Happy List: #356

Here’s the Happy List!

KITCHEN INSPO

I spend a lot of time thinking about how to make a new kitchen look right in my old house. A kitchen renovation is not happening anytime soon but a girl can dream.

Some details that capture this look can be found in this kitchen by Jessica Helgerson Interior Design. There are no upper cabinets. There’s a furniture piece somewhere in the room. The cabinet knobs are painted. The cabinets also have exposed hinges.

The hinges are something that just dawned on me this week even though every old house I’ve ever lived in, including my current one, has exposed hinges.

(image: Jessica Helgerson Interior Design via The Nordroom)

MADE ME SNORT-LAUGH

This candle made me snort-laugh when I saw it on Etsy. Bookmarking this for my bestie’s birthday in the spring.

(image: Hello You Candles via Etsy)

BEAUTIFUL

I don’t have this type of decorating in me, but I love looking at beautiful pictures like this one created by Happy Happy Nester because I find them so inspiring creativity-wise.

I’d also love to be invited to a party that was decorated like this.

I might not go because my introverted streak runs deep, but I’d want to be invited. Ha!

(image: Happy Happy Nester)

I find inspiration in photos like the one above. For example, the color purple works so well for fall. Maybe I’ll buy purple mums this year.

Also, there are book page leaves in this photo. That might spark an idea or three. I’ve only made one thing with book pages (it was 2016) and it was one of the funniest failures. You can read about that here.

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL TRADITION

If you have kids, I encourage you to start a first-day-of-school tradition to celebrate going back to school if you don’t already have one.

It doesn’t really matter what the tradition is, but I can tell you that it will be a core memory for your kids.

I always made a giant cookie for each kid. This week, I made my last first-day of-school cookie for my oldest. I was a bit of an emotional wreck, but my senior was ecstatic.

The great thing about the tradition is that no matter what happens on that first day of school, my kids have something to look forward to at the end of the day. It might be the cherry on top of the sundae or it might be the balm on the wound.  But it has always made them smile and that’s why I do it.

DO YOU CLEAN YOUR BOOKS?

I scoffed when I read the headline from Better Homes and Gardens that said “Yes, You Should Be Cleaning Your Books.” 

Do we not have enough to do? 

Then I read the story and realized that I periodically do this. *insert forehead slap here* It’s just dusting, guys. The headline made me think it was something more elaborate. I don’t like dusting though, especially books, so I only do it periodically.

It did make me wonder about the cleaning routine at libraries. Never once have I noticed dust on our library’s shelves. I think I’ll ask the next time I’m in because those cleaners are heroes.

FLOWER CARPET

If we had been in Brussels last week, we could have seen the Flower Carpet. The Flower Carpet is 1,680 sq. meters of flowers arranged to look like a beautiful carpet.

The exhibit happens every two years because of the time it takes to make the design and place a growing order for hundreds of thousands of cut flowers. 100 garden volunteers place the flowers in just six hours.

Read more about it here including how they prevent wind from destroying the design.

(image: Flower Carpet)

SIMPLE WHITE BEAN SALAD

I’m still on my Alexandra Cooks recipe kick, so I made her Simple White Bean Salad this week.

DROP EVERYTHING and make this salad right now. Right. now. Hurry. Talk about a flavor explosion. I cannot emphasize enough how delicious this salad is. I had some for my after dinner snack! That will only sound weird until you’ve tasted this salad.

Plus, it only got better after sitting in the fridge for a few hours.

(image: Alexandra Cooks)

P.S. I didn’t have white balsamic vinegar, so the internet told me to substitute rice wine vinegar or apple cider vinegar. Don’t skip the sun-dried tomatoes though. They make the salad.

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

This letter from Nick Cave to a fan who wrote to ask how he dealt with cynicism is so poignant. The devastation he refers to is the death of his 15-year-old son. If you want to watch an interview Cave did with Stephen Colbert, you can find it here.

—

Dear Valerio,

You are right to be worried about your growing feelings of cynicism and you need to take action to protect yourself and those around you, especially your child. Cynicism is not a neutral position — and although it asks almost nothing of us, it is highly infectious and unbelievably destructive. In my view, it is the most common and easy of evils.

I know this because much of my early life was spent holding the world and the people in it in contempt. It was a position both seductive and indulgent. The truth is, I was young and had no idea what was coming down the line. I lacked the knowledge, the foresight, the self-awareness. I just didn’t know. It took a devastation to teach me the preciousness of life and the essential goodness of people. It took a devastation to reveal the precariousness of the world, of its very soul, to understand that it was crying out for help. It took a devastation to understand the idea of mortal value, and it took a devastation to find hope.

Unlike cynicism, hopefulness is hard-earned, makes demands upon us, and can often feel like the most indefensible and lonely place on Earth. Hopefulness is not a neutral position either. It is adversarial. It is the warrior emotion that can lay waste to cynicism. Each redemptive or loving act, as small as you like, Valerio, such as reading to your little boy, or showing him a thing you love, or singing him a song, or putting on his shoes, keeps the devil down in the hole. It says the world and its inhabitants have value and are worth defending. It says the world is worth believing in. In time, we come to find that it is so.

Love, Nick

Thank you for reading today’s Happy List.

Be good to yourself and others this weekend. We all need it.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.