Thursday Things #126
A round-up of YOUR favorites from 2024.
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!
Sometimes (a lot of times) it’s all just a lot, isn’t it? I could list one hundred things here, but the recent fires in LA and yesterday’s school shooting in Nashville are weighing heavily on my mind tonight . . . and honestly, it’s rare that a Thursday Things comes around when I don’t think with all that’s going on, how do I talk about randomness that’s lighter? A new snack find is fun but it’s not anywhere near as important.
One of the unintentional, sometimes very difficult but also surprisingly good, things about putting this together every other week for years and years and years and years now is: it keeps me looking.
It also keeps me in the tension. I don’t always like that part as much. It’s uncomfortable and it often feels like a tightrope, no net included, suspended above landmines. But when the headlines are heartbreaking and the in-person conversations are happening and the unpixelated personal life things are life-ing… Thursday Things asks: Is there anything good? It may feel small today, sure, and it might feel more than a smidge ridiculous to talk about new tennis shoes when your phone lit up ten minutes ago with difficult news—but still, here, is there good?
It keeps me looking. And the answer is always yes.
By now you know this without a doubt, 126 Thursday Things in: I may not I won’t always talk about the most recent thing. But like you, I’m looking. Listening. Praying. Donating. Processing. Crying. Talking with people I can see face-to-face or voice-to-voice over the phone (comment sections aren’t it for me). And still forever looking for joy, for beauty, for good. And I’m saying this here, at the top, not because of a specific event (again, I could write this nearly any Thursday) but because we’re 23 days into 2025 and if I had to guess, you’re holding the both/and of it all too.
Maybe someone you love is hurting and you don’t know what to do. Maybe you’re desperate for a phone call, or maybe the phone rang and it changed everything. Maybe you’re doing alright, but also you’re just weary at this point and you’re not sure when you’ll be able to rest—really rest. Maybe you received great news in the last few weeks but you don’t know how to share it or simply how to hold it alongside the pain you see around you. Or maybe not—maybe everything in every area of your life, your friends lives, your family, your neighborhood, your city… maybe it’s all easy breezy all around and all of this seems entirely out of touch and silly? But I have to think we’re all daily navigating a tremendous amount of information, sitting in the tension of tragedy and beauty around the world and in our own personal world.
What I know as I write this sentence is simply this: It’s often a lot. A lot of beauty, a lot of laughter, a lot of good memories and good times and good things. But also, a lot of pain, a lot of stress, a lot of this isn’t how it should be, a lot of brokenness. So I just want to say I see you, I see it with you, and I’ll sit with you in the tension as we keep looking for the good. It isn’t silly and it isn’t small. It deeply matters—maybe even more than we know.
Rejoice with those who rejoice;
mourn with those who mourn.
Romans 12:15
Everything you see below? They’re your favorites from 2024. :)
Personally, I love a recap/reflection email. Most are sent right at the new year… but in TT #125 I said “I hope you not only had a beautiful Christmas but that your year is off to a slow, gentle start. The last few weeks months have been filled to the brim, but I’m trying to ease into the year… as much as I can, anyway! Perhaps there will be time for reflecting/evaluating/dreaming etcetera at the end of January.” and apparently that struck a chord (I always love hearing from you! You can click the comment button at the top or bottom of any email here and your reply lands in my inbox.)
So, hello to Day One Twenty-Three of 2025 and hello to the good things in Thursday Things that YOU clicked on the most. I made a list of several categories, went back through each TT of the year, and have compiled your favorite favorites below + the original text that accompanied the image/link. :) This email is LONG though and it’ll likely cut off a portion at the end… to see the entire round-up, click “view in browser” or the large title “Thursday Things 126” at the top.
Shall we start with your favorite song of the year? I share music here every month and was surprised that the first song of 2024 was the most-clicked, but then again, I get it. It’s lovely and timely for the turn of the year.
Favorite song.
Hello yes, put this in my veins. It is so soothing, so lovely, and “grow as we go” sounds a whole lot better than “new year, new you” to me. You too?
Favorite food (recipe).
This one was tricky because most of the snacks I recommend here don’t have a link (Looking at you, random goodness at Aldi / TJs / Publix.) So we’re going with favorite recipe and I’ll also point you to TT #119 where I talked about Factor Meals. (Y’all have raved about it, and ps my $150 discount link still works!)
I know, I know… this is, what, the fourth1 time now? I guess it’s a safe bet that you’ll receive this link at some point every single October but I just really, really love this chicken enchilada soup you guys. I always keep the ingredients on hand, know the measurements for the spices by heart, and can make dinner in 5-10 minutes then have leftovers all week. It’s a win.
P.s. I go with 4oz instead of the 8oz. of cream cheese the recipe calls for, and it’s delicious, but you do you.
Favorite home good.
Okay okay… hear me out? 😂 I fully stand behind All Things Candles in Thursday Things #113, but I’d like to complete the Candle Collection with the item that is legitimately changing my candle game (it was too big for the gift swap criteria, but it’s on theme and I LOVE IT). And then I promise to not write the word candle for at least one month, maybe even two. When I tell you that I bought this candle warmer 5 weeks ago, have used it for hours every single day except when briefly out of town, and the candle has only moved one literal inch? I am not exaggerating.
I heard people claim a candle warmer would extend the ‘life’ of a candle, but wow I did not expect this. There are hundreds of designs available from various retailers, so take your pick… they probably all work the same… but this is the one I chose for my style preference + the option to adjust the brightness and height.
P.s. I’ve mentioned this a few times over the years, but 1) candle wax has a “memory” and 2) the extra magic of a candle warmer is that it’ll even out the candles that aren’t burning evenly/didn’t make it to the edge on the first burn.
Favorite book.
It Wasn't Roaring, It Was Weeping: Interpreting the Language of Our Fathers Without Repeating Their Stories2…
I read an early digital copy of the much-anticipated memoir from my real-life friend (and boss, for several years!) and ohmygoshyouguys. It took LJ 5 years to write and as a reader, I’ll say it was worth the wait.
My review:
Brutally honest and beautifully written, this exquisite memoir will stay with you long after the final page is turned. After all, “It Wasn’t Roaring, It Was Weeping” is an invitation to ask is anything, really, truly the final page? Between her tender admissions and confessions, her captivating descriptions that transport from one place to another, and the weaving together of both hope and heartbreak, Baker offers a book that seems to say: Perhaps even the ghosts that haunt can be redeemed.
Here’s the book description, if you’re interested. It releases next Tuesday and though I have the ebook, my one dilemma is whether I’m going to buy the audiobook to hear it in LJ’s voice, or the hardcover so I can underline/highlight. 5 stars. (Update:
(UPDATE: It’s, of course, now available… and I now have the hardback, ebook, and also listened to the audiobook before Lisa-Jo joined us in All The Things for the August Author Zoom Call. What can I say? It’s great.)
Favorite meme/funny video.
It’s true. I’ve watched this no less than 30 times and it brings actual delight.
Favorite post share.
I’ll include a portion of the text below (written by Kate Lab - Kate Creates), but encourage you to click through and watch the video/listen to the words spoken over you, for you, with you.
It’s a good book
I’m reading.
It’s important I remember
I am not the hero of it.
I will grieve the sin and sorrows
I will turn this page in season
There is penned purpose in my pain
Whether or not I know the reasons.
And I will read today’s page
With the confidence of a reader
Who knows both
The ending
And the author.
It is good.
He is good.
Favorite account share.
We’re all zero percent surprised that I’m following yet another embroidery account on Instagram, I know… but the minis! The colors! The tiny details all woven together! (For real, click on the bird post and swipe to see the close-up. Then scroll the account for so many more.) I’m here for it, but you already knew that.
Favorite miscellaneous product.
Sophie Hudson recommended this all-in-one spray and wipe cleaner on a recent episode of The Big Boo Cast (throwback to Thursday Things #45 in the year of our Lord 2021 — it’s still one of my all-time favorite shows. I might even have a Note of favorite quotes. “I have the foot of a peasant,” anyone?) and I’m here to say she wasn’t lying. Thumbs up from me.
Favorite accessory.
Oh yeah, it had to make its Thursday Things appearance. It’s good, y’all. It’s real good. I shared this in Instagram Stories and within minutes the inbox started filling with heart eye emojis, link requests, and messages that said “Ok but I love influencery Kaitlyn!” To which I replied: “I don’t know why I love it.” - me
I am obviously a VPI.2 It’s like a VIP except not. Anyway: here’s the link!
Favorite clothing item.
Oh, I laughed real good after clicking purchase on a pair of Dr. Scholl’s sneakers, especially because Italians are just flat-out fashionable and these are, well, not exactly that. But then I walked 50,000 steps around Venice over the course of 2 days and I declared my past self to be a genius because my feet were FINE. Sore, sure, yes of course because 50k… but also, magically, very okay.
Meet my new lots-of-walking-around-a-city shoes. They were worth every penny. (Here’s the link — they come in several colors and fit true to size.)
(Also Venice is literally sinking and in many places overflowing so the extra platform was an unexpected soggy-sock saver on more than one occasion. If you’re going to Venice, be prepared for puddles.)
After I gathered your TT favorites here, I couldn’t help but get curious about which Instagram posts/words especially resonated with you. (Fact: I actually have it set so that likes are hidden from… me! AKA I have to intentionally go looking in order to see.) In case that kinda stuff intrigues you too (you’re probably 100% with me in enjoying random recaps from others), here they are:
The most watched/shared reel // It goes with this article. :)
The most shared/saved carousel post // This isn’t the first time I posted this, actually! And yet (thank God for God) it holds true every year. TBH I might share it every Good Friday for the rest of my Instagram days because it has truly impacted how I see all of Holy Week.
The most shared/saved static post // This is honestly fascinating to me because I wrote another “here’s to you” a few days ago. Time will tell if it leaves the Notes app, but if words show up at 4:46am, you scribble-type it down just in case because history shows there’s a 0% chance you’ll remember 100% of it in the morning. (And all the writers said amen.)
Thanks for being here in 2024 & for sticking around for 2025. I genuinely am so glad you’re here, friend.
Now fifth LOL.
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