Currently 7/20/2020: - Lots Of Good Stuff Happening Over Here!

It was a good week overall. Much better than the week prior when we were in an emotional hole after saying goodbye to our youngest daughter and two granddaughters. We had such a wonderful time with them, and memories were definitely made, which is what made saying 'goodbye' so very hard. Still, a week later and life is looking much brighter. I am so thankful that the sadness of their departure always passes.

What I Am Currently . . . 

Cooking  Some really great stuff came out of my kitchen this week, with this recipe, Zucchini and Pasta with Cilantro Pesto from Sunset taking the blue ribbon prize. It was delicious!!!

Seriously, why has cilantro and pepita pesto not been a 'thing' before now? I also added a can of white beans to 'up' the protein, and served it as our main course accordingly.

Other things I made that we really enjoyed were BBQ chicken, bacon and cheddar cheese quesadillas, and a chipotle pork tinga from America's Test Kitchen. ATK recipes are always behind paywalls, so apologies for being unable to share it here, but it was goood. I did halve the amount of pork, something I pretty much always do in that meat is a side dish for us primarily.

Reading  Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood by Rebecca Wells. Terrific writing, but initially I was unsure about the manner in which the author appeared to be approaching the way blacks were treated in households of the 'Old' south. However, the author eventually makes it clear that racism was very much an issue, and not subtle whatsoever, so I set my concerns aside and kept reading. It's been delightfully entertaining so far, about 1/3rd in, and I am much enjoying sitting outside reading it, glass of iced tea alongside.

Watching  We rented It's A Beautiful Day In The Neighborhood from RedBox over the weekend, and were both brought to tears. What a beautiful, tender little gem of a movie. No plot spoilers, other than to say that Tom Hanks was outstanding, but the Lloyd character actor was exactly the same as the Kevin character he played in the TV series Brothers & Sisters, so I wished someone with broader acting chops had been cast in that part. Like Mark Ruffalo!

Buying  Lots! I've been on quite the buying spree, but all of it deliberate. 

• I bought three fabulous coastal abstracts for our family room, corresponding back and forth with the artist via email to get the color and size just right, and I look forward to sharing photos once they arrive and are hung. 
• We bought a made-to-order accent chair for our bedroom, to replace the slightly-to-bulky chair that is in there currently, and that I received for free some years ago from a neighbor preparing to donate it away. The proportions of the new chair are perfect, and it's very, very comfortable, so another spot in the house to read or watch TV once it arrives. If we're in this COVID thing for the long haul, we might as well get comfortable here at home!
• I found some cute lightweight summer dresses at Steinmart,  came home and went online to their website and ordered every version I could find in my size. So, 🤭, it's possible that 10 new dresses are on their way here via mail. HOWEVER (!!!), they were not expensive at @ $20 each, plus I combed through my closet and pulled out 10 dresses to donate, thus offsetingthe new items. Sigh, I really do love clothes, but I consistently work to follow the one-in, one-out rule in order to keep my closets fresh and tidy. 

Here's one of the dresses on their way to me this week. 
They are cuter and more comfortable than shorts, and I'll be wearing them daily.
(And in spite of above photo, they all come to my knees. That model is likely 6 ft tall, which I am not!)

Planning  In that it's very unlikely we'll be doing any significant traveling for the next one to two years, we've decided to move ahead with redoing all of our bathrooms, the last remodeling project remaining in our home. I'm thinking white, gray, and clean lines in all. After a full 18 months of having no contractors around the house, I think we're finally ready to get back to it and finish things off.

Looking Forward To  Four days of RV'ing in Newport Beach. A whopping 14 miles up the coast from where we live, but it will feel like a change of scenery regardless. Plus lots of kayaking awaits in that the RV is directly adjacent to Newport Beach harbor, which has an estuary at one end, and a fun filled harbor of boats and homes at the other.

How about you? What's happening currently where you are?