Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Hello friends.
My daughter and I took a trip to London in the middle of June. We took a late flight on Thursday, June 18th, and arrived in London on Friday, June 19, 2026, in the afternoon.
Come along with me as I share about my trip to London, England.
Once we landed, my daughter and I took the tube to the Kensington area where we would be staying in an Airbnb. This was a new area for us and we both liked it.
We found a cute restaurant called Maggie Jones to sit and cool off for a bit and have lunch.
The restaurant was cozy and rustic, decorated with dried flower-filled baskets that hung from the ceiling. The food, service, and staff were great. My daughter had steak and fries, and I had Dover sole with veggies and mashed potatoes.
This is what the block looked like where we were staying in our Airbnb. We had a studio located in a fourth-floor walk-up. There were over 80 steps to get up to our apartment! The room was small, but it was clean with a bathroom. Just perfect for the two of us.
We were able to go to our apartment to unpack and relax. We were in walking distance to the Kensington Gardens and decided to spend some time in the park.
It was a beautiful day to walk around the park.
My daughter and I posing in front of the Queen Victoria statue.
It was so nice to sit and relax on a bench and watch the ducks swim in the water.
After we left the park, we went back to the apartment to relax. We found a restaurant in the area called Eve. It was a lively restaurant with good food.
We shared a pasta dish, French fries, and a Cesar salad, which were all delicious.
This was our view of the sky from our room. The sun set late around 10:00 pm each night.
We both had a great first day in London. To be continued...
If you would like to read more about my trip to London, England last year, you can click here. I also went to London, England in 2023, and you can read about that here.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Hello friends and happy August!
I'm happy to be still enjoying the rest of the summer. I will be sharing what is currently new with me.
I'm joining Amy from the blog, Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa, for her Currently link-up. It's held on the first Wednesday of each month.
This month we are sharing: savoring, wrapping up, preparing, remembering, and organizing.
SAVORING: I'm savoring all the foods of the summer right now. I'm enjoying not using the oven for dinner and am happy when we use our grill. We had steak for dinner one night, and another night my husband made burgers on the grill. We shared some clams on the half shell one night when we went to an Italian festival, which was fun.
We've been enjoying eating ice cream flying saucers that we bought at Carvel.
WRAPPING UP: This month I will be enjoying every bit of summer. I love sitting outside in my yard and reading a book with an iced coffee.
I enjoyed going to the beach at the Jersey Shore with my brother-in-law and sister-in-law.
I had fun going to the nail salon and getting my nails painted a bright red color. This nail polish color is called Watermelon by Essie.
PREPARING: I will be getting my basil ready to freeze. I take the basil leaves and wash them and dry them. Then I add them to a blender with olive oil and put it in a plastic bag in the freezer. The basil can be added to tomato sauce, pasta, or soup.
I'm happy that my pepper plant did well and I'm growing a few peppers.
My herbs are doing well, and I need to pick some mint to add to ice tea.
I love how pretty my stone pots look in my yard with pink flowers.
REMEMBERING: I'll be remembering how I had a great summer and how fast it went by. I took a trip in June with my daughter to London, England. I will be writing and sharing a post about our trip. I also took another trip with my husband to Paradise Island, Bahamas in July. I will be sharing a post about our trip.
My trip to London, England with my daughter.
My trip to the Bahamas with my husband.
ORGANIZING: I've been trying to organize my bathroom. I'm trying to get rid of any old products I don't use anymore. I have so many bath towels, and I will give some of them to Goodwill. I will be organizing my summer clothes and changing over to some fall clothes at the end of the month. This part always makes me sad because I love the summer months and wearing shorts, T-shirts, and sandals every day.
What is currently new with you?
Julie
Hello friends. I hope you are enjoying your summer. The weather has been a little crazy here, but I am still having a nice summer. I have the perfect side salad to share for your next BBQ, potluck dinner, or picnic.
I've made this salad a few times as a side for our BBQs and it's one of my husband's favorite sides.
This side salad is so easy to make and tastes great with hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, steak, or fish. I hope you give this a try.
TUNA AND CANNELLINI BEANS
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 - 15.5 oz. can Cannellini beans - You can use any brand of cannellini beans - I used Bush's Best
- 1 - 5 oz. can Italian Tuna - I used Genova Yellowfin Tuna in olive oil
- 3 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt & pepper to taste
DIRECTIONS:
Add the tuna and the oil from the can to a large bowl. Chop up the tuna in a bowl with a fork. Add into the bowl the drained and rinsed cannellini beans. Next, add in the rest of the ingredients and mix everything together.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Hello friends and happy July! I hope you are enjoying the summer and have a great month. 😎
I'm joining Amy from the blog, Coffee and Cocktails at the Casa, for her Currently link-up. It's held on the first Wednesday of each month.
This month, we are sharing: Sparkling, Grilling/Cooking, Heating Up, Using, and Celebrating.
SPARKLING: The sky will sparkle this weekend with fireworks for the 4th of July.
GRILLING/COOKING: We will be grilling steaks for our 4th of July BBQ. We've already grilled hot dogs and cheeseburgers for a few meals this summer. I love our little BBQ's and not having to use the oven.
I love having corn on the cob with our BBQ's. I love getting corn from a farm stand because it tastes so sweet and fresh.
One night, we decided not to use any buns with our cheeseburgers to keep the meal low-carb. I made chickpea and tuna salad, and we also had olives with feta cheese on the side.
HEATING UP: The weather will be heating up this week with a heat wave here. I will mostly be staying inside in the air conditioning to stay cool. I will be making sure to water my garden, flowers, and herbs every day this week.
USING: I've been using some of these beauty products lately:
I've been using Trader Joe's daily facial sunscreen SPF 40 on my face and neck every day for the summer. I love this product, and it glides on clear. It's supposed to be a dupe for Supergoop.
I've been using this Essence mascara in the color black brown. I usually use black mascara, but this is a nice change for the summer.
I always use this NYX retractable eyeliner in the color Olive every day. I can no longer get this eyeliner at Ulta, so I order it from Amazon. :(
I've been using this Maybelline Instant Age Rewind Eraser Concealer #121
I've been using this concealer for years, and I love the way it works by concealing my dark circles and other spots on my face.
CELEBRATING: We will be celebrating the 4th of July this weekend. My husband and I will have a BBQ and then watch the fireworks on TV. It will be nice and quiet.
Wishing you a wonderful 4th of July! What will you be doing for the 4th of July?
What is currently new with you?
Julie
Hello friends. It's been a while since I've shared some Trader Joe's items. I'd love to share them with you.
We decided to go to Trader Joe's last minute in our area. The drive normally takes about 20 minutes and this time the drive took us over an hour due to traffic, and we left late in the afternoon. I don't know what we were thinking, but since it took us a while to get there, we got dinner first before shopping. We had dinner at Bareburger. The burgers are so good. We both had a large glass of beer. My husband had an elk burger, I had a smash burger, and we shared my fries.
Here are some of the items that I'd love to share with you.
I love the price of the pasta. I think we paid 99 cents for it.
We've been trying to be good and not eat chips, but I couldn't resist the peanut butter-filled pretzels.
One of my passions is looking at the beauty items. I got two bottles of face sunscreen. One is SPF 40, and the other bottle is SPF 15. I am going to try out the Vitamin C Serum and the lip balm for the first time. Have you tried any of these items? I wanted to buy the gel face cream, but they didn't have any. Hopefully, next time they will have it in stock.
I tried this Vitamin C Serum for the first time, and I love how it soaked right into my skin.
Next, I tried for the first time this moisturizing face lotion that is SPF 15. This soaked right into my skin and made it feel soft. This will be perfect to use for the summer months.
I really like TJ's beauty products, and I feel like you don't have to spend a lot of money for beauty items to work well.
This is the first time I am trying out the mint gum and the green tea mints. I thought the mints were OK, but not a fan of them. I liked the chewing gum. Has anyone tried these items?
Of course, we bought other items not shown, such as Joe O's cereal, cream cheese, cold foam creamer, bananas, bread, and more.
Have you been to Trader Joe's lately, and what did you buy?
My blogging buddy, Heather, likes to share items she bought at Trader Joe's. You can see her latest TJ's haul here.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
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