-We back, baby!

Friends, hello and happy Sunday!  I have a feeling the new salvaged wood dining table I put in my new Houston TX living room is going to give me splinters.  There is such a thing as toooooo salvaged and this table might walk the line.  I’ll make sure my tetanus shot is up to date and report back. I’ll tell you more about my new space in a post tomorrow but for now please gaze upon this green wall I painted in my living room.  (It’s Sherwin Williams Isle of Pines if you’re into it.)

More importantly – friends, I’ve missed you!

Thank you for granting team JtB a break this August.  I moved half of my life to a new city and planned some delicious things for us this fall, but I did it all very slowly and I appreciate that space.  I hope this finds you steady. Wait… is this a long year? Days are short. Weeks are long. Months are short. Years are long and short all wrapped up in one.  Now is no time for an existential crisis about time, let’s carry on with the offering this Sunday.

•  Kim got us back in the swing of Sunday things last week and the article  What Comes After Ambition has been knocking around my head ever since.  I’ve fielded countless questions of “what’s next” after halfway moving to Houston and I’m afraid, for this moment, the answer and the ambition behind it might feel anticlimactic. My current ambition is to learn the aisles of my local HEB. If I don’t have that, most everything else will fall apart.

•  “You deserve help with the thing you’re carrying.” (Instagram)

•  Whenever I feel stuck in my own mud, I think about how tiny of a planet we are, and how hopeful, curious, and romantic we were to fling two gold disks into the cosmos with a collection of sounds and images from our beautiful little Earth.  The Voyager Golden Record is worth a listen this Sunday. (The New Yorker, Youtube)

•  I’ve recently been purged, rather suddenly, from a long friendship which, if I’m being honest, left my head spinning for a few days.  It seems like what we owe one another in terms of communication and forgiveness has shifted right under my feet and I fear that we might be losing our ability to work through conflict. This piece from The Atlantic explores this newly flexed cancelling.  That’s It, You’re Dead To Me.  (The Atlantic)

•  I could go on and on about how the Foo Fighters are just a band of great dudes and good dads who also happen to rock your face off, or we could talk about how I cried when Taylor Hawkins, the greatest rock drummer of our generation, died.  Instead, I’ll leave you this video of 16 year old Shane Hawkins playing My Hero in his father’s place. I hate crying so don’t let me do it alone.  (YouTube)

•  I needed a pen and paper to keep track of the twins in the new Netflix show Echoes, but it was worth it for this dark and twisty who-done-it/where-is-she. (Netflix)

•  On my short list of ambitions is making this sweet flower printed tank, with actual flowers.  I’m going to ignore the fact that summer escaped me. (Instagram)

•  You think you know, but you have no idea. True Life: The Donner Party with Chelsey Weber-Smith except it’s not MTV, it’s another excellent episode of You’re Wrong About. (Apple Podcasts)

•  Hands down favorite condiment in my refrigerator is this Garlic Chili Crisp. On top of a bowl of buttery rice and a fried egg? PERFECTION. Humble suggestion – if you’re going to treat yourself to one jar, just buy two. (Eat Kari Kari)

•  I have a four year old recipe for Pickle Popsicles sitting somewhere unpublished in the blog archives because after making and photographing the recipes, I thought it was too strange for y’all.  Maybe I was wrong because there are certainly other pickle people in the world: An Ode to Pickle Juice. (Paste Magazine)

•  We loved compiling this list of Back To School Favorites for us grown folks because September means new tennies and pens no matter how old we are. (Joy the Baker)

•  It feels early but I’m very much craving a bouncy sweet Pumpkin Pecan Scones.  (Joy the Baker)

Enjoy your Sunday!

My love to you.

xo Joy