English cottage

English cottage

What are you up to this weekend? Tonight we’re having a sleepover with friends (both moms and kids, it will be chaos!). And on Sunday the boys and I might see the movie Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, which has been getting great reviews. Have you seen it? Hope you have a good one, and here are a few fun links from around the web…

How dreamy is this English cottage?

A grandma’s perfect oatmeal crisp cookies.

The last fertility taboo: “Chloe, 39, finds herself pregnant again, but not talking about the process [of using a donor egg]… Even her father doesn’t know. ‘My dad really loves our family tree and our family history,’ she says, worrying that this penchant for genealogy might factor into how he treats one sibling over another. ‘It’s like it wouldn’t be his genetic grandchild.'” (NYmag)

My new trick to getting smooth hair.

GREAT book about raising teenagers.

The world’s first airplane bunk beds in economy.

My friend wrote a hilarious list of 40 things she learned by age 40, including “A matinee with M&Ms dumped directly into the popcorn is a staycation and no one should know where you are” and “Wherever you go, have a nemesis. It makes things fun!” (Subscribe to her free newsletter, if you’d like.)

A basketball player’s great response to a reporter’s question about failure.

The absolute best way to make onion dip.

A case for ghosting sometimes. “I firmly believe that a swift, painless ghosting feels like a welcome reprieve from the dreaded post-date breakup text where someone explains why they don’t want to meet up again. If you go on a date, have a convo that’s dry as toast, and then exchange an awkward air hug before parting ways, shouldn’t that be enough information to know you aren’t a match?”

Made me laugh.

Plus, seven reader comments (because you guys are the best and I couldn’t narrow them down!):

Says Carol on a guest bedroom makeover: “I’m a huge believer in framing the written word: family telegrams, my grandfather’s beautiful Steamfitters License, etc. One of the best, however, was the letter my seven-year-old daughter wrote to her future cousin (the expected child of her beloved aunt): ‘Dear Licky Licky Boy’ (lucky boy). Then she enumerated all the great things he would be able to do with his mother and ended with ‘and she will always have gum.'”

Says Tee on a guest bedroom makeover: “My husband, our three children and I frequently host people. (I have seven siblings, so we get a lot of guests!) Would it be weird to put a guestbook in our guest bedroom?”
Says Meg: “My friend had a guestbook in her DORM ROOM when we were in college, since people were constantly crashing on her floor. Go for it, it’s so fun! ”
Says Emily: “My parents have kept one on their coffee table since 1970. It’s fun to flip through and see the kids who scratched their names at age seven who now have their own seven-year-olds, old college friends who came to crash for a weekend, and plenty of other visitors whose visits we surely would have forgotten by now if not for the guest book!”
Says Emily: “My friend had a height wall in her apartment and added everyone who visited. It was so funny and was the one thing they were sad to leave behind when they moved.”

Says Sarah on 10 funny celebrity sightings: “I used to be a flight attendant and I once had Ryan Reynolds in my first class cabin. We were serving a meal, and he declined, which meant there was a leftover first-class entree. So, I ate it, because I was broke and hungry. Later in the flight, he came up to the galley to stretch his legs and said he had changed his mind about dinner. And I had to tell him no, because I had already eaten it. I wanted to die and I offered him soup. He was incredibly gracious. He asked if the meal has been any good and I gave him an ‘ehhhh’ and hand waggle, and he laughed and accepted the soup. He was much taller than I expected. Jason Statham, on the other hand, was far shorter than expected. He slept for most of the flight and the person next to him (not with him!) watched a Jason Statham movie, ha!”

Says Nicola on 10 funny celebrity sightings: “RuPaul once said in an interview that he often rides the subway and sometimes a passer-by will silently mouth ‘I love you’ to him across a crowded train carriage, to which he responds ‘I love you too’. Something about that story just made me feel so warm inside – Ru is a hero to so many queer and non-stereotype-fitting folks, so I can’t imagine how much those interactions mean to people who see him.”

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