Summer 2023 Snapshot

This year I have been working more, volunteering more and blogging less. I would love to get back to into my blogging routine! 

Favorite New Product: My kids love these Pumpkin Spice Cookies from Trader Joe's! 

 

Life Hack:  Something that is working for me right now is audiobooks. Hoopla (available through my Goleta library card) has a tons of free books and I do have a silver Audible account where I get a credit every other month. I even checked out the Hamilton album from Hoopla before seeing the show in Chicago! 

 

Last Book I Finished: Dear Mr. Knightley was a fun Chicago based story for my Chicago trip. Foster kid Samantha Moore has aged out of the system when a mysterious benefactor offers to pay for her grad school. She loves writing, often hiding behind the witty lines of Austen characters. The condition of her schooling is that she write her benefactor letters about her life. So she begins to write, Dear Mr Knightley.... Soon she finds help in these letters which help her sort through who she was and who she wants to become. As she makes new friends at school and in her life, she must figure out who she can trust and who needs to be

After college, Samantha receives an extraordinary opportunity. The anonymous “Mr. Knightley” offers her a full scholarship to earn her graduate degree at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism. The sole condition is that Sam write to Mr. Knightley regularly to keep him apprised of her progress.

As Sam’s true identity begins to reveal itself through her letters, her heart begins to soften to those around her—a damaged teenager and fellow inhabitant of Grace House, her classmates at Medill, and, most powerfully, successful novelist Alex Powell. But just as Sam finally begins to trust, she learns that Alex has secrets of his own—secrets that, for better or for worse, make it impossible for Sam to hide behind either her characters or her letters.

 

Life Project: We are rearranging the bedrooms in our house and it takes a lot of work. This room planning website is really helpful!

What we are eating today: We have a rotation of Fun Friday meals. Today is Hot Dogs and other weeks include Nachos, Tortilla Pizzas, Hamburgers and Charcuterie.

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