It’s Sunday. Let’s settle in.
• Letters of Note is the most beautiful and satisfying site I’ve found in a long time. It’s filled with lost and found letters in history. I love this letter from W.E.B DuBois to his daughter. This letter from Samuel Clemens (Mark Twain) to his wife swells my heart. And Elizabeth Taylor wrote a letter to her lost cat… which I totally understand. So many insightful words on this site, and there’s also Letters of Note: the book.
• We’re going to talk about our nails for a second. Just a quick second. It’s important because we get to connect two seemingly dissimilar things: nail art and SHARK WEEK! The latest installation of nail art from Scratch includes a set of shark inspired nail wraps. So good. I’m really glad people think of these things.
• Should I get my haircut and read #GIRLBOSS because I really think the answer is #HECKYES!
• I think that it’s really important that we all know how to take care of ourselves in the world. I’m talking about the basics: bathing, smiling at strangers, remembering to buy toilet paper, how to fold fitted sheets, and how to invest in our RothIRAs. The basics, right?
My financial future is important to me mostly because I work for myself and every day is like a silent AAAHHHHHHH! I’m building my own financial safety net but it takes time and know-how. I’m all the way into The Suze Orman Podcast and books like Real Money Answers For Every Woman and The 9 Steps to Financial Freedom. Tsh from The Art of Simple also has some great real-talk and recourses for us about how to be debt-free. It’s all baby steps… but super important. Get into it!
• I’ve been wearing this Schooner Dress from Girls From Savoy and channeling my time in Maine.
• Did you know that we’re doing Pineapple iPhone cases now? Is that a pineapple in your pocket or are you just happy to… nevermind. I’m sorry.
• Nearly every morning in the French Quarter a man (the same man) walks down my street singing Sam Cooke’s A Change Is Gonna Come and it feels perfect every single time.
Sidenote: R Kelly has a live-version cover of A Change Is Gonna Come and it’s SO GOOD I can’t even make eye contact with you. It would be too embarrassing to put a link to R Kelly on my blog but… here.
• Sometimes I find myself in the kitchen, staring at something I’m trying to make into dinner, thinking… how to I even cut this dang thing! Most recent confusion: cauliflower. Halfway through trying to hack away the green leaves I thought… there’s got to be a better way… I have to know how to do this somewhere in my culinary brain. Spoiler alert: I figured it out. Thank you, The Kitchn. How To Cut Cauliflower.
• Now… cauliflower cutting became such a thing in my kitchen because I hopped on the Cauliflower Rice bandwagon which was A REALLY GOOD IDEA! Rice made of a vegetable. I made myself a burrito bowl last night and I’m pretty sure I’m a genius, so… success!
Next step: PALEO DIET! Just kidding, hopefully.
• My 33rd birthday (huh!?) is next weekend and I’ve set a birthday intention that I’ve honored for the past few years. Every year on my birthday I sponsor another child through Compassion. After my trip to Uganda this year, a new opportunity to sponsor a child in need feels extra special to me.
Jeanie
Happy Birthday, Joy! I love your site and visit it often. I often look at yummy things on Pinterest but then come to your site for the recipe that best fits what I’m craving. Pinterest may look good, but I know your food will taste good! About Compassion, we found a little boy in Mexico born on the day of our twins and he was a birthday present this year (also Geminis).
April
Hey Joy,
How the heck DO you fold a fitted sheet?!
Lea
Funny because once I made eye contact with R. Kelly on the street in Chicago and it freaked me straight out.
nicole
happy birthday from a two-headed bull. this may 20th birthday is so confusing…bulls? twins? where do i belong?!
Cecelia
Please don’t ever apologize for putting an R. Kelly link on your blog
Laura
This was just a fabulous post that I loved. Tracy’s Friday lists are a favorite of mine and I love this modge podge of your thoughts to. Love listening to and reading your twos thoughts !
Jodi
Welcome to 33 Joy, it’s way better than 32 ;)
joythebaker
are you sure about that?
Ashlyn
I love your Sunday posts! That dress is fantastic!
sashahayman
Happy early birthday, Joy! I bought a head of cauliflower almost a week ago and it’s been taunting me every time I open my fridge, but tonight it will become rice and I will be a genius, too. I made your lemon pound cake last night and overcooked it so I’m in need of redemption!
Adrianna from A Cozy Kitchen
Isn’t the word ‘paleo’ the grossest?! Ugh. It’s just terrible. But cauliflower rice is my joint! Obsessed. Thanks for the shout-out, friend. And word on the financial future tip. I’m trying to figure that out. Got to!!
joythebaker
got to got to! thanks so much for the cauliflower rice inspiration! i appreciate you!
Xochi Navarro
Joy, I love that picture of you with that wall of rosemary! I bet it was heaven to lean into. ;)
Tomye
You might have been the only person I trusted enough to follow an R. Kelly link. Thank you for posting it — I adore Sam Cooke and gotta say, R. Kelly killed that song! I had no idea he could sing like that. And the others in that set (yes, I just played ’em all)…amazing too. Thank you, thank you, thank you. That kind of music is balm to my soul.
brandi
there is NEVER a bad time for Sam Cooke. never.
Tina
I’m joining in in the birthday celebration with turning 31 on the 27th – and looking forward to move away from the big 30 – I totally love been in my 30’s and didn’t thought before how fab it is, it feels just right. Know what I mean?
And pineapple cases? Oh well…
Raven @ Magical Mugz Studios
I am such a huge Sam Cooke & R. Kelly fan and have never heard of this version, thanks so much for sharing! It will definitely come in handy getting through Monday morning. Happy early birthday, hope it is filled with lots of good food and fun times!
jill
you would look truly great in that haircut…it would really sculpt your face…show us the after photo if you do it…love it.
meganmarie013
Beautiful Joy! You are amazing
Trisha
Joy, only you could talk about shark nail wraps, financial tips, and love letters in the same post. I love how unabashedly yourself you are. You inspire me!
W. H. Gwinn
A $245 dress?? Wow, you live well, hmm? And I thought you were a struggling ‘artist’……whatever…..#disappointed
joythebaker
you seem disappointed in things, and those things probably don’t have a lot to do with me or the price of my dress. when did i claim to be a struggling ‘artist’? #never
Melissa Karras
That love letter! I love it!
Mallory @forkvsspoon
Happy early birthday from one bipolar roller to another…that isn’t pc. Anyway, happy birthday Joy and may this year be the best yet!
joythebaker
ha! are you referring to our Gemini status?
Mallory @forkvsspoon
Yes! I am sure those that refer to me in that manner are saying it with love in their hearts! Have a great one!
jennifer
What a bunch of linky goodness! l-o-v-e love Letters of Note. Thanks for sharing.
Lynn @ The Actor's Diet
I got a pair of Sweet Valley High nail decals recently. They made me so happy.
joythebaker
taking it waaaay on back!
Rebecca (@IcingSugarBlog)
The cauliflower tip is amazing, never though I would need a tutorial how to cut cauliflower, but now I see that I was doing it wrong all my life ;) Thanks hahah!
Rebecca
icing-sugar.net
joythebaker
you are not alone in this feeling!
sophieharriet
What a wonderful way to mark the weekend – filling it with all sorts of goodies and ideas! I just spent the most wonderful Saturday at the Ballymaloe Literary and Food Festival, and am now extremely inspired to whip up some wonderful goodies!
Beckie
Letters of Note is one of my absolute favorites, too! Any letter by E. B. White is a winner. And now I am also excited for cauliflower rice. I’ve tried to make mashed “potatoes” with cauliflower before, and it was good, but no cigar (made out of potatoes). And I am definitely going over to Compassion to see what I can do to help, too. What a remarkable gift it is to give someone else hope.
joythebaker
i really appreciate that you’re here and so lovely! i’ll have a post on my blog about the rice soon! if you make it, let me know what you think! xo.
Michelle @ A Healthy Mrs
Oh how I love a post of random links — keeps me busy for a while! :)
Enjoy the rest of your weekend!
Yolonda J Washington
Great letters! I got a haircut yesterday, so go for it. And my birthday is next week too (May 30)… Happy Early Birthday to you.
DessertForTwo
Look how adorable you are. NOLA is bein’ good to you, clearly :)
Marie
happy early birthday joy! and um… i might have just watched that r. kelly video three times. weird that i did that… but woah, so good! have a great sunday!
dani
Happy (Almost) Birthday, Joy! I’m sure the next year will be the best yet (what with your new cookbook and the move to New Orleans.) I’m lovin’ your “Let It Be Sunday” posts!
joythebaker
thank you for everything, dani!
Amy
Happy happy birthday and thank you for the joy you give us and for sponsoring another child. Well done.
Marisa
hope you have a wonderful birthday…you share such wonderful thing..loved the letters!
TY
emmajeanne16
I really love the idea of sponsoring a child on your birthday. Happy early Birthday!!
Paulette
Oh to be thirty-three again. Have a wonderful birthday Joy. May you always find excitement in the simple things in life. May you always find happiness and know that around each corner you turn family, friends and your fans are always with you, cheering you on as you take that next adventure and loving you for letting us walk in your shoes with each story you tell, with each letter you write. Happy Birthday Joy next week and many more to come. Paulette
joythebaker
i really appreciate that you always leave such lovely comments Paulette! thank you so much.
Paulette
Your Welcome. Have a drink for me on our lovely day. Paulette