Hi! Happy Good Friday. I’m delighted to see you here.
This week on the blog, I shared how I’m using gingham to decorate our home. It’s such a fun, playful print. I also shared a cute April Fool’s Day story. Did any pranks happen at your house on April 1?
Thank you for spending part of your day here, especially on Easter weekend. The Happy List is purposefully light and filled with things that caught my eye this week or inspired me in some way. I hope they do the same for you. If you’d like to reach out, and I hope you do, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook. (P.S. I am much better at answering emails and Instagram DMs than I am at anything on Facebook.)
Here’s the Happy List!
DARK COTTAGECORE
Domino reports that, according to Pinterest, searches for “dark cottagecore kitchens” are up 915% on their site.
The only thing I have to say about that is I think I was ahead of the curve.
This is one of the examples of a dark cottagecore kitchen shared in the article. I especially love the window and the table as an island.
(image: Photography by Petra Bindel; Styling by Emma Persson Lagerberg via Domino)
JANE GOODALL DAY
April 3 is Jane Goodall’s birthday and Goodall Day. It’s a play on words!
“Jane Goodall Institute is proud to launch Jane Goodall Day, our first annual giving day and a day of action. It is rooted in the belief Jane championed throughout her life: that hope is something we create together.
Jane Goodall Day reimagines Jane’s birthday as a shared, global moment to come together in action and celebrate how her legacy lives on through people, communities, and our collective effort to make a positive difference.”
Learn more about it here.
(image: Jane Goodall Institute)
LIVING PANSY WREATH
Wait, what?!? A wreath with real live pansies? I didn’t know this was possible, but Jennifer from Cottage On Bunker Hill is showing us the possibilities.
Get the directions here. Let me know if you make one.
(image: Cottage On Bunker Hill)
SEAFOAM GREEN CONTROL ROOMS
Ever wonder why the old control rooms in industrial plants or military installations were seafoam green? They were ALL that way.
Beth Mathews did a deep dive on this, and I have to say, I loved knowing that there was a reason. A good one, too. Check it out here.
image: via Wikimedia Commons, Hervé Cozanet from the marine-marchande.net
CULOTTES
Does anyone remember culottes? I’ve been waiting YEARS for them to come back in style. I think that the A-line shape is flattering for many people.
Anyway, I just got these Levi’s wide-leg, cropped jeans, which reminded me of culottes. They are SO GOOD, especially if you have more (yes, more) of a booty than the model. They are a lighter-weight denim, so I think I’ll be able to wear them all summer.
(image: Amazon)
GRAPEVINE “NEST”
Here’s another use for the grapevine wreath I know you’re hoarding. We all have one.
Lucy from Craftberry Bush turned it into a gorgeous spring planter “nest.” Get the details, including how she gave it a base, here.
(image: Craftberry Bush)
CREATIVE GARDEN
If my creative impulses ever latch onto gardening, I hope they manifest themselves in delightfully quirky ways like those seen in this Scottish garden.
More photos of this fun garden here, including a seafoam green door. I’ve got green on the mind!
(image: Sabina Rüber for House and Garden UK)
CHICKEN MARINADE
I used this chicken marinade recipe from Mom On Timeout this week. It definitely hit the spot.
I keep seeing these Instagram reels that say something to the effect that no one prepares you for the fact that getting older mostly means deciding what to do with chicken and ground beef every day for the rest of your life. Haha!
(image: Mom)
FOOD FOR THOUGHT
“Anyone who says they don’t have any regrets is simply living an unconsidered life. Not only that, but by doing so they are denying themselves the obvious benefits of self-forgiveness. Though, of course, the hardest thing of all is to forgive oneself… One sure path to self-forgiveness is to arrive at a place where you can see that your day-to-day actions are making the world a measurably better place, rather than a worse place — that is pretty simple stuff, available to all — and to arrive at this place with a certain amount of humility.”
– Nick Cave (via)
Thank you for reading this week’s Happy List.
Next week is spring break, so no blog posts next week. In the meantime, be good to yourself and others.
Happy Easter to those who celebrate!
*affiliate links in this blog post*