Have a Relaxing Weekend.

What are you up to this weekend? Toby and Anton started school this week, so we’ll be just relaxing at home, maybe listening to a little Bob Dylan. (Side note: On the first day of school, Anton didn’t cry, which is a lifetime first!) Hope you have a good one, and here are a few fun links from around the web…

The Catherine the Great trailer looks excellent.

“How I spent $60 on a dinner party for five people.”

Nine things a woman couldn’t do in 1971 in America. (Kind of shocking.)

What a beautiful living room makeover!

Yum yum yum yum yum.

Nordstrom is having a huge sale. Into these shoes, boots and pajamas.

Elizabeth Gilbert’s 10 tips for writing. “Tell your story TO someone. Pick one person you love or admire or want to connect with, and write the whole thing directly to them —like you’re writing a letter. This will bring forth your natural voice. Whatever you do, do NOT write to a demographic. Ugh.”

A sweet idea for school jitters.

Existential dread in the animal kingdom, haha. (New Yorker)

Excited to read this new book about talking to strangers.

Three Trader Joe’s employees danced to cheer up a melting down toddler.

And the cult of TJ’s cauliflower gnocchi. Have you tried it?

Plus, a reader comment:

Says Emily on a romantic $5 gift: “For all my husband’s strengths, gift giving is not one. For the Christmas after my son was born, I asked for lingerie (I so badly wanted to feel sexy again) – I even emailed him my size. Imagine my surprise when I opened… a coffee mug… that says ‘Pittsburgh Mom.’ Could anything be less sexy?!?! We still laugh about the Most Disappointing Christmas. Whenever he wants to flirt, he’ll bring me coffee in the ‘lingerie mug’ and ask if I’m in the mood for a hot drink.”

xoxo

(Photo of Bob Dylan and Suze Rotolo by Don Hunstein.)

55 COMMENTS

WRITE A COMMENT

Name*

Email*

Website

55 Comments

Inline Feedbacks

View all comments

Amber

January 15, 2020 11:04 am

I wish I could get my daughter to start school without crying…. maybe next year! Haha I love your story about the coffee cup. What a surprise :)

Courtney

September 12, 2019 12:31 am

I’m shocked there has been no mention of Dorian anywhere on this blog. Maybe I’m wrong? I hope I am!

Andrea

September 10, 2019 8:15 pm

I had a fantastic Home Depot employee sing nursery rhymes to my toddler while I wrestled him into the child seat on my cart. She was so nice and patient and I would never have gotten out of there alive without her! The people who help out a melting-down toddler’s parents are angels!

Nadia

September 9, 2019 1:42 pm

Haha the coffee in the lingerie mug really mad me laugh. Sometimes men really get it so wrong! At least it is a story to remember.

Denise

September 9, 2019 1:16 pm

I was enraged by the things women weren’t allowed in 1971! As if we aren’t even people! Geez, nothing like a full rage first thing in the morning. Also, I feel lucky I was born in the late 70’s and that things have gotten better and my sense of feminism is reinvigorated. There’s still & again so much to fight for. And then those Trader Joe’s employees, who deserve a week’s paid vacation for that dance & also people being nice makes me tear up instantly these days. So this post was literally all the feels.

Joaquina

Reply to Denise

September 9, 2019 1:54 pm

Women AND people of color!
My father and his siblings, who are Mexican, had to swim in the “coloreds only” pool and were reprimanded for speaking Spanish at school. This was Arizona in the late 60s and early 70s.

Aimee

September 9, 2019 12:55 pm

The reader comment!!! Brilliant, really made me smile.
As for my weekend, it was rough, Daddy was sick and in bed the whole time, so mommy had no break or adult company … boo. I did have some nice snuggles from my Little guy and some nice wine though :) always a silver lining!

Elizabeth_K

September 9, 2019 12:43 pm

I love that comment! Are you ready for a hot drink indeed — one of the joys of marriage is how long term it is, so the things that really hurt/irritate you today can be a tender memory (or even more irritating, but you know, bright side) in the future.

Caitlin Hussey

September 9, 2019 9:31 am

CAULIFLOWER GNOCCHI PSA: the ideal way to cook it (which makes it far more edible than any directions i’ve read about it thus far) is to actually bake it in the oven for 12 minutes at 350 degrees drizzled in olive oil, flip them all, bake for another 12 minutes, and then quickly saute them (like 1-2 min) on the skillet with the leftover oil from the baking pan with whatever else you’re adding to them. I know it may take longer than every other way but I promise you will not get mushy, half-frozen gnocchi. They’re fully cooked, crispy and flavorful every time.

Danielle

Reply to Caitlin Hussey

September 9, 2019 1:43 pm

I’ve never roasted it this way but I will confirm that you should definitely not follow the package directions. I just cook in oil in a skillet and skip all the add water instructions. I have heard that roasting them and tossing them in buffalo sauce is a delicious snack.

Brian Konstantinou

September 9, 2019 7:39 am

Such a great blog! It was a great photo of Bob Dylan that caught my attention at first.

Michelle Reed

September 9, 2019 6:08 am

Love this!
The links are really cool too.
I was so shocked when I read the ‘things women couldn’t do in 1971 America! Imagine getting fired for being pregnant :/
Crazy how times have changed now, baring in mind that wasn’t that long ago.

Michelle x

Dee Nargi

September 8, 2019 9:33 pm

OMG the reader comment on her Christmas gift brought me back.
The Christmas after our third child was born. We had two boys and this year we had a daughter. He handed me a gift from “her” and I thought it would be something sweet or feminine. I opened up a raiders coffee mug and a pair of athletic socks!!! I am not athletic and actually more of a girly girl!! We still to this day laugh at what would have ever made him think to buy that!!!

Becca

September 8, 2019 6:19 pm

Yeah I wasn’t blown away by the cauliflower gnocchi. I LOVE regular gnocchi though, yum!

Lee

September 8, 2019 5:35 pm

That video of the Trader Joe’s cashiers made my day. People that are willing to go above and beyond – and do it with such joy – make the world a better place.

Kay

September 8, 2019 10:30 am

There is a great biography in Catherine the Great by Robert K. Massie. It is so juicy and scandalous I couldn’t turn the pages fast enough!

Ann

September 8, 2019 10:23 am

TJs is the best. They always lighten my load weather it’s what I’ve been thinking about all day or the tons of groceries I just purchased. The best people!

Amy

September 7, 2019 9:58 pm

The article about what women couldn’t do in 1971. IS. INFURIATING.

MissEm

September 7, 2019 9:19 pm

When my daughter went to daycare for the first time, I made a little heart out of felt for her and sewed a tiny x in the center of it, for a kiss. She kept it in her pocket and could squeeze it whenever she needed “mama love.” Now she’s almost 9 and still takes it with her when she’s going somewhere new and needs that extra connection. She calls it her mama-love-heart.

Mary

Reply to MissEm

September 9, 2019 2:21 am

Awwwww <3 Love this!

Lisa

September 7, 2019 5:53 pm

When my mother fell pregnant with my brother in 1974, she was fired from her job. She told them she would be going on leave in six months and they said “why not just leave now?” She also always wanted to work in a lab, but became a teacher instead, because they didn’t hire women to work in labs as they would get married and have babies. Today, my brother (the one she got fired over) dropped his daughter off at university to start a degree in medicine. Thank goodness we have come such a long way in those 45 years!

Reply to Lisa

September 8, 2019 12:43 am

Except…I think it still sadly happens. I was “let go” from my job (in architecture) when I became pregnant. Something about restructuring the firm… I took it as motivation to start my own office.

Molly

September 7, 2019 5:39 pm

I tried the cauliflower gnocchi & thought it was so terrible. So did my husband. And I eat ANYTHING. That night I got sick & if I even think about that gnocchi, I can taste it all over again & it makes me gag. I do not get the hype.

Kay

Reply to Molly

September 8, 2019 10:00 am

I tried the gnocchi too and did not like it at ALL. And I like both gnocchi and cauliflower.

Audrey

Reply to Molly

September 8, 2019 4:45 pm

YES thank you!! I even tried it cooked in a pan with oil to brown because I heard it tastes much better than boiling it and added a pasta sauce. My family all thought it was disgusting as well. I don’t get it…

Johanna Chambers

Reply to Molly

September 8, 2019 8:41 pm

TJ’s cauliflower gnocchi is a disgusting, gummy disaster. I gave it two tries. Love the sweet potato gnocchi, though.

Jen X

Reply to Molly

September 17, 2019 9:48 am

Same here. I gave into the hype and bought a bag. Pan seared it with a little EVVO and it was gummy, mushy and bleh. Makes me gag thinking about it too.

Danielle

September 7, 2019 5:32 pm

Trader Joe’s is the grocery store of the people. When I was 39 weeks pregnant and grocery shopping, a TJ’s cashier asked me how long I had left. When I told him I was due to deliver next week, he and the other cashiers around him all gave me a round of applause. Then he ran over to the flower section to give me a free bouquet! I felt so seen. (Also: imagine my horror when I was a week overdue and had to go back there for milk the next week!)

Hanna

September 7, 2019 3:51 pm

OMG! Pittsburgh Mom! I have never laughed harder at a COJ comment. I read it to my boyfriend and couldn’t get through it because I was laughing so hard.

Celeste

September 7, 2019 12:57 pm

My mom was a teacher and pregnant in 1971. She couldn’t teach until after she had the baby – you couldn’t show students the bump.

Sara Cotner

September 7, 2019 12:45 pm

Hooray for Anton! I’m imagining those drop-offs have been painful for a lot of years.

So many good links this week! I have never heard of cauliflower gnocchi, which I think is more evidence that I live under some kind of rock. I’m so sad that I read this post one hour after getting home from Trader Joe’s!

And now I’m inspired to throw a $60 dinner party. Thanks for sharing all these, Joanna. I hope you have a great weekend!

debbie

September 7, 2019 10:05 am

my mom` received a small inheritance from her aunt, but she could not claim it unless her husband signed for it. this was the mid-sixties. i’m sure that’s why she had me set up a savings account when i was in elementary school, and i had a checking account not long after. she was striving for my financial independence, doing what she could to make that happen.

Emily

September 7, 2019 9:44 am

I’ve tried the TJ cauliflower gnocchi, and I think it’s yuck. But I did read the other day it’s good when you prepare in an air fryer. I’m not willing to invest in an air fryer, but thought I would mention it here if someone else has one and wants to try it!

Katrina

Reply to Emily

September 9, 2019 9:27 am

You can also pan roast it or bake it to crisp it up – the results are pretty similar to the air fryer version. https://www.wellandgood.com/good-food/cauliflower-gnocchi-how-to-cook/

Jennifer

September 7, 2019 1:37 am

The store in the video is MY Trader Joe’s! It’s right around the corner from my home. The woman in the video with the glasses is wonderful, she has known my son since infancy. They are best buddies, and she is one of my favorite people.

Joanna Goddard

Author

Reply to Jennifer

September 7, 2019 2:24 pm

wow, that’s amazing!!!

Cassidy

Reply to Jennifer

September 9, 2019 2:58 pm

It’s my Trader Joe’s too! I get star struck whenever I see these employees now!!

Tanis

September 6, 2019 11:22 pm

My friend teaches kindergarten and was just telling me how she asked a mom to send her a picture of the mom with her daughter. My friend printed the picture and gave it to her student who immediately smiled and lost her jitters.

Joanna Goddard

Author

Reply to Tanis

September 7, 2019 2:24 pm

that is really sweet :)

Dana

September 6, 2019 10:57 pm

I made the cauliflower gnocchi for dinner tonight. First I toasted them in a little olive oil and butter in a non stick skillet, then I topped it with a spicy tomato sauce with olives, onions and peppers and served it on arugula with some crusty bread.

Mimi

September 6, 2019 10:24 pm

My husband got me qtips for our 2nd year anniversary because “it’s the year of cotton” and “I thought you liked qtips.” I could have killed him at the time, but we laugh about it at almost every holiday now.

Joanna Goddard

Author

Reply to Mimi

September 7, 2019 2:25 pm

hahahaha so classic!

Sydni Jackson

Reply to Mimi

September 7, 2019 3:14 pm

One Christmas my husband gave me a small square box nicely wrapped. Inside was…. a gas cap! Mine had blown away after not securing it correctly. The replacement we got didn’t have a cord to attach it to the car, so every time you got gas you had to find somewhere to put the gas cap, since it wouldn’t just hang from the cord, and he knew how much it bugged me. I thought it was very thoughtful – but would have been a great gift for a RANDOM DAY, not using part of my Christmas money for it! Ugh, men – gotta love ’em.

Jane

September 6, 2019 9:32 pm

OMG. The Christmas after my son was born, my husband got me an exercise ball and “Sex At Dawn,” a book about how monogamy doesn’t make anthropological sense. He was totally clueless, and I’ve mostly forgiven him haha!

Lynn

September 6, 2019 8:39 pm

This was the best roundup yet!

Chelsea

September 6, 2019 6:42 pm

Trader Joe’s employees are saints! Once I was shopping at Trader Joe’s wearing my son in a sling when he was just a few weeks old. A Trader Joe’s employee asked if I needed help taking my cart full of groceries to my car. I hesitated and told him I could do it on my own, then he said, “I know you don’t NEED help, moms can do amazing things, but would you like some help?”

Amy

Reply to Chelsea

September 7, 2019 9:56 pm

Aww…loved that story, Chelsea!

Lisa

September 6, 2019 6:27 pm

That comment from the $5 gift post!!! I couldn’t read the post due to my woe at my own husband’s lack of excellent gift giving skills; being able to laugh about this with an online stranger was a lovely surprise :) thank you!

September 6, 2019 6:17 pm

As a woman and small business owner I really struggle with the current laws surrounding jobs and pregnancies (as it relates to your women in 1971 america link).

In my business it is just 6 of us (I run the company, have an assistant, have two main people doing the job of our business and two accounting people). Over the past two years we have had 3 people go out on maternity leave. It is NEARLY impossible for us to survive while holding their positions. We are too small to afford and train a temp and too small to cover the missing employee’s job for months at a time. At the end of the leave two of the three people told us they weren’t coming back (wish I had known that at the beginning).

I am certainly glad this isn’t 1971 and I am a mother so I get it but I wonder if we can come up with a solution that doesn’t punish businesses and/or nearly encourage illegal discrimination?

Ana D

Reply to c

September 8, 2019 10:49 am

Business models need to incorporate the reality that all those employed will be mammals. It may be helpful to move away from thinking of it as a “punishment” for businesses to respect the rights of pregnant people.

Rolo

Reply to c

September 8, 2019 11:00 am

I totally agree! I work for a very small independent community acupuncture clinic that provides low cost service to people in need (just three employees) and I’m at the point where I’m hoping for a family of my own in the next five years. I don’t know how my clinic could possibly afford to keep me. It’s easier for larger companies to absorb this cost but I wish they would change the laws so companies would feel more confident about hiring women in their reproductive years. I know someone who was hiring for a position and it was between a 30something and a 50something who were equally qualified but he chose the older woman because she was done having children. Frustrating all around.

Sasha L

Reply to c

September 8, 2019 3:31 pm

I’m sure a socialized safety net would be a start.

Why don’t women come back after maternity leave? The high cost of day care for one, we could fix that with govt funded universal childcare.

And in socialist countries maternity leave isn’t only shouldered by companies, the burden is shared by the govt so it’s more manageable.

Our current system hurts everyone, but no one more than moms.

Jessica

Reply to c

September 9, 2019 12:06 pm

This is an area where government has to get involved and make things easier for both businesses and families. For example, something like extra funds/resources for small businesses to use to hire and train a temp for the duration of the leave. The US is woefully behind the times in parental leave policy.

Amy

September 6, 2019 5:59 pm

Emily’s comment about the mug brought tears to my eyes laughing!

Erin

September 6, 2019 5:51 pm

Have not tried TJ’s cauliflower gnocchi. Too busy obsessively stuffing my face with their sweet potato gnocchi instead. :)

More to Love