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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

What I Learned in August

August 31, 2015 by HappyGoStuckey 9 Comments

In August we say farewell to long days with nothing to do but apply sunscreen and pack sandwiches in a pool bag. We trade our swimsuits for actual clothing and we begin clearly observing the reasonable bed time. Still in denial about the complete end of summer, we have enjoyed our first week of homeschooling and routine-building and still had time to learn a few things.

Sharing-4

  • I learned the wonder of UnrollMe.com and I’m pretty sure it’s a game changer. I posted on instagram about how many unread emails I had (Ahem, over 5K– not all new, most just from old things piling up,) and a friend mentioned the unrollme service. If you haven’t heard, UnrollMe is a free service that accesses your email account (with your permission) and then helps clean it up in a matter of moments. Part of my problem was that I had 226 subscriptions, or companies that were regularly emailing me!! A few I wanted to keep, but most I did not. This has dramatically reduced emails coming in and I was able to add all the companies I actually wanted to hear from to a list which UnrollMe uses to send me a single email with all of those emails contained within it. WOW. Game changer, I tell ya!
  • Authentically great musicians sound even better in person. The list of concerts I have attended is very short and somewhat embarrassing– and none of them have been all that memorable. BUT. Drew Holcomb & the Neighbors put on the most fun concert the other night in Greenville, SC and WOW. The outdoor venue was perfect and the night was gorgeous. It was so great that my face hurt from smiling for hours after. If you ever have the chance to see them, definitely go. They sound so amazing in person. They happen to have just begun their tour– so check and see if they are headed your way here.
  • I broadcasted for the first time on Periscope and it wasn’t a total bust! YAY! Periscope makes me nervous because once you begin recording, it is out there and you can’t edit but in a world of instagram filters (which I also love) I think maybe that’s a good thing. In my first post, I shared a minute or two from that super fun concert I mentioned. I’m HappyGoStuckey there if you want to join me!
  • Keeping good, fun, wonderful secrets from my children makes me giddy. We are taking a vacation in a couple weeks and somehow we have managed to keep it all a secret from the girls for SIX months– I’m not even certain how I haven’t let the cat out of the bag all this time, because I tend to get too excited not to tell them, but I haven’t. We only have a few more days of secret-keeping and then we can surprise them with the news and Oh yeah, 4b– Homeschooling is AWESOME because you get to take your vacation when everyone else is in school– Woohoo!!!

What did YOU learn this month??

Things I’m into this month:

Drinks–
Iced Americanos. Yes, please! Because we make Iced Coffee at home regularly, it’s hard to find something that compares to my husband’s level of coffee strength and flavor when I do have coffee out– but an Iced Americano, espresso shots mixed with water, is just the thing. Try it!

Books I’m Reading–
Longing for Paris, My Life in France and Treasure Island (for the 8th Grade Literature Class I am teaching.) And yes, these selections *may* be the same as last month. Ahem. I haven’t quite fit much reading into our new routine. Once I finish one of these I can begin Simply Tuesday— which is still on a great sale over at Amazon–yay!

One more–
Being less than two months away from the Allume Conference!!! One of my favorite times of the year without a doubt is the late October gathering of like-minded artists and writers in Greenville, SC! Being in that fun-filled city this past weekend made me that much more excited. If you are at all interested, there are still tickets available– check it out! 

I’m linking up with Emily Freeman for What I Learned in August and Leigh Kramer for What I’m Into. Come visit!

**Some affiliate links may be present.

 

 

 

Wild in the Hollow
Iced Coffee. Simple & Perfect.

Comments

  1. hopeful50 says

    August 31, 2015 at 11:55 am

    I must work on my “what I learned” post…Allume! I am going for the first time ever. More than excited! I enjoy your Stitchfix posts and never miss them! xo

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      August 31, 2015 at 5:00 pm

      Hey Susan! So glad you get to attend Allume this year– prepare to be filled and encouraged! AND, you happened to have reminded me to get on writing my newest StitchFix post– thanks for the reminder! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Sarah @ Sarah on Purpose says

    August 31, 2015 at 2:19 pm

    I so agree with your live music observation! I went to the most amazing back yard concert in August.

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      August 31, 2015 at 5:02 pm

      For sure. It took me from a non-concert goer to a live-music junkie. 🙂 Thanks for stopping by Sarah!

      Reply
  3. greeroharah says

    August 31, 2015 at 4:03 pm

    I am so excited to try UnrollMe. I have 2,500 unread messages and it continues to grow. Thanks for sharing!

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      August 31, 2015 at 5:03 pm

      Oh yes. It will change your life. Well, almost. 🙂 Glad you dropped by today! Enjoy September!

      Reply
  4. Shaina says

    September 1, 2015 at 3:35 pm

    You are going to LOVE Simply Tuesday. I enjoyed reading your list–thanks for sharing on Emily’s blog 🙂

    Reply
    • HappyGoStuckey says

      September 1, 2015 at 4:36 pm

      Hi Shaina– Thanks for reading! These link-ups are one of my favorites!

      Reply
  5. Emily says

    September 1, 2015 at 5:20 pm

    I love that you’re doing a surprise vacation for your kids! They’ll be delighted (Hopefully they won’t read your blog before then!) I really want an Iced Americano now, I love coffee.

    Reply

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Hey There!

I'm Cynthia and I'm so glad you're here. I am an introvert with an extrovert's love of gathering people together. I love good books and capturing moments. Whether you visit me here or on my own front porch, I'll be the one holding the Iced Coffee for us both.

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happygostuckey

Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will co Some of the rhythms we took up in ‘20 we will continue to sigh into in ‘21.
Baking sourdough, watching it bubble and rise and fill our BlueHouse with the scent of a good, long, posture of patience— I absolutely need a second serving of this.
While we wait, and whatever it is that we wait for— may the space between be made sweeter by the knowledge that we never wait alone.
You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapp You can’t tell by their joy, but the day I snapped this photo was somewhat of a regular day.

What looks like a winter beach vacation was actually the tail-end of a masked lunch stop in the middle of a pandemic road trip.

This sparkling moment of sun-splashed fun was sandwiched between brutal conversations about regular life, especially the hard parts.

And this is how it is. 
These bits of life that we never see coming, they are enveloped between all that makes us tired, weary, sighing pilgrims in a world that was never really meant to be hospitable in the first place.

This photo reminds me to look again at our year, our season, our circumstances.

To look a second and third time.
To keep looking as long as it takes to see that the joy of our right now isn’t gone, it just might be hiding in the shadow of all that’s hard.

Brokenness is never vague. And we don’t have to search very long to see it both within ourselves and around us.
Sometimes the weight of that fact is crushing.
And then, sometimes it reminds us even more clearly of the light shining in darkness.

Joy is an act of defiance against despair and I don’t know about you, but I’m feeling rather defiant at the moment.✨✨✨✨

@hopewriters #hopewriterlife 
#feastingandforaging #hopelenses #getaftergrateful
Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially Endurance can feel like standing still. Especially if what we’re called to be about is the same as yesterday and last month. 
It’s difficult to meet each day with the same fervor and joy for what we are called to do, especially when at present, the progress seems small and immeasurable. 
But even then, perhaps especially so — our faithfulness matters.

When we cannot yet see the other side, the light at the end of this particularly long tunnel, we begin again.

Not because we will always wake with fresh energies and bright, sparkling hope for what comes next, friend. But because the God of Endurance (Romans 15:5) dwells within us.

“It is the grace of endurance granted to you by the God of endurance that provides you with everything you need to continue to be what he calls you to be and do what he calls you to do between this moment and the moment when you cross over to the other side. When difficulty exposes the weakness of your resolve and the limits of your strength, you do not have to panic, because He will endure even in this moments when you don’t feel able to do so yourself.” — Paul David Tripp, New Morning Mercies

#hopewriterlife
Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for Stuckey, party of two. Always ready to run out for paper towels... especially if the store is in convenient proximity to a quick date for croissants and dirty chai for two. Love my forever coffee companion even more at the start of this new year. Wherever he’s going, I’m riding shotgun.
We have learned... The inestimable value of a goo We have learned...

The inestimable value of a good camp chair, for they have been used for everything from soccer benches and coffee dates to theatre seats and church pews.

What our neighborhood streets can offer in the way of an outing—from the colors of spring to the sparkle of Christmas.

To hold plans with the loosest hands possible.

To rejoice in things found. Time. Margin. ...and enough toilet paper to share with a neighbor.

To give grace and accept it for ourselves.

The hilarious joy of a group text complete with “have you seen this meme yet?” 

To pivot. And then pivot again.

To find more joy in candlelight closer to home, instead of the bright lights of traveled cities.

To perfect our pizza dough recipe and truly learn to prefer it over dinner out.

To work with yeast and flour again and again— until the message of waiting for something really good dusted our apron fronts and kitchen floors.

And in our house, we learned how to be unexpectedly unemployed. We learned how to honor that new found space with needed grief and desired hope. How to be grateful for true friends who prayed with us, held questions with us, and hoped with us. We were reminded of our true identity and that it will never rest in a job. 

In a year in which we’ve all lost quite a lot, you and I have been given so much as well. Some of what we’ve lost we have learned to be without. Some, we won’t go looking for again.

In 525,600 minutes and in all the things, found and lost and found again— there is far and away more to be grateful for.

And we choose joy.

✨Happy New Year, dear friends!✨
Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Not rushing too quickly into a new year over here. Though the one in our rear view window is one we wouldn’t choose to repeat, still it was one full of God’s nearness.

One day I’ll write it all down.
But for now I’ll just say,
we were not alone. 🕯
“Once in our world, a Stable had something in it “Once in our world, a Stable had something in it that was bigger than our whole world.”
C.S.Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia

Joy to the World, friends.
Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 desser Behold. The most apropos Christmas Eve 2020 dessert ever. Made from a wonky gingerbread cake that did not cooperate.
We shall not go quietly into 2021.
We will fight back with beauty and joy and candles... and fresh whipped cream made by an eleven year old with sparkly green eyes. 🎄❤️✨
Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Merry Christmas from the Fam! { 👉🏻 swipe for Stuckeys in their natural habitat.) 🎄🕯❤️✨
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