Friday Links
plus: what middle-aged ladies are chatting about, and a presidential candidate we can all agree on!
I’m on a much-looked-forward-to-beach getaway with friends, where the schedule includes chatting, eating, chatting, pickleball, chatting, mahjongg, chatting, and swimming; followed by more chatting!
Topics covered so far have included middle age, menopause, marriage, mean girls, college applications (our kids, not us), and our hopes and dreams for the future. At 50ish, our accomplishments—at work, raising families, in our relationships with friends and family—are significant, and our hard-won wisdom (which our kids pretend to ignore) means we know how we want to spend our time and with whom.
It’s thrilling and exciting to be on the cusp of a new phase when our children will become independent, a chapter which
says will be “an adventure, and a celebration that we all freaking made it.”Here’s to many more years of friendship, fun, doing hard things, learning lessons, and…chatting!
This is a fascinating feature on Chicken Soup for the Soul, the ubiquitous series of self-help books that by 2003 was more popular with young readers seeking advice than the Bible. The article explores the brand’s bonkers expansion into making pet food, among other things.
Do you do reformer pilates? I don’t! Is it really this horrifying?!
Everything you “need” to know about this year’s Met Gala: Zendaya! Sleeping Beauty! Fancy floral dresses! Tickets are a bargain at $35,000 each.
In contrast to the endless and anxiety-inducing, stats, data, and advice of today, a modern-day mother finds unexpected warmth and comfort in the parenting books of the 1980s: “When I read her books, I thought about making sure I was satiated and getting out for a walk.”
How cheddar cheese gets its color. “Color is added to cheddar cheese because people have strong geographical preferences for different hues.” Who knew?!
A candidate we can all agree on: the Solar Eclipse for President!
👓Looking for something to watch or read? More ideas here:
📆 April 2024 Recs // 📖 Books // 📺 TV Shows // 🍿 Movies
📺 In TV viewing news, I’m currently watching Girls5Eva for 90s nostalgia, hilarity and catchy tunes; Palm Royale for 60s Palm Beach glamor and country club hijinks; and with Jim, season 1 of The Tourist. He was sold when I described it to him as the “thinking man’s version of Reacher.” 😉
📖 Last week I wrote about my reading rut, and Scribbles Readers came to the rescue with wise advice and plentiful book recommendations, which you can read in the Comments.
noted that “Returning to A Moveable Feast always gets me out of a reading rut — because I take a virtual trip to Paris in the 1920’s…”
This got me thinking that the simplest formula for solving a reading slump might be to read ANY book that transports you to another time and place…
That’s it for me this week! Thank you for reading and see you next Friday! xo Amelia
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Have a restful vacation, Amelia—sounds like a blast! Love the Chicken Soup for the Soul reference here…I distinctly remember that my piano teacher had a copy in her waiting room, and I read it every Wednesday right before my lesson. ☺️
I laughed so hard at that pilates video. Hermione and I both do reformer pilates and it oddly really is that hard but also slow?!?