Happy List: #318

Hello! Welcome to the Happy List. I’m delighted you are here.

This week on the blog was an eclectic one. I like to keep you on your toes! I shared the home maintenance task we’ve been focused on and how that’s led to some ‘interesting’ conversations. I also wrote about hot sauce and all the things the recipes don’t tell you about making hot sauce.

Thank you for reading this blog. It makes our day – both mine and Handy Husband’s. If you want to share the blog or an idea we post on social media, we would be very grateful. We also love talking to you. If you want to connect with us or ask a question, you can always comment on this blog post or send an email here. You can also reach out on Instagram or Facebook.

Here’s the Happy List!

HAT WALL

I am a sucker for hat walls and I don’t even wear this type of hat. I’m also a sucker for pictures with piles of books.

See more pictures of this island house here.

(image: Marta Xochilt Perez | Produced and Art Directed by Michelle Adams | via Lonny)

COLOR BLOCK JACKET

I haven’t worn LL Bean since college but I’m rethinking that now. LL Bean has the cutest color block jackets in a variety of colors.

(image: LL Bean)

NIHILARTIKELS

Calling all crossword and word game lovers! I learned the most interesting thing. Not sure I can pronounce it though. Ha!

Nihilartikels are phony words deliberately inserted into dictionaries to catch plagiarists. If you find your fake words in someone else’s dictionary, you know they copied your dictionary.

However, sometimes fake words end up in dictionaries just because of mistakes. These are called ghost words and they are an editor’s worst nightmare.

Learn more about ghost words and see some of the nihilartikels used in dictionaries over at Mental Floss.

EXFOLIATING MITT

I’m not going to show you pictures because it’s too gross but trust me when I say this exfoliating mitt woks really, really well.

(image: Amazon)

GOING VERTICAL

It doesn’t work for my current home, but I love the vertical slats on these stair risers. It’s different from what you usually see and is giving off major modern vibes.

(image: Michael Irwin via Domino)

GHOST CRAFT

Jennifer Rizzo made the cutest rope ghost. It would look so fun on a front door. If you can glue, you can do this! Get the directions here.

(image: Jennifer Rizzo)

SALT AND PEPPER

I’m just throwing it out there. I’d like to be invited to a dinner party that Pottery Barn throws.

Check out these bronze salt and pepper shakers that you could leave out on your table or kitchen shelves all autumn long as practical decor. I think they’d work for winter too. Aren’t they cute?

(image: Pottery Barn)

KOREAN BEEF BOWL

I make this Korean Beef recipe by Damn Delicious almost every week for my family. They call it teriyaki and everyone likes it. That rarely happens.

I increase the sauce and add veggies because my family needs to eat their dang vegetables.

(image: Damn Delicious)

P.S. I love this website name!

POETRY MOMENT

‘The Invitation’ By Oriah Mountain Dreamer

It doesn’t interest me
what you do for a living.
I want to know
what you ache for
and if you dare to dream
of meeting your heart’s longing.

It doesn’t interest me
how old you are.
I want to know
if you will risk
looking like a fool
for love
for your dream
for the adventure of being alive.

It doesnt interest me
what planets are
squaring your moon…
I want to know
if you have touched
the centre of your own sorrow
if have been opened
by life’s betrayals
or have become shrivelled and closed
from fear of further pain.

I want to know
if you can sit with pain
mine or your own
without moving to hide it
or fade it
or fix it.

I want to know
if you can be with joy
mine or your own
if you can dance with wildness
and let the ecstasy fill you
to the tips of your fingers and toes
without cautioning us
to be careful
to be realistic
to remember the limitations
of being human.

It doesn’t interest me
if the story you are telling me
is true.
I want to know if you can
disappoint another
to be true to yourself.
If you can bear
the accusation of betrayal
and not betray your own soul.
If you can be faithless
and therefore trustworthy.

I want to know if you can see Beauty
even when it is not pretty
every day.
And if you can source your own life
from its presence.

I want to know
if you can live with failure
yours and mine
and still stand at the edge of the lake
and shout to the silver of the full moon,
“Yes.”

It doesn’t interest me
to know where you live
or how much money you have.
I want to know if you can get up
after the night of grief and despair
weary and bruised to the bone
and do what needs to be done
to feed the children.

It doesn’t interest me
who you know
or how you came to be here.
I want to know if you will stand
in the centre of the fire
with me
and not shrink back.

It doesn’t interest me
where or what or with whom
you have studied.
I want to know
what sustains you
from the inside
when all else falls away.

I want to know
if you can be alone
with yourself
and if you truly like
the company you keep
in the empty moments.

Thank you for reading today’s Happy List.

Be good to yourself and others this weekend.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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