Let It Be Sunday, 204!

Hello my dear friends!  

What’s so beautiful about these days is that life feels like it’s everything all at once. 

The new year feels exciting and fresh. I’ve spent some time the past week sorting through my 2018, feeling pretty proud of the ways I challenged myself, and grateful for the surprises the year held.  

A fresh year always feels exciting but I’ve been slower this year about defining what sort of personal and professional challenges I want to take on. We’re only five days into this new year so I should go easy, but my surgery at the end of last year and some sickness in my family has focused my lens in different ways.  

I’ll be in Los Angeles for the next few days and likely more days this month and next, spending time with my family and you know… doing the important things with the people that matter the most. 

I hope these days find you feeling steady and focusing on the things that matter most to you.  Ease into this year, find the grace in it all. 

I’m so happy you’re here!  I’ve got a big batch of recipes coming your way next week:  Some one-pot recipes, quick snacks, cakes and chocolate.  Yea – we’re still going for it.  

Here’s the offering this week.  As always, take what you need: 

•  New year, new Congress: A day of historic firsts in Congress! (NBC)

•  Provisions: The Roots of Caribbean Cooking is absolutely the next cookbook I add to my collection. (The Atlantic) 

• “The wealthy, both famous and not, tend to be visibly well moisturized.”  The Best Skin Care Trick Is Being Rich.  Honestly, this rings of truth.  (The Atlantic) 

•  This has my full support:  Get Bangs. (The Cut)

•  Are you watching the Marie Kondo Netflix show: Tidying Up and fully cleaning your entire life?  That’s my plan for next weekend – don’t even try to stop me.  Actually, please do try to stop me with literally any other plans besides cleaning. (Netflix)

•  See also: The Unbearable Heaviness of Clutter, but like… don’t freak out. (The New York Times)

•  My friend Whitney is doing a January cleaning challenge with @lifeinjeneral – everyday a cleaning and organizing task. One month or organizing for an organized year.  Head to the Instagram above and peep the stories titled Challenges!  

•  It’s a wild world:  Why are fancy bathrooms all over Instagram? (Vox)

•  It’s not too late to plan on a planner: The Best Dated Planners for Every Type of Planner. (NYMag)

•  This week I’m making a chocolate version of Everybody’s Birthday Cake!  Surely you’ll have a reason to make this cake this year! (Joy the Baker)

•  Speaking of cake, IT IS TIME:  Cinnamon Roll King Cake.  It’s the Epiphany which is when the wise men brought gifts to baby Jesus and told us all we could eat King Cake from now until Lent.  (Joy the Baker and Britannica) 

•  Speaking of Mardi Gras, and it’s officially not too soon to start talking about Mardi Gras, I’m going to start working on head-centered costumes for parades.  I love these fabric animal ears from the ever-creative House That Lars Built. 

•  I very much like the idea of meal prepping with a week of slow cooker meal prep from The Kitchn.  Or maybe you were gifted an Instant Pot recently? Here’s a week of easy Instant Pot meals.   

•  I listened to this new true-crime podcast this week. It wasn’t easy but I’ll leave it here for you:  Broken Harts. (Glamour)

•  Homemade seed bombs are my new thanks-for-being-great gifts.  (Amazon)

Big love to you. Enjoy this day!

xo Joy