Hallelujah, summertime is here! Even though I work through the summer at my school, the season still brings a certain summery feeling, with a slower pace, less meetings, and fewer pressing deadlines. I guess I just get excited about the changing tides of every new season - I'm all about those fresh starts. 

Recently, I went to my school library before it closed for the summer and took out about a thousand books (okay, just six) to last me the next couple of months.  Here's what I have waiting for me this summer...

           

             

              

My Summer Reading List:

H is for Hawk - Helen Macdonald

Cutting for Stone - Abraham Verghese

Maine - J. Courtney Sullivan

Super Sad True Love Story - Gary Shteyngart

All the Light We Cannot See - Anthony Doerr

The Road - Cormac McCarthy

Have you read any good books lately? I'd love to add to my list!

And in case you're hoping to add to your summer reading list, here are a few books I've read over the past few months that I highly recommend:

           

              

Still Alice - Lisa Genova

I haven't seen the movie yet, but the book was amazing. Yes, heart wrenching and at sometimes hard to read, especially if you've had family members suffer from Alzheimer's as I have. But although difficult, I loved connecting briefly to the experience of Alzheimer's through Genova's incredible writing. 

The Girl on the Train - Paula Hawkins

I'm just finishing this one up now, and it has me sucked in! It's a captivating, quick read. You'll love it if you enjoyed Gone Girl.

Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Katherine Boo

This one took me some time but the writing is incredibly beautiful - it takes you to another world.

Station Eleven - Emily St. John Mandel

If you're into dystopian novels as I seem to be lately, you will LOVE this one. I could not put it down. 

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Jimmy and I are heading down the coast this weekend to enjoy some relaxing time off the grid in Cayucos. Here's to long summer nights, camping weekends, road trips, and diving into some summer reading!

Love It List :: June

It's the last day of June, folks...yeeks! What are your plans for the holiday weekend?

I haven't done a favorites post in a long while. Let's do it.

Clarisonic Mia. Yep, I finally bit the bullet on this one. Skincare is my weak spot! So far I'm loving it, mostly for how it energizes my face in the morning and makes my skin feel ultimately clean and ready to soak in my other skincare splurges (magic potions and stuff). It also makes my face feel like babies' bums.

Nixon watch. Yeeeyyy this one makes me so happy! This is actually the watch that Jimbo gave me for my b-day more than two years ago, but I've been living without it for months and months now simply due to laziness (it needed a new battery). I got it back this month and it's happily back on my wrist each day. Nixon, I promise it won't happen again!

Clean perfume. I snagged a few samples from this perfume line at Sephora the other day, and I'm absolutely loving it. I adore clean scents for the hot summer, don't you? Many of the Clean scents are fresh and cool smelling. I especially like Rain and Summer Sailing.

The Goldfinch. I'm finally making headway in this book after getting it for my birthday in April. It's a slower read for me than usual, but I enjoy every line. Her writing is so descriptive and unique... I love a book where I: a) learn about a particular subject (in this case, art and antiques) b) re-read lines because they're so poetic and c) am surprised. This book has all three. It's been reviewed to death so I won't go any further but my vote is yes - a good beach read!

Deep Sleep Pillow Spray. It's been making me sleep like a baby.

First Aid Kit, particularly their new album Stay Gold. It's great, I've been listening obsessively! I tend to enjoy sister duos because I can daydream the whole time about my sis and I creating a duo and making it big, plus they're all about great harmonies which are my favorite part to sing along to ;). I saw someone say they're like the lovechild of Johnny Cash and Fleetwood Mac - how can that be a bad thing??

Kauai. Jimmy and I are heading to Kauai for almost two weeks in July so I've been poring over travel websites and blogs, preparing, planning and drooling :). Have you been there?? We would love tips on places to go and things to do!

Love It List :: August

August is almost over! Does that mean I need to be done with my summer to-do list? Hmmm... I vote no. The weather is still warm and sunny and beautiful and I'd be willing to guess that "summer" lasts til November out here in the East Bay. Part of me thinks that's wonderful, as I have some more camping and summer adventuring in store. But part of me already misses the crackly, orange, fresh, cool, snuggly New England autumn that I'll miss out on this year. New England friends - please think of me when you put that first steaming hot cider doughnut or pumpkin latte to your lips!!

But before I move on...a recap of the things I enjoyed most this August.

Trader Joe's Cold Brew Coffee. What a delicious and convenient time-saver! I've been craving coffee that's iced and strong, and this stuff does the trick for those days that I forget to brew and chill a pot (aka every day). At first I shook my head disapprovingly when I saw the bottle on the shelf, because foodie trends get on my nerves sometimes. But I figured I'd give it a shot (these trends are usually there for a reason...case in point: my beloved coconut oil). And of course, I'm glad I did.

Cold brew coffee is generally smoother, milder, and less acidic than hot brewed. It's also stronger by volume, which means the bottle lasts longer than you'd think, because it's supposed to be mixed with water or milk (or whatever you prefer) to lighten it up. The suggested preparation is 1 part coffee concentrate with 2 parts water or milk...but I go more for a 50-50 mix. It pumps me up. And instead of water, lately I've been going for chocolate almond milk...because it's yummy!

OPI's new San Francisco line. I'm not really a nail fanatic - I tend to go au naturel when it comes to my nails, or I keep it simple with some nail colors I've had on repeat for years. But when I found out about this OPI "San Francisco" line with adorable names like Muir Muir on the Wall, Dining al Frisco, First Date at the Golden Gate, and Embarca-Dare ya! -- I knew I needed at least one of the colors in my stash! (I went for Lost on Lombard).

MAC Paint Pot in Soft Ochre. Love this! My friend Rachel's lovely sister helped us do our makeup before our other friend's wedding a few weeks ago, and she introduced me to this gem. It's great to use as a base for eye shadow, or even as eye shadow itself for a casual day look. It goes on smooth and creamy and feels light, plus it lasts all day.

Talenti Caribbean Coconut Gelato. Oh my. Oh my. Have you tried this? It's one of the fancy (read: expensive) ice creams in the frozen aisle that I try to avoid for the sake of my health and wallet. But when your boyfriend runs out on the scooter for a midnight snack and comes back with coconut gelato...it's time to indulge. I love that it only has a handful of ingredients, and that there are little flakes of coconut sprinkled throughout. It's creamy, and decadent, and rich and smooth...the flavor melts on your tongue in the most perfect way and...............I'm drooling.

My new Sodastream! I never thought I'd get one of these. I like keeping it simple in the kitchen; the fewer appliances and doohickeys the better. This just seemed like one of those extra things people throw on their registries that ends up taking valuable space on the counter or storage. But suddenly one day, I realized Jim and I were fighting for the 78th time that month over who gets the last soda water in the fridge. We always want it! We buy a couple of bottles every time we go grocery shopping. And that's not very green. So we decided one of these would be worth the investment, and yes, it's been awesome. Take some cold filtered water, fizz it up, add some fruit or sprigs of mint and BOOM. Tasty treat.

Sound Opinions podcast. I love my podcasts lately! This one is awesome; a great way to learn about upcoming bands, and music in general actually. I've been loving Emilie Sande, and the other day she was on talking about how she got into the biz, and singing beautiful unplugged versions of her songs. I love her even more now! It was also cool to hear Lindsey Buckingham in one episode, chatting about the drama behind the Fleetwood Mac Rumours album, one of my favorite albums ever. Check it out!

Well those are my faves for now, what have you been loving lately??