Five on Friday - March 14, 2025

Happy Friday! We have had the best weather week around here. It's been great to have a taste of spring and to be able to spend time outside! Today, that's coming to a crashing halt because they are predicting bad thunderstorms. Before I batten down the hatches, let me share my five for today ~

1. Pi Day

Today is Pi Day! Not P-I-E, but P-I. You know, the 3.14 kind of pi. Celebrating by having pizza pie for dinner, topped off with a fruit or cream pie for dessert. And don't forget about the Pi Day deals! Papa John's is offering a second pizza for only $3.14 when you purchase a large or extra-large pie (must of a Papa Rewards member). Marco Pizza is offering a medium-size pizza for only $3.14. Good luck enjoying your version of Pi Day!

2.  The Strawberry Patch Pancake House

The fourth book in Laurie Gilmore's Dream Harbor series is out!  Don't let this innocent book cover fool you - these books have a bit of spice to them.  Here's the summary of book four ~

Every book in the Dream Harbor series can be read as a standalone.

As a world-renowned chef, single dad Archer never planned on moving to a small town, let alone running a pancake restaurant. But Dream Harbor needs a new chef, and Archer needs a community to help raise his daughter, Olive.

Iris has never managed to hold down a job for more than a few months. So when it’s suggested that Archer is looking for a live-in nanny, she almost runs in the opposite direction.

Now, Iris finds herself in a whole new world. One where her gorgeous new boss lives right across the hall and likes to cook topless… Keeping everything strictly professional should be easy, right?

The Strawberry Patch Pancake House is a cozy romantic mystery with a single dad and found family dynamic, a small-town setting and a HEA guaranteed!

Available HERE

3.  Translator Earbuds

Traveling for business or vacation but don’t speak the local language? These translator earbuds have you covered! With support for 144 languages online and 16 offline, communication is effortless. Use them for private conversations or switch to speaker mode for group discussions. No app or phone needed—this standalone device works right out of the box. Just turn it on and start translating instantly!

Available HERE

4.  Capri Sun 

Capri Sun is launching something kids will absolutely love! Keep an eye out for their new glow-in-the-dark pouches, featuring the exciting galactic flavor—Moon Punch! Wondering what it tastes like? It’s a cosmic blend of cherry-flavored juice. Plus, Moon Punch will come in eight unique pouch designs, each showcasing a different phase of the moon. How cool is that?!

5.  Thought of the Day...

Have a wonderful weekend! I’m excited that the Lenten season is here—it’s the perfect excuse to enjoy a fish fry tonight. Tomorrow, we’re celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with friends over corned beef and cabbage. On Sunday, I’ll be transforming my craft room into a home office. Can’t wait to see you back next week!

2025 St. Patrick's Day Decorations

Hello and welcome! Thanks for dropping by Thinking Out Loud Thursday, where I share what’s on my mind and invite you to join in and do the same. Today, I’m taking a moment to reflect on the St. Patrick’s Day decorations we’ve put up around our home this year!

Keeping with tradition, our kitchen window proudly displays our three-tier tray, serving as the centerpiece of our festive decor. The entire window is adorned with cheerful leprechauns and vibrant shamrocks, bringing a touch of St. Patrick’s Day magic to our home!

Every year I add a few more little leprechauns from Hobby Lobby.  They are so darn cute!

A few years ago, I found a couple of vintage St. Patrick's Day signs at Hobby Lobby, and they've been a charming addition to our holiday décor ever since!

In our guest bathroom, there’s a frame on the sink where I swap out the picture for each holiday. It’s a simple yet fun way to reflect the season and keep our décor festive!

This year, I made sure to give our mantel a festive St. Patrick’s Day makeover. The fabric garland, which I crafted years ago, remains a favorite—it still looks just as vibrant and charming as it did the first year we hung it!

The coffee table even has a little token of St. Patrick's Day decoration!

To wrap up, displaying St. Patrick's Day decorations is a fun and festive way to celebrate Irish culture and bring a touch of luck and cheer to any space. Whether you go all out with shamrocks and leprechauns or keep it simple with green accents, your decorations are sure to spread the spirit of the holiday. So embrace the magic of the season, enjoy the festivities, and may the luck of the Irish be with you!

Now it's your turn - what are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share!

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - March 12, 2025

Welcome to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you stopped by.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature! 

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | X
4. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | X | YOUTUBE
5. Denise – THIS IS MY EVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | X | YOUTUBE

HIGHLIGHT LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

Best Hawaiian Roll Italian Sliders With Buttery Topping

Strawberry Mousse

Irish Soda Bread

Wood Box with Blass Bottles Decorative Centerpiece

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries 

will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party! 

Five on Friday - March 7, 2025

 Hello!  I'm undigging from being away for a girls' trip, and this week has been busy.  But it was so, so worth it!  I can't wait to share my trip details with you.  But for today, let's dig into my Five on Friday ~

1.  Super Italian Cookbook

One of my favorite chefs, Giada De Laurentiis, has a brand new cookbook out this week!  It promises more than 110 indulgent recipes using Italy's healthiest foods.  Yes please!  It's going on my wish list for Mother's Day (if I can wait that long to get it).  Here's the summary ~

From the day Giada De Laurentiis started cooking professionally, her fundamental formula for making meals memorable has not changed: Good Cooking = Technique + Ingredients + Ambience. This same formula is the key to good health when you choose ingredients that promote wellness, cook them simply, and eat them joyfully. In her skillful hands, a pantry of Italian superfoods is the starting point to better health and longevity.

Super-Italian helps you stock your shelves with healthy Italian superfoods and create meals that are nutritionally dense, supportive of health, and still downright craveable. The superfoods featured and incorporated into every recipe are:

Olives + olive oil: Umbrian Chicken Stew with Green Olives, Kale Salsa Verde, and Grilled Swordfish with Olive Bagna Cauda
Beans + Legumes: Artichoke Dip with White Beans, Crunchy Roasted Butter Beans, and Creamy Cannellini Beans
Cruciferous vegetables: Winter Beans and Greens Soup, Orecchiette with Almond Pesto and Broccoli Rabe, and Green Gazpacho
Small fish: Caesar Aioli, Pasta Assassina, and Anchovy Pasta with Walnuts
Vinegar: Balsamic Chocolate Truffles, Grilled Endive Salad with Citrus and Pancetta, and Filet Mignon with Gorgonzola and Balsamic
Tomatoes: Sicilian Pesto, Tomatoes Gratinata, and Calabrian Pomodoro

By using carbs and fats mindfully and amplifying vegetables, lean proteins, and flavor-boosting superfoods at every meal, Giada shows how easy it is to eat like an Italian. With 100 stunning photographs of finished meals and their superfood components, Giada teaches us that when you start with truly excellent, minimally processed ingredients, simply prepared, you can have your pasta and eat it too!

Available HERE

2.  The Americas

Have you had a chance to watch The Americas on Peacock?  Eric and I are really enjoying it!  The Americas is a 10-part nature documentary series narrated by Tom Hanks.  It explores the diverse ecosystems and wildlife across North and South America.  The cinematography is amazing!  The show premiered on February 23 and airs on Sunday nights.  It's a show for the whole family.

3.  Desk Fan

On my trip last week, I packed my portable desk fan.  I'm so used to sleeping with a fan at night and I didn't know if there would be a fan at our condo.  This little gem did the trick!  It's so funny, I hadn't really thought about using it anywhere except on my desk before.  Now I see the possibilities are endless!  With the plug being a USB port, I can use it in the car or outside with my computer.  It's definitely going to be traveling with me more!

Available HERE

4.  Road Trip Games

With spring break and summer coming up, many of you may be hitting the roads with the kiddos in tow.  What are you going to do with those hours in the car?  Prepare yourself with these road trip games!  The games will help build memories and have fun, instead of just remembering the long and boring trip in the car.  

Available HERE

5.  Haven't we all been there...

Have a great weekend!  We have several fun things happening - lunch with a friend, celebrating our son's birthday, our small group gathering from church, and dinner with friends.  Lots to look forward to!  And don't forget to set your clocks forward this weekend.  See you next week.

What I Read in February 2025

Hello and welcome to Thinking Out Loud Thursday!  Since today is the first Thursday of the month, it's my habit to share the books I read the previous month.  Here's what I read in February ~

The Three Lives of Cate Kay by Kate Fagan

I first came across this book in one of the Facebook book groups I follow, where it was highly rated. While I can’t say I absolutely loved it, it was definitely intriguing enough to keep me reading until the very end. There was a lot happening throughout the story, with multiple layers and complexities that kept me engaged. I think it would make for a great book club pick, as there’s plenty to discuss and different perspectives to consider. Here's the summary ~

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo meets First Lie Wins in this electric, voice-driven debut novel about an elusive bestselling author who decides to finally confess her true identity after years of hiding from her past.

Cate Kay knows how to craft a story. As the creator of a bestselling book trilogy that struck box office gold as a film series, she’s one of the most successful authors of her generation. The thing is, Cate Kay doesn’t really exist. She’s never attended author events or granted any interviews. Her real identity had been a closely guarded secret, until now.

As a young adult, she and her best friend Amanda dreamed of escaping their difficult homes and moving to California to become movie stars. But the day before their grand adventure, a tragedy shattered their dreams and Cate has been on the run ever since, taking on different names and charting a new future. But after a shocking revelation, Cate understands that returning home is the only way she’ll be a whole person again.

Available HERE

Honor by Thrity Umrigar

Last month, our library book club read Honor. The overall theme of the book is quite heavy and emotionally intense, making it a more somber read. Like The Three Lives of Cate Kay, this was also a Reese’s Book Club selection. Interestingly, our book club had mixed feelings about it—some members absolutely loved it, while others found it just okay. It sparked a lot of discussion, especially given its deep and thought-provoking subject matter. Here's the summary ~

In this riveting and immersive novel, bestselling author Thrity Umrigar tells the story of two couples and the sometimes dangerous and heartbreaking challenges of love across a cultural divide.

Indian American journalist Smita has returned to India to cover a story, but reluctantly: long ago she and her family left the country with no intention of ever coming back. As she follows the case of Meena—a Hindu woman attacked by members of her own village and her own family for marrying a Muslim man—Smita comes face to face with a society where tradition carries more weight than one’s own heart, and a story that threatens to unearth the painful secrets of Smita’s own past. While Meena’s fate hangs in the balance, Smita tries in every way she can to right the scales. She also finds herself increasingly drawn to Mohan, an Indian man she meets while on assignment. But the dual love stories of Honor are as different as the cultures of Meena and Smita themselves: Smita realizes she has the freedom to enter into a casual affair, knowing she can decide later how much it means to her.

In this tender and evocative novel about love, hope, familial devotion, betrayal, and sacrifice, Thrity Umrigar shows us two courageous women trying to navigate how to be true to their homelands and themselves at the same time.

Available HERE

A Wish for Winter by Voila Shipman

This book was such a delightful and lighthearted read, and I thoroughly enjoyed every moment of it. While it has a Christmas theme, it doesn’t overwhelm the story, making it a great pick for the holiday season or any time of the year. The characters were engaging, the storyline was charming, and it had just the right mix of humor and heartwarming moments. It’s the kind of book that brings a smile to your face and leaves you feeling cozy and uplifted. Here's the summary ~

Despite losing her parents in a tragic accident just before her fourteenth Christmas, Susan Norcross has had it better than most, with loving grandparents to raise her and a gang of quirky, devoted friends to support her. Now a successful bookstore owner in a tight-knit Michigan lakeside community, Susan is facing down forty—the same age as her mother when she died—and she can’t help but see everything she hasn’t achieved, including finding a love match of her own. To add to the pressure, everyone in her small town believes it’s Susan’s destiny to meet and marry a man dressed as Santa, just like her mother and grandmother before her. So it seems cosmically unfair that the man she makes an instant connection with at an annual Santa Run is lost in the crowd before she can get his name.

What follows is Susan and her friends’ hilarious and heartwarming search for the mystery Santa—covering twelve months of social media snafus, authors behaving badly and dating fails—as well as a poignant look at family, friendship and what defines a well-lived and well-loved life.

Available HERE

Don't forget to pick your Kindle First Reads if you're an Amazon member.  There's a free bonus short story by Abby Jimenez.

Now it's your turn.  What are you thinking out loud about today?  Link up and share ~

Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop - March 5, 2025

 

Welcome to the Wonderful Wednesday Blog Hop!  We are so glad that you stopped by.

Here you will find inspiration from dozens of bloggers including recipes, home DIY, gardening, decor, family fun, traveling, fitness, and so much more.

A friendly reminder to our guests that as a courtesy to the hosts, we ask that you follow every host on at least one social media channel.

If you are a blogger, then be sure to link up below. You may be our next feature! 

Before we get this party started, let’s meet the hosts and check out this week’s featured favorites.

MEET THE HOSTS

1. Bev – ECLECTIC RED BARN | FB | IG | PINTEREST
2. Penny – PENNY’S PASSION | FB | IG | PINTEREST
3. Sinea – DUCKS ‘N A ROW | FB | IG | PINTEREST | X
4. Tammy – MY LIFE ABUNDANT | FB | IG | PINTEREST | X | YOUTUBE
5. Denise – THIS IS MY EVERYBODY | FB | IG | PINTEREST | X | YOUTUBE

HIGHLIGHT LINKS FROM LAST WEEK

Baileys Cheesecake

McDonald’s Shamrock Shake – Copycat Recipe

St. Patrick's Day Tabletop in the Garden Room

LET’S GET THIS PARTY STARTED!

Please follow all hosts on AT LEAST 1 of their social channels.

Add as many family-friendly posts as you would like to. NO Etsy shops, adult sites, or blog parties please.  Visit others. Caring is sharing. Like, comment, and pin posts.

Party entries appear in REVERSE. This way your entries 

will be seen no matter when you arrive. Please TWEET our party and invite others to join.

Let’s Party!