for live music. The boys came, too. We only stayed for an hour but it was nice.

And, Tom is wearing his gift from Mason. Mason fell in love with this shirt with hermit crabs embroidered on it. We said this is Tom’s spirit animal.

Sunday morning I started my day on the covered patio reading in the rain. It is one of my favorite things to do and I’m sure you are tired of me talking about sitting out in the rain! My friend who came for happy hour brought me the best smelling lavender eucalyptus candle so I lit that. I was eager to read more of my American Dirt!

I finished it later in the day on Sunday. I know it will be made into a movie.

Sunday morning Tom got invited to go wake surfing and yes, he is wearing a wet suit because it was cool.

I made homemade bread to take to….

a little dinner for my niece Brooke who turned 19 yesterday and Tom who turned much more than 19 Saturday at my sister in law’s house here in town.
I got Brooke these cute little earrings and money.

We had charcuterie,

the most delicious salad with honey goat cheese, green apples, sunflower seeds,

and a pasta with sundried tomatoes, corn, pine nuts, artichokes, and parmesan and my bread.

The birthday girl and her dad.

My dog niece – Look at her eyelashes!

It was a nice little family dinner and a nice way to end a full weekend.

What about you? What was your highlight? We got out a little more this weekend. We were mostly outside and when we did go in we had masks on. There were so many cars out on the roads around here this weekend. Also, we drove by the mall and the parking lot was packed! I really hope that we don’t undo the good we accomplished. I don’t know if people are shopping for Father’s Day or they just want to get out so badly or a combo of the two? But, I was one of them. I still am not doing as much as I would normally do on a summer weekend, of course.

Hope you have a great Monday!

Amy