Today's warm sunny weather has faded away into weekend showers and I'm happy to be home from work a bit early with my feet up. With few plans for the weekend other than church, lounging, and some early packing for my trip next week, I'm very thrilled for two days of rest. And, I'm even more excited to only have three work days (and some warm, sunny weather) before heading off to Oregon to see so many beloved family and friends.

This week's favorites are mostly food-related, but what can I say, it was a good week for eating in our house. I hope you cook/bake and enjoy . . .

• I highly recommend two new recipes from our dinner menus this week - a delicious (and easy) vegetable soup and a tasty pasta with yogurt and carmelized onions. Both were quick to prep, and also delicious as leftovers.
• Then follow-up up those dinners with these salted chocolate chunk cookies, as we did, and you will go to bed happy. I even made them with a mix of ovomaltine and white chocolate as that was all we had around, and they were quickly devoured.
• I don't have any plans to host a party, but I sure feel like I need to make one where either this rainbow triangle bunting or vellum circles garland make an appearance.
• I'm already convinced that my feet are going to love the freedom of sandals this summer, so these cute floral Birkenstocks might be making their way onto my wishlist.