flowers

What are you up to this weekend? We’re having sleepovers tonight! The fridge is stocked with snacks and sodas. The boys are SO excited, and I’m exhausted already, haha. Hope you have a good one, and here are a few fun links from around the web…

I’ll be spending the weekend wearing these.

Can we talk about dating apps and how there has to be a better way? “Apparently in Norway when you go hiking in the mountains, green buffs or hats mean you are single, and red mean you are in a relationship.”

Monster cookies.

What I imagine strangers think about me when they see me reading a book in public. “That girl could be on her phone but she chose to read a book instead. I bet she has never watched a full season of ‘House Hunters International’ in a single day.” (New Yorker)

Found my forever Halloween costume! The kids went bananas.

Oooh, wouldn’t you love a pink kitchen?

The nap bishop is spreading the good word: rest. “I judge success by how many naps I took in a week, and how many times I told somebody no; how many boundaries I upheld,” Tricia Hersey says. (NYTimes gift link)

Great news: Primary Kids is running 30% off your entire order with code COJ30. Highly recommend these shirts and their sweaters.

This parenting comic, haha.

LOVING fall clothes with great timeless color combos — exhibit A, exhibit B.

How to help someone going through a tough time. “If a person going through stressful shit would like a mani-pedi, she is not going to take herself there because she’ll probably be worried the whole time and it will not be enjoyable. Other-care is what’s needed. My offer to new mom acquaintances is always ‘I will come to your house, and fold laundry, do dishes, and clean your bathroom and not talk to you, and be another adult in the room if you need to use the toilet without bringing the baby in with you, and I don’t know you well enough for you to care what I think or have you feel like you need to entertain me’… Or, ‘I am picking up all your laundry and taking it home with me and washing/drying/folding it for you, see you later when I come back with your clean clothing and some dinner.'”

What a beautiful statue.

Plus, three reader comments:

Says Allison on how many kids do you have: “I always wanted four kids. Three years of IVF later, I have one sweet, perfect baby son. Getting here was, at times, heartbreakingly difficult. I would do it all again (and plan to!) but if he ends up being our only, he will be so much more than enough.”
Replies Silly Lily: “Allison, you MUST embroider this and hang it over your baby’s crib… actually it should be hanging over every baby’s crib: MORE THAN ENOUGH.”

Says Noelle on how to meal plan: “We instituted Muffin Monday, which gives us something to look forward to on Mondays and also means one less night to plan for. We make a big batch of muffins each Monday evening (saving the leftovers for breakfast) and scrambled eggs. Everyone is happy.”

Says Morgan on hot dads in children’s books: “Shout out to Richard from the original 1987 Guess Who. My grandma and I always talked about how kind his eyes are. Turns out my husband of 19 years looks a lot like Richard (read: kind eyes), and when I play the game with my daughters they refer to him as Papa. ‘Is your person Papa?’ Step lively folks, dreams really DO come true.”

(Photo of our dining room via Cup of Jo’s Instagram. Statue link via Carissa Potter.)