Beach Bag Essentials

I love the beach; it is really one of my favorite places to go in the summer.  There is something about the sun, the sound of the water lapping upon the shore and the wind rustling the leaves of a tree.  A palm tree is my favorite. None the less where ever I am I have the same essentials in my bag.  

I love my Land's End tote to carry everything.  Its sturdy and washes easily if necessary.  A monogram is a must.  Other essentials include a cover up, towel, a water bottle ( I have a camel back glass jar),  a wide brimmed hat or a baseball hat, sunglasses, sunscreen, goggles if you plan on doing any major swimming.  Also I love to read so I always have my paper white Kindle.  I use it in the hot Florida sun, and I can always see perfectly well.  This is also my place to relax so I try not to have my phone ringer on. I use it to take pictures if really necessary.  Otherwise if I need to check the time the Kindle has a built in clock.

Enjoy your summer beach time.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

3 Petites choses en juin

Well since summer vacation started I find myself spending time trying to do those things I haven't been able to do during the school year.  One of those is walking with some of my girlfriends.  While I always walk in the morning not many people like to get up at 5:20 to exercise in the dark.  However with the early sunrise I can usually find some willing friend at 6 am.  

Of course I've also been trying new recipes.  Sometimes my children are the inspiration and help behind the recipe sometimes not.  So recipes are good some are just okay.  This recipe for Southern Living's Humming Bird Cake was fantastic. My daughter wanted to make a 3 tired cake and it did not dissapoint.  Next time I might reduce the recipe to a single tired cake so the 3 of us who ate it are not eating cake for way too many days.

The second new little thing I did this summer is community yoga in the park.  I'm ashamed to say that for all of the years, 13 total, that  I've been practicing yoga I've never been to an outdoor community class.  It was great.  There were well over 100 people there, and it was so nice just to listen to the sounds of nature as I did my yoga.  This is something I will do again.

The last little thing is our new bird's nest.  Now usually we have a robin's or dove's nest in our trees, and I never tire of seeing the new little eggs.  However this year the dove decided to nest in one of my hanging baskets. It does make watering the baskets a little tricky since she rarely leaves.  

I hope you've been able to find little ways to enjoy your time.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Grad Party Bruch

 First of all I want to apologize for the misspelling of holes in this case.  

So this past weekend we celebrated our eldest daughters graduation from high school.  She is headed off to UW-Madison this year fall.  As we were deciding on the date and time for the party I came up with the idea for the brunch.  Breakfast is her favorite meal of the day so I thought what a wonderful way to honor her.  I did a lot of the catering from a local bakery for the croissants, cupcakes muffins and donuts.  A few days before we roasted a half of ham on our BGE.  The day before we sliced the ham very thin so our guest had the choice of a ham and cheese croissant sandwich.   I did try a new recipe for the breakfast casserole.  Everyone liked it and I made it the day before.  It worked out really well.  I also substituted mozzarella cheese for the swiss.  I was able to stagger bringing out 2 casseroles so they stayed warm over the course of the party.  

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

The Best of May

Well as it always does May got away from me.  We have all of our children's birthdays, soccer for 2, Lacrosse for the 3rd, mother's day, the end of the school year, graduation for my oldest and maybe a bit of time to relax.  This past week I tried a new Gelato truck, the Knotted Cone.  I chose the blueberry coconut, and it was delicious.  It's really nice to see an increase in the food truck community in Northeast Wisconsin.  

Memorial Day weekend was spent in Door County.  This is really one of my favorite places to relax.  I love hiking in the parks; we went to Peninsula State Park on Sunday.  However is spending time by the Bay.  To me there is nothing better than the sound of the water lapping on the shore.  I really could spend forever by a larger body of water.

What am I cooking? Of course May has some great treats for the kitchen.  I always love Vidalia Onion and asparagus season.  I like to bake my vidalia's with a bit of beef bullion individually wrapped in foil. Cut out a bit of the core for the bullion. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and bake for 1 hour.  Serve with a bit of butter and it's like French Onion Soup. 

What am I reading?  Jane Eyre and I recently finished Wuthering Heights, by the Bronte sisters.  Please pick up an old classic, they are really worth the read.  

As always enjoy what seasonal treasures each month has to give,

and as always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

A Spring Hygge

All over social media we are seeing posts for the Danish term Hygge. It means taking pleasure in the simple things.  This is really how I try to live my life.  Yes of course I enjoy the big events, nights out or a special purchase. However its really the little things that make life wonderful.  So today I took a personal day and enjoyed many simple little pleasures, a day of Hygge.  

I started with a yoga class, one of my favorite ways to start the day.  After my daughter and I went to breakfast a local coffee shop on the river.  I hand't been there for breakfast, but it was delightful and we were able to dine al fresco.  Really this is one of my favorite things in the warmer months.  I had a waffle sandwich with fried egg, bacon and melted cheese.  We also split a vanilla bean scone, because it looked so good and it was. It was just so nice to take my time eating, taking and enjoying nature.

After coming home and taking care of a few things we went for a walk, again with no rush, taking the dog with us.  It always makes her much happier and calmer.  For lunch we decided to make Salad Nicoise.  Again because time was not the enemy.  

The day ended with a ritual of painting my toes and relaxing and reading outside.  I encourage you, my reader, to enjoy some of life's simple pleasures be it with someone or alone.  Try to find something everyday brings you happiness in a simple way.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

Spring Stripes

Spring in Wisconsin can be a variety of weather.  I always joke that I know it's spring when I see shorts, jeans, sweatshirts, wool socks and various types of tees in my laundry basket.  The weather can be great one day and 40 degrees with rain the next.  It's because of the later days that we always have enough wood for fires in April, and yes possibly May.  However one of my favorite spring outfits is jeans, a cute t-shirt, a wonderful handbag and shoes without socks.  For this look I paired a  J-Crew Tee, with skinny jeans and my Toms.  I love my black and white Kate Spade bag too; it really goes with anything and my filigree earrings. I own very little costume jewelry.  I believe in high quality over quantity.  I find that I really like what I own, and it keeps at least putting my jewelry on simple.  I'm trying to bring that philosophy to the rest of my wardrobe and home, but like many things it's a work in progress.

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth 

April's Bests

If you've been wondering where I've been over the past few weeks we had computer troubles and I was unable to work on new posts or send pictures without major inconvenience.  However that gave me a lot of time to take pictures and to think of future blog posts.   Well some of the biggest news is that our oldest daughter decided on her college, UW-Madison!  I don't know who is more excited about the decision, me or her.  The cake, yes it has green frosting, but that was all that was available at 6 pm on a Thursday night.  She wanted to take one to a class of hers and there was no time to bake.  

Of course Easter started our month.  This is the first year that we didn't have our mass Easter candy clean-up in our living room.  Instead I decorated the dining room table with extra candy and Easter baskets.  My favorite candy from our local candy shop is coconut nests.  

 Of course spring has allowed me to enjoy some lovely walks with my family.  I decided to take a walk in a different area of town one day with one of my daughters.  This is the view next to the river along one of the trails that i didn't know existed until last year.  It's always a treat to find something new where you live.

Also this spring I tried fiddle head ferns for the first time.  A local farm had them for sale.  I treated them like asparagus -sautéd in butter with hens-in-the-woods mushrooms.   They had a slightly grassy taste and were a little crisp.  I liked them; definitely a spring treat. 

What I'm reading:  Wuthering Heights.  I haven't read this book since early high school.  It is really a well written book.  It truly is a pleasure to read a good piece of literature.  What prompted me to read this again?  Well I also finished the Gurnsey Literay and Potato Peel Pie Society and Wuthering Heights was mentioned a lot.  So I had to reread.  

What I'm watching: I'm still enjoying the Gilmore Girls, Great British Bake-Off and Escape to the Country. 

Enjoy the month to come,

As always with love from the Midwest,

Beth