Friday Favorites: New Highlights of our Week Edition

 I changed up the formatting this week and came up with a few favorites and highlights from the week.  What do you think?  I think this format makes it much easier to read and less cumbersome. Plus the more day to day happenings are often then recovered in my sentence (or 2) a day posts.  



My mother's day flowers!  My husband took Evan out shopping and they came home with some flowers for me.  


The next day I combined the two bouquets I had on the table into one big one and they have made me smile every time I looked at them.



I also got some pretty pansies from my mother in law that I can't wait to pot and put on our front steps. 



We enjoyed a few hikes this week:

The state park on Friday



The dam on Sunday:



Our woods on Tuesday:






On Friday I got this email from the school: 

Hello,

This message is to inform you that Alec has  been nominated by Mr. Z & Mrs. M (the email had their full names but I shortened them for the blog)  as a “Shining Star” Student.  A short message from Mr. Z (his culinary teacher):, “Alec had a great third marking period finishing with a 96 average. Always prepared, outstanding in theory related work, pushes himself and others to be better.”

A short message from Mrs. M. (his gym teacher), “Such a pleasure to have in class. Truly sincere and a pleasure to be around. Hard working and driven to be the best he can be.”

Congratulations from the staff here at (school name). We are very proud of you!

 Thank you for all that you do.

 Student Recognition Team

Alec was stunned! 



I got some wonderful mother's day gifts-- books, chocolates, the complete boxed set of Friends and a pretty handmade necklace from my younger sister.  She used resin and shells to make it. 





My boys and husband spoiled me! They cleaned the WHOLE entire house, I got to sit in the sun and read a book, we went on a hike, & they made me dinner.  



We tried three new recipes this week: Italian bread, balsamic& rosemary grilled chicken, and a cross between a trifle and a chocolate tiramisu.  


We've had some new birds at our feeders and around our house this week. 


woodpecker

golden finches

oriole


I used my Color Street wraps on my nails this week and am loving the colors of this one!


 We finally got around to pulling the patio furniture out of the basement. I even had time to sit out there for a good hour and enjoying lazing about on the swing.  I spent lots of time sitting out in the sun on the deck reading on Thursday and it was so nice to soak up some heat and sunshine!




Linking up with:













Comments

  1. Congrats to Alec- how exciting! Love your nails- you did a great job- have a wonderful weekend!

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  2. Yay Alec! Love the format and the cute lil dolphins! Have a great weekend!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks! I've always loved dolphins and thought they'd be so cute for summer

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  3. You received such beautiful flowers and wonderful gifts!
    Congrats to Alec, so well deserved!

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  4. Congrats to Alec! Great flowers and Mother's Day presents. I want to get a birdfeeder. One that attaches to the window would be cool, then I could see them while I wash dishes!

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    1. I love that (so far anyway) the squirrels haven't figured out a way to use the feeder either.

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  5. What a great week! It's nice to see your feet back on the deck again. :)

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    1. I have been soaking up any days in the sun I can get. It felt great to be back out there reading.

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  6. That woodpecker is really pretty and different from the ones around here. We saw one on the ground the other which is really unusual. Beautiful nature pictures as usual.
    www.chezmireillefashiontravelmom.com

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    1. This one hopped along on the ground afterwards too and I thought was so rare. I tried snapping a few photos but that thing was hopping out of the frame so fast I could not keep up.

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  7. What gorgeous flowers! Such sweet notes from the school.

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  8. I've seen two new birds this week, Yellow Finch and Junco, but I'm still holding out for an Oriole! Love that photo.
    How nice to have a clean house (done by someone other than yourself!).

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  9. Love the bird on the tree trunk. Is that a dove? Nice photos overall.

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    Replies
    1. I'm pretty sure it's a Northern Flicker (which is a type of woodpecker).

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  10. Those flowers are so pretty! It sounds like you had a wonderful Mother's Day.
    Well done Alec and the message from school. You must be so proud! x

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    Replies
    1. I am very proud. He has done amazing this year and taken all the weirdness in stride.

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  11. You sure did get spoiled! That reading spot looks blissful...and the Italian bread looks scrummy.

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    1. I sure did! I have a few favorite outdoor reading spots that I plan to rotate through the next week as our weather is finally warming up!

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  12. Looks like a fab Mother's Day and week. Thank you for linking with #WeekendCoffeeShare.

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  13. Congrats to your son. I love colorstreet. I have some on right now. I love the photos of your flowers you got and that bread looks amazing!!!!

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  14. I love the new format! Congratulations to Alec! That’s wonderful! Have a great weekend!

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  15. Hi Joanne.
    I like your new format. I was interested in looking at it because I just finished a big overhaul of my site too, but for mine, I was trying to make it easy for readers to find and enjoy my story collections. Getting the navigation correct proved to be harder than I expected, one key page turned into a block editor versus the theme conflict that I thought was going to crash my whole site a few times.
    Anyway, it was a lot of work and time.
    If you'd like to check it out, I'd love to hear your feedback as your new layout is so clean and attractive. It's very different than mine but I love how nice it makes all your photos look. I think it has to help that you have a great eye for photography too.
    Thanks for the visit and great photos.
    I had a nuts day today and you coffee share was a much needed few moments of peace and beauty.
    Blessings and hopes for a great week ahead.

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    1. It is a lot of work to overhaul a blog and while I try to make small changes here and there I am always amazed at how much time it takes. Thank you so much for your photography compliment! I have been working really hard on my photography skills these past few years. I cringe over some of the older blog photos I used!

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  16. Hi Joanne - very pretty Mothers Day flowers and you certainly scored well with all those gifts! The bread you baked looks delicious and I still feel a little bit of envy when I see the view from your reading spot.

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  17. What a wonderful week. Congrats to Alec. Great format.
    Blessings, Dawn

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  18. JoAnne,
    Great pictures as always!!! Thanks so much for stopping by!!!
    Hugs,
    Debbie

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  19. Your hubby and son did good! The flowers they got you are beautiful. So are the wildflowers you took photos of.
    Congratulations to your shining star!

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    Replies
    1. They really did do a great job! Thank you. We are so proud of him. It's been a crazy year to be introduced to public schooling that is for sure.

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  20. Looks like you were properly pampered on Mother's Day. Love the idea of those Buggable bracelets. We don't have mosquitoes most years but we are going to the BEACH in July and I bet there will be buggies!!

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    1. We have all sorts of wonderful biting bugs and they all just love me. I have yet to find any sort of bug repellent that actually works.

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  21. What a lovely post, and I think it was a great way to read and show your photos. Loved how spoiled you were on Mother's Day. It's wonderful seeing your world around you come to life through your photos because I think it was mid winter when I first saw your blog.

    Thank you for linking up for Life This Week on Monday 17 May 2021. It is a great community here and I am always pleased to see your post linked. Next week, the optional prompt is Self Care Stories. I look forward to seeing you then too. Denyse.

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    1. We are loving watching everything slowly turning green and starting to bloom.

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