Collaboreads: Eleanor & Park

I'm extremely excited about the opportunity to join in with Mr. Thomas and Me and Rachel A. Dawson for Collaboreads (you can learn more about Collaboreads here).  The criteria for this month's book selection was "a book with someone's name in the title."  I chose Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell.  This book has been on my reading list for a while.  I think I read a good review of it somewhere, and liked the cover (always a good reason to read a book), but I don't completely remember.  For whatever reason, I stored it away on my mental reading list and forgot about it until coming across it at the local library.  Eleanor and Park follows the relationship between two misfit high school students in the 1980's.  It was surprisingly delightful and an easy read, a perfect book for the beach. 

Icebox Coffee Toffee No Churn Ice Cream

I was pretty excited to hear that Birmingham based, Icebox Coffee and Birmingham Bloggers are holding a recipe contest because  1. I love iced coffee and  2. I've been all about finding recipes to stay cool this summer.  I've tried both flavors of  Icebox coffee concentrate and love them both.  This was really a great excuse to buy more iced coffee.  Thankfully, I managed to save enough to make this delicious treat.

Have you seen?

Have you seen my post this week on Southern Exhilaration?  Caitlin's blog is full of travel and all things southern, so I was super excited to share about one of my favorite places in Montgomery:

The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts 

and it's beautiful surroundings at the Blount Cultural Park. 

Be sure to check it out!

Collaboreads: The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

The Goldfinch

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I'm so excited to be joining in on the first #Collaboreads link-up  Created by Amber and Rachel as "the best and simplest book link-up in the land."  It brings together reviews of so many different books by providing a broad guideline and allowing people to pick their own book.  You can find more about Collaboreads here.  This month's criteria was: on the NYT Best Sellers List when you started reading it.  Over the past month, I've been reading The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt.  The beautifully written book has been on the Paperback Trade Fiction List for 11 weeks now. 

On the NYT Best-sellers List when you start reading it. - See more at: http://www.mrthomasandme.com/search/label/collaboreads#sthash.xuqqVcss.dpuf

1. We will pick a random criteria for your book. It'll look something like: published the year you were born or mentions a city in your state or historical fiction about an era you really don't know. 
2. You find your book. (It's probably a good -or even great- idea to get a library card!) 
3. Read. -You'll have a month. 
4. At the end of the month we'll review(ish) our books. Rachel and I will both have places for you to share your links in our posts. 
5. Repeat steps 1 - 4. 

- See more at: http://www.mrthomasandme.com/2015/05/collaboreads-book-lovers-link-up.html#sthash.mx0KKuvh.dpuf

Balboa Park, San Diego

You could probably spend a weeks exploring San Diego's Balboa Park and still not see everything.  The park is home to many museums, gardens, and the San Diego Zoo.  And it is absolutely gorgeous.  We spent one afternoon walking around a few of the beautiful gardens, museums and theaters.

 The Casa del Prado Theater is a historic reconstruction used by the San Diego Junior Theater.

Old Town San Diego, California

Old Town San Diego-the birthplace of California.  Super accessible to public transportation and filled with history and beautiful architecture.  I loved walking around the park and through a few of the museums as well as the shops on the surrounding streets.

Southern Makers, Montgomery, Alabama

One thing Alabama is not short on, is creative souls.  Southern Makers was the first weekend of May and brought in a slew of chefs, artists, brewers, musicians and designers from across the southeast, majority being from Alabama.  Proceeds from the event went to E.A.T. South, a really cool local charity which uses urban farms to promote principles of food justice through education and sustainable farming.

A few favorite artists included:

The Union Station Train Shed 

Weekend Reading

Last weekend, the Southern Makers event was held in the Union Station Train Shed in downtown Montgomery, Alabama.  The event was full of southern artists, musicians, chefs and brewers, majority being from Alabama.  I absolutely loved it!  This was the third year for the event, but my first time attending.  It was great to see such a large turn out for this creative event.  Since then, I have been on a creative kick, working on calligraphy and new recipes.