Hello, hello! Welcome to this week’s Happy List. I’m thrilled you are here.
This week on the blog, I shared the reveal of the newly exposed stone on our porch wall. That was a fun discovery. I also shared the pared-down gallery wall in our living room. Decorating and redecorating is fun, isn’t it? At a minimum, it’s easier than building a stone wall. Haha!
As always, thank you for being here. I hope the Happy List is a bright spot in your day and leaves you feeling inspired and encouraged! Part of the fun for me is connecting with you. If you want to reach out, please comment on this blog post or email me here. You can also direct message me on Instagram or Facebook.
Now, here’s the Happy List!
BREAD OVEN
There are historic buildings in Europe (maybe elsewhere too) called bread ovens because they once housed a communal bread oven.
One of these old bread ovens is now an Airbnb in France, and I can hardly stand the storybook cuteness. Who wants to go?!?!
(image: Airbnb)
P.S. I was telling Handy Husband about this bread oven. He said, “Oh, that reminds me. I read a story about a family bread recipe that said you had to get up at 4 a.m. to start it. Come to find out, the only reason you needed to get up that early was that the grandma was using a community oven and wanted to be first in line. For years, her family had been getting up at 4 a.m. to make grandma’s bread, not realizing this step was unnecessary.”
ROOFTOP TERRACE
For the record, if my dream of living in a bread oven building in France doesn’t work out, I could live my best life on a rooftop terrace in London…if it wasn’t raining.
The photos of this London home are full of ideas. In particular, I loved the stair runner and the wallpaper choices.
(image: The Nordroom)
HOW TO FLOAT ART IN FRONT OF CURTAINS
Sarah from Room for Tuesday has a great tutorial on how to float art in front of curtains.
I’ve contemplated running our bedroom curtains all the way across our bed wall, so this was super helpful to me. It’s such a clever solution.
(image: Room for Tuesday)
SALTY LICORICE
Have you ever had salty licorice? It’s super popular in Nordic countries. I tried when we visited Sweden. It is SAAAALTY. I’ve always wondered why. Why do they like this salty candy? Now I know.
It started as medicine. (Pez candy started as medicine, too.) According to Mental Floss, “In the 19th century, pharmacists in Scandinavia began mixing licorice with ammonium chloride to make lozenges that soothed the throat and cleared the sinuses.” People liked the taste, maybe because salt was used to preserve so much of their food at the time, and candy makers seized the opportunity. The rest is history.
It might make a good gift for someone. This type was well reviewed.
(image: Amazon)
RIVER RESTAURANT
In 2015, for one weekend in Ontario, Canada, a pop-up restaurant operated in the middle of a river. Yes, a river! The river location solved a logistical problem as the chef was not allowed to carry overland an invasive crustacean called Rusty Crawfish. The solution was to catch, cook, and serve the crawfish in the river.
Do you know how much I would love to sit with my feet in a cool stream on a hot summer day and eat dinner? It could be PB&J for all I care. Sign me up right now.
See pictures from this event here.
(image: Dean Baldwin Lew)
BRIGHT IDEA
I love Anthropologie for the ideas. Printed lampshades are all the rage right now, but it was the base of this lamp that really caught my eye. How do they make it out of wood? Could we make one ourselves?
(image: Anthropologie)
SALT AND VINEGAR SPANISH TORTILLA
This Spanish tortilla recipe from Serious Eats uses salt and vinegar potato chips instead of thinly sliced potatoes. I just so happen to have a bag of salt and vinegar chips in my pantry.
And now I’m curious.
(image: J. Kenji López-Alt for Serious Eats)
POETRY MOMENT
Otherwise by Jane Kenyon
I got out of bed
on two strong legs.
It might have been
otherwise. I ate
cereal, sweet
milk, ripe, flawless
peach. It might
have been otherwise.
I took the dog uphill
to the birch wood.
All morning I did
the work I love.
At noon I lay down
with my mate. It might
have been otherwise.
We ate dinner together
at a table with silver
candlesticks. It might
have been otherwise.
I slept in a bed
in a room with paintings
on the walls, and
planned another day
just like this day.
But one day, I know,
it will be otherwise.
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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