Friday Favorites (43)

Happy Friday, friends! It’s time for Friday Favorites, a series where I share my favorite hobbies, books, films, TV shows, style, and more!

Is February flying by or is it just me? This week is school vacation week for my kids so we’ve been having a stay-cation at home. It’s been really lovely to sleep in this week!

I’ve been reading lots and have lots of movies to share, too.

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Favorite Day Trip

We took the boys into Boston for the day yesterday as part of our stay-cation and it really was so lovely. It was a pretty mild winter day and super sunny. We walked the whole city and took in lots of lovely sites.

Highlights include –

• The WINTERACTIVE public art display in the Downtown Crossing area. The clowns were our favorite!
• A cookie break at The Half Cookie at their pop up in the Seaport. Her cookies are out of this world.
• Strolling through the Common (the Embrace is amazing to see in person) and the Public Garden
• A stroll up Newbury including a visit to Johnny Cupcakes
• The view from the observation deck at the 14th floor at 470 Atlantic Ave – it’s free and open to the public

Favorite Books

I love reading and I love books and this month I have a lot to share with you! Some of these books I got at Buttonwood Books in Cohasset and some are from Book Love in Plymouth. I’m linking to Amazon in case you’re not local.

I just finished the The Wishing Game by Meg Shaffer. If you’re looking for a lighter and whimsical book this is it. The book centers around Lucy Hart, a 26 year old teacher’s aid, who dreams of adopting a 7 year old orphan. She introduces the boy she wants to adopt to a children’s author she enjoyed when she was young and he’s just published a new book and has a competition similar to Willy Wonka. I really loved this book.

I’m now reading The Unmaking of June Farrow by Adrienne Young and absolutely LOVE it. It centers around the main character June Farrow and her family’s curse. I’m about 100 pages in and I don’t want to put the book down. There are elements of magic and supernatural. It reminds me a little of The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by VE Schwab. Both are so discriptive and layered. I love books that are really detailed and take you on an epic adventure. I’d love to read The Spells for Forgetting by Adrienne Young. Let me know if any of you have read it yet.

I picked up two art books which are wonderful. I’m trying to get better at painting dogs specifically so I grabbed The Animal Drawing Primer by Jennifer Rae Phillips which takes you through drawing all kinds of animals – dogs, cats, horses, and more. The other book is a watercolor book A Year of Watercolor by Harriet De Winton and her watercolors are beautiful. The tutorials are broken down into drawing and color techniques etc. The projects are divided into seasons. I’m excited to absorb all this knowledge!

Favorite Place To Walk

We’ve always loved Norris Reservation in Norwell and it really is pretty in all seasons! We walked with the boys and dogs this week and had a chilly picnic at the boat house. It brought back lovely memories of when they were little.

Favorite Films

We’ve been watching a lot of TV and I can’t wait to share everything with you.

Films

American Fiction – First I have to talk about American Fiction. We saw it at The Reel Cinema in Scituate Harbor. Many scenes were filmed in Scituate so if you’d like to see our little town on the big screen I’d highly recommend it. The film itself is so well done and entertaining. I don’t want to give too much away but it’s been nominated for several Academy Awards and the cinema sold out in the harbor. Every time Scituate showed up on the screen everyone clapped. I cried. I think you’ll love it!

Nope – I don’t like horror movies but I loved this film. It’s by Jordan Peele who also did Get Out. John watched it and said we had to watch. It’s about a family horse ranch and things start happening. Very different film – part horror, part sci-fi part suspense and a wonderful cast. Nope is available on Peacock.

Made in Italy – We watched this on Netflix and it’s a perfect date night in movie. It is a film about a father and son trying to restore the family villa in Italy. It has Liam Neeson and his real life son. It’s a very emotional film and so well done. You can also rent the villa they filmed in! See the Tuscan Villa here. Isn’t that gorgeous? Made in Italy is available on Netflix and Hulu.

Leave the World Behind – This one is very different, too, and we watched it as a family. I don’t want to give too much away but it has Julia Roberts, Ethan Hawke, Mahershala Ali, and Kevin Bacon. It’s about a family who rents an AirBnB outside of New York City and then the owners arrive their first night saying they need to stay because something is happening in New York. A very different film. We were glued to it with the boys. Leave the World Behind is available on Netflix.

Mathilda the Musical – Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! This is the musical version of Mathilda by Roald Dahl. John is the dad of his high school musical production so we had to watch the movie. This is wonderful and Emma Thompson is unrecognizable. The music, choreography and sets are wonderful. Mathilda the Musical is available on Netflix.

TV

Percy Jackson and The Olympians – Our boys enjoyed these books and liked the film. The TV version has a great cast and the sets are wonderful. It’s a nice family program on Disney+.

Favorite Apparel

I know I shared this lovely hand block printed robe the other day in our bathroom post, but it’s so cozy. Coastal Brahmin has such lovely things.

With it being so cold I’ve been wearing lots of sweatshirts. These currently are my favorite and I like that you can wear the collar buttoned up high or open. Dress them up or dress them down. Perfect to go out in OR stay home cozy. I have this top in Seacoast Blue and Black. The tops are 67% off!

Favorite New Class

I’m taking part in Drawing II with the Yale Peabody Museum Natural Science Program. I’m in Betsy Barry’s class. It’s an online class and it’s fun to spend Monday nights drawing with a creative group of people. Some of us are on the East Coast, but others are in California and Arizona and Singapore. It’s a nice mix of people. I drew these pinecones for one class.

I’m a self-trained watercolor artist so I’m always trying to improve my skills, especially with drawing.

Well, I think that covers all my favorites! Hope you enjoyed this installment of Friday Favorites! You can see all of them here. Now, it’s your turn! What are the things you’re loving right now?

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