HappyGoStuckey

What I Read in 2016 (why I don’t make a to-read list and what I do instead.)

January 5, 2017 by HappyGoStuckey 6 Comments

“You have to write the book that wants to be written. And if the book will be too difficult for grown-ups, then you write it for children.” ― Madeleine L’Engle

Did you read anything good this year?

For me, this year was full of good stories. Many people create lists of books they intend to read throughout the year, but I’ve found that no matter what, my list never quite gets finished. Many books get replaced, new releases often jump on the list, etc. so instead I have a different system. I say system– It’s essentially organized chaos with tall piles and wonky stacks all over the house, but it works. It’s basically the Hogwart’s Room of Requirement around here, but we book-lovers manage.

Here’s a little peek into my crazy system–

The nightstand pile. 1-4 books. Usually one fiction, one non-fiction and one devotional. These are my most current reads and the ones I grab to stick in my bag. Except now I also keep 1-2 on my phone with this.

My to-read next shelf on our big wall of books in the living room. These are my “next reads.”

My next-next reads. This shelf is cleaned out periodically, and usually filters onto my ‘next’ shelf.

The reader’s guilt shelf. (I know.) These books are ones I probably won’t get to any time soon; I keep meaning to begin them but never do. They are there to remind me that I have really no business watching television. Unless it’s Masterpiece which broadens my mind and my anglophilia. (Currently: Sherlock but I can’t talk about it because traumatic things just happened.)

All in all, it was a fantastic reading year. I set out to read 24 books and I only read about 20– but I’m perfectly happy with that many pages. Seeing as several of them were quite huge, I’m looking straight at you, Harry Potter, and it’s really about what we gained from the books and not how many there were after all.

If you’re curious– here they are. And in the comments, I’d love to hear some of your favorite reads this year. If you really recommend them, they might even skip over the next-next reads shelf!

2016 Good Reads

The Hobbit. J.R. Tolkien (A re-read but fun all the same.)

The Lake House. Kate Morton

Delicious. Ruth Reichl

The Bronte Plot. Katherine Reay

What Alice Forgot. Liane Moriarty

Harry Potter Books 1-7. J.K. Rowling (Re-read, but so fun to do them all in a line. Definitely utilized this to get all these pages read.)

Writing Down the Bones. Natalie Goldberg

Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative. Austin Kleon

Roots & Sky: A Journey Home in Four Seasons. Christie Purifoy

Curious Faith: Rediscovering Hope in the God of Possibility. Logan Wolfram

The Hiding Place. Corrie Ten Boom

A Christmas Carol. Charles Dickens

Harry Potter & the Cursed Child. J.K. Rowling and Jack Thorne

The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness. Andrew Peterson (Yes that Andrew Peterson. This one was clever and captivating. I cannot wait to read the next in the series.)

Favorite Family Read-Alouds of 2016:

The Complete Tales of Beatrix Potter

Little Author in the Big Woods: A Biography of Laura Ingalls Wilder. Yona Z. McDonough

Still in Process:

A Portrait of Emily Price. Katherine Reay

Your Turn! I’d love to hear what pages you wandered through this year. We may get a little snow this weekend (our first bit this year!) so I’m already planning my snow day pages. Hooray for Cozy!

On Pausing & Perseverance: Why we should get back at it.

December 16, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 1 Comment

Maintaining the choice to live well is like doing lunges with dumbbells. Proper Stance. Step Forward. Don’t topple over and don’t overextend. Lunge. Return to start. Annnnnd, That’s one.

On one side, there is the reminder of what we know we should be doing with regularity. We should choose crunchy and green more often than we choose thick crust with extra cheese. We should choose the early alarm and a morning cardio session instead of forty extra minutes of toasty blanket solace. We should drink the water, take the stairs, do the hard thing.

However, often at the starting edge of our workout— there is life. Sick children. Vacation schedules. Work conflicts. Fitness injuries. Even plain old exhaustion can set us firmly on the bench for a time.

The lines often smear and blur between what we know we should do and what we must do every day. Every now and then, the choice to live well can seem overshadowed by the struggle to merely survive. We may be shocked how easily derailment can come after so many good steps in the right direction.

A seeming return to where we began can make us forget why we began in the first place.
But this is when the next steps matter the most— for just past resistance is breakthrough.

Resistance is not an invitation to quit. It is not an exit sign but a dare to continue.

The first steps toward a healthy lifestyle are important, but it is the continual leaning in that produces actual change. It is brave to go to that first fitness class. It is twice as brave to still be going a year later. Even braver still, to go after missing a month straight. The adoption of a good habit is good, but the continuance of one is far better.

“Resistance is an opportunity to be sustained by a God who never tires.”

Resistance is not an invitation to quit. It is not an exit sign but a dare to continue. It is an opportunity to be sustained by a God who never tires. It is a chance to start again, to get back at it. To remember why we do the things we do with discipline.

If you find yourself remembering a time when you were perhaps more faithful to your health, your art, or to any other good thing you know you are called to– may I make a suggestion? Disregard how long it has been, and get back at it. Relax in the knowledge that a time of rest can be Holy and refreshing, and return to those regular rhythms of rigor.

We are meant to rest, to take a break, to allow for pause.
We are meant to remember that we cannot make the world spin even if we burn all our candles at both of their ends.
We should not restrict ourselves from the very same grace that applies in every other area of life.
We may help ourselves to a long drink from that grace and rest when we need refreshing.

Rest is a good gift from a good God. After the rest however, we need to return to the hard work. Knowing that both rest and pause and even derailment should only be for a time, and they are all designed to push us forward into the next leg of the journey.

*This article originally appeared in the Fall issue of Thrive Magazine, a publication of Warren Baptist Church.

Gift Ideas for a Foodie

December 14, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 1 Comment

If you happen to have a foodie in your life, this list will give you a few fresh ideas as you shop for them. If you happen to be a foodie, feel free to send this link to someone who loves you and loves the food you cook for them. Bon Appetit!

Classic Basics:
Williams-Sonoma Classic Striped Dishtowels. These towels are without a doubt the BEST. I know, it’s a towel– but these are the most long-lasting, absorbent towels and they hold their shape after countless washes. They are huge too, not your typical tiny towel. They come in several pretty colors, including a Holiday Stripe which is SO fun. Seriously. Have I ever steered you wrong?

All-Clad Stainless Steel Measuring Cups. These are more in the luxury items than the melamine ones I used to cook with, but these do not warp, melt or disappear in my dishwasher. All the love for things that don’t do that. And they look like itty bitty cooking pots.

All-Clad Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons

Anthropologie Milk Bottle Measuring Cups

Anthropologie Aprons! This one and This one!

Glass 9-piece Nesting Bowls. I have had a set like this for 15 years. Completely Indispensable.

10-inch Cast Iron Skillet by Lodge. We cook in this non-descript, un-fussy cast iron skillet nearly every day and it’s quite reliable. The 12-inch size is great too. Also, the Cast Iron Flat Griddle makes the BEST pancakes!

This Glass Salt Cellar, We have this and I love having my salt handy but still covered.

Olivewood Salt Keeper. This one makes a gorgeous gift for the foodie in your life.

Pretty Books to Cook from:
(Don’t Forget there is a $5 off a $15 Amazon book purchase with the code, GIFTBOOK.)
The Joy of Cooking Cookbook

Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child Volume I.

Mastering the Art of French Cooking, 2 Volume hardback set. Timeless and thorough if you’re interested in French cuisine the Julia way. Which really, what other way is there?

Deep Run Roots by Vivian Howard. This one is not on my shelf (yet!) but comes highly recommended and is the most gorgeous book in person!

Bread and Wine by Shauna Niequist. I cook from this beautiful life and table memoir that it remains in my kitchen.

Stocking Stuffers:
Honestly, I could do an entire post on this.
Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste. I knew I married the man of my dreams when he gave me a jar of this goodness in my stocking. It is the BEST for adding to cake batter, frostings, glazes, anything that you want to have vanilla bean flavor and those gorgeous dark flecks without fooling with (or purchasing) vanilla beans themselves. This one I linked to is a set of two, but you can try your local fresh market.

Full-circle Bubble Up Ceramic Soap Dispensing Brush. Looks great on the counter and handy for cleaning that cast iron skillet.

Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay. I still love this delightful foodie novel.

My Life in France by Julia Child

Kuhn Rikon Colored Paring Knife. I use these little knives more than once a day– and I love that they come in their own sleeve.

Zak Garlic Peeler. This is my recent discovery and wow. For all of you out there that have already known that this little gadget already works… WHY DIDN’T YOU SHARE THE LOVE?? Really, though. I have been peeling garlic with my fingernails for years and we cook with a lot of garlic, especially for salad dressing. This works like a magical garlic charm. Never have I loved a uni-tasker Kitchen tool more. Ok I’ll stop. But really. Best five dollars spent.

Italian Olivewood Spoon. Beautiful and functional and looks great sticking out of a stocking or tied up with ribbon on a cookbook.

OXO Good Grips Fish Spatula. Okay this is indispensable in our kitchen– for way more than turning fish. It is my favorite Spatula, forever and ever, amen.

Gadgets & Luxury Items:
OXO Food Scale— Whichever one of these you choose, you want one you can use your own bowl with and one that has a Grams function as well as ounces.

An instant read thermometer. Wonderful for cooking meat, baking bread, etc. Here’s a luxury one you’ll likely never have to replace or a more reasonable option that has great reviews.

Boos Cutting Boards. I cannot speak from personal experience on these, but I do know them to be the best. One with feet like this one is nice, or I also like one you can flip over and use both sides. I know. Notice these are in the “luxury” category. These boards are great for cutting and even better for building a cheese platter.

Looftlighter Fire Lighting Tool. My friend Amanda told me all about this and I think it sounds way cool. If you hate waiting for your Charcoal to get ready, this lights fires and grills in an instant. No lighter fluid, No chemicals– just Hot air.

Le Creuset Dutch Oven. (Luxury Item/ Investment) Ok before you kindly scoff that I’m living in a dream world– do not, I repeat do not click on this link and purchase this pot from Amazon, no matter what. Go to an outlet store, pick up all the pots– see which size you really want. Imagine it full of soup and then decide. Shop your local Homegoods or T.J. Max, they have amazing deals on these! Or go during a sale, use a coupon, and still know that this Dutch oven is an investment. We bought ours on clearance when we were first married and it has served us better than anything in our kitchen. We will undoubtedly pass it down, only slightly worse for the wear, when we are too old and feeble to lift it out of the cabinet. But I would never condone paying full price for Le Creuset– even if they are awesome. Trust me.

Did you enjoy this post? I have something else you might like.

I would love to give you a free copy of my PDF E-book, Simmer: Six Seasonal Soups & the Stories that Inspired them.

( All particular product photographs are credited to Amazon, Sur la Table, and Williams Sonoma. Amazon Affiliate Links do appear above. This means that at no additional cost to you, Amazon thanks a blogger like myself with a tiny percentage of every sale made as a result of pointing people in their direction. These little percentages help offset the cost of this site. As always, I never recommend a product to you unless I know it’s good. Most of the things on this list are in my kitchen so I know they are great!)

Friday Round Up (only the good stuff!)

December 9, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey Leave a Comment

Does anyone else feel the pull to slow down?

There have been years in the past where this season has brought an involuntary slowing. We’ve had years where our Christmas was wrapped up in loss or sickness or surgery or even all three. This year, we are all grateful to be healthy and whole but I feel in my bones that I crave a purposeful slowing with my people. The desire to pull in our sidewalks, and just be together is never far off. Do you feel it too?

Clearly, I’m slowing body and soul because my mid-week posts have suddenly become end of the week posts. Ha! Let’s just all agree to be gracious with ourselves and encourage the slowing.

On to the Good Stuff–

Last week I was honored to be a guest on my very first podcast! Holly Barrett and I chat about how to find community, how to embrace slow progress, and what we’re reading and watching right now. It’s a fun show that I hope will be an encouragement to you. Search for the episode in iTunes or click this link: Living a Redeemed Life Podcast: Episode 70 with Holly Barrett. Holly is a true encourager and we share a love of the North Carolina mountains, which is fun.

How to Give Your Kids a Minimalist Christmas without Being a Scrooge, by Gretchen Ronnevik
“We don’t push pause on our values and ideals during this season. Instead, it’s a time to present our ideals and values from a different angle. We present it in a very tangible way. We want to magnify the joy of our beliefs.”

The most recent Hope*Writers Podcast with Ann Voskamp had me in a mess this week, in the very best way. No matter what kind of maker you are, even if you’re simply trying to make today meaningful, I think you would love Ann on the Hope*writers podcast. (also on iTunes.)

And this I’m especially excited about– my friend Logan Wolfram has just finished a beautiful ebook that is just what we all need in this Fall/ Winter weather. Winter Warmers: Recipes & Stories to Warm Your Heart and Home. Winter Warmers is packed with 25 recipes and also has the option to print recipe cards. Logan is relatable and hilarious with a heavy dose of heart– and her writing is just that! I’ll know you will enjoy adding this to your repertoire. (PS– it’s free right now!)

This week in the Blue House Kitchen–

These Spiced Nuts from Modern Mrs. Darcy. I mentioned these on Instagram but they are that good. I cut out the cloves and added a pinch of allspice and I cut back the cayenne to 1/4 tsp so that my little chickadees would also enjoy them. They were quick and easy and I will likely make them several times more for gifts.

That’s all for this week friends. I hope you have a lovely weekend. May your people be close, your coffee be hot and your Hope be in Christ. Happy weekend-ing!

What I’ve Learned & Loved Lately (Fall Edition.)

December 1, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 8 Comments

I’ve always enjoyed linking up with Emily Freeman for What We Learned. This is our first quarterly recap rather than monthly.

So let’s jump right in shall we? These range from the sentimental to the serious with a little silly mixed in there as well. (I’d love for you to stick around and tell me what you have recently learned in the comments!)

I have discovered that it is my goal for everyone to be completely cozy– forever and ever, amen. I see this when I shop for gifts. I always choose chunky cable-knit blankets and soft wooly socks and great big mugs to fill with something hot to drink. Cozy is my love language and I want that for everyone else as well. I think I have the need to nurture.

Fall is my heart’s most favorite season. I truly love Thanksgiving and all the cozy (see above) that comes as part of the lovely, weather-changing, territory. Autumn is always a mix of being content right where I am and a tad of past-homesickness.

I know that making a home, building it from the inside out, is a gentle process and not one that can be rushed. I also know it doesn’t come easily for all of us. I wrote more about that here: Brown Sugar Lattes & Finding Home.

Audible is a life-saver. At the beginning of the summer, I began re-reading through the Harry Potter series, one right after the other. I soon realized how many pages (3,407 to be exact,) that was, so I signed up for the free audible trial. Well, I finished the series in a few months but I cannot seem to release my audio book membership. Audible allows me to ‘read’ while I clean, exercise, drive, cook or whatever– and I’m zooming through great books which is nice.

When I’m not in a podcast mood, being told a great story by a captivating narrator is just my cup of tea. I’m not certain we ever outgrow the need to be read to. (P.S. Jim Dale is the most excellent narrator of the Harry Potter series. Trust me.) Audible has a current offer where you get TWO free audio books instead of one.

Sometimes silence truly is golden; other times we need only listen a bit louder. I am a slow processor. Sloths at the DMV in Zootopia- slow. There have been many moments in the last three months that I have found myself with very few helpful words about the world around me. At times I fought back the urge to say something just to avoid being silent. It is noble to be able to offer words that heal, but it is not less than to simply be a good listener. We could all do with a bit more full-faced listening, I believe. Good listening leads to better understanding.

I finished my first E-book and I didn’t die. Simmer: Six Seasonal Soups & the Stories that Inspired them is one of my favorite parts of this Fall. It is the happy result of many a roux in the sweltering Georgia summer, but I’m jazzed to be able to give it to you.

My lessons learned range from the technical to the downright heart-wrenching. But may I just share one with you? If you’re holding onto something, consider opening your hands– offer it up freely.

If you’ve always had the deep desire to do that thing, whatever it is— to go on that mission trip, start that creative business, adopt that baby whose face you’ve never seen but you see clearly in your heart– whatever it is. Don’t wait to be asked by anyone but God. Start taking steps to give it away, that part of yourself that keeps popping up. Because that thing? It was carved on your soul for a reason. Don’t wait too long, dear friend.

I’d love to tell you more and gift you with a copy here.

What I’m Watching:

Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, because of course. I still have the final season/ episode to go and I’m dragging it out. I have thoughts, but I’m keeping them to my little self for now.

Poldark. Have you watched this on PBS? If so, we need to chat. Right now it’s causing me all kinds of emotional trauma.

What I’m Reading:

A Portrait of Emily Price by Katherine Reay (perhaps my favorite Reay book yet.)

The Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson (The Wingfeather Saga)

Present over Perfect by Shauna Niequist

She Reads Truth Advent 2016: Christ was Born for This– (You may subscribe online and have the daily devotions sent to your email.)

Just Finished:

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling (We also need to discuss this one. Big time.) As well as books 1-7, WHEW!

A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

What I’m Cooking in the Blue House Kitchen:

This Green Salad with Apples and Cider Vinaigrette. Add grilled chicken or leftover Thanksgiving turkey and boom! It’s been my new favorite lunch.

This simple, Paleo Chicken Salad. Quick to throw together with a Rotisserie Chicken and a cup of salad greens.

I’d love to hear what you are loving & learning lately. Or, head on over to Emily’s place and see what others have learned.

Brown Sugar Lattes and Finding Home

November 18, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 11 Comments

Sometimes we must open our hands fully to let go of what we hold so tightly.

If you read Simmer, then you know how it stung to leave North Carolina. For almost two years, we didn’t go back to visit. The decision was one part necessity; one part self-preservation. Much of my heart still resided comfortably in the 919; I needed to invest fully in where we were– in sincere hope that it would become home as well.

After some time passed, we found ourself back among the oaks for, wait for it– a job interview. By then we were happy to call Augusta home but the job that had taken us there eventually placed us back in limbo.

We rambled to Raleigh in the frigid mid-January wind and pursued caffeine and warmth. One particular coffee shop opened shortly after we moved away and their instagram feed had taunted me for months. We sat with lattes & a liege waffle between us, this new place in our old comfortable town.

We sipped long and looked around for familiar faces. But of course, it had been a couple of years and the only familiar face I saw was the one across from me. We brought home with us when we sat at that tiny table.

The coffee was amazing, the day was gorgeous and the best part? It was all brand new– and it wasn’t ours.
Something happened in that short trip, a warmth in my heart beyond what coffee could produce. When I thought I wanted familiar, I found something better.

The knowledge that I was a visitor was stronger than my slight homesickness that I always carried with me. What I missed for ages, I came back to and realized– it wasn’t mine anymore.

Mine was a blue house in Georgia with two little girls and the man smiling at my deep-in-thought-ness. Mine was the sunny kitchen with the cabinets which we painted ourselves. Mine was the moonlighting barista I brought with me who was already figuring out how to recreate my drink. It was all mine. This town, this place, this seedbed of sweet memories– was no longer mine.

I do believe cities keep a slice of us when we go. I know that they wind deep around our hearts like our roots that go way back then. Perhaps it depends on the life that we lived while there, but I know that it etches just the same.

We hope we leave marks on these towns and coffee shops and churches, but the truth is– they leave their marks on us as well.

I may still grin when I sit behind a car with a North Carolina license plate. I swallow my wistfulness when friends send me photos of the neighborhood we lived in. I loved it then and I love it still. But as much as I adore the place of our beginning, I cherish where we are today.

I’m grateful we let go of one so that we could grab onto the next. With both hands and whole hearts.

For I know that holding on to one thing too tightly prevents us from wholly holding the next. That next thing which God has given us for His glory and our growth. And I want that, I want to hold on firmly, unabashedly planted in today– where I’ve been thoughtfully, lovingly, placed.

My dear husband (who, if you’re wondering, never did take that job but instead waited patiently for the right one in the right place,) makes coffee that would make you call your Mother. (I can’t say that other Southern phrase about slapping mothers, my Mother happens to be a faithful reader and I know better.) He made this lovely Brown Sugar Simple Syrup and creates beautiful lattes with it. Swoon.

This simple syrup is called that for a reason, it’s as easy as pie! Add it to your latte, Iced Coffee, or morning cup right out of the pot. I use about a 1/2 an ounce because I like just a hint of sweet, but you do you.

Brown Sugar Simple Syrup

12 oz filtered water

16 oz. brown sugar

a tiny pinch of kosher salt

Bring the water and salt to a rolling boil. Add the brown sugar. Whisk in and return to a boil for three minutes. Cool for 10-15 minutes before pouring into a bottle or jar.

For a brown sugar latte or brown sugar cafe au lait– we add between a half an ounce and an ounce to the mug before the espresso/ coffee. We froth heated milk using a frother similar to this one, and top with a sprinkle of cinnamon. Enjoy!

Friday Round Up: Only the Good Stuff!

November 11, 2016 by HappyGoStuckey 4 Comments

“Autumn seemed to arrive suddenly that year. The morning of the first September was crisp and golden as an apple.” — J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Just when I was losing patience with the warmth of Fall in Georgia, we crunch on leaves and acorns alike. Hallelujah, it is finally Fall! Granted, our afternoons are still a bit balmy, but that just means we can enjoy that perfect Iced Coffee a little longer, right?

There are so many things to love about Autumn, and I plan to enjoy every last one, cliche or not. (Except the PSL, I confess I am no longer a fan of sweet coffee. I know, sad. I truly love the taste of strong black coffee, even though it is pretty much the khaki pants of the coffee shop menu.)

Last month we made our third annual pilgrimage to the Blue Ridge Mountains for brisk air and heaps of fresh apples and it did not disappoint. Seventeen members of our family packed into a large cabin with creaky floors and space to rest. For three sublime days we enjoyed big breakfasts, massive cups of coffee, and apple picking in flannel shirts. Nothing brings a deep sigh like the mountains. I may however, have gone a little overboard on the pumpkins, apples, and squashes. As in, our girls don’t even ask what kind of fruit we have anymore, they know– it’s apples. Apples for weeks.

Before we jump in, thank you to all who entered the Simmering in the Kitchen Giveaway. Laura B. was the winner and has been notified. We should do that again sometime, it was fun!

This weeks’ good stuff is a hodgepodge of wonderful.

1. The writings of Christine Willard, whom I found when I heard her husband, Timothy Willard speak at Allume a couple of years ago. They both have a rare lyrical way with words which draw me in every time. These are two people who hold both the beauty and pain of life in this world with gentle, reverent hands and it springs forth with a clear picture of just how deep their art goes. Writing like that draws me deeper, to know God more fully and to know what it is He has called me to do.

2. My new favorite Instagram feed: @LifeCreative. A “faith-based community of creatives who passionately blend home, art, and family,” Life Creative is a sunny spot I currently frequent. We all need to be reminded that though mothering and creating can be a tricky juggling act, it is entirely doable. I’m certain you will find a bit of beauty there.

3. The Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach Podcast. Seriously, where has this been all my life? They are short (usually under ten minutes) segments which is a perfect jumpstart to writing time.

4. The #Shoeboxrecipienttakeover hashtag on Twitter. I simply adore the mission and ministry of Operation Christmas Child and all that they do to share love and hope through the OCC boxes each year. If you need to be reminded that these boxes are going to actual faces, check out the fun little party over on twitter featuring stories from past recipients. Also, find some fresh ideas for packing your Operation Christmas Child Shoebox here.

5. Betrayal Hurts and That’s Okay by Caitlin Lieder– I regularly enjoy the words this dear one writes and this piece on forgiveness and betrayal is no different.

“…forgiveness doesn’t mean trust or reconciliation… it means sacrifice. When I forgive this person, I sacrifice my own desire for compensation and justification. Her sin against me has already been justified on the cross and I cannot hold it over her.”

Friends, I hope you have a refreshing weekend heavy on all that is life-giving and free of anything too soul-sucking, (ahem Facebook, I’m looking at you.)

I would love to hear what your favorite finds were this week!

Did you get your free copy of Simmer: Six Seasonal Soups & the Stories that Inspired them, yet? Get it here!

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