I have been feeling little bursts of summer all around this week — a few warm days, lots of playtime outside with Jane, and our yard is coming back to life! It’s been just the motivation I need (getting back on track post-vacation was rough) to get rolling on some new content with summer in mind. Get ready for grilling recipes, outdoor entertaining ideas, and home projects coming up in the next few weeks! And in the meantime, a few links to check out in this week’s download:

Recipe Inspiration. I have been looking for some fresh recipe inspiration lately, especially on the dinner front! My sister share a bunch of new cookbooks with me, and I’ve been leafing through them, earmarking pages, and scribbling down ideas for new meals to make this summer. A few of the cookbook winners: Martha Stewart’s Vegetables – getting me prepared for Farmer’s Market season; Giada’s Italy by Giada Di Laurentis full of simple Italian recipes, and I haven’t read it yet, but Joanna Gaines’ Magnolia Table is in my Amazon shopping cart! (PS: if you haven’t pre-ordered it yet, I happy to know if a great cookbook coming out this fall — wink::wink!)

Green Thumbs. I have a bit of a notorious black thumb when it comes to gardening, but it’s a skill that I really want to work on (and not just so that I can buy cute gardening gloves and tools, ha!). My husband and I have been talking about putting a vegetable garden in our backyard, but before we take that leap and I’m starting with baby steps! This weekend I’m taking an herb garden class at Winston Flowers in Chestnut Hill (where the beautiful bouquet in the picture above is from!) as part of their Spring Saturdays workshop series. If I can keep a potted herb garden alive after this, we’ll talk about moving on to something bigger!

On The Blog. I shared a giant post recapping our London trip, with all of my favorite spots we ate, shopped, explored, and stayed. Also on the blog recently, a story about a new personalized piece of jewelry that I had designed at the most darling shop in Boston’s South End, and a recipe for cheddar chive scones and tea in preparation for a royal wedding viewing party! Will you be watching this weekend?

Swing back next week for some Memorial Day recipes and a new tablescape to inspire some summer entertaining ideas! I’ve been scooping up pieces from the new Opalhouse line at Target for this post. Everything is so darn cute and tons of the pieces are melamine – like theses goblets and plates – which are perfect for outdoor dining.

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