10 truths

Hello,

I have some truths for you today! I know, I know...you can't wait, right?!? Lets dig in...

1. You never grow out of hypochondria.  I still worry like a maniac after all the years.  Last week I had tests done that show a teeny tiny ovarian cyst that apparently is nothing to worry about.  Easier said than done! I need to write a will and up my life insurance...

2.  I'm in a weird place.  My whole life I have always fit in, everywhere.  Now I find myself in a place where I feel like I don't fit in anywhere.  I'm in my early 30's with no biological kids (By choice, we want to live a little bit, travel, grow up some more before popping out those babies!) BUT we have a teenager at the house most of the time. So I'm not in the young mom club nor the teenager mom club, I'm too old or too young.  I have nothing in common with most of the people around me.  Plus I'm a school counselor in an elementary school which is awesome but = lonely without a true team.  Thank The Lord for my husband and stepdaughter, and the cat, because without them I would just be talking to myself all the time!

3.  Jesus loves me dearly, even though I don't deserve it and even though I sit around pitying myself:)

4. Having a sense of humor is so important in life, it gives me the ability to laugh at myself when I pity myself;)

5.  People who love you make time for you, and vice versa.  

6.  Loyalty and consideration for others are seriously important to me in my old age.  I can be silly about a lot, but I am serious about those things.  

7. Summer is almost here and I can't wait.  I have all these plans and to do lists and I will only get a few  of them done, but it will be lovely and relaxing.  I do love working in a school!

8. Only 43 days left until we are in Disney again!

9. I'm a terrible blogger, but I still love doing it.

10. I want to go read now...

NIGHT!

I want to be a part of it, NY NY!

This past weekend we visited my family in South Orange, NJ.  My uncle, aunt and two cousins live there and they live a convenient distance from NYC.  It's about a 30 minute train ride.  We went into the city on Saturday and had a great time.  It was chilly!  Whew!  We saw 911 memorial and the building of the new Freedom Tower, it was crazy to see a building going up over the skyline of the buildings downtown again.  Surreal.

Here are some pics of our trip:

Here is the Freedom Tower, going up as the new WTC - it's going to be awesome!

Here are Dave & Ashley in front of one of the two memorial (North and South) pools of the 911 Memorial.

Here we are at S'MAC in the village.  This place was awesome!  It's a Mac & Cheese bar and they serve the M&C in little cast iron skillets, all different flavors!  We loved it so much I actually re-created a batch at home...read on for that recipe - YUM!

Dave got an Italian flavor one with basil, tomato and Italian cheeses.  Ashley got the American one, just cheddar and American cheeses with bread crumbs.  I got the buffalo chicken one, yummy but SO spicy!!  It's a small store front, and crowded, but worth the fight to get a table, trust me.

I can't seem to stay away from Disney, here I am in the princess portion of Disney Store Times Square.

Dave & I posing in busy Time Square!  My hat is way too big for my head, but hey, it kept me warm and it's really cute;)

Me at 30 Rock!

This is a pic of Rue57, my family's FAVE restaurant in NYC.  So yummy, soooo expensive, and so worth it!  It's the quintessential NYC restaurant with the ambiance and decor and food...and prices;)  If you go, get the Steak au Poivre or the Filet or the sushi or anything - its all delicious!

A moment for a smooch on the town;)

Here is a pic of my Mac & Cheese from S'Mac.  I was determined to make M&C this way...so here we go..

This version is a copy of their Alpine M&C which is Gruyere cheese and bacon. For their other flavors, check out their website & menu here

Alpine Mac & Cheese:

1 pound of elbows mac
16 oz of Gruyere cheese (I use applewood smoked, yummy!)
8-10 slices of bacon
4 tablespoons of butter
4 tablespoons of flour
2-3 cups of milk
bread crumbs (I used Panko for more crunch)
parm cheese

Ok, directions:

Cook your elbows according the package:

Cook your bacon in your cast iron skillet.  After you are done, keep the skillet with the bacon juices.  Drain it so that there is just a thin layer of the juice leftover, enough to coat the bottom.  Bacon juice = everything is more yummy;)

Chop your bacon up.  Shred your cheese.  I actually didnt have enough cheese, I just used 8 oz.  It was still good but the M&C didnt come out as creamy as it should...I had to tweek the milk and roux ratio - but if you use 16oz use my suggested amounts listed above.  It'll be a lot yummier!

Get your milk and crumbs ready:)

In another saucepan, make a roux,  This ends up making a great base for your cheese sauce, trust me!
Melt your butter and then add the flour, mix together and frequently until it turns golden.  This will take about 5 minutes.

Add your cheese and stir until is fully melted.



Drain your mac and return the pasta pot.  Once your cheese sauce is all melty and gooey, add it to the pasta.

Then, add your lovely bacon.  Bacon does make everything better.  Just don't put it in everything, or you will gain 500 pounds!

Stir that up all together and then add this to the cast iron skillet that you cooked the bacon in.  You could also divide this up into little cast irons like S'MAC if you have them, for individual servings.  Or you make different cheese sauces and do different flavors in each - that would be really fun, but messy and lots of work.  But worth it.  Hmmmmm....anyways!  Add this to the skillet...

Sprinkle the top with bread crumbs and Parm cheese - I just eyeballed this.  I covered the whole thing with both!  Bake it at 400 degrees until the top turns golden.  When it's done it'll look like this, and it will taste AMAZING!!



And that, folks, is how you make Mac & Cheese in a cast iron skillet.  Best M&C ever.  I can't wait to try this again with different flavors, and more cheese! 

Ok I am off to Lowes to pick out paint for the kitchen and learn how to finish the floors in there with our leftover Pergo flooring!  I love that when we bought our house, the sellers left TONS of Pergo floor tiles - our kitchen floor is so yucky, its that old gross tile, and Dave & I want to finish it to look like the rest of the first floor and we have more than enough Pergo to do that.  I just need to learn how:)  I can't wait to get his project under way!

Why do we fail??

I was just surfing the web here and came across this. I am not a huge Dr. Oz fan or anything, I'm actually never home to see his show. Sometimes I catch the reruns on TV if I am at the right place and the right time (let's face it, I'm usually reading not watching TV!) and I do like what he has to say. This (click link below to video) spoke to me because he is talking about resolutions fail. He is talking more about better health which is a goal of mine, but I think all these concepts can apply to all goals we make. These are the top reason "resolutions" fail:

1. Discouragement - we mess up, or fail, and then quit
2. Not writing goals down
3. Not having a buddy
4. Meal Plan (aka actual PLANNING of a goal)
5. Sleep deprivation - a big one in health but also overall, who can get anything done when they are sleep deprived? Not me!!

Here is the Dr. Oz Video if you want to check it out!

So, I am going to listen to Dr. Oz!! I am going to expect that I fail in some of these goals, or that I may mess up or whatever, but it's not going to let me down. It is a process and if I could do any goal perfectly, well then it would not be a goal! I'll keep on striving for the goals I have set! I have already written my goals down, sorta, in my previous post. I am going to fancy it up a bit and make it pretty - so I can post them in the house too. I kinda have a "buddy" which is me sharing these with YOU - I would love it if you guys would post/comment your goals & resolutions on here too! Do you have a lot? Do you have just one? Are you nervous about making one? Plan plan plan, I am getting better at this. I bought a very lovely Erin Condren planner, details on that soon, and it helps me PLAN. Finally sleep, I love sleep! I am getting better at sleep - I usually try for at least 7 hours every night, I may try to bump that to 7.5 hours like Doc says. It's such an easy fix - and it's something I love to do. I call that a win/win.


Happy Sunday! Have a blessed and restful day!

Happy New Year!

Ahhh, 2012  What will you have in store for us?? I can't wait to see!

I love new years.  I love the inspiration it comes with, not that I need to be inspired to do a zillion things that may never get done;)  Our New Year started out fairly awesome, at Disney World's Hollywood Studios, and then on the 1st we jetted home to cold but no so cold Maryland.  I was instantly sick, but let's be honest, what is a winter without me being sick more the 50% of the time? 

Our trip to Disney was amazing!  We love it so, and can't wait to go back.  It's getting easier to plan the trips, and organize what we are going to do while we are there, etc.  I am becoming quite the Disney expert;)  Here are a few pics from our trip...

Ash & I at our resort with Roger Rabbit:)  This is Pop Century, FYI - highly recommend if you have kids, its awesome for them (which = awesome for you, trust me!)

 Us at Chef Mickeys - our favorite buffet restaurant!  It's in the Contemporary Resort which is SO cool!

 No trip to Orlando is complete without a quick trip to Hogsmeade!  This is Dave & I in HP world located in Islands of Adventure of the Universal Resort.

 Dave & Ash on one of my fave rides at Hollywood Studios, Toy Story Mania.  Of course, I beat them both with my scores.  Wow, I am very humble today;)

 Ash with her cute Mickey Ears, at Magic Kingdom.

The 3 of us outside Big Thunder Mountain Railroad in Magic Kingdom.

We were only in the parks for 4 days, but it was plenty of time and we rode all our fave rides and ate so much yummy food.  So worth the week of sickness I've had to endure since we've been back;)

On to life now!!!  What are your resolutions?  I hesitate to make them, because I never end up keeping them (hence my 120 book goal last year - but hey - I read A LOT of books even though I didn't hit that mark, so I have no regrets!)  I want to call them something else this year - maybe Lifelong Goals instead because I don't want to limit them to just this year.  These should be lifelong goals!  Anyways, here is what I want to get out of 2012 and beyond:

1.  Run more - I started the Couch to 5k in the fall, and have been slipping a bit since the holidays and I've had two major bouts of sickness, but I need to run more!  Running a 5k would be nice;)

2.  Try new recipes

3.  be more organized, however that may be

4.  Layering decor in the house - it's too matchy matchy in here and I want to introduce more color and pizazz to brighten our lives

5.  Kitchen project - Paint the kitchen and the cabinets, lay the new floor down, install cabinet hardware

6.  Read more, always read more!

7.  Get better at couponing

8.  Bring Pinterest to life, by this I mean actually DOING things and experiencing things that I pin

9.  Eat more fruit and veggies - honestly I am so bad at this!

10.  Use my time wisely - this goes for home and work, spending time with people who matter or being smart with free time when I have it!

I think 10 is enough;)  I tend to be an over-achiever, if ya didn't know, so 10 may be too too much.  I may think of a fun way to post these in the house somewhere so that I can see them daily and remember them.  Oh fun fun, another creative project to try!

I hope everyone has a Happy New Year!!  I look forward to blogging with you:)

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack;)

Hello friends and family!

I have almost had this blog for a whole year!  Now, my posting was a little heavy early on in the year, not so much in the past few months.  The blog is evolving as my life does, I am learning and thinking of the best way to use it! 

You will see some changes over the next few weeks.  I am think of re-naming, re-designing, as I have been over the past few months.  I can't have it be a place just to talk about books, although I am crazy about books, there are a dozen (or two) other things I'd love to feature on this here blog.  I find that since I have it so limited that I will need to open it up to other things, I lose motivation in blogging when I don't have time to read.  But when I am not reading, I am doing so many other fun things.  I want to talk about these things! 

Life has been sweet lately!  I am enjoying special times with family.  I think the holiday season reminds me that time with my loved ones is fleeting, unfortunately.   I have to cherish every moment I can!  I can't ever get comfortable in living for myself, in selfishness, I want to always be thinking about the ones I love and making sweet memories with them.  I can remember when I was younger, how bland (lol) life seemed for people who were married and did the same things every day, being with the same people and seeming "tied down" to one specific way of life.  How wrong I was!  My life is never the same thing every day!  Even if it was, I would be so happy because of the people in my life who make it worth living for - My wonderful hubby and my crazy, growing-up-way-too-fast stepdaughter, my wild cat, and my loving parents and my brothers and sisters (Jonathan and my in-laws), my mother-in-law and all the other family that we spend time with.  They make life worth it every day. 

My "new" but now not-so-new job has been a dream come true.  I am incredibly lucky to be working in such a great school, being a counselor to 650+ adorable, rowdy students.  I love it!  I can't imagine doing anything else!  It feels great to finally be settled in a career that I enjoy, one that I know I will be a part of for many, many years.  It keeps me very busy, and wears me out daily, but it's all worth it. 

In my free time lately, I have been doing any amount of the following: couponing, cooking, running, decorating for the holidays, shopping for the holidays, reading, Pinning, crafting, and planning our Disney trip.  I want to be BLOGGING about all this fun stuff, it feels good to share with whomever is interested:)  Even if no one is interested, it's still fun to talk about it!  It's cathartic:)

 I need to tally up how many books I've read this year.  I dropped the ball with the whole reading 10 a month, but I know I've read more this year than any other year in my life - which is really fun! 

Anyways, I'm back and hopefully you (my few readers) will enjoy being a part of the blog again - I love being part of the blogosphere and can't wait to re-design and get rolling.  I think I'll go do some designing right now!

Triple dog book review

That is right, folks!!  I have read three books, and need to catch up on my reviews!!!

The first book is




This book is the original story behind the musical.  Um....let me just say the musical is a lot more kid and Christian friendly!!  The book is graphic, sometimes gross, but it tells the story way more in depth then the musical.  So, if you loved Wicked the Musical, and you are an ADULT, read this book if you want the whole story!  If you are under 18, don't read it....just saying;)  I liked it, but it took me a while to read it, it wasnt a I-need-to-read-you-and-finish-you-right-now book.  I give it a:

It's not that I didnt like it...it just wasnt the best.  Sorry Mr. Maguire.  I'm sure there are a lot of other people that do like this writing though.  It is interesting to read a different take on a story we know so well.  It is about the birth of the Wicked Witch of the West, Fabala (which btw, is a spin of Frank L Baum's name...FLB, FaBaLa...cool, huh?  That info is something I read in the back of the book) and how she deals growing up "Green".  The book is very political.  I wish I was interested in politics - if you do, you may like this, you may find parallels to politics in our world...but I'm just not into that!  Fabala goes to college and meets Glinda and they try to understand the world together...and then grow apart.  Fabala has a very trying and twisted life, very sad.  Dorothy has a very small part in this book, but still, it's interesting to get a different view!  Thats enough about that one...

My second review is about

This is the book that is helping me write MY book.  I wanted to write my book in the month of June..but like I've said before - theres a little prep work that has to be done so I'll have to push the actual writing back a month or two.  This book teaches you and guides you through preparing to write a novel in one month.   Usually, National Write A Novel Month is in November but I dont want to wait that long;)  I'll probably read and re-read this book a million times while I write my book.  It's really great! Sweet, simple, and informative.  If you are interested in writing a book, I recommend it!  Its a HOW-TO sort of thing...worth it!!!  I give it a:

It gets that score since it has a lot of good info for me.  It was a very easy read too!

My third review is on:

This book was AWESOME!!  I can't wait for the movie in August!  Seriously....all my friends need to read it so we can go see it together!  This book is about a few different people.  One is Abileen, a black maid for a socialite snob.  One is Skeeter, a socialite who is questioning how "right" it is to treat African Americans so differently then white people.  One is Minny, another black maid for a socialite that speaks her mind on things, she is hilarious.  The setting is Jackson, Mississippi - which was one of the worse places for prejudice and racism in the 60's.  Skeeter wants to be a writer - and write about something that means something to her, so she starts writing a book about what it is like to be a black maid for white, well-off women.  She gets the stories of Aibleen & Minny, with some struggle, and other maids too.  It is such a sweet story about friendship across the races, breaking down the race barriers, and overcoming rich snobbishness.  I loved it.  I started it on Friday and finished it on Saturday.  I highly recommend it!!!  So...I give it a:

So those are my three reviews so far.  I'm not anywhere near my quota, but I still have 11 days to read:)

I hope everyone enjoyed their Father's Day!!  I have to post a pic of the present we made for Dave, its really cute.  I will get to that tomorrow!  We had dinner over at my parents, we always eat Teriayki on Father's Day.  Mom makes the meat and we put it on skewers and cook it on little grills out on the patio.  We had corn and crab dip and fun punch and mashed potatoes too.  Yum yum yum.  It's a good thing I skipped breakfast this am!!  It was such a nice evening with my parents, and with Jonathan and Krystal (the newlyweds!) over too.  We are truly blessed to have such a great family! 

Now, it's time to submit to the meat coma and sit on the couch and not move for an hour;)  Maybe read too!

One year ago...

On Monday, it was one year since this...

June 13th, 2010 was a magical day!  This year has really flown by.  I feel that to say we made it through a whole year is an accomplishment!  Not that I doubt us by ANY means, its just that we hear a lot that the first year is hard.  Its a true story...the first year IS hard...we are navigating through a whole new life here together at the same time under the same roof...if someone tells me its not that hard, its a lie.  But, more then the struggles of married life, which arent that bad, it really is beautiful!  Having my best friend right there all the time with me, always having someone to laugh or cry or vent to, that is a blessing.  Having some to SHARE life with is amazing.  We've had a great year, lots of fun times & great memories, and hardships that we have gotten through together (ie his dad passing away, me not having a job, things that life just hits us with randomly) we have come so far already and I can't wait to see what years 2 -150 bring;)  I thank God so much for blessing us so much!!  Love you baby:)

To celebrate our one year anniversary, Dave suggested we go to St. Michaels for the day!  It was so fun!  We stopped at St Michaels winery and did some tasting, we walked all up and down the main street there, its SO pretty...

 having a class at St Michaels Winery

 Lovebirds!

 The main street in St Michaels, so so cute!  See, I wore blue & orange - because those were our wedding colors:)

 We left our mark in an little Italian Shoppe, she let us do this, dont worry;)  It will be fun to come back here one day and see this here!

 We did a little walking on the water...well, on the pier of course!

My hair is messy and the sun is glaring, but this is us at the southernmost point of this part of MD...we drove all the way down through Tilghman:)

It was a great day!  My mom made us a fresh cake top to share - since I think ours was ruined and she said she didnt want us eating old cake:

My mom is awesome, look how sweet & cute that little cake is!!!  Thanks Mom!



Overall it was such a wonderful day.  We laughed and joked and loved on each other all day long:) 

I finished Wicked and will be writing that review later.  I'm still slow as molasses on this reading thing...but, I am constantly trying.  I wonder why I was so fast at it in the winter?  Maybe that is just it...it was WINTER!!  Oh well, I'll finish what I can when I can...my goal is still 10 a month!  Not much is getting done in the home decor department, but I did buy something really fun for the kitchen project - I'll leave you hanging on that one!

Enjoy your Wednesday!

Where is the time going?!

I thought when I stopped working for the summer, I'd have all this time to do stuff.  Like clean my house, really clean it, and write a book, and do some sewing and reading like crazy and get done tons of projects that need to be done.  This is not so!?!  I'm not sure where my time is going, but it's going there fast;)

I'm only HALF way through Wicked, and HALF way through my No Plot No Problem book (the book that will be helping me write my novel) I'm reading both as the same time.  I havent even started writing my book, I didnt realize that this book I'm reading wants me to prep for my novel just a little bit.  I thought I could just sit down and write it...so I may have to push the actual writing part to July.  Next week I swear I'm take one whole day to just read.  I'll finish those to books and start another.  I'm just not FAST with the reading anymore.  We have so much going on!

Tomorrow we are off to Pittsburgh (yuck.  we. hate. the. steelers. !!!!!) to see our friends James & Laura get married:)  It'll be good times, besides the Pittsburgh part!  So more posts/pics coming this weekend.  I'll finally get my bros pics up (the ones I took) and hopefully have some reviews to share! 

I need to get better at reading.  And blogging.  Sorry folks:)  Have a good weekend!

Catch up....

I'm not talking about the new comcast feature, although I do appreciate that since I missed the Bachelorette on Monday due to Memorial Day festivities....ahh here would be a great place for a picture except I didn't take any, doh!

Life seems to be busy all the time now!  I'm not even working, so what the heck?!?

Many of you (ahem...by many I mean the 5 of you who are devoted to reading about this life, bless you!) are wondering if I met any sort of reading goal in May....yeah....the answer is no;)  May was an all time low for the Tine-ster!  As far as reading goes at least.  As far as life goes, it was SO awesome!  Alas, I only FINISHED 3 books.  3 whole books?  Oh it's so so sad!!!  I started the 4th (Water for Elephants) a few days ago, and as of today I'm only on page 41. 

"What happened to you, Tina??!!??" You may want to ask?!  Well, of course I still love reading.  May was a busy month.  More busy than April, I'm afraid.  By the time I was home, fed, PJ'd and relaxed, I didnt care to pick up a book.  **GASP**.  Sorry, but it's true!  I loved the three books I did manage to read which were Bella Tuscany, the 3rd Mysterious Benedict, and the Honeymoon.  All good books:)

Lets take a walk into the past and talk about what happened to me in May!  The first week of May was a huge professional milestone for me, I planned & coordinated & executed my very first Career Day as a school counselor.  It was awesome.  The end of the 2nd week of May was my brothers wedding, which took up a lot of my time for the first two weeks since I was a bridesmaid, and the daughter of the mother of the groom who was hosting a lot of get togethers + the rehearsal dinner which = I had to help out with a LOT of stuff.  All fun things of course, and I got to spend a lot of time with family and my sis-in-law Krystal whom I adore:)  The 3rd week of May was my last week at the school that I was subbing as a counselor, so prepping the girl I took over for took up my time then.  The weekend after the wedding/last week, Dave whisked me away to Atlantic City for some much needed fun and sun and relaxation.  I took a book, but didnt read it;)  The very last week in May was my first week off, which was filled with cleaning, gardening for the first time, and helping my parents with the everlasting remodel of their house.  Plus the news that I was offered a FULL TIME PERMANENT school counselor position in Harford County next year, which meant lots of fun and celebrations that my 21K Master's degree from Johns Hopkins has FINALLY paid off:)  Then it was Memorial Day Weekend, which graduation parties and cookouts and time with friends and family and the sun and the pool.  That's the jist of my May, loaded into this super long paragraph and lots of run on sentences!

So there are my excuses for not reading in May.  Dave jokes with me because he can't even read ONE book in a year...let alone 3 books in a month - but for me I feel it's pretty sad!  Oh well!  I won't beat myself up about it (as I have said a bizillion times!) because my May was fun and awesome and exhausting but worth every moment.  I definitely reached my Happiness Project goal of enjoying family.  I spend a lot of time with them!!  June is "Write a Book" month and I will post on that tomorrow, I am reallly excited to write a book!  YAY!

I have been working on things!  I promise!!  Here are some pictures to prove it:

 We have been super busy working in our garden!  Here is a pic of the front so far, this part is weeded, planted, mulched and done with daisies, petunias, coleus & some other flowers that are pretty but I don't really know what they are;)

 Same garden, non-inst.agrammed;)

 Our good and lovely friends, Chuck & Blythe, gave us this big lilac bush (center) and two azalea bushes (either side of lilac) and hosta (to the right of lilac and azalea) for free!  We had a huge whole in our garden here because we dug up two of those obnoxious spikey prickely plants that do nothing for me!  Look how nice and full it is now?  We have to plant these, we just got them!

 These are some of my herbs, in a pot hanging on our deck in a semi-shady spot.  Last year my herbs were scorched by the relentless, humid, hot Maryland sun....this is cilantro, rosemary & parsley - oh how I LOVE having fresh herbs to cook with!!

 Our hydrangea that came back full force from last year, that big pot was a wedding gift:)

 The rest of my herbs/veggies from left to right: Thyme, eggplant, basil & mint.  oh la la!  I have a tomato plant too, for some reason I didnt take a pic of him, poor guy - but he isnt much to look at now - just greens....but, with a few farmers market tomatoes, some mozzarella and my fresh basil:

 ...look at the yumminess that is that pic!  Sprinkled with some balsamic vinegar, it was summer in a bite!  Yum!!  We had this as an appetizer to steak and corn the other night.  It was DE-wait for it-LIGHTFUL!  And in other cooking news....

I made Cake Bons!!  These are my cake pops without the stick.  I ran out of sticks actually so I had to improvise!  This lovelies are devils food cake, dipped in chocolate with either Oreos crushed on top, or a marshmallow and graham crackers for a Smore's effect.  So so delectable:)

So those are a few things that have kept me busy.  I am still trying to catch up with the cleaning and the millions of projects I want to get done.  I am going to make a Master List of everything I want to accomplish in my 3 months off (I start work August 22!!!) and I'll post that here.

I also have my 10 books lined up for June, plus the 7 I didnt read in May.  Yeah, I am really going to try to catch up with the reading that has fallen behind...we will see how that goes!  I figured I'd get them all read with all this time off, but my time keeps filling up with other things so fast like helping mom, cleaning, writing, gardening, helping friends, entertaining Ashley, spending time with Dave - all things that are essential to my life and put reading on the back burner!  Oh well, such is life!  I still love reading and will try to slip it in as much as possible - trying to keep that goal up of 120 books this year!

What has everyone else been reading, or have been doing instead of reading?!?  I love the summer weather and will be doing so much of my reading outside over the next few months - there are not a lot of things that compare to breezy summer days with some coffee or iced tea and a book out on our deck!