What are your plans for this weekend? We will be watching the Super Bowl with our neighbors, and the boys are going to have a hot chocolate stand to raise money for Minnesota organizers. Thank you to all the brave people in the Twin Cities; we are so grateful for your example. Take gentle care of yourselves, and here are a few links from around the web…
Catherine O’Hara was everyone’s mom. “Her characters were a monument to the endlessly radical idea that mothers are people, too.” (NYMag)
Life lessons from four winters in Sweden.
The perfect date night shoes, plus they’re 20% off with code CUPOFJO20, exclusively until 2/11. (These sneakers are cute, too.)
Painted rocks are an optical illusion.
Catbird has always been my favorite jewelry destination (I mean, how gorgeous is this ring?!). If you order anytime before February 11th, their ready-to-ship will arrive in time for Valentine’s Day.
A sliding apology, my heart.
Can’t wait for Sharon Horgan’s new show.
A beautiful essay on quitting cigarettes. “Every smoker keeps in the front of their mind a worse-off, more seriously addicted, probably sooner-dying smoker who they use to legitimate their own habit. For everyone I knew, I was that smoker.” (via Maybe Baby)
The evolutionary brilliance of the baby giggle. The videos! (NYTimes gift link)
This cool poster comes in French, English and Italian.
“Humanity is, always, enough,” writes Roxane Gay. “We have a right to protest, legally carry a firearm, drive while Black, walk in a neighborhood at night, play in a park, sleep in a bed or do anything else whether we are wonderful people and beloved or not.”
Finally, I had a dating realization that changed everything. (Big Salad, which is 20% off this week. Thank you so much for your support.)
Plus, three reader comments:
Says Erin on my birthday weekend: “Regarding avoiding ‘soul-sucking reasonableness’: When my parents’ friend Art turned 40, my mom made 40 cupcakes. We put them around the perimeter of the dining room table, lit each one, and made Art run around the table blowing out all the candles. It was hilarious.”
Says E. Louise on 8 lovely looks: “Y’all I splurged on this Sézane dress that I’ve wanted for months because, well, fuck it, I love it and also I think I may be proposed to. I also feel like this group has been part of this relationship journey, in that I remember, in my darkest hours, reading that no matter what I think there is someone truly wonderful out there, and you guys were right.”
Says Dawn on my birthday weekend: “I turned 39 right after my mom died, and I didn’t want to celebrate. I felt sad and drained. Instead, I decided to do 39 random acts of kindness. Many of them were anonymous and in my neighborhood. It was so much fun, and I felt like a secret happiness spreader.”
(Photo by Tamara Harhai/Unsplash.)
