Hello friends!
I would argue that it’s the most glorious week of the year, this space between holidays, and I can feel myself grasping at it with my fingertips trying to hold on to every minute. These are reflective days, don’t you think?
I hope you’ve had good holidays and, while some years that’s easier than others, I hope at least you’re staying steady and asking for what you need.
I’m trying to take rest and trying to chill the part of my brain that wants to stack up goals and tasks for the year ahead because, rest first PLEASE.
Take some rest today. Take it where you can get it if it’s feeling scarce. Maybe a few links below will be your moment. Happy New Year to you! I have so much gratitude to you for sharing this space with me. I mean that most sincerely.
The offering is below, as always – take whatcha need, leave whatcha don’t:
• The Haunting Last Letters of Silvia Plath. (The Atlantic)
• Let’s all do it! / This is why I do yoga! What Deep Breathing Does to Your Body. It feels like magic and it’s right here with us. (The Cut)
• Sometimes I find myself going back to this speech from former President Obama just to remember dignity in leadership. It holds important reminders, plus he sings Amazing Grace: President Obama delivers eulogy for Senator Clementa Pinckney, one of nine victims in the June 17, 2015, shooting at Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Charleston, South Carolina. (YouTube)
• I literally could not put this book down during my travels this week: Sharp Objects. (Gillian Flynn)
• An Oral History of the Greatest ‘Office’ Episode Ever. (Rolling Stone)
• An education: How to Order Caviar Without Going Totally Broke. (Eater)
• Hold the phone. Jon made CHAMPAGNE MARGARITAS and now we must we MUST! (Candid Appetite)
• Deb’s Feta Tapenade Tarte Soleil is both what dreams are made of and totally actually easy to pull off. Imagine! (Smitten Kitchen)
• I have four bananas on my counter begging to be made into this: Gluten Free Banana Bread from Minimalist Baker. (I particularly like the mix of oats and almond flour.)
• Bon Appetit is digging deep for us: A Definitive Ranking of 23 Bon Maman Flavors. Strawberry is at number 4, which (I think we all can agree), is very controversial.
• Not exactly on my wish-list this holiday: United Airlines Puts Out a Cookbook so You Can Eat Airplane Food At Home. (Travel + Leisure)
• This is fully accurate: Your Apartment Tries to Talk You Out of Going to a Party. (NYTimes)
• Reminder: Love Is Never a Waste. (Thought Catalog)
Thank you for being here!
Happy New Year. My love to you!
xo Joy
Emily
Strawberry is the only kind of jam/preserves my 6yr old will eat and if it’s not Bon Maman he’ll eat it, but there is grumbling. He’s such a picky little snob ;) Also – Champagne Margaritas are definitely a thing I need to try. Thanks for the heads-up!
And also: I make your cranberry orange pecan coffee cake as teacher gifts every year and they are always so excited to receive them, so thank you for that one, too!
Happiest of New Years to you!
Jasmine
Minimalist Baker’s banana bread is delicious! I sub regular flour for the GF flour.
cy
Strawberry jam is always my favorite , but I don’t sneeze at apricot either and can you even put lemon curd in the same category? I think it deserves it’s own. Yum! I don’t eat much jam these days, every once and awhile I have to have natural peanut butter on toast with strawberry jam. I never like jelly( where’s the fruit?) A fun read! Just between all of us, my apartment does that to me all the time! of course my work environment is like Las Vegas , so no one can blame me.
Happy New Year, Joy and thank you for the joy you bring to us all year long and especially on Sundays!
Briel K.
Yes! Sharp Objects is my fav Gillian Flynn book!
Thanks for sharing that Thought Catalog, Love is Never a Waste. It was needed. <3
Kayla Salmon
On low motivation days, I like to watch the animation of Pres Obama’s ‘Fired Up, Ready To Go’ speech.
joythebaker
I love it!
Megan
Cheers to 2019. Wishing you ad all other fellow readers a great start to a fresh year!
bonnie
Love Let It Be Sundays! Thanks for doing what you do, Joy! Thanks for keepin’ on with this — here’s to another year with more new and exciting things on your horizon! Love seeing you live your best life! Happy New Year!
Dee
You seem drained,Joy….yep, rest is what you need…live in the moment…to hell with goals. I hope you are still in California with your family…
MusicDillo
Bon Maman Strawberry is definitely #1 on my list. Not a fan of the Apricot :( – Blueberry is my #2.
Sarahkate
The Bon Maman Apricot Preserves, top pick, also if my favorite – and not just for PBJ sandwiches. I use it as a chunky-wonderful fruit glaze on smoked gouda-stuffed chicken breasts. Fabulous!!
Mary Ann
What? Bon Maman makes a Lemon Curd?
Michelle
Thanks for reminding me of the dignity that can be in leadership which is so lacking today.
Taste of France
As I was cooking for three solid days for a holiday party, I exhausted all my regular podcasts, which mostly were doing reruns. So I binged on earlier episodes of a new discovery, “You Must Remember This,” which is about the early days of Hollywood. So interesting. So many names I had heard of but I didn’t really know the whole story. Also, the stories are told with a feminist perspective–movie stars were some of the first women to make their own fortunes from working, and they faced roadblocks from men constantly.
Charles Hess
This time between the holidays should be a great time to reflect. Where have you been, emotionally aa we) as physical. Did you accomplish the goals that you set out at the beginning of the year? Realize that goals are that, they are not to be absolute.
The coming year year wi)l be a new opportunity to work on the goals that you set out. But they are goals, not absolutes. Be good to yourself.
Rachel
Just opened so many of these tabs. I’m sad these dead days are almost over!
Happy New Year!