Thursday Things #110
Yeah, no, this was not on my 2024 bingo card. (Also: a really good book, ridiculous embroidery, and a post unlike any I've seen before.)
Every other Thursday, I share a handful of good things I'm loving, reading, watching, listening to or just discovered. AKA the random good stuff we’d talk about over coffee or text if we had one another’s phone number. I'm glad you're here!
Hey, hi, hello. Happy Thursday to you!
Somehow we took exactly zero pictures during the quick trip, but I promise my parents did actually come to Birmingham 😂 — and I can confirm, from the note at the top of Thursday Things #109, that we absolutely stopped at Cookie Fix.
Three times.
Ahem.
(Listen, if you’ve had it you know why one stop was a must. And if you know that, but you so sadly don’t live near one of the locations, you also understand why we needed to return… and then return again... before their flight back to Florida.)
We have a family wedding next week and I’m not kidding when I say my packing list includes “frozen dough from Cookie Fix”. Here’s hoping it arrives safely in Atlanta so the entire extended family can experience the goodness.
(And this time we’ll take a picture.)
Anyway. Enough on that, onto a few Good Things from the past two weeks! As always, the comments are open for you to share your recent faves too (just click the speech bubble at the top or bottom of the email).
I most certainly did not have American Idol on my 2024 bingo card.
And yet. Here we are.
A week and a half ago, I posted an Instagram Story I absolutely never saw coming. I mean, zero percent not even on the periphery couldn’t have guessed it with one thousand tries.
Well I’m here to say it’s true that I had not watched one minute since 2007, but it’s also true that I’m now 2/2 when it comes to crying during episodes 1 and 2 of season 22.
(twen.ty.two.) (it might as well be Grey’s Anatomy)
There’s just something about watching someone do what they were born to do, seeing someone practice bravery + vulnerably share . . . and then the joy of their people celebrating and cheering on? What a gift.
So yeah, I’m officially in it until the finale.
I’m sorry, what??
Excuse me but this is EMBROIDERY.
The new-to-me account (@green_ball_and_aneedle/) has 16 posts chronicling the project and I absolutely stared and stared at each one, zooming in with my mouth legit wide open. Instant ‘follow’ on IG for me.
Practicing the Way.
This led off the 18 New Books You Don't Want to Miss This Spring list, but after highlighting so much of the ebook that I’m going to purchase a physical copy too (for whatever reason, it’s easier for me to find those underlines/brackets/stars in the margin faster than searching an ebook), I wanted to mention here.
Practicing the Way became an instant New York Times bestseller, and for good reason. While browsing a Birmingham bookstore with my parents, we saw two of my all-time favorites face-out on a shelf. “Those are two of the best books I’ve ever read,” I said, pointing at The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry by JMC (Can I call him that? I’m calling him that.) and another I’ve sung the praises of many a time, so we’ll save it for later. Of his books, Ruthless remains my #1 favorite — but this is a close runner-up.
Here’s the description from retailers:
We are constantly being formed by the world around us. To be formed by Jesus will require us to become his apprentice. To live by what the first Christian disciples called a Rule of Life—a set of practices and relational rhythms that slow us down and open up space in our daily lives for God to do what only God can do—transforms the deepest parts of us to become like him.
This introduction to spiritual formation is full of John Mark Comer’s trademark mix of theological substance and cultural insight as well as practical wisdom on developing your own Rule of Life.
These ancient practices have much to offer us. By learning to rearrange our days, we can follow the Way of Jesus. We can be with him. Become like him. And do as he did.
Torches and anchors and good words.
A month later and, y’all, I’m still thinking about this post from
. In fact . . . I’ve for real tried to remember any other post like it, but nothing comes to mind. Does it exist? Surely. But as far as I know, it hasn’t crossed my social media feeds in the two decades or so I’ve been online.More of this, please.
As a single gal with more and more married friends as the years go on, this was a gift to read and beautifully speaks to the importance of the full Body. (My church is currently going verse by verse through 1 Corinthians, which is a wild time to be sure. We’re in chapter 7 — all about marriage & singleness — so it was particularly perfect timing. I’ve saved it to return to again and again, though, and hope it is an encouragement to you as well.)
This is a carousel/swipe post on Instagram, so you’ll want to click on the image above (or click on this link) so you can then swipe to the next screen to continue reading.
Your turn! What would you mention over coffee? Click the button below and share a good thing or two in the comments! A book, show, song, snack, post, recent random find—whatever goodness arrived in the last two weeks . . .
A little note of heads up just for you → I’m trying something new on Instagram Stories and am hosting a few Friday giveaways this spring! (Any of you OGs remember when I used to do Friday Follows in 2018-2019? Which later became Friday Favorites for a few years? I’m bringing them back to IG for a hot minute, combining them, and adding in a giveaway each time.) Because you’re here in Thursday Things, you likely already know and love the people I’ll point to — I’ve mentioned them here over the years, of course! But that just means you can slide the bar in the IG Story and instantly be entered. 😊 If you have an Instagram account, and particularly if you enjoy coffee or books, be sure to click over to @kaitlyn_bouch tomorrow morning and view the Story! Fingers crossed Instagram plays nice and doesn’t disappear again like it did this past Tuesday, but just in case I wanted to give y’all a heads up so you know to look for it — the giveaway will only be open for 24 hours. :)
P.s. Thank you, thank you for celebrating the book birthday of Even If Not with me in TT #109! Because of YOU (!!!) we officially hit the number of reviews Amazon looks for to really start suggesting EIN to those they think might be interested. (You know all those ‘suggested for you’ items that happen to show up when you scroll down on a product page? Yep, those!)
They’ll do that even more if Goodreads goes up by 14 or Amazon by 40 or so, which will take quite a while to chip away at, but I’m seriously so so so grateful for your support in reaching this marker that legit helps spread the words further than I can on my own . . . and now we just hope and pray that if someone is wondering if God is still good when life very much doesn’t seem to be, if they’re feeling disappointed or disillusioned, that this book (or, truly, others that point to the same hope) is suggested as they scroll.
Also LOVED Practicing the Way and Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. And I think that he would be fine with JMC. 😄
What a delightful read! I don’t watch much reality tv but it’s refreshing to see it covered in a different light to what I usually hear. And the embroidery 😮