Here is a big roundup of some of my summer finds and favorites from books to towels and white noise.
What I’ve Been Reading
- Before We Were Yours – Amazing story! Best book I’ve read since Where The Crawdads Sing and The Great Alone. The story is emotional and heart wrenching at times, but it left me thinking and Googling.
- Two By Two – This was one of my least favorite Nicholas Sparks books ever. I pretty much hated the whole thing. I found the characters very unrelatable, the story predictable, and the ending horrible.
- Such A Fun Age – In the middle of this one and it’s so good. Very timely because there are threads of race issues throughout. The author does an amazing job getting into the psyche of the characters. It reads like one long stream of consciousness to me.
- How to Be Antiracist – In the first half of this too. I tend to pick up my fiction at night so my pace is slow, but so far I’m finding it very good!
- American Dirt – Thomas is reading this now, and so many have recommended.
Turkish Towels
I am all about Turkish towels for the beach and pool! Wearable towels too. I bought mine from Michael Turk & Co here in Cville (for some reason their site is down, but Facebook works). Mazen has a terrycloth poncho that Karen sewed for him! I ordered Birch one of these for kids on Etsy. They have so many designs and colors! This is the closest I could find to my style.
Silicone Plates
These silicone plates from Amazon are the bomb. I discovered them at a beach house and found them on Amazon. At 3 for $17, they are a great price!
Travel White Noise
We have two of these – one for Birch and one for us – to use when we travel. This thing is tiny but the white noise is LOUD! There are 11 different white noise options, and I find them all pleasing (sometimes white noise is too harsh for my ears!) It uses a regular USB plug but can also live on a battery for a bit. Highly recommend!
Oyster Watercolor
Thomas’s aunt Nancy has been painting coastal-inspired watercolors this year, with a focus on oysters. I bought one for Thomas for Father’s Day. I just love the colors and gold combination – it reminds me of our wedding invitations! If you’d like to buy one, you can send Nancy a message on Instagram.
The Chicks
Did you know the Dixie Chicks changed their name to The Chicks? *All the clapping emojis* I’ve loved The Chicks since high school and felt they were very unfairly left in the dust by their conservative fan base back in the 2000s. (Remember when I went to their concert in 2016?!) I’m so glad they’re making a comeback, and their new song and video combo is amazing. Watch it here.
Think Clean Set
The new Think Clean gift set is the cutest combo of two of our best selling products in a mini size: the Overnight Resurfacing Peel (great for brightening and smoothing skin) and the Charcoal Mask (great for a weekly detox and gentle exfoliation). You can get the set for free when you spend $100 (perhaps on the Vitamin C serum or new Sheer Face Sunscreen?) and upgrade to a member for $29 (you also get free shipping for a year and 10% back in product credit). And for deals upon deals, get 20% off your first order here. Need some recommendations? Email me through this form and tell me you’re new!
Stitcher
After years of using the Apple Podcasts app, I have switched to Stitcher! There’s a big, big plus to Stitcher and that’s the Episode Playlist you see below. What I didn’t like about Apple’s app is there was no way to star or flag a random episode in a podcast to listen to later. While you could tap “play next” if you’re adding more than one you lose track of what’s up next. Stitcher’s playlist feature allows you to keep a running list of episodes you want to listen to and you can see what’s next, decide which one you want next, and remove them easily from the playlist. Game. Changer.
Kyte Sleep Sacks
The softest, coziest sleep sack there is!! Birch has almost outgrown this one, so I have a new one in my Amazon cart. Have any of you tried the kind with feet holes? I would worry his toes would poke out on a cool night or he’d take off socks we put on him. Anyone try this?
Post nap boy <3
Tara says
We use the Woolino sleep sack with the feet holes and love them. Our wee one’s feet are never cold but if we think it might be colder one night, we put her in footie PJs. Otherwise, her bare feet are out most nights.
Kath Younger says
Thanks for the feedback!
Chelsea says
I’m with you—SO excited for the Chicks to come back. I’ve been holding off on their new single and am waiting for the full album. They were one of my absolute favorites in high school, and I’m glad they’re going to put out more new music!
Kath Younger says
YES!
Laura says
Thanks for the book recommendations! I just put in a bunch of hold requests at the library. 🙂
If you’re looking for something to read next, I highly recommend “The Better Liar” by Tanen Jones. I’m usually not in to thrillers, but I LOVED this story.
Two others I’ve recently enjoyed are “The Last Days of Ptolemy Gray” by Walter Mosley and “The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo” by Taylor Jenkins Reid (the character development is so good that I kept picking up my phone to Google images / news stories about various parts of the book, and then I’d remember it was a work of fiction – haha!).
Kath Younger says
Thanks for the recs! I added Better Liar to my list. And I also loved Evelyn Hugo!!
The Many Thoughts of a Reader says
Books I’ve enjoyed this summer are The Hate U Give, All The Light You Cannot See, Amal Unbound, Mrs. Everything, and Whistling Past the Graveyard.
Kath Younger says
Thank you!
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog says
Thanks for sharing! I need to check out your recommendations 🙂
Charmaine Ng | Architecture & Lifestyle Blog
http://charmainenyw.com
Beth says
You should read American Dirt next. So good but a bit intense.
Kath Younger says
I can imagine – I do enjoy books like that.
Stacy K says
We have read a lot of the same books! Before You Were Yours gutted me, I have tried to read Where the Crawdads Sing, but I haven’t been able to get in to it. A few others I’ve loved this summer are: An American Marriage, Watch Me Disappear, Ask Again Yes, and Good Girls Lie.
Kelly A Haag says
Our book club just meet last night to discuss Such a Fun Age! We all loved it, for the most part, and thought it was deceptively simple.
Marci Gilbert says
I read Such a Fun Age and thought it was very blah and flat. I was waiting for something to happen. Disliked. I read Mrs. Everything, The Lies that Bind, and Spark of Light (older Jodi Picoult). All were excellent.
Andrea says
The great alone was SO GOOD!!! Best book I’ve read in awhile and I read almost a book a week. I think we have very similar taste in books!! Try mudbound, kitchens of the great Midwest, save me the plums, machine without horses, mrs everything, the sun does shine!
Kath Younger says
Noted them all!!
Jenny Share says
Hi Kath!
We have similar taste in books…Here is a blog post I wrote on my book review blog with my top book recommendations! Enjoy 🙂
https://bookcoffeehappy.com/2020/04/01/my-top-book-recommendations/
Kath Younger says
Thank you!! Saved!