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Hello & Happy Friday!
Are you lighting the good candle this morning?
As you are reading this, I am sitting on the beach, sipping something with a tiny umbrella, and soaking in every ounce of sun and sand and (what’s an “s” word that means reading in a lounge chair with a giant hat on because I burn easily?).
The Laake’s are in Mexico! Please consider this my out of office.
But before I go, here’s some vacation-themed Weekend Stuff to help celebrate the sunshine wherever you are today. You didn’t think I’d leave without saying goodbye, did you?
I’m so thankful for this little getaway. But am grateful too that wherever we go, whatever we do, however glamorous or grimy our plans may be, there is mercy to be seen and felt and tasted and touched. What a gift it is to enjoy this life.
May your weekend be filled with the good stuff.
— Bailey
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Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine
I’m taking two books to the beach this week. This was an easy choice – it’s been recommended to me at least 5 times and with glowing reviews. I’m only two chapters in, but it’s witty and quirky and the endearingly written protagonist seems like an excellent beach companion.

This is the second beach book I’m packing (I have a problem) so I can’t speak to the specifics yet, but it’s a novel about a novelist, based in Paris, with lead female characters. Not to mention it’s a national best seller. (One day I’ll do an entire post about the Paris-based books I’ve written. I’m a sucker for anything French.)
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What says beach vacation more than citrus-y cocktails? I love everything grapefruit and this drink is no exception. Just missing the tiny umbrella and fun paper straw!

Rose Lemonade Elderflower Sangria
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