Friday 5ive- June 24, 2022

Welcome to the Friday 5ive, a weekly-ish post featuring five things that caught my eye this week.

1)  We visited our home near Sarasota this week with friends and after a wonderful dinner at Casa Antica Ristorante where we had some truly delicious wines, we popped up to the rooftop bar at the ArtOvation Hotel.   They had a watermelon cocktail that was quite refreshing, a fantastic view of Sarasota, and no one fell into the pool.

The view from the rooftop bar 

2) My dear friend Kelly brought me a special gift- a vintage Tommy Hilfiger dress with a bookcase pattern and a matching belt. Could there be anything more appropriate for me? It's darling.

3) File this under "You Never Know What You'll Find On An NYC Street". I was walking to the bodega across the street from our apartment to pick up a forgotten dinner ingredient and I found this set of 15lb dumbells. If I could have carried them back to our apartment, I would have, but would I have been able to use them on Peloton strength workouts? Probably not.

4) When I returned from our trip to Florida, I had two book boxes waiting for me. The first was titled "Stories & Suspects- A Bantam Mystery Box" from Bantam publishers. It had five mystery/thriller books, a cookie from Carnegie Deli and a silk sleep mask from Brooklinen inside. This was a great surprise, I had no idea it was coming from Random House. I think I'll read Nonna Maria and the Case of the Missing Bride  by Lorenzo Carcarterra first. I'm in an Italy state of mind now.

The other box was from Book Club Girl to celebrate their podcast's second anniversary. I really enjoy listening to the podcast, hosted by Tavia Kowalchuk and Bianca Flores, where they interview authors and we get to hear an audio clip from the book. This season they had Lucy Foley discussing her bestselling The Paris Apartment, Vanessa Riley discussing Island Queen, and one of my favorites Jenny Colgan talking about The Bookshop on the Corner. This box had some terrific summmer swag including four fabulous books, a lightweight tote, a travel tumbler, and an outdoor blanket perfect for taking to the beach or park to lay out and read on. I'm going to read Piper Huguley's By Her Own Design first. It's a novel about a Black designer, the granddaughter of slaves, who designed Jackie Kennedy's wedding dress. I've had my eye on this one for awhile now. 

  5) I read one great book this week. Seamas O'Reilly's Did Ye Hear Mammy Died?, a memoir recounting his early childhood in Derry, Northern Island. Seamas was just seven years old when his mother tragically died of cancer, leaving her husband to raise their eleven children. You might think this is a sad story, and it is at times, but Seamas recounts some hilarous stories from his childhood that had me laughing out loud, and people asking me "What is so funny?" It really is a love letter to his strong, loving, funny, compassionate father whose abiding Catholic faith sustained him throught his life. If you liked the Netflix series Derry Girls, you will love Did Ye Hear Mammy Died. I loved it so much I sent a copy to my Mom for her birthday. (Shout-out to the river's end bookstore in Oswego, New York for getting the book to her in just a day and a half. They have the best customer service!) 

Stay safe and strong my friends.