What an adventurous, spontaneous and often picturesque month July turned out to be! So much of these past few weeks have been spent in the company of dear friends, my family (some of whom I hadn’t seen in years!) and visiting some incredibly cool and unique locations and landmarks around New England – including a few I didn’t even know existed until now!
While I’ll have the full recap of this past month up on ‘Coffee & Chiffon‘ bright and early Friday morning, just as we’re getting ready to head into August, I wanted to take some time to share the usual roundup of my favorite finds, buys, gifts, and miscellaneous odds and ends that I’ve been loving a little bit extra in recent weeks.
That’s right – it’s time for another monthly “Favorite Things” post, and most of you who read this blog regularly know the drill! Rather than give the synopsis of what this post is, I’m ready to just get right into it – so let’s go!
My Summertime book club meetings up in Rye, New Hampshire have quickly become one of my favorite new traditions. I’ve been enjoying the time I carve out for myself, usually at night when I’m winding down, where I just get comfortable in bed or on my couch and get completely lost in a story with new characters and so many twists and turns – and when I’m sitting in front of a fan while I do it reminds me of Summers as a kid when I would read everything and anything I could get my hands on!
And of course, the meetings themselves have been a blast. I’ve met really fun new people, have had hilarious and insightful conversations, have enjoyed plenty of delicious food and themed cocktails, and have always made time to head over to the ocean for a bit at the time we wrap up each get-together.
For August’s book selection, it was announced we’d be discussing ‘June Baby’, which I’ve only just started diving into (and I like it so far!) for a very special reason – the author, Shannon Garvey, is coming to our meeting to lead the discussion! I’m eager to finish this one over the next few days, take some notes, and get my questions ready!
Speaking of books, kind of, I had picked up these adorable sardine notebooks during my recent venture out to Rockport, and they’ve been getting plenty of use since I bring them with me wherever I go to jot down reminders, lists, ideas, sketches (usually when I’m zoning out at work), etc. They’re sturdy and durable, which I appreciate!
I’m planning on picking more of these up for my girlfriends when we head to Cape Cod next week for our annual weekend away as part of a gift bag set I’ve been putting together for each of them – which I’ll write about more in just a moment!
My friend Stef recently spent an afternoon together grabbing drinks and baked goods in and around East Longmeadow when she asked if we could make a quick stop at Hobby Lobby for some crafting/photography supplies. While it took every ounce of our collective willpower to not start buying all of the Fall stuff they already had on display (and there was a LOT of it,) what I did find while walking around was this very cute ravioli shaped ceramic spoon rest that I paid a whopping $2.99 to bring into my apartment.
This is now proudly on display next to my coffee maker, and will remain there until I move out!
And quickly getting back to those aforementioned gift bags for my upcoming “Girls Weekend” – I love putting together little presents for gathering and special occasions. Last year, I had put together tote bags filled with coastal essentials, and this year I’m putting together bags/mugs that I’ve chosen some self-care items inspired by all the time we’re planning on spending on the water this year (including Dramamine!)
A couple of items included this year are these silky zip-up travel bags that have various seashell prints on them, and these “Ocean Mist” goat milk hand creams from DIONIS.
My vision for these bags is finally coming together!
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While there aren’t any miscellaneous favorites to share this time around, I know there’s a ton of great new albums coming out within the next few weeks that I’ve been super excited for – so they’ll definitely be making the cut when I start putting together my August “Favorite Things” at the end of next month!
See you all again on Friday!
xo
Coffee & Chiffon 