Happy Friday, friends! I hope you've had a great week! My week was excellent; the first week I was off, I was getting used to being off work and catching up on things. This was the week that I fully embraced my days off. I was out every single day doing lunch, meeting friends by the pool, and shopping. I won't do that every week that I'm off, but this week it felt amazing. It's been a busy one for me, but here are some of the things and moments that stuck out to me.
I introduced Chris to one of my favorite places last weekend: Taziki's! Their hummus and oven baked pita chips are my favorite. I could just about eat this hummus with a spoon! That olive you see in the picture was scrumptious!
Going to the pool with Marilyn on Monday was my favorite! She has the best pool where she lives; those chairs in the water are amazing. The water felt amazing, which I was surprised by, since it hasn't been that hot for too many days in a row. How cute was our little friend we were sharing the pool with?
Bread making day is complicated, but it always ends up being a favorite when it's all over and done with. I say bread baking "day" like it's just a day, but it's not. It takes the better part of a day and a half! The day you pull the starter out to discard and start the rising process is not the day that you bake; you won't do that for at least twenty four hours more at that point. My bread didn't want to rise this time, so I didn't actually bake it until the late afternoon of day two. Isn't she pretty, though? The heart is my signature design; I don't have tools for this, I just use the tip end of a very sharp knife and free hand it before closing the lid of the Dutch oven and baking. I've tried a fleur de Lis and a flower; neither turned out well. For me, a heart is the easiest, and it's kind of my thing.
Dinners this week have been a favorite! Monday night was Mandarin orange chicken and chicken fried rice from Trader Joe's; Tuesday night was hamburgers (not pictured), and Wednesday night was steak, fresh squash and zucchini, and sourdough bread.
I loved this image that I saw on Instagram this week! It's all true, right? As I went four days without washing my hair, I'm grinning. I was going to wash it Wednesday night, but I skipped it since I knew I'd be at the pool on Thursday.
I had a fun day out Wednesday! I'm hosting Bunco next week, so that means that I get to shop for the gifts and provide the food for our next get together. I don't love shopping for these gifts, though...it's harder than it sounds. My friend Teresa loves to shop, so I asked her if we could go and do that together before I hosted in June. Wednesday was that day! I picked her up and we got started immediately. We went to Ross, then Marshall's, then John Mark's (I didn't buy anything there), then to lunch at a new to me place called Rio Lobo (which is in the building where another restaurant was that I went to for my senior prom), then ended the day at a cute little place called The Truffled Pig.
It was such a fun day, and we got some great gifts! I would love to win any of them, honestly, which is how I like to go about shopping. We got some great things at Marshall's! I also have the menu planned for that night: rotisserie chickens with dipping sauce, chips and guacamole, a summer salad of some sort, sourdough bread, fruit, and key lime pie (with cool whip) for dessert.
On a side note, the margaritas we had were delicious! I got a regular; hers was a mango one. The food was just mediocre and the service wasn't very desirable. Twice this week I've been out and had wait staff that weren't friendly. What in the world? I sound like I'm full of complaints today...I'm not usually like this, but with everything being so expensive, you would think that people would be friendly in restaurants. Am I being unreasonable?
This song is a current favorite; have you listened? It's Younger You by Miley Cyrus. I don't typically listen to her music, but my sons watched Hannah Montana when they were young, and I was a huge fan of the show and of her for a long time. She went a little haywire as she got older, though, so I haven't listened in a long time. This song is a tribute to her younger days and to the show as it was the twentieth anniversary of when it first aired. That doesn't even seem possible, but I guess it's true! Anyway...this is a great song and I love what the lyrics say.
This was another favorite from Instagram this week. I love what this says about who God is!
Having a second pool day yesterday was a favorite! My friend Wendy came over while I floated and we caught up on all of life. I haven't spent time with her in ages, and it'd even been months since we'd spoken. She is a friend I met through choir; I've traveled with her, and she and I went to see Peter Pan together at the Orpheum in December of 2024. It was so good to see her!
Lastly, reading has been a favorite this week! I finally finished this book; it was so, so good. I will be thinking about some things I highlighted for a long time to come!
What was a favorite for you this week? I'd love to hear from you! Thanks for reading my blog today, friends. Love to all!
Jenn
I am so glad you had such a fun and amazing week during your week off. Happy Summer! Your pool time looks and sounds luxurious!
ReplyDeleteThank you! It was such a great week. Happy Summer to us both! I know it's almost that time for you, with your girls wrapping up school. Have a great weekend, my friend!
DeleteJust went through all your posts from this week – looks like it was a good one! Amy is influencing me to head over to Old Navy also…just have not done it. I did go to Marshalls yesterday and found one thing that I really want to get but don’t “need“. For me, Marshalls and TJ Maxx are always hit or miss. I’m glad it was a “hit“ for you! Glad you’ve had this time to embrace the beginning of summer and completely understand that now that you have a schedule and routine it’s good to get back to it. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteHaha! I saw this! Go Jenni!
DeleteYou should check it out! They have really great stuff right now. I am the same with TJ Maxx and Marshalls, especially with their clothes. I always find good home stuff, though! Those are the gifts I was buying for Bunco; it's nothing anyone needs, but it's fun to have things that are useful and cute. One thing I picked out was a wooden box for a coffee table; it would be perfect to hide remotes inside if you're like me and have dogs in the house who like to eat them! Ha!
DeleteYou've had such a good week! I feel the first week off is just getting your bearings and getting caught up and this was your mostly fun week! I am going to send you a salad recipe that I think the ladies would go ga ga for.
ReplyDeleteIt has been a great week, filled with so many fun moments of being social! You are so right; between the weather and just getting caught up on rest and house stuff, that first week was relaxing. I'm glad for this more fun second week! I still have a few days to enjoy before work starts again on the 15th, but I'll be ready for that when it gets here. Thanks for that recipe! I think I might do that one!
DeleteYay for a good week off work! That restaurant does look cute. Bummer the service and food didn't match the cuteness.
ReplyDeleteIt's so cute! I'd be willing to give it another try and order something different. It might have been that I ordered wrong.
DeleteWhat a fantastic first week of summer break for you. It sounds like you have had all the good things. How cool that Marilyn has a great pool and making the bread sounds like a long and complicated process. The end result does look amazing though.
ReplyDeleteMy girls used to love Miley Cyrus in her Hannah Montana days and have been listening to her more since the big anniversary of the show.
The restaurant staff may not have been friendly because in spite of working long hours, they can't afford rent, food, gas...they're probably tired and discouraged.
ReplyDeleteTo anonymous- Jenn mentioned the wait staff specifically as not being very friendly. Every wait staff person whom I know (my kids' friends mostly) tell stories of making very good money waiting tables. My son waited tables recently at a not very high end place and he averaged $30 an hour after tipping out the bartender and food runners. You're not going to get rich on $30 an hour but should be able to afford rent, food, etc. My family's income in the household that I grew up placed us firmly in the poverty level. Yes, being poor was stressful for them but they treated people courteously and respectfully- and they didn't have jobs where they were tipped for good service/being kind etc.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, Jenn- it sounds like a good week and I know exactly what you mean about the break. It was my second week, too. Last week was dominated by helping Jacob move. This week felt normal and good! So glad you and Marilyn got together- that pool looks so nice! Can I come over for Bunco? Lol kidding since I'm a couple of states away :).
I think you can find the BEST little gifts at TJ Maxx and Marshall's! All that pool time looks wonderful. I haven't been to ours yet because we're still very rainy here.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a wonderful week. Yay for 2 pool days in just one week!
ReplyDeleteI loved reading about your fun week, it sounds so lovely and warm over there. It’s freezing over here at the moment!
ReplyDeleteI LOVE that song! Madison and I used to watch Hannah Montana religiously when she was younger. We watched the anniversary celebration and when Miley sang this, we both started crying!
ReplyDeleteWhat a fabulous week. This will be my first official week of summer, and I'm giving myself permission to sleep in, get caught up on rest, watch TV, go to the pool, etc...my productivity and can start next week! Your pool days look amazing! I love Tzakis too, but we don't seem to go there often.
ReplyDelete