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