Hello and welcome to the Happy List!
I hope the first week of spring has put a bounce in your step, the happy in your go lucky, and the cherry on top of your sundae.
I’m feeling pretty good about it.
This week on the blog I shared the before pictures of our upstairs bathroom. It will be better when we are done with it, but don’t expect a full makeover or anything. We don’t have plans to do anything with the blue shower right now besides hide it behind a curtain.
I also shared my favorite new centerpiece filled with flowers! I hope you liked it too.
If you aren’t following along with us on Instagram or Facebook, please consider this your official invite! I’d love to interact with you there and here!
Now, here’s the Happy List!
THE HAPPIEST
The yellow gingham walls of this room made me smile.
Can we all take a moment and appreciate the perfectionist who installed this wall treatment? That could not have been easy.
(image: via Desire to Inspire)
BUNNY BAG
This is the cutest paper bag idea for Easter from Steffi. She has a tutorial with great pictures here.
(image: Barfuss Im November)
LET THERE BE LIGHT
Isn’t this the prettiest light in designer Philip Mitchell’s foyer?
See more pictures of his home in this Veranda article.
(image: Philip Mitchell for Veranda)
AI PORTRAITS
Artist Nathan Shipley is using AI technology to recreate realistic portraits of historical figures and the results are blowing my mind!
Below is Mona Lisa. Go read this My Modern Met story because the portraits of Beethoven and Bach were the most interesting to me.
(image: Nathan Shipley via My Modern Met)
EASTER BASKET IDEA
Remember the koosh ball?
My kids didn’t! I had never introduced them to the magic that is the koosh ball. Complete oversight on my part.
We are now the proud owners of 3 koosh balls. Since my 10-year-old CONSTANTLY wants to play catch, this was a great option for indoor play. They have a great sensory feel too.
I thought koosh balls would be a good idea for an Easter basket!
We got this 3-pack of generic ones, but they had a bit of a plastic odor to them right out of the package, so maybe go for the brand name ones instead.
DIY SOUNDWAVE ART
I have a soft spot for sentimental art. I like this idea from the talented Jennifer Rizzo of taking the sound wave of someone’s voice saying something meaningful and turning it into art.
She has a great tutorial and you’ll be surprised by how easy it looks.
(image: Jennifer Rizzo)
A HOPEFUL POETRY MOMENT
The best “junk” email I get in my inbox everyday is from Poets.org. They send a poem each day and it is such a great way to start my day. It exposes me to different perspectives and always gives me something to think about. You can sign up for their email here.
Before you leave today, read the below poem. It was the poem I enjoyed reading most this week. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
A House Called Tomorrow
by Alberto Ríos – Poet Laureate of Arizona
You are a hundred wild centuries
And fifteen, bringing with you
In every breath and in every step
Everyone who has come before you,
All the yous that you have been,
The mothers of your mother,
The fathers of your father.
If someone in your family tree was trouble,
A hundred were not:
The bad do not win—not finally,
No matter how loud they are.
We simply would not be here
If that were so.
You are made, fundamentally, from the good.
With this knowledge, you never march alone.
You are the breaking news of the century.
You are the good who has come forward
Through it all, even if so many days
Feel otherwise. But think:
When you as a child learned to speak,
It’s not that you didn’t know words—
It’s that, from the centuries, you knew so many,
And it’s hard to choose the words that will be your own.
From those centuries we human beings bring with us
The simple solutions and songs,
The river bridges and star charts and song harmonies
All in service to a simple idea:
That we can make a house called tomorrow.
What we bring, finally, into the new day, every day,
Is ourselves. And that’s all we need
To start. That’s everything we require to keep going.
Look back only for as long as you must,
Then go forward into the history you will make.
Be good, then better. Write books. Cure disease.
Make us proud. Make yourself proud.
And those who came before you? When you hear thunder,
Hear it as their applause.
Thank you for reading today’s Happy List.
Go forth and enjoy your weekend.
I’ll see you back here on Monday.
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