Life Lately: Read, Eat, Wear, Dream, Listen

Reading: 1776 and the new Vanity Fair-- can't get enough of that sweet little George!

I started 1776 while on the beach in St. John. Not exactly a beach book, but McCullough's narrative style makes it an enjoyable page-turner. I'm already looking forward to reading John Adams next. If you haven't read any of his books, this citation accompanying his honorary degree from Yale summarizes his style and really captures what he does best: “As an historian, he paints with words, giving us pictures of the American people that live, breathe, and above all, confront the fundamental issues of courage, achievement, and moral character."

As for VF, I'll be honest. I've only looked at the photos so far. But it's the weekend, and I intend to read the issue on George from front to back! The bebe turns 1 on July 22nd. 

Wearing: In love with Aussie's Arnhem...Surprise, surprise, it's boho hippy. The bowerbird kimono is described as one big bohemian embrace. I NEED this. 

                                

Eating: Pepperidge Farm Vanilla Cupcake Goldfish-Whole grain, no preservatives. Yeah, still nowhere close to clean eating. But you only live life once. And once this bag is gone, it's gone. Back to healthy snacking. 

And here's a little update on the summer recipes I blogged about here. One success and one gigantic failure.

The ratatouille recipe from Mommy Run Faster was a big hit. It was super simple-- just required a lot of time to chop all of the veggies. It looked appetizing-- just like the picture-- but was so much more delicious than I ever could have imagined. The recipe made a TON...I ended up eating two bowls for lunch the day I made it. The Sailor and I had it for dinner one night. I gave my parents a Tupperware container to try, and we still had some left to freeze.

 

The "easy" homemade peach ice cream on the other hand wasn't so much of a recipe as an 'idea.' Basically, the blog said to put some ice cream and peaches in a food processor and refreeze it all together after it's mixed. Big disappointment-- I tried making it, along with snickerdoodles to serve on the side, for the Sailor's birthday. For a novice in the kitchen, it didn't work out very well. I used a half-gallon of Vanilla Bean ice cream and four peaches. The water from the peaches seemed to crystallize when I put the ice cream in the freezer, which really diluted the flavor. No good.

Dreaming: Am I ever NOT dreaming about trying to figure out when I can next go bACK to Nantucket?

Oh, and THIS would be pretty cool too. I'm currently campaigning to start saving for an Airstream instead of a boat or cabin on the lake. The Sailor is not on board with the idea in case anyone is wondering.

via Decorologist

How could he say NO to a nautical themed Airstream?

via Babble

Listening to: 

Happy weekend, Friends!