The View From Behind Home Plate: 5 Things on a Friday: 7-21-17

Ya'll, I'm obviously on a roll because I've now written blog posts two days in a row. Also, I don't want to do anything but sit inside since it's 7,000 degrees outside. So, grab something with ice in it and check out some Friday Favorites!

1. Summer Dresses

When it is this hot it's difficult to want to put any clothes at all on your person, so a flowy summer dress is perfect. I received a new Stitch Fix box just days before the 4th of July and it was by far the best I've ever received, so I'll be blogging on that soon. They sent me two adorable summer dresses - one that was red, white and blue and perfect for the 4th. If you want to try to Stitch Fix, I am still a fan and recommend giving it a try. When I am good about giving my stylists comments and updating my style profile, they do a great job of picking pieces I love. Go here to sign up.

For Friday Favorites today though, you need to know that Old Navy is having a crazy sale: up to 60% off on dresses and then 30% off your order at checkout with no code needed. Here are some of the cutest I found at Old Navy.

High Neck Tie Strap Swing Dress

This adorable thing comes in red also. It is $20.00 and 30% off that at check out. WHAT? If you do the math, which I don't feel like doing right now, I think you'll find that this dress costs just about nothing.

Embroidered Flutter Sleeve Dress

This one comes in a black pattern and a red one, also. $26.00. I can't even.

Lace Up Swing Dress

I feel like this is a dress that can be dressed up or down depending on your life. My life lends itself towards dressing down and I think this is so simple and cute.

PS If you didn't know, the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale starts today. SQUEAL!!!

2. Summer Reading

While I haven't been writing a lot, I have been reading quite a bit. I finished Boys in the Boat: Nine Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold at the 1936 Olympics which was long and a bit tedious with the details, but worth it in the end. It's a wonderful story of endurance with great characters and fascinating historical events.

I'm almost finished reading Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott and am nodding and "amen"-ing and underlining the fire out of it.

My friend, Elizabeth Foss, has written a beautiful, insightful devotional called Consider the Lilies which has ministered to me in ways for which I could never thank her enough. It has been a blessing to me during a season of change in our family and I do not do well with change. I cannot give it a higher recommendation. The chapters are short, thoughtful and soul-settling. Get it.

As I finished and adored My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She's Sorry, I decided that this author, Fredrik Backman, is a must-read. Thanks to my friend, Jen, who lent me two of his novels, my next read is Beartown.

3. Summer Nail Color

My favorite nail polish this summer is OPI's I Saw . . . U Saw . . . We Saw . . . Warsaw which is not one of their new colors and hard to find but I ordered it from Amazon here and it showed up right away. It's a little darker navy than Keeping Suzi at Bay which is another one of my favorite blues from OPI. I found that one here.

4. Summer Appetizer

photo from www.lemontreedwelling.com

We spent part of the 4th of July weekend at Lake Anna hanging out with family, watching fireworks over the lake and eating all the things we could find. My sister-in-law made this amazing Wedge Salad Dip. I'm not sure where she got the recipe, but I found it here. It is so good.

8 oz. cream cheese, softened
1 cup sour cream
1 packet dry Ranch dressing mix
1 1/2 cups chopped Romaine lettuce
1/2 cup chopped tomatoes
1/2 cup cooked bacon, crumbled
2-4 oz. blue cheese crumbles
1 Tbsp. fresh chives, chopped

Combine cream cheese, sour cream and Ranch mix. Spread into bottom of 9-inch pie plate or similar pan. Top with lettuce, tomato, bacon, blue cheese and chives. Serve with these chips because I said so. They're the best.

5. Summer Jam

It seems that every summer baseball season there is a song that comes out and becomes the one that will always remind me of my drives to and from the field in a certain year. One year it was this. One year it was this and another year this. Now any time I hear those songs, I'm taken back to whatever players and whichever field we were playing on and I always smile. This year in our Little League tournament, our boys lost a game early. They lost it in a big, bad, ugly way. That left them in a position in the loser's bracket where they had to fight their way back, playing every single day to earn a spot in the championship game.

A revival of sorts is what happened and they did win three in a row to get to that final game, but ended up losing 2-1 in a heart breaker. (Apparently, that day's song should have been You Can't Always Get What You Want.)

In any event, on the way to that first game after the loss, I heard this brand new song from my very favorite band of all time, Third Day. I thought it was pretty appropriate, both for our little team of fighters and for my soul. Every time I hear it from this day forward I'll think of Drew and his last Little League team. (PS If you need any new songs for your running playlist, I'd suggest all of them.)