Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year if you live in the Northern Hemisphere. This year it is today, June 20, 2020. Lots of 20s in there! I’m beginning to think 20 may be an unlucky number as this year has been very unsettling.

The Summer Solstice occurs when the Earth’s North Pole is tilted furthest towards the sun. On the June solstice, the sun will be farthest north in the northern hemisphere sky, appearing directly over the Tropic of Cancer, and will take the longest route between rising and setting. This means that today will have the most hours of sunlight and the shortest night of 2020. If you are in the Southern Hemisphere, it is the opposite-the shortest day and longest night.

Typically, the June solstice marks the beginning of summer and will last until the September 22 equinox. So Happy Summer Solstice to you and I hope you are doing something summery to celebrate.

Today, I am sharing two summer cocktails that I love. One is really an aperitif, a cocktail that is served before a meal and is meant to stimulate the appetite. Aperitifs are usually dry rather than sweet, as sugar tends to diminish your appetite.

I am naming this an Americano Spritzer. Fill a tall glass with ice and add a generous pour of Cocchi Rosa Americano Aperitivo, add sparkling water or club soda, add a squeeze of lemon juice (half a lemon) and top with a lemon twist. That’s it! Easy and simple.

This light, low alcohol drink is refreshing and delightful. Cocchi Rosa is produced with a base of red wines from Piedmont which herbs, spices and extracts like gentian, cinchona, citrus zests and rose petals. The futuristic rooster on the label, designed in the ‘30s, represents its aperitif function (“it awakes the appetite”) and is also the symbol of the town of Asti, Italy. I purchased this at Total Wine for $21.49.

The next cocktail I have shared before but it is the perfect summer drink when watermelon is in season. This has more alcohol (tequila) than the aperitif but the combination of the sweet watermelon and spicy jalapeño is a winner. It is a “skinny” recipe due to the agave syrup vs. sugar. Click here for the Skinny Watermelon Jalapeño Margarita recipe from Ambitious Kitchen. For more non-beverage watermelon recipes, click here.

If you prefer something non-alcoholic (though you could add vodka or gin), please try my Cucumber Lemonade recipe. The different twist on basic lemonade is a crowd pleaser.

I like using an English cucumber as the skin is very thin compared to a regular cucumber. However, I would imaging either would work. If you use a blender to make cucumber juice, you will need to strain it to remove the seeds and pulp.

My lemonade recipe is fairly easy~1 part lemon juice, 1 part simple syrup, 1 part cucumber juice and 1 part water. You can easily adjust this recipe to have honey or agave instead of simple syrup, or sparkling water vs. still water. Recipe is below. For more lemonade recipes, click here.

While you are sipping your summer drinks, what better way to celebrate the Solstice than listening to music themed around the sun. Here is my playlist for you:

Walking on Sunshine by Katrina and the Waves

Here Comes the Sun by the Beatles

Good Day Sunshine by the Beatles

Ain’t No Sunshine by Bill Withers

Island in the Sun by Weezer

California Sun by the Ramones

To See the Sun by The Turtles

Sunny Afternoon by the Kinks

Warmth of the Sun by the Beach Boys

The Sun by The Pretty Things

Wishing you and yours a sunny, happy Saturday. Hopefully you will find unique ways to celebrate the beginning of summer.

A Happy Father’s Day to all the dads out there. My father died 5 years ago and every time I try to write a blog post about him I am sobbing. He was my hero and had the biggest heart imaginable. I truly miss him. So love your dads every minute of every day!

I am not a breakfast person. The thought of any meal in the morning is almost hard for me to comprehend. So I struggle with what breakfast options are healthy, quick and not big in volume.

Collagen Peptides

Every morning starts with my delicious Nespresso coffee with foamed milk and two scoops of Vital Proteins Collagen Peptides.

Vital Proteins provides 18 grams of protein, which is just enough to sustain me through my morning workout. But there are days where I am more hungry, especially if I skipped dinner the night before. Sometimes grabbing a quick hardboiled egg (pre-made and in the fridge) does it, but other days, I need something with a bit more substance.

Breakfast Cookies

I started making breakfast cookies when I was the Food Mom for my son’s high school crew team. Often the boys would be up at the crack of dawn before a regatta wanting something light, but healthy to eat. Cookies, you say? For breakfast?

Blueberry Breakfast Cookies

Yesterday, I dusted off the recipe for Ambitious Kitchen’s Omega 3 Blueberry Breakfast Cookies and made a batch. Being challenged with too many apples, I found an additional recipe online from Kristine’s Kitchen for Apple Pie Breakfast cookies. Both recipes are chock-a-block full of fiber and goodness. So it is time to compare the two recipes.

The Blueberry Breakfast cookies are gluten-free and dairy free. Using almond meal, coconut sugar, flaxseed meal, rolled oats, chia seeds, banana, blueberries, walnuts and an optional add ~ dark chocolate, these large cookies are very flavorful and filling.

This recipe makes 8 large cookies. The most time consuming part of the recipe is gathering the ingredients! Using an ice cream scoop makes it easy to plop these down on a cookie sheet to bake. Prep time is 10 minutes with a cook time of 15.

Apple Pie Breakfast Cookies

The Apple Pie Breakfast cookies have similar ingredients~rolled oats, apples, oat flour, ground flaxseed, applesauce, maple syrup, egg, butter and spices. Refined sugar-free, this recipe makes 18 large cookies.

Similar to the first recipe, drop balls of dough on a cookie sheet and flatten with your hand.

These cookies are perfect if you have children or grandchildren that you need to feed quickly. They freezer beautifully and a few seconds in the microwave, you have a nutritious and delicious snack.

As food crew mom, at one point, I needed to feed 65 high school athletic boys. The Blueberry Breakfast cookie recipe is the one that they boys would shove in their mouths as they raced to their next regatta.

This morning, we sampled both recipes. My husband and I prefer the Blueberry ones, as we love the combination of blueberries, walnuts and dark chocolate. The Apple Pie ones were good, but I think I would make the apple pieces bigger as they got a bit lost in the cookie. Also, our apples from the orchard are Anna apples, which have a mild, sweet flavor. Using an apple with more tang will bump up the taste. But both are worthy recipes. Now they will be frozen for future use!

I hope if you are a non-breakfast eater like me, you will find these recipes to be a helpful addition to your morning routine.

Happy Wednesday! I am heading over to visit my elderly neighbor who lives alone and wants some company….of course, at a distance! Wishing you a day of wonder and love!

If you enjoy this post, please feel free to share on Pinterest.

This post shared with To Grandma’s House We Go Link Party 203

Back in March we established the quarantine Honey Do list, which included deep cleaning the outdoor barbecue area. That led to the discussion, ” let’s tile the backsplash behind the grill”, which grew legs from there. To see more projects we are tackling, click here.

In search of tiles that aesthetically fit a 110 year old home, I discovered these Monteca Encaustic 9 3/4″ x 9 3/4″ tiles online at Home Depot. While waiting for the tiles to arrive and getting an appointment with my favorite tile man, we focused on the barbecue storage areas beneath the grill.

Using Rustoleum’s garage floor epoxy kit from Ace Hardware, my husband painted the floor of both storage areas. The two-part process involves spreading the epoxy on a clean, dust free surface and then sprinkling the decorative paint chips on top. This is a big improvement over the cobweb filled space and will protect the floor from any spills.

Here is the barbecue in March before we began working on it. Notice the bumpy plaster behind the grill and the plaster relief below the windows.

Rick, my tile man, determined it was best to cover the existing plaster with tile board.

We debated whether to keep the reliefs under the windows, but it would have been challenging to lay the tile in an orderly fashion over it.

Once the tiles were applied, I knew we had made the right decision.

So here is the finished product! The area looks so much bigger and will certainly be easier to clean. The Sahara beige grout was the right choice. Rick used Raggia slate for the new window sills and trim to match the existing countertop. It took 2 cases of tile to cover this area (around $214.00 in material).

Yesterday, I cleaned the slate countertop and sealed the stone. The grill is sparkling clean after degreasing all its parts. It feels good to pay attention to an area we had taken for granted and upgrade its look and use.

Are you marking things off your To Do list? There are a few more projects to tackle on the back terrace before I consider everything done, but I am so happy with the new barbecue area.

Have a happy Saturday and a wonderful weekend. Today, we are taking our son to the airport to go back to Washington, DC. His two week visit was really spectacular and of course, we are sad to see him go. My Dad used to cry every time I would visit him and leave. Now I completely understand why.

Teaming up with Tarah from Grandma’s House DIY, Kristin from White Arrows Home, Andrea from Design Morsels, & Chas from Chas Crazy Creations in our DIY Blog Hop this month with projects for our decks! Make sure and check out all of the deck projects below! 

This month Tarah is sharing a DIY inexpensive upgrade to her outdoor deck with cable rails.

Chas from ChasCrazyCreations is creating a solar chandelier.

Andrea from Design Morsels has great tips for easy porch planters.

Kristin from White Arrows Home has an easy DIY for an Outdoor Shower Curtain.

This post is also shared with:

Charming Homes & Gardens #11-hosted by Shiplap & Shells

Teaming up with Kristin from White Arrows Home, Andrea from Design Morsels, Tarah from Grandma’s House DIY and Chas from Chas’s Crazy Creations for our DIY Blog Hop this month with projects for our dining rooms! (Make sure and check out all of the dining room projects following this tutorial) 

Many of my friends are still hunkering down due to the virus, but I long to have them over for a meal. I dream about entertaining again and since it is June, it is peony season. Unfortunately we cannot grow these beauties in Phoenix~~way too hot. Getting peonies at the store is unpredictable due to lack of inventory or poor quality.

But I love this ruffly, delicate flower and I wish I could just go outside and cut them. Instead, I get to create the atmosphere of peony abundance in our dining room and thankfully there are items that can help.

Hester & Cook sells “Peonies in Bloom” placemats, wrapping paper and place cards. The placemats are in a pad of 24 and they are designed and printed in the USA. I love the size~~12 1/4″ x 18 1/4″ ~~large enough for a full place setting.

Their coordinating wrapping paper is perfect for small guest gifts or to use as a runner down the center of the table. The place cards come in a pack of 12.

I tend to over think the dishes I will use. Selecting a plain white plate (from Pottery Barn) with a simple gold edge doesn’t compete with the beautiful peony pattern.

Though the dishes are a bit whiter than the placemats, I like them better than a creamier pattern. After trying multiple combinations of different china, I stick with my first choice. To see how I organize my china, please click here.

Once the dishes are selected, the table is able to come together rather quickly.

Using artificial white and blush peonies, I make simple napkin rings by wrapping the stem in a circle. These silk peonies are from The Enchanted Home.

The pink stemware is a combination of new and old. The wine glass is a Pier 1 Imports purchase, while the water glass is a vintage shop find.

The flatware is from Horchow and I find it so versatile because of the combination of gold and silver. The bee motif complements the flower theme. It appears that Horchow is out of stock but you can get this flatware through Wayfair.

The peony place cards fold and stand by themselves.

The dining room table is set for 6. The floral arrangements are a combination of fresh and faux peonies, cut low enough for conversation.

I like the colorful placemats against the mahogany table. I may not be able to grow fresh peonies here in the Valley of the Sun, but this happy, colorful and floral setting is perfect for a June luncheon.

So now that I have the table all set, my family will get the chance to enjoy it this weekend. I hope everyone can enjoy some peace and quiet this weekend. Have a blessed weekend.

This is my first “link” party and here is some information about the other participants.

Andrea from Design Morsels has such an eye for great design. Check out her custom dining room bookcases!

Kristin from White Arrows Home has a fabulous lakeside log cabin in Wisconsin and I love her mountain style.

Chas from Chas’s Crazy Creations is so innovative! She can turn just about any thrift store item into something delightful!

Tarah from Grandma’s House DIY lives in a 1915 farmhouse in Minnesota and is constantly sharing her renovations and inspirations.

Now if you would like to share your dining room projects or ideas, please click on the link below.

This Post Shared With

• Tablescape Thursday #611- hosted by Between Naps on the Porch

For every old house I have owned, the walls seem to tell a story. In addition, there are odd occurrences that sometimes don’t make any sense, but I shrug my shoulders and say, “well, it IS an old house”. You know, the door that slams by itself, with no wind, for example. The old antique marble that is now on the stair step I just vacuumed. The basement light that go on by itself.

We always hope for what I call the “good ghosts”, the happy memories of those previous owners and their lives that permeate the walls. In my life, I have lived in several historic homes, ranging in age from the 1700s to the early 1900s. And each one had its “ghosts” or own personality.

But I need to share this story with you that happened this week, because I am baffled with no logical explanation for it.

Some history first. If you have followed my Restoration Chronicles, you know our home is 110 years old. Most of it is original, but new sections have been added to bring it up to today’s standards.

The kitchen is a new addition we built in 2000. So it’s 20 years old, but “new” compared to to the rest of the house. The kitchen is on the west side of the original house, and the new construction is built beyond the original structure.

As you also know, we are currently in an appliance crisis, with way too many things breaking at the same time. This past week, our dishwasher, even though the water is turned off, kept filling with water. Unfortunately, it overflowed and ruined a large section of hardwood floor in the kitchen.

Finally, we yanked it out because we could not shut off the source of the water. The plumber came back AGAIN and replaced all the shut-off valves. This finally did the trick. If you look closely, you can see the dark water damage marks in the flooring.

Please keep in mind that the kitchen is new and before it was built, there was nothing in its place. However when my husband removed the dishwasher, he found a gold locket on the floor with a beautiful monogram on the front.

No one in our family has ever seen this locket before. The initials look like KMK~~~again nothing familiar to us. These are not the initials of the previous owner. From 1945-1957 the Korrick family lived here, but no one with these initials. It looks rather old, right?

So I opened the locket, and found this picture inside! Certainly not a contemporary photo!

So how does a locket, with a picture of a man taken decades ago, find its way under our dishwasher, in a kitchen that was built from all new materials 20 years ago?

I can honestly say I found all this a bit disturbing, only because we have had a series of so many unfortunate events lately. Here is list of the quirky things that have gone wrong in the last 14 days:

1. Flood in the basement due to water heater splitting; flood alarm on the floor did not alert us.
2. Dishwasher floods with no water going to it. Plumber turned off the water and it continued to fill for the next 6 days. Ruined the hardwood floor
3. Clothes dryer at cabin stops working.
4. Ice maker in refrigerator quits
5. All the electrical outlets in master bedroom at the cabin stop working all at once
6. My Nespresso coffee machine is leaking water. First time ever.
7. The driving lights on the car go on and off, but never when we take it into get fixed.
8. The desk light at the cabin randomly goes on and off. I would turn it off and it would go on by itself. Repeatedly.
9. The fire alarm apparently went off yesterday. No one heard it. The fire department showed up at our gate.

It is becoming a pricey month. So I am blaming all of this on Mr. Locket Man. Isn’t this so strange? Mr. Locket Man is sitting next to my religious statue in the breakfast room until I can figure this out.

In the meantime, I am trying to reach the previous owner’s daughter to see if she recognizes this locket or photo. A bit of a mystery as it doesn’t explain how it got under the dishwasher.

Have you had any unexplained experiences in your home? Well, this makes for fun dinner conversation if nothing else!

Enjoy your Saturday and weekend! We just picked our son up from the airport, which is why I am a bit late posting today. We are blessed to have him here for the next two weeks!

If you have not read the prior posts of The Restoration Chronicles, links are below.

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 1

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 2

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 3

The Restoration Chronicles Chapter 4

Greetings from the White Mountains of Arizona. We are up at our cabin and the weather is 60 degrees this morning with sunny, clear blue skies.

The community in Pinetop-Lakeside is small, with limited shopping and resources. Other than a few local grocery stores, you need to drive to the next largest town, which is Show Low for a Walmart or a Home Depot.

True confessions first. I am not a shopper. It is one of my least favorite things to do. Given the choice between spending the day shopping or cleaning toilets, I would choose the toilets. However, there are bloggers I follow who seem to discover hidden gems at WalMart so yesterday I decided to muster up the courage and go.

Trip to Walmart

With the Memorial holiday upon us, Walmart has an aisle display with their seasonal items. Here is where I found Ree Drummond’s The Pioneer Woman line of products.

Ree Drummond is a blogger, author, food writer and television personality who lives on a working ranch in Oklahoma. Her style is mix and match, flea market and everything handed down from your grandmother.

Quite honestly, I don’t know much about her but I like her charming brand. She apparently has a line of dishes and other products there which I didn’t seek.

Please note that I am not fond of paper anything as I would much rather use dishes. But these dinner plates are 11” wide and 1.25” deep and do not feel flimsy.

The ruffled edge has such a vintage feel and look. The coating on the plates gives some substance to the paper, vs. styrofoam or plain paper plates.

The Buffalo check tablecloth is 60” x 84”, slightly smaller than our outside primitive pine dining table, but I like some of the wood showing on the ends. It is a light weight fabric but it does the trick!

The napkins have a cute pale blue dot and a gingham decorative edge. I like how they feel patriotic without being obvious.

Inside the napkin there is a recipe printed for Ree’s Spicy Dr. Pepper Shredded Pork, which serves 18! Cute idea.

The Centerpiece

With no fresh flowers and outdoor plants limited to pine trees, I found artificial geraniums and ivy in the garage. Using an old wooden dough bowl as the base, I spread the geraniums out and stuck flags and pinwheels in for color and theme.

All in all, I am pleased with The Pioneer Woman products! They certainly provide a festive, patriotic theme for this Memorial Day weekend and at an affordable cost.

What are your plans for this weekend? I plan on spending some time today painting on a canvas and just enjoying the peace and quiet of the pines. We went out to dinner to a real restaurant last night~~the first time in months! It is so joyful to be able to carefully socialize again.

Let us pause to reflect upon the selfless men and women who have honorably served our nation and made the ultimate sacrifice to allow us our freedom. We pay tribute to their memory and remain forever indebted to them for their service. Happy Memorial Day!

Tablecloth $14.99

Napkins- 20 count $2.98

Dinner Plates 8 count $2.98

Salad Plates 12 count $2.98

Pinwheels $0.98 each