Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Julie
I took a trip to London at the end of November for four days with my daughter. My daughter took a trip with her friend and cousin to Dublin and London in June. One afternoon in August my husband, daughter, and I were having lunch and my daughter mentioned that she didn't get to see or do some things in London. I said to her why don't you and I go together for a few days and that is how our trip came about. Plus my birthday is at the end of December and this would be my birthday trip.
We took a late night flight at 10:40 pm on 11/29/23 and arrived in London Thursday morning 11/30/23 at 10:50 am.
A photo of me waiting at JFK airport for our flight to London. I slept most of the time on the plane.
Thursday morning 11/30/23, we took the London tube to our hotel The Resident in Soho. We were happy that our room was ready and we settled in for a bit. Our room was small but clean and in a great location for sightseeing in London.
Once we were settled in we took a walk to Covent Garden and it was the perfect spot to get us in the mood for Christmas. Covent Garden is an area in London that has a lot of stores and restaurants.
We stopped for cookies at Ben's Cookies. They have a large variety of cookies and I enjoyed my oatmeal raisin cookie.
It was time for us to get back to our hotel so that I could meet April for coffee.
I was so happy to finally meet April from the blog April J. Harris. I've followed her blog for a long time and it was nice to meet in person. We had a great time chatting and I hope you'll take the time to check out her lifestyle blog. April loves blogging about food, travel, and runs a blog party called The Hearth and Soul Link Party.
Once I got back to the hotel, my daughter and I decided to get dinner. We walked past Chinatown but unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to eat at any restaurants there. There's always next time.
We stumbled upon an outdoor market.
I noticed a lot of food stands such as this hot chocolate world stand.
Everything looked so festive and was decorated for the holidays.
We decided to try the homemade linguine with hot truffle sauce at the Cheese Wheel. It was so good!
We enjoyed walking around and sightseeing.
I was so amazed when I spotted this creation of a crocheted cart of Covent Garden.
I love all of the details that went into making this creation.
Covent Garden was so festive and I loved this lighted Christmas tree.
I had a great first day in London. Please stay tuned for Day 2 coming soon.
Hello friends. I can't believe it's the new year and 2024! This is the first time I've kept track of all of the books I've read for 2023. I can't believe I read 25 books last year.
HERE IS A LIST OF THE BOOKS I'VE READ FOR 2023:
- Carrie Soto is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid
- The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
- The Mystery of the 99 Steps by Carolyn Keene
- Rules of Civility by Amor Towles
- Verity by Colleen Hoover
- Run Rose Run by Dolly Parton and James Patterson
- The Magnolia Palace by Fiona Davis
- One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
- What Happened to the Bennetts by Lisa Scottoline
- Counterfeit by Kirsten Chen
- The Maid by Rita Prose
- The Chelsea Girls by Fiona Davis
- The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley
- November 9 by Colleen Hoover
- Daisy Darker by Alice Feeney
- Hotel Nantucket by Elin Hilderbrand
- Night Work by Nora Roberts
- Feels Like Falling by Kristy Woodson Harvey
- Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman
- Thrill by Jackie Collins
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
- In a New York Minute by Kate Spencer
- People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry
- Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Rayburn
- Cole for Christmas by Janet Raye Stevens
My Favorite Book of the Year:
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus
What was your favorite book you read last year? If you have book recommendations, please let me know.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Hello friends, and Happy New Year 2024!
I hope you enjoyed the holidays as much as I did. I spent a lot of time with my family and friends. I even took a trip to Europe at the end of November with my daughter to celebrate my birthday which was at the end of December. I'll be sharing about our trip to London soon.
One of my goals is to get back to a regular schedule of blogging now that the holidays are over.
I thought it would be a fun idea to look back at some of my most popular blog posts of 2023.
This was a fun post to introduce myself and share with everyone what I blog about. This was a topic from a blog party that Joanne from My Slices of Life runs with some other moms.
I always enjoy doing a Friday Favorites post about what I like and enjoy. This post I shared about some fashion, food, and crochet projects.
I love shopping at Trader Joe's. I happened to go there this past spring and bought some awesome products and food. I love their seasonal items. Are you a Trader Joe's fan?
This was a fun blog post to do and very popular here on my blog. This was a topic from Joanne at My Slices of Life from her Not Just a Mom link party. I enjoyed the topics from this blog party and it was fun to see what kind of handbags everyone used and what was inside of them.
This was a popular blog post from last year. I love using my air fryer from time to time to make weeknight meals. This air fryer chicken is so easy to make and tastes great. Air fryer chicken is a change from frying or baking your chicken. Making the chicken in the air fryer also saves you from making a mess on your stove when you fry the chicken cutlets. Have you made chicken cutlets in the air fryer?
I hope you enjoyed taking a look back at my top five blog posts of 2023. I enjoyed blogging last year and I look forward to the new year. Thanks again for your sweet comments and blog friendships. I enjoyed reading about the crafts you've made, your recipes, the books you've read, the movies you've seen, your homes and tablescapes, and just everyday news. Here's to blogging in 2024!
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Julie
Hello friends.
I can't believe how fast the month flew by for me. It was a busy month since I had my trip to London with my daughter at the end of last month. When I got back from my trip I was dealing with jet lag and then I was busy decorating the house and the tree for Christmas. I had Christmas cards to write, and Christmas shopping to do. I am still wrapping presents as I write this blog post.
We have a new Christmas ornament to add to our tree this year. My daughter and I picked out this London taxi cab ornament when we visited London last month.
When I get back to blogging after the new year, I will share my London trip with you.
Wishing all of my blogging friends a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy new year. I appreciate all of your kind words, comments, and support over the years.
HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!
See you all in the new year!
Julie xo
Hello friends. Happy December. 🌲
Some of you may have noticed I've been missing from my blog for a few weeks. I thought I would do a catch-up of what's been going on in my life.
November was a busy month for me because I hosted Thanksgiving this year. I was busy cleaning the house, planning the menu, food shopping, and cooking Thanksgiving dinner. Thanksgiving was a big hit in spite of us losing our water heater. It broke down early in the morning and we had to clean up a big mess in the basement. I managed everything without having any hot water. We couldn't get the plumber to come until Saturday morning. I was so thankful to have hot water again.
We had over my brother and sister-in-law and their four kids.
My daughter made this beautiful charcuterie board.
I made some of the food shown here. My sister-in-law made a lot of food and we had a lot of food leftover for a few days. We had a meat and cheese charcuterie board, Italian bread, prosciutto bread, turkey, roast beef, mashed potatoes, sweet potato casserole, mac and cheese, corn, cranberry sauce, and stuffed mushrooms. We had apple crumble pie, pastries, chocolate pie, and chocolate-covered strawberries for dessert.
We were also dog-sitting Darcy and Watson for a few days for Thanksgiving weekend. My daughter usually watches the dogs at the owner's house. We had a great time with the dogs and it made me miss having a dog.
On November 26, 2022, Bosco passed away. I can't believe it's already been a year and we miss Bosco so much.
NOTE: I'm also sharing in my Instagram stories @brklynhousewife about my London trip.
What is new with you lately?
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
Happy Friday friends.
I can't believe that Thanksgiving will be here in less than a week. I've been busy planning and getting everything ready since I will be hosting Thanksgiving this year.
I will be making turkey breast, sausage stuffing, and corn pudding muffins are always a big hit. I'm still trying to figure out what we'll have for an appetizer.
These recipes can be found here and Kitty's corn pudding recipe can be found at her blog here. Thanks, Kitty for this recipe as my family loves this dish.
Yesterday on the Today show they had many all-star chefs sharing their recipes and tips for Thanksgiving. You can read that post here.
At the beginning of the month, Sephora had a big sale on makeup and many products. I took advantage of that sale and bought some Christmas gifts and makeup for myself.
I had many sales associates help me with my shopping list.
I bought this high-end mascara from Yves Saint Laurent in a blue color found here. I love the pop of blue for my lashes and it'll be nice to wear for the holidays.
I found this blue eyeliner from Sephora and it goes nicely with the mascara.
I also took advantage of sales at the Gap Factory store. I bought this sweater for the holidays and winter. I also bought a light green sweater, and a black turtleneck top.
I bought these faux leather pants on sale. They will look perfect with my winter sweaters.
I love how comfortable these high rise universal legging jeans are. They look great with sneakers and boots.
I will be doing a lot of food shopping this weekend for Thanksgiving. I'll also be getting the dining room table ready and any cleaning that I need to do.
I hope you have a happy Friday and weekend. Wishing you a wonderful and happy Thanksgiving.
Click HERE to see the blog parties I will be linking up to.
Julie
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