April-September Reads 2020

At the end of 2019/beginning of 2020 I had set a goal to read one book a month. I have always enjoyed reading, I just never made the time to do it much recently but I wanted to get back in to getting lost in a story! I had read Where the Crawdads Sing and it got me hooked on reading again. I love those books that are so good you can't put down!! Little did I know that 2020 + Covid were going to slow things down, create quarantine and all the more time to read! So far 11/12 months in and I have accomplished, and even surpassed, my goal set! Here are some reads from April- Sept!

The Alice Network

4/5 stars

A historical novel that follows two story lines that eventually merge on some common ground.

Reach for this book if you like World War reads, if you read + liked The Tattooist of Auschwitz. 

This isn't my typical genre or my usual psychological thriller but I would recommend!

 

Grab it on Amazon: here 

The Guest List

5/5 stars

The Bride. The Plus- One. The Best Man. The Wedding Planner. The Bridesmaid.

All merge together to one twisted ending.

This also isn't my typical read with having multiple viewpoints throughout but I LOVED it! 

It had juicy characters that I wanted to know more and more about! 

A page turnover that kept you on the edge of your sit right to the end!

Definitely recommend!!! This is a new release (to public in May) but I got it though my Book of the Month club. Here is a referral link if you want to join too: Book of the Month

 (Book of the month also makes a great gift idea! ;))

 

 Happy & You Know It

4/5 stars

 

Read this one if you like any of the Real Housewives shows as that is what it reminded me a lot of! It was a quick and easy read and you get attached to the different characters and want to know what happens!

Grab it here from: amazon.

 

 The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo

5/5 stars

I lovedddd this book! I loved how it had twists and turns. I was immediately hooked on Evelyn Hugo and her story and wanted to keep going to hear more, more, more! 

 

 

City of Girls

4/5 stars

 

First of all, the cover of this one is gorgeous! I was really excited to read this book but I will be honest, it was a little anti-climatic at the end for me.

I did love many of the small quotes and tid bits that kind of made you think: 

"The world ain't straight. You grow up thinking things are a certain way. You think there are rules. You think there's a way that things have to be. You try to live straight. But the world doesn't care about your rules, or what you believe. The world ain't straight."

I'd love to know: What are you reading?!

Also, support your local, small book shops as much as you can right now! They need you!
Let me know if you have any questions!!!
xoxo,
Ashley

Breakfast Pizza

 

 

 

I think this makes the perfect weekend breakfast, lunch, snack-- whatever! It was so good we had it for breakfast AND lunch last weekend! The boursin cheese spread makes it SO delicious!

And, it was SUPER easy to make!!! 

This is a must try!

 

Have a great weekend!!

xo,

Ashley

Cowboy Caviar

This dip is super easy to make and one of my favorites now that the weather is starting to get nice! It has so many fresh veggies in it making it light + the perfect snack! Support your local farmers market + grab your ingredients there!

Grab some tortilla chips on dive in!

Quarantine Cocktail

Have you been switching things up and making different cocktails during quarantine??

I made this one a couple weekends ago and it was perfect!

Sweet. Refreshing. Easy. Delish.

Rome, Italy: May 2019

The anniversary of our first ever Europe trip is coming up & I am feeling so blessed that we were able to make that trip happen last year! It was a trip of a lifetime and with all that is happening right now, I couldn't imagine how devastated I would be if we had to cancel! My heart truly goes out to all of you who have had to cancel a major trip such as one like this!

Day one was mostly a day of travel; we flew out late (9pm) from the Toronto airport on a non-stop flight to Rome. It was a six hour drive to Toronto BUT it saved us quite a bit of money on airfare so it was definitely worth it! (Also, with it being one of the few non-stop flights that did make it even better!!!) If you are interested in doing a trip like this and looking to save on airfare, make sure to explore ALL your options--- even if you may have to drive a bit for your flight.

Packing cubes were a huge game changer, especially for this flight/trip and I would 110% recommend them for ANY upcoming travel you have! For two weeks, two different countries, and lots of variety of activities--- these helped organize and save space!

Ok, so arriving at the airport in practically the same outfit as your friend kicks off the trip!!! (HAHAH!!)  This trip would have not been half of what it was without our two travel buddies! My friend Ashley & I (and some help from my husband Tyler too) planned the entire trip ourselves. From making an itinerary to booking Air B&B's, and train tickets it was 100% done by us! 

We were able to sleep most of the plane ride over, took our "No Jet Lag" pills and arrived in Rome ready to hit the ground running! (Italy is 6 hours ahead of us and it was about a 9 hour flight) 

We connected with our driver to take us to our first Air B&B, got our bearings for a bit, and then set out to grab some food and explore! That first day we hit the Pantheon, Trevi Fountain, the Spanish steps, and views around the Vatican. We experienced our first (real) Gelato and Italian food & wine (and we were HOOKED!!!! Seriously never tasted better food!) We mostly ordered the house white and it was delish! Also,  here starts the "Gelato Challenge" (eat Gelato at least once a day while we were in Italy! ;)) In case you're wondering, my friend & I 100% completed this challenge and have NO regrets!

Pantheon

Trevi Fountain

This was a lot for our first day and we were beat! We grabbed dinner (which by the way... restaurants kind of shut down in the middle of the day to early evening and Italians are accustomed to eating late dinners!) and then headed back to our place for the night to re-group on tomorrow's plan and get some rest!

Using Rome as our hub we ended up experiencing the city in a couple different days (one at the beginning of our trip and one at the end). We did A LOT of walking on this trip which helped us to really see and experience it all! If you're interested in our itinerary for the trip or have any other questions, I would be glad to help! :) Stay tuned for more pieces of our Europe journey & memories!

Email me: romzeka@gmail.com