Have a Lovely Weekend.

Hello!

I was so happy to see you mention Australia’s plain packaging laws for cigarettes. Australia has seen a big drop in smoking rates since this initiative came into effect. The woman who was the Health Minister at the time (Nicola Roxon) had to fight a really tough battle against the cigarette companies to get it to happen and she won – she’s amazing. Packaging for cigarettes seems like such a small thing but it is making and will make such a huge difference in terms of people’s health. Poor dirty muddy green though!
Xx

Loved the Buzzfeed article for conversation starters with young girls. A few of my friends have daughters who I absolutely adore and consider myself their honorary auntie :). Sometimes I worry I’m only praising them about their appearance. Even though we were all kids at one point, it can be difficult to think up interesting topics to discuss with them. Thank you for sharing!

The polite search just KILLED me :D

Hoping to surprise with breakfast burritos tomorrow.. but as always, we are at the whim of the master of the house (aka the toddler)

David Sedaris gave my husband and me a “Stop Talking” card at a book signing a few years ago. It was after we asked him to sign a book for our then toddler son and shared that he often asked us to do just that. He is hilarious and he will sign books and chat with every last person at his shows. Love him.

Absolutely loved the polite searches

Shruthi
http://nyambura.co

I just want to comment on the link about how to be the best host/ess. I agree that it’s nice to feel comfortable at a party with the perfect drinks, food and conversation and there are lovely people who can pull that off. Then there is the rest of us. And I know I am guilty of letting my perfect host friends host the parties because, well, my house is never clean enough and I have three boys and I can’t pull out such a perfect party. Instead I throw together gatherings. We will be on the porch all summer long and I will do my best to make all feel welcome. Bring your kids and your friends and your special drink. It’s more important to me to just invite people over to gather and laugh and talk. I’m sure that makes some people uncomfortable, but the majority of us have a grand old time. I think too many people are thinking they need a Pinterest perfect party and that actually stops them from throwing one and inviting friends over. It doesn’t have to be perfect. It will still be fun!

I work in a job where I am often taking young elementary students for testing. These students often have never met me before, but they need to be feeling at ease in order to do their best testing (we test student to see if they should be identified for gifted education service fyi). The two questions that I’ve found work the absolute best to talk to kids is to ask about their siblings (who are they? Are they good older/younger brothers/sister or the annoying kind?) or, asking them what was the absolute coolest thing to happen to them this week/end (or, depending on the student, the most boring or worst thing).

I love Nan’s way to google and the Queen scolding the Prince! First is soooo cute, it makes me think that if my grandpa have had the possibility of googling he’d have been doing it on the same way!
I love friday’s posts!

Issue 3 of Anxiety Magazine. Ack! I may die laughing!!!! (But seriously, I would so read it.)

Hello! I love Cup of Jo because so much of what you post truly aligns with my values and opinions. This week I was disappointed that there was no mention of the Orlando victims. I think it would be important to include reflections on this tragedy or links for donating to the Orlando Pulse victims this week.

Oh my goodness, the Anxiety magazine is the best. I laughed out loud at most of them. It’s also nice to know it’s not just me who has those thoughts!

Those roller coasters look so intense
xo
http://www.laurajaneatelier.com

Jo, you had a very insightful post years ago about not speaking to young girls about their looks, and it resonated deeply with me. I shared it with my husband, who immediately understood, even though he’d never thought about it before. We now both are conscious of this, and I often hear him speaking to the neighbors little girl.. “Wow, you’re super strong!” “You’re so clever” etc etc. Its very sweet.

Oh my goodness, my girls are waking up at horrible hours too! 5:15, 5:30, why?1?! We are trying out the Gro Clock (I remember you talking about it before) but it’s still early days for us too.
Have a great weekend!

Very interesting collection of links, as usual, but I have to question the sunscreen one. What about Vitamin D??? My midwife said I need twenty minutes of midday sun everyday to avoid a Vitamin D supplement (this is while breastfeeding and/or pregnant, so those not directly supporting another human need less). Also, I have read that one bad sunburn is much worse than getting a little sun everyday in terms of cancer risk.

It seems to me that the sun is like good food: a little is good for you, too much is not.