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It's one of my favorite times of the year to browse around the bookstore, so I wanted to share the books I've read this year to give you some ideas on what to buy...and what not to buy...for yourself or the people on your list. Good, bad, and in-between, here's my 2025 reading list. I've [...]
I clipped this poem from a copy of Real Simple magazine back when I subscribed to it (along with Victoria and Martha Stewart Living) in the late 1990s. It spoke to me then, in a way I didn't even fully realize. It still speaks to me now. I started watching a documentary recently on Netflix [...]
This isn't a cooking blog. It never will be. That said, I threw some ingredients together for dinner tonight and it turned out really tasty, so I thought I'd share. I have a feeling you could switch things up to suit your personal preferences, and it would probably turn out just as well. 1 cup [...]
Over the past year or so I've had the real pleasure of discovering and discussing new books with a group of friends in a new book club. We meet once a month at someone's house, and the host cooks a main course. We keep it simple -- soup, chicken, pasta. The rest of us bring [...]
I loved this book. Catherine Newman's Sandwich is, in short, the story of a family's annual trip to the Cape Cod coast for their summer vacation. Empty nesters Rocky and Nick are there with their two just-barely-adult children, Jamie and Willa, and Jamie's girlfriend Maya. Mid-week, as always, Rocky's parents join them for two nights. [...]
Over the years, my husband has helped teach classes at our co-op, and his American Film Studies course was one of the most popular electives he taught. Twenty-something kids signed up for it, and they had a great time talking about the different genres and aspects of filmmaking. This post contains affiliate links. The course [...]
Our book club read Claire Keegan's Foster this month, and it's the type of book that continues to settle in you over the days and weeks after you finish it. The cover is riddled with blurbs like, "A small miracle," or "A thing of finely honed beauty," or even, "As good as Chekhov." In my [...]
Snow hit Nashville this week, and in typical fashion the grocery store shelves were empty. I hadn't planned ahead and needed to do my normal grocery run around the same time as the panic set in. Alas, we found ourselves without bagels. But we did have some sourdough starter and bread flour at home, so [...]
If you haven't seen the poet Harry Baker's lovely, whimsical poem about his New Year's resolutions, stop everything and watch it right now. "To find a new musical act I love...or let them find me." "To buy more drinks for friends and have friends buy more drinks for me." "To share something that isn't necessarily [...]
Last year I shared our book club's 2024 picks, so it's time for an update! After we got started up, we had a couple people drop out, new people join, one had a baby . . . so our original list changed a bit, starting in September. So, here's what we actually read in 2024, [...]
Spilled Milk 