Looks like Julie was enjoying her new blue bowl with a scrumptious hot fudge banana split this weekend!!! Looks yummy… and thanks for sharing your photo!

To close out my wonderful roadtrip through Central Illinois on Friday, I stopped off in Chenoa to see some longtime friends and their kids! SURPRISE!!! They had no idea I would be stopping by. So great to see them even if we did try to keep our distance while enjoying pizza & s’mores!!! It was a wonderful roadtrip “surprising” a bunch of my friends during these crazy times… as I know that I have definitely been missing human contact while quarantining my myself.

I mean, a ZOOM meeting doesn’t smell like a campfire and squish with yummy marshmallow & chocolate goodness!

And while you’re driving through the middle of nowhere… be sure to stop off for PIE!!! I’ve always heard stories of good pie in Goodfield, Illinois… and they were definitely right!!!

Expanded my “quarantine-bubble” a bit this weekend with a “socially-distant” roadtrip to central Illinois on Friday… which just happened to be the Grand Re-Opening of MAURIE’S CANDIES in Eureka, Illinois. Two of my friends from college opened a great candy store back in March, only to be closed down a couple days later due to the coronavirus. Well, they finally got to re-open the store Friday… and it was great to surprise Keith & Julie in their own store… plus, I got some amazing goodies… especially THE FUDGE!!!

The best part is that the store is a working location for some of the “challenged” youths that live in a community service house that Keith runs. A great chance for some of the kids with Downs Syndrome to work and make a difference!!!

Another berry bowl off in the world living its best life…
full of a bountiful berry harvest!

Thanks to Angela for the photos of her new yellow-glazed berry bowl… as well as possibly the sweetest customer review ever! A bright light during tough times!

Remember, if you “need” to add a handmade berry bowl to your quarantine, there are still a few left in my Online Pottery Shop!!! Click HERE… or on the tab in the right hand corner of my blog!

Apparently it’s Monochromatic Monday!!! Who knew?! Yummy red cherries in a red glazed berry bowl. Great combo. Thanks Braxton for sharing!

Looks like my friend Nancy is surviving her quarantine with heart! Enjoying a cute little beverage after getting an espresso maker for Mother’s Day, and a pitcher & latte pen for her birthday to froth all that milk! Looks like she’s “sheltering-in-place-in-style” with that cute little cup too!!!

What have we learned in quarantine?…
Eating right from the container with dribbles on the scarf.
Eating from a sweet little ceramic bowl… NO DRIBBLES!!!

I think we all now know that the bowl made all the difference!
If you need to stop YOUR dribbles, just let me know!
Or you can always click HERE to go straight to my online shop!

Thanks Kristy for the photos…
and thanks Matt for being such a good-sport!

One of the highlights of my “surprise walk” was running into Team Lavender!!!

Two of my pottery students from Lillstreet. Jacob & Molly have been in my classes for quite awhile, most recently the Lillstreet Throwdown class… twice! We’ve even celebrated some momentous occasions with them in my class… engagement, wedding, baby shower!!! And now they’ve recently moved into my neighborhood and we just happened to cross paths today. It was great to see some Lillstreet friends again during quarantine! We even had our own socially-distant “hug”!!!

But then THIS was all their fault… they were eating frozen custard from Lickety Split. And I couldn’t get it out of my head… so this yummy indulgence was all their fault!!! Not mine.

While playing & biking in Elk Grove Village yesterday… how could I not stop by the best bakery ever?! I grew up with baked goods from Jarosch Bakery on a regular basis. So now it is such a TREAT to get out there to “treat myself” to a yummy childhood memory! It’s the same coffeecake my Mom would ALWAYS get us when she went there… a nice Mom memory.

And then I just realized… is it so bad that I did basically nothing all day today, and pretty much ate nothing but THIS!!!

Little sliver after little sliver… bite after bite… slice after slice… burp…