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Happy Go Stuckey

Tethering Grace & Togetherness

What I Learned in June

July 1, 2015 by HappyGoStuckey 13 Comments

It’s one of my favorite times of the month when we share what we learned with Emily.

Sharing-3

1. Simple cliche summer days really are the very best.  Perpetually air-dried hair with swimsuits and coverups as our daily outfits of choice. The calming lull of the dryer with our beach towels spinning away landmarks every afternoon. We rapidly move through boxes of popsicles and we always know where our flip-flops are.

Just 5 weeks into summer and I’ve learned it takes very little beyond a neighborhood pool and sunshine to keep us all content. We have settled very nicely into the sunscreen scented rhythm of summer and I am soaking it all up.

2. I read good books at a snail’s pace. You would think if I loved it, I couldn’t put it down. But I get completely wrapped up in the characters and hate the idea of them “moving out” of my brain so I read them slooooowly. Currently from my summer reading list, I am enjoying Lizzy and Jane by Katherine Reay. If you read Dear Mr. Knightley, this one is similar but still very different. I have only three short chapters left so I’m only reading two pages at a time. IMG_4379

3. I sorely missed my Stitchfix this month. I skipped my May fix for various reasons and I really missed that happy little green and white package. I scheduled one for my birthday later this month and I’ve been pinning things like crazy and watching the calendar. I like surprises; therefore Stitchfix has been a really fun experience. Have you tried it yet? IMG_3670

4. Colorful food inspires me to eat healthier. Our little back deck garden has been slowly producing some really beautiful things. Gold Zucchini (very similar to regular zucchini,) cucumbers, varieties of tomatoes and herbs galore. We normally eat a LOT of soups and chilis but in the summer– not a chance. It’s been so incredibly hot lately and I find myself searching for creative ways to cook without heat. We eat a lot of salads and tacos. I love the ability to create dinner with these beautiful colors.
colorful veg

What did YOU learn this month?

Catch up on what I learned in April and March

**Affiliate links are included in this post. This means that at no extra cost to you– I get a small commission if you purchase anything I recommend through these links.
Summer Reading and Savor by Shauna Niequist
No Actual Productivity Represented

Comments

  1. Keisha says

    July 1, 2015 at 1:22 pm

    I love your blog and look forward to be posts. Thanks for the reading suggestions! But honestly, how can you stretch a good book out like that?? (Asks the girl who’s currently stretching a bag of dark chocolate espresso beans by only eating 1 a day!)

    Reply
  2. happygostuckey says

    July 1, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    Thank you Keisha! Girl. I would be stretching those espresso beans too!!!! 😉

    Reply
  3. happygostuckey says

    July 1, 2015 at 3:48 pm

    Thank you Keisha! Girl. I would be stretching those espresso beans too!!!! 😉

    Reply
  4. Kristin Hill Taylor says

    July 1, 2015 at 5:46 pm

    Yes – No. 1 all the way. I love summer, many hours at a time at the pool, and colorful food. (Although I tend to read my books fast, especially when I am so into a good one!)

    Reply
  5. Kristin Hill Taylor says

    July 1, 2015 at 5:46 pm

    Yes – No. 1 all the way. I love summer, many hours at a time at the pool, and colorful food. (Although I tend to read my books fast, especially when I am so into a good one!)

    Reply
  6. Kayla Johnson says

    July 1, 2015 at 6:18 pm

    Hey! Thanks so much for saying hi! I agree-those are beautiful vegetables! I wanted to make sure to thank you over here on your blog because today I decided to take my blog in a super different direction, and I’m deleting some blog posts, and I wanted you to know I appreciate your comment and taking the time to read, and I am so freaked out at the idea that they kept accruing fees for you! Ahh!

    Reply
  7. Kayla Johnson says

    July 1, 2015 at 6:18 pm

    Hey! Thanks so much for saying hi! I agree-those are beautiful vegetables! I wanted to make sure to thank you over here on your blog because today I decided to take my blog in a super different direction, and I’m deleting some blog posts, and I wanted you to know I appreciate your comment and taking the time to read, and I am so freaked out at the idea that they kept accruing fees for you! Ahh!

    Reply
  8. kerisnyder2014 says

    July 1, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    That book looks so good! I need a good fiction book- may have to check it out 🙂

    Reply
  9. kerisnyder2014 says

    July 1, 2015 at 11:45 pm

    That book looks so good! I need a good fiction book- may have to check it out 🙂

    Reply
  10. karrileea says

    July 2, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    I love your lists every month! I am in complete agreement about #1… although we don’t have a neighborhood pool and my house is not filled with anyone but me during the day – and yet… that slower summer pace is where it is at! I am reading L&J too… I just finished Dear Mr. Knightley though… and am still enjoying thoughts of that! I tend to read slower the closer to the end I get as well! (I guess that is a sign of good writing, right?) I have not yet tried Stitchfix – but I know I would love it so that is dangerous! 😉 It’s been hot here too – so lots of salads… fresh fruit… raw veggies and hummus… you know, cold cereal or yogurt maybe? I’m with you though – I love all the color!

    Reply
  11. karrileea says

    July 2, 2015 at 1:24 pm

    I love your lists every month! I am in complete agreement about #1… although we don’t have a neighborhood pool and my house is not filled with anyone but me during the day – and yet… that slower summer pace is where it is at! I am reading L&J too… I just finished Dear Mr. Knightley though… and am still enjoying thoughts of that! I tend to read slower the closer to the end I get as well! (I guess that is a sign of good writing, right?) I have not yet tried Stitchfix – but I know I would love it so that is dangerous! 😉 It’s been hot here too – so lots of salads… fresh fruit… raw veggies and hummus… you know, cold cereal or yogurt maybe? I’m with you though – I love all the color!

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. No Actual Productivity Represented | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    July 8, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    […] last week when I lauded summer?  I was all yay, foam pool noodles and yay team sunscreen and popsicles are a meal and I […]

    Reply
  2. No Actual Productivity Represented | Happy Go Stuckey says:
    July 8, 2015 at 2:56 pm

    […] last week when I lauded summer?  I was all yay, foam pool noodles and yay team sunscreen and popsicles are a meal and I […]

    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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