Happy List: #369

Hi! Welcome to the first Happy List of December. The year is flying by and I’m happy you’re spending a little bit of time here with me today.

It was a big week on the blog. Maybe you should lower your expectations for next week. Ha! I shared our dining room mantel all decked out for Christmas with cardboard gingerbread houses. I also shared the recent makeover I did on the stairs that access our attic. I’m biased, but I love how both turned out.

As always, thank you for being here. The Happy List is my way of balancing my media diet and finding the beautiful, interesting, and inspiring in the online world. We all need more balance in our lives and connection too! If you want to reach out, and I hope you do, you can always comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also reach out on Instagram or Facebook.

Here’s the Happy List!

VINTAGE BOBBIN GARLAND

I’m a big fan of anything created by Michael at Inspired by Charm. His recent Vintage Bobbin Garland blog post made me gasp!

It’s such a festive repurposing idea and so, so pretty! This is the type of garland you pass down from generation to generation.

Go read how he made it and where he found the bobbins here.

(image: Inspired by Charm)

WHAT IS IT?

Can you guess what this is based on the following description?

“Sweet, slightly musky, vanilla fragrance, with slight overtones of cherry, combined with the smell of a salted, wheat-based dough.”

Hasbro’s Play-Doh is the correct answer! That detailed sentence was how they described the smell of Play-Doh when applying for a registered scent mark for their product. They provided over 300 pieces of evidence to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office to prove that the scent of Play-Doh was distinctive to their product alone. They were granted a trademark registration for the scent on May 15, 2018.

If you are feeling scholarly, you can read a paper about registered scent marks here. There are very few registered scents in the U.S.

(image: Amazon)

P.S. There is something so satisfying about opening a fresh tub of Play-Doh. Alas, I was the parent who had to practice “letting it go” when my kids mixed the Play-Doh colors together without a care in the world. It still pains me a little to think about it.

NORTHERN LIGHTS IGLOOS

Seeing the Northern Lights is on our bucket list. Handy Husband wants to see them from Iceland, but check out this geodesic dome situation in Finland! It’s magical.

The Times has a list of other resorts with igloo-like viewing opportunities to see the Northern Lights. Check it out here.

(image: Kakslauttanen Arctic Resort, Finland  via The Times)

WORKTUNES

Gift idea under $50! I’ve mentioned this summer that we got the 3M WorkTunes noise-protection headphones with Bluetooth. They have been a game-changer! My son and I like to wear them while mowing the lawn because we can protect our ears and still listen to music.

My son recently wore these headphones most of the way on an 8-hour roundtrip road trip and didn’t charge the headphones once. I’m not sure how long a charge actually lasts on these!

(image: Amazon)

GARLAND TREE

I thought this garland tree was so cute! The right garland is probably key for the execution. I can’t quite tell from the photo but those might be felt balls instead of breakable ornaments.

So many of you will be going to or hosting holiday parties and this would make a fun photo backdrop. You could do multiple garland trees on a big wall too.

(image: Lauren Shaver for BHG)

350 DEGREES

Have you ever noticed that many foods are baked at 350F or 180C? It’s probably the most common baking temperature for recipes.

This is due to the Maillard reaction. Not to be confused with Mallard ducks.

The Maillard reaction is “a chemical reaction between an amino acid and a reducing sugar, usually requiring the addition of heat.” Basically, this is talking about browning or non-enzymatic browning to be specific. The type of amino acid determines the resulting flavor and this is the basis for how artificial flavors can be created.

You can read more about it in this Science of Cooking article.

P.S. Turning bread into toast is an example of the Maillard reaction.

CRISPY PROSCIUTTO AND CHEESE SLIDERS

Speaking of the Maillard reaction, I watched Tieghan from Half Baked Harvest make these Crispy Prosciutto and Cheese Sliders the other day and I drooled the entire time.

Seems like a terrific recipe to make for a crowd.

(image: Half Baked Harvest)

FOOD FOR THOUGHT

“Humility does not mean self-abnegation, lassitude, detachment; it’s more a calm recognition that you must trust in that which does not make sense, that which is unreasonable, illogical, silly, ridiculous, crazy by the measure of most of our culture. You must trust that you being the best possible you matters somehow… That doing your chosen work with creativity and diligence will shiver people far beyond your ken. That being an attentive and generous friend and citizen will prevent a thread or two of the social fabric from unraveling.” – Brian Doyle via The Marginilian 

Editor’s Note: I had to look these definitions up, so I figured I’d share them here.
Ken means one’s range of knowledge or sight.
Self-abnegation means the denial or abasement of oneself.
Lassitude means a state of physical or mental weariness; lack of energy.

Thank you for reading today’s Happy List.

Be good to yourself and others this weekend.

I’ll see you back here on Monday.

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