A couple of years ago I started a supper club. We are a small group of ladies that love to cook and meet every 6-8 weeks to share delightful food with each other based on a theme picked by each host.
Our most recent meal was hosted by me and the theme was “Lenten Fish Friday: Healthy Style.” We had dill and lemon baked salmon, roasted sweet potatoes, lightened up coleslaw with apples, lemon tart, and this adorable appetizer tray.
If you know me at all, you’ll know this was NOT made by me because while I love to cook, I’m not good at presentation or tedious things (although this one looks like something I could handle. Isn’t it adorable? The eyes are pieces of black olives.
I had a hard time picking between two things to tell you about in this months featured image so I’m just going to share both!
One of my best friends daughters is getting married this fall. A few years ago they moved to Michigan but wanted to come back here to do a wedding shower for her local family as well as her husbands family who is from around here. I (of course) was happy to offer my house as a location.
My friend and her (other) daughter are both wedding planners and amazingly talented decorators. I told them they had free reign of my house to move anything around as they pleased…and they did! We stuffed most of our living room furniture into our bedroom and they turned our home into the fanciest wedding shower space I’ve ever seen! (A wedding planners, they have access to things like those nice white chairs! LOL)
Since the bride and groom are eloping in Italy, they wanted an Italian theme. We had Peach Bellini’s, Carbonara Cups, Arancini Balls, Bruschetta, prosciutto, and melon.
By the way, these little Plastic Dessert / Appetizer Cups came in handy for the small carbonara servings. So cute!
Dessert was lemon bars, biscotti, and ice cream from the grooms family business. They own an old time drive-in with burgers, chili dogs, root beer floats, etc. It’s a local staple. The ice cream was the perfect compliment to the Italian biscotti cookie.
I love this photo with their dog, Winnie peeking around the corner.
Thanks for letting me share a couple of life highlight with you today from this past month. Now, onto my “finds” for YOU!
1
We finally got magnetic iPhone charging mounts for our Jeep Grand Cherokee. It’s very strong, does not have to be attached to a window, and also does not require any kind of permanent attachment like screws. It’s easily removable.
At first we just got one for the drivers side but then I realized how nice it would be to have one on the passenger side as well so we splurged a bit getting a second! While this particular one is for a Jeep, the brand, Getoffroam, make them for all kinds of vehicles. Highly recommended!
2
Social Media Image Sizes: 2025 Cheat Sheet (Sara Campbell | Savvy Music Studio)
The most significant size change I’ve noticed recently is Instagram’s move from the (1:1) square images to (4:5) – long over due in my opinion!
3
I have four students who are either juniors or seniors and finishing out piano with me for various reasons. I decided to give “farewell” gifts rather than just “senior” gifts because the two juniors have been with me 11 and 12 years. I thought it fair to still recognize them in that way.
For the boy (whose family attends a church where he wears a suit each week), a cross tie clip.
For two girls, Madelyn L’Engle’s book Walking on Water: Reflections on Faith and the Arts and the third girl a book of Early Advanced arrangements of Getty and Townend Praise Classics. (I once crossed paths with them when we both attended the Getty’s Irish Christmas Concert so I knew this would be a good choice!)
4
Joy Morin and I were guests on Tim Topham’s podcast this past month on Using Notion to Organize Your Studio and Life (The Top Cast).
P.S. Registration is OPEN for the May session of “Organize Your Life with Notion”! Check out details here.
5
Organizing and Updating My Printed Piano Music Files plus Free File Folder Labels! (Natalie Weber | Music Matter Blog)
6
When it comes to podcasts, I go in spurts where I’ll listen faithfully to certain ones then get burned out and not listen for months or a year. The Lazy Genius and The Next Right Thing are both two that I got burned out on but recently returned to. Episodes I’ve recently enjoyed include:
359: The Spiritual Practice of Looking Up and Down (Emily P. Freeman)
361: Managing Time and Expectations (Emily P. Freeman)
414: What I Hope My Kids Know When They Move Out (Kendra Adachi)
7
Microsoft announced that starting October 1, 2026, it will no longer be supporting Microsoft Publisher as part of Microsoft 365. (Not surprising!) I have a few resources I originally created in Publisher including a Visual Listening Guide available for free here on Piano Pantry.
We recently recreated it in Canva not only to get it out of Publisher but to freshen it up a bit. Check out the updated Visual Listening Guide here.
