The Friday Five

A few things that have caught my eye this week.

This peeking out at me from a new friend’s computer:

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I met the owner of The Design Table at a wreath making workshop and immediately connected with her mission and spirit. Her store description - “A beautiful creative collective to gather you around our tables and create magic with and for each other. Yep, we need this space. Come gather.” She really got to my soul when she said she sets up a table for knitters occasionally to gather and knit. Dreamy if you ask me. #shoplocal

When asked what she loves to design - "Movie sets like where the homeowner smokes and the florals and plants need to look like they've been smoking." You know someone has found their calling when they answer a question with that. Have you ever thought about the florals in a scene?

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Sometimes I find the ability to read a longer article and I’m glad I found the energy for this one. I loved this description of one human’s philosophy.

He also seems like a man who understands that when some of us have less, all of us can have more, and that in the long run, that’s good sense since we can’t take any of our belongings or cash with us when our bodies stop breathing.

(This is Courtney Martin’s take on Zohran Mamdani. I deliberately did not share his name before you read the quote, hoping the message could be absorbed without adding politics to the mix.)

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Another new friend sent me a story about an author who refused to give up—and eventually made it big. I felt library lucky when I stumbled upon it on the “hot books” shelf. Side note: I’ve aged enough to know my best days start with reading to fall asleep the night before - hence my lengthy “to read list.” Don’t know what to read? Check out my Goodreads. I never rate books (that feels hard), just read them. Some fluff. Some serious. A lot of memoirs.

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Our 1980s bathrooms are special. In the hall bath, the light has been upside down for ten years because of the medicine cabinet door, my shower door won’t close and new parts don’t help it, and we’re down to 25% of the bulbs in the kids bathroom because any more and the bathroom is 110 degrees. Good looks all around. Hoping next year is the year of the bathroom makeovers, I’m adding these Katie Monkhouse Interiors masterpieces to my inspiration board.

Katie Monkhouse Interiors - I'm always here for the show.

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It’s been a minute since I posted. Maybe I’m still recovering from the praise and impact of this humdinger of a post.

I’m still walking the walk. I had a good, albeit tough, discussion with my family on my mom’s recent visit. We’re taking baby steps towards more clarity on all of our living and dying wants, becoming a teeny bit more comfortable in the conversation. It’s not easy but necessary.

I trust that when I put something deeply personal out into this universe it will be received with grace and am grateful this community never disappoints.

With love,

Laura

p.s. I just decided I’m going to start giving anything I read 5 stars on Goodreads because writing is hard and why not throw the author a high five every once in a while.

p.p.s. I purposely highlighted that I made two new friends recently. That feels good. Look around - cool people are everywhere.