Friday Fancies: Summer Crushin'

Happy Friday! I'm in such a rush this morning, but I have a super crush on one of Olivia's newest summer looks and I had to put my spin on it! This is my last day of work with my little kids and then it's on to new adventures! I'll miss them dearly, but I can't wait to start a new chapter!

Floriole

Thank you guys all so much for your sweet comments last week! I'm so sorry if I didn't get a chance to reply back to all of them. But I so appreciate all your good thoughts!

For today, I wanted to share with you a gorgeous place to eat and enjoy a little French cuisine for breakfast, lunch, and of course a sweet or too. It's Floriole Café and Bakery on Webster (right down the block from another favorite, Sweet Mandy B's for cupcakes!). You walk into Floriole and it's really a look of California cool meets a sweet little café in Paris with the chalkboard menu, grey painted walls, and industrial type furniture. Oh and the flowers outside are just gorgeous as well!

Their bread was ranked #5 in the nation. #5! You can definitely see why: it's buttery, light, flakey, a little custardy in texture. Aka the most delicious baguette I've ever tasted! Seriously friends go and get one because they don't get better than this. I also had to have a Chocolate and Almond Croissant. Heavenly! The darkest, smoothest chocolate filling combined with the nutty almonds baked in and the almond filling mixed in the middle. I could have another one right now just thinking about it! My mom and I also shared a ham and cheese sandwich and a bowl of gazpacho. I'm not a gazpacho expert but my mother said it was the best she's ever tasted.

Next time I go, I'm headed back for another croissant and I definitely now want to try their quiche. Oh m'goodness did the quiche look so fresh and smelled divine! Plus it was about a mile high! On my list!

There are so many places in this city I haven't tried yet, so I'm always on the hunt for new places to go. I'll definitely head back to Floriole, just to sit back and pretend like I'm in France.

 *No compensation was given for this review! I just loved the food and wanted to share it with you!

Beautiful images found here

Life Lately

Wow it has been time since my blog has gotten some love! As little as my blog is to the rest of the interwebs, I really love this space and have missed writing! But there's a reason, as usual!

Last week, I made the difficult decision to leave my job. I have loved the kids this past year and the ladies people (we just hired our first male!) I have worked with. They are making it so difficult to leave, but I know that I needed to do it to grow personally and professionally. I am still in the hunt for my next step and though it's going to be a hard hunt, I am ready and prepared to put in the leg work to get where I believe I need to go. Send good vibes my way! I've been busily filling application after application, sending countless emails and visiting schools to let them know who I am. The hunt continues!

In other news, it's hot. This is my favorite type of weather: the hot, sticky, beautiful stuff that we dream about come October. I'm savoring every day of it, let me tell you! Oh and I made ice cream over the weekend, my first attempt. Wow was it amazingly delicious! I would make it daily if I could!

Happy Tuesday!

image found here

Light, airy, and open

Good morning ladies! Goodness last week got the better of me. It was such a nice extended long weekend: barbeques with family, fireworks on Chicago rooftops, cool drinks, red white and blue--and then I got a terrible cold. Yes. again. The stuffed up nose heavy cough type of cold, so Friday, Saturday and Sunday were spent with me being in bed watching marathons of Frontier House. But, it was a nice weekend nonetheless and we should get those type more often!

While I was lying in my comfortable bed, I found this image. How light, airy and breezy does this look? Perfect for a girl with a cold (or just any girl wanting some relaxation time!). It's perfect, no?

What was the best part of your long weekends? Let me know!

image found here

Five Days of Fourth

Happy July! The fourth of July is my favorite holiday. I love celebrating the birth of this country, and I spend about a week donning everything red, white and blue that I own! Why not, right? So this week, you'll get a peek into my red, white and blue outfit craze plus some other things we do around here that show our America pride.

So today I ask you: what's your favorite America hymn? Could it be our National Anthem? Or God Bless America? My Country Tis of Thee? Or are you a Proud to be an American person? I'd have to say that it's a tie for me between the National Anthem and God Bless America. They're just so powerful and musically they have such an impact!

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