Friday Favorites, vol. 60

1. windmills







2. birthmarks





3. flowers in teacups





4. chalkboard walls
Since our new kitchen is pretty small and we'll eventually be tearing down the wall in between the kitchen and dining room and then totally remodeling the kitchen, we couldn't resist....
We painted the walls above and around the cupboards in chalkboard paint! I think it turned out pretty fab, and I can't wait to show everyone! Here are some other chalkboard walls in the meantime.






5. coolhaus
We first enjoyed Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches at a wedding that we shot earlier this year. I'd already heard good things about Coolhaus (particularly the ginger cookie with lemon ice cream combo), and they definitely didn't disappoint. Whether you're in the mood for something classic (like chocolate cookies with peanut butter ice cream) or something surprising (like chocolate cookies with brown butter and candied bacon ice cream), you'll find something to like, I promise!

When I told Nathan I was going to make my summer reading list out of banned books,

he looked at me kind of funny and said, "Band books?" What can I say? He knows me well. We both love music, but we both know books about bands are mainly crap written by superfans and are often subtitled, "The Unauthorized Biography" as in "Thom York Rocks: The Unauthorized Biography." Very meh.



What happened was this: As I was making my summer reading list, I realized that several of the titles I listed had been banned/censored/challenged over the years, so I thought... why not make my summer reading list of banned books? That could be interesting. Just to read and see what someone else might have found offensive or objectionable.



I started with Gone With the Wind, which I've always wanted to read. Which is 3000 pages long. So that was basically the only book I read this summer.



And without giving you any spoilers, I can say that I thoroughly enjoyed it. Until the last fifteen pages. If you've read it and you want to chat about how infuriating and wrong the whole thing is, let me know. We can grab a cup of coffee and chat about how the ending goes down.

Anyway, I've decided to continue this reading of banned books for the year.
Right now I'm reading In Cold Blood and The Handmaid's Tale. Both fantastic so far.

In my searches for books that have been banned and/or challenged over the years, I found quite an extensive list:
The Color Purple
Little Women
Harry Potter (I read the first one years ago, so I think I'll continue with the second.)
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
East of Eden
July's People
America
Mockingjay
Flowers in the Attic
A Day No Pigs Would Die
Rabbit, Run
Invisible Man
Steal This Book
Running with Scissors
The Sun Also Rises
Dubliners
Catch-22
Slaughterhouse Five
Stranger in a Strange Land
Olive's Ocean
Speak
A Prayer for Owen Meany
Sophie's Choice
How the Garcia Girls Lost Their Accents
How to Eat Fried Worms
100 Years of Solitude
Then Again, Maybe I Won't
The Bean Trees
Cut
Carrie
Go Ask Alice
Pillars of the Earth
Doctor Zhivago
Crank
Harriet the Spy
Beloved
Native Son
A Series of Unfortunate Events
Grapes of Wrath

Have you read any of these titles? Which did you like?

Things...

I want to do:
1. ride our new scooter.


2. watch marathons on Netflix.


3. read.


4. take an afternoon nap.


5. get a hammock and then hang it in the trees in the backyard. Read and/or take a nap in said hammock.


Things...
I don't want to do:
1. work.
2. organize the spare room.
3. go grocery shopping.
4. do laundry.

In fact, I don't want to do these things so much, that they don't even deserve pictures.