Happy List: #346

Hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m thrilled you are here.

I am also thrilled that this weekend is the unofficial (or is it official?) kickoff to summer in the United States. I’m ready. My kids are ready. Handy Husband goes with the flow.

This week on the blog I shared all the tiny paintings that I love and how I display them in my home.

I also wrote about the new windowsills in our basement – two so far! I don’t know how much repointing work is going to happen down there this summer. It feels like a nice winter job, but it’s also cool down there, so maybe work will continue during the hot summer days. Only time will tell.

As always, thank you for being here. One of the perks of blogging is being able to connect with you. I’ve made the best online friends through this website. If you want to connect, and I hope you do, you can always comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also reach out on Instagram or Facebook.

Enjoy this week’s Happy List!

WOW

This is a real home and property north of Ibiza photographed by Clare Takacs for her book Visionary: Gardens and Landscapes for our Future.

I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around the idea that this is someone’s real life. I was convinced this was an AI image at first. Also, I need to add “visit Ibiza” to my bucket list.

See more pictures of Clare Takacs’ garden photography here.

(image: photographer Clare Takacs | landscape architect Giacomo Guzzon | via Gardenista)

FUN IDEA

Wedding blogs have the best party ideas! I love this table number idea from Weddingsonline that uses years for the table numbers and a picture of the bride and groom from that year.

You could easily adapt this idea to other types of parties like anniversaries, retirements, and graduations. For more creative ways of displaying photos at weddings, check out this article over at Tulle and Chantilly.

(image: Weddingsonline vis Tulle and Chantilly)

MONTICELLO GARDENS

Have you visited Monticello in Virginia? I would really like to experience it for a variety of historical, cultural, and botanical reasons.

The gardens at Monticello (they even have a vineyard) are supposed to be incredible. Thomas Jefferson recorded 330 varieties of more than 70 vegetable species grown at Monticello. He used the gardens as a laboratory of sorts to experiment with growing new vegetable varieties.

Plan a visit or take a virtual tour of Monticello here.

(image: Monticello)

SWIM SKIRT

If you’re shopping for new swimwear, I have a recommendation.

I have two of these Baleaf swim skirts and love them.

I like them because they are a little bit longer than a swim skirt you’d buy most anywhere else – think tennis skirt length. In fact, you could wear this skirt in public and still have more coverage than most people’s shorts.

(image: Baleaf via Amazon)

P.S. Abs shown in this picture are not mine.

BEST IDEA EVER

France has released a scratch-and-sniff postage stamp that smells like a baguette. How carbalicious is that?

The stamp is in honor of the upcoming Olympics hosted by France. Learn more about it here.

(image: via BBC)

Now, what’s the protocol for this? Can you scratch it before you send it? Is the smell intended for the recipient? I have questions, but the biggest one is will someone send me one of these stamps?

THOUGHTFUL ADVICE

I loved this essay on what to say or not to say to parents whose kids are not going to college after graduating high school.

No one wants to be unintentionally hurtful to a parent or a grad and this essay provides great perspective and concrete suggestions of what to say or not to say and why. It is a gentle learning opportunity.

(image: Freepik)

STAR SPANGLED DIP

I’m feeling festive for Memorial Day!

I think I could handle making this layered dip from Katie Lee Biegel. The flag is made with black olives, salsa, and cotija cheese. The layers underneath include refried beans, guacamole, and cheese.

(image: Food Network)

POETRY MOMENT

This poem took me on an emotional journey! I wasn’t sure I liked how it started, but I’m glad I read to the end.

What Begins by Danusha Laméris

What begins in beauty, ends in beauty.
What begins in sorrow, ends in sorrow.
The seed once planted, soon in full bloom.
If grief, then grief. If anger, anger. They say
the first week of any love affair reveals its end.
Give me the child at seven, and so forth.
And didn’t the world begin with a bang?
Hard to argue for another truth. But I have seen
a heart worn thin, take to small repairs, have watched
a blue jay, born wild, eat out of a woman’s hand.
And didn’t we begin as tadpoles, curled and gilled?
I want to think the starting place is only
one location on a curve that we can follow
to another end. And then, begin again.

P.S. Laméris has a new book coming out soon, Blade by Blade.

Thank you for reading today’s Happy List.

Be good to yourself and others this week.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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