Book Review

spring fling & summer love ~ a scenes post

Wow! We have been so darn busy! All good stuff, so I’m not complaining, but it always surprises me how much busier the warm months are around here. My daughter, Grace, graduated from high school this month, we celebrated Mother’s Day, my birthday, and Father’s Day, I attended my grand girls’ school picnics, and we…

celebrations ~ a scenes post

Over the last few months I’ve gone through a sort of renewal in my personal life that’s hard to explain. Like I’m waking up. Without getting to philosophical (and weird) I guess I’ll just say that it all started when I gave up meat. I swear I won’t get “preachy” about how much this has…

a scenes post

    Summer is unfurling here in the Mississippi River Valley. We’ve had lots of rain with bursts of sultry, hot, sunny days in between which is causing all of the greenery to grow like a jungle. Lush, and thick, and so green. I don’t love the humidity, but I do love how gorgeously green…

scenes from lake superior 2016 ~ part 2

On our way up to Grand Marais, on day three of our up north adventure, we stopped at Palisade Head in Tettegouche state park. It’s beautiful up there with sweeping views of Lake Superior and it’s wild, windswept, rocky landscape. The size of the lake always takes me by surprise, and I’ve been traveling to…

scenes from summer

Can you believe we’re already in the throes of August and talking about the kids going back to school? The summers always seem to scurry by in a flash, and I just go with the flow. Adding stuff on top of stuff to our calendar until it looks like a complicated math problem. We say…

carrot cake zucchini bars + lemon buttermilk icing

Ahhhhh, it’s finally Friday. My favorite day of the week. I’m headed up to the library to return some books and take out more. I’ve been reading like books are going out of style this summer! One after the other. I’ve stopped a couple mid book. Just couldn’t get into them for whatever reason. There…

homemade candy bars

This recipe is loosely adapted from Gwyneth Paltrow’s recipe for healthy candy bars that I discovered in her awesome book, It’s All Good. Her original recipe calls for 1/2 cup shredded coconut in addition to the rest of the ingredients, and I opted to omit it. She adds coconut oil to the chocolate topping, and…

water wishes ~ a scenes post

I am such a lucky girl. The above photos are all taken from my birthday week. I had so much fun celebrating with my family, and in the upcoming weeks I’ll be celebrating with several of my friends. Lots of fun stuff on the docket, and more photos and bloggy posts to come… I called…

beneath the blossoms ~ a scenes post

Mother’s Day started with mimosas and brunch at The St. Jame’s Hotel with my sweet Andie and Grace. We sat on the quaint patio at the Veranda and enjoyed sticky caramel rolls, eggs Benedict, and hash browns. With the sun shining brightly overhead, a view of the river, good conversation, and birds singing in the…

spring gallery ~ a scenes post

Jeff, the girlies and I took a stroll downtown to have dinner at a local pub on Friday night ~ PB&J chicken wings, chicken & Swiss sandwiches on Asiago bread, sweet potato fries, cheeseburgers, deep fried pickles, and Cape Cods. I spent the day with a dear friend last week, we opted to get out…