Friday 5+1 (5 Things I Love + 1 Thing I Don’t) – 2.10.17

Hello friends!

I hope you’ve had a great week, and if you’re in the throes of snow, I hope you have plenty of milk, bread and adult beverages. 🙂 We don’t have much snow, just lots of cold, and I can’t seem to stay warm!  Fireplace is roaring, and I could just curl up and watch movies all day if that was an option.  Let’s get on with this week’s edition of Friday 5+1!  This post contains some affiliate links.

Creative Succulent Ideas

When we were in California, I couldn’t help but notice all of the amazing succulents and the pretty ways that they were planted and displayed.  I love them!

I’m a big fan of symmetry (I just can’t help myself), so this perfectly portioned planter is caught my eye right away.

Succulent Planter

And this Queen Elizabeth succulent planter is just kind of fun and whimsical.

Creative Succulent Planter

These aren’t for succulents, but how fun are these galvanized buckets for planting?

Galvanized Planters

The Crown

Speaking of Queen Elizabeth, has anyone else started watching The Crown on Netflix?  I started watching it on the plane, which was good, because I gave it my undivided attention (this is more of a challenge at home).  It’s so well done and provides an interesting look inside the life of Queen Elizabeth, from her days before she was queen and onward.  It’s very authentic in its setting, and I found the acting (and politics) very interesting.  John Lithgow makes a great Winston Churchill.

The Crown - Netflix

Lilac Girls

I’ve been working on a kitchen this week, so I’ve been burning through a new Audible book in the process.  The book is Lilac Girls, by Martha Hall Kelly.  It’s inspired by a real WWII heroine, and is a story of three very different women, and how their lives intertwine during and after World War II.  It’s a completely different take on historical fiction during the second world war, and it sucked me in right from the start (which I love).  I’m almost finished with it, and already feel confident recommending it to you.

Lilac Girls

The Secret Keeper

After I shared my favorite books of 2016, one of my readers, Marye, recommended any book by Kate Morton, so I dove in and listened to The Secret Keeper.  I’ll let Amazon do the describing, since I really can’t do it justice – 

During a picnic at her family’s farm in the English countryside, sixteen-year-old Laurel Nicolson witnesses a shocking crime, a crime that challenges everything she knows about her adored mother, Dorothy. Now, fifty years later, Laurel and her sisters are meeting at the farm to celebrate Dorothy’s ninetieth birthday. Realizing that this is her last chance to discover the truth about that long-ago day, Laurel searches for answers that can only be found in Dorothy’s past. Clue by clue, she traces a secret history of three strangers from vastly different worlds thrown together in war-torn London—Dorothy, Vivien, and Jimmy—whose lives are forever after entwined. A gripping story of deception and passion, The Secret Keeper will keep you enthralled to the last page.

And it does keep you enthralled to the last page!  I won’t spoil it, but suffice to say, I never saw it coming.  Really great.  Thank you for the recommendation Marye!

8 Things Kids Need to do *By Themselves* by the Time They’re Teenagers

With two teen boys, this article was an interesting read for me, and I was happy to see that I am pretty well on track with most of the items on the list.  My non-teen daughter does laundry, so that has to count for something even if my boys run and hide when I start to talk about it.  Right?

My +1 for the week…

Driving on the highway in California.  Oh. My. Goodness.  I would seriously have a stroke if I had to do that on a regular basis (and I should clarify that I was just a passenger, I never actually drove).  The worst part was the motorcycles – driving in between the lanes of traffic is legal?  Really?  They’re taking their lives into their own hands on a daily basis, and it’s an all-defensive driving experience.  How do you even teach teens to drive without losing your mind?

Have a fantastic weekend!

Jenny

 

 

8 Comments

  • Reply
    Cassie Bustamante
    February 10, 2017 at 7:37 am

    lilac girls looks SOOO good! thanks for the rec!

    • Reply
      Jenny
      February 10, 2017 at 2:39 pm

      I just finished it today Cassie – soooo good! The author has a note at the end of the book that details the writing, research and backstory of the main characters, which has me wanting to do more research on the whole thing! Very good read!

  • Reply
    Robbyn Mendleski
    February 10, 2017 at 11:38 am

    I’m a Behind the Wheel Driving Instructor in Sacramento, CA and we teach the students to watch for the bikes. Yes, lane splitting is legal here – mainly due to the fact that the majority of the bikes are air cooled – no radiator – so they have to keep moving or overheat – with the mass amounts of traffic it makes sense. However, some of the riders will take risks – the law says they should only be going 10 miles an hour faster than the flow of traffic – but lane splitting at 75-80 is crazy (I also ride so I speak from experience). Enjoyed your post and am sorry you were unnerved by lane splitting : )

    • Reply
      Jenny
      February 10, 2017 at 2:42 pm

      I can’t imagine being a driving instructor in California Robbyn! I’m wracked with nerves driving with my own teen drivers, and driving on the California highway would require a sedative. 😉 The lane splitting I witnessed was on the highway (I think we were on I-5), during rush hour, and the motorcyclist was driving WAY faster than the rest of traffic, and scared the crap out of me, as I didn’t even see him coming! God bless you for teaching the teens out there! I think I would need a driving instructor if I ever lived out there, just to learn how to drive even more defensively! 😉

  • Reply
    SoCalLynn
    February 10, 2017 at 1:53 pm

    Your comment about driving in CA, so true! I live in southern CA and I’ve never been afraid of driving here, but I understand what you’re saying. It keeps us on our toes! And, I have a daughter who will be getting her permit next month, so, yikes!

    • Reply
      Jenny
      February 10, 2017 at 2:43 pm

      It was craziness to me! We were also driving in a car vs. my tank of an SUV, so I think I felt a little more vulnerable, if that makes any sense. I’m used to being perched well above the traffic, and being so low to the ground probably made things a bit more dramatic. 😉

  • Reply
    the cape on the corner
    February 10, 2017 at 4:17 pm

    the lilac girls has been my go to for recommendations since i finished it. it’s so long, but it really doesn’t feel that way at all.
    b

    • Reply
      Jenny
      February 10, 2017 at 4:51 pm

      I completely agree! It was a bit daunting when I saw how long it was, but I was immediately drawn in and was really sad to see it come to an end! I loved that it extended beyond WWII, so you really got a full idea of their lives after the war. Such an amazing story.

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