Have a breezy weekend.

What are you guys doing this weekend? Tonight I'm looking forward to staying in and just lying on the sofa, reading magazines, drinking wine and chilling out. Sometimes quiet nights are the best. Hope you have a good weekend, and meanwhile, here are a few great posts from around the web...

The magic of summer storms.

Three favorite prints: Lovebird, mushrooms, modern art.

Starry tights!

Crawling knee pads.

Fantastic business card.

Whoa. Check out this shark photo.

Why having a toddler is like being at a frat party.

I'm newly in love with this store. Everything is gorgeous. (Like elbow patches!)

Have a good one. xo

(Photo by Clemens Fantur)

Pinhole Press vacation book

My darlings, we love taking vacation photos (who doesn't?) but then we never really look at them again. They're just stuck on our computers. So! We decided to make a Pinhole Press photo book with our England vacation snapshots, and I love love love the way it turned out. The paper is really soft, the photos look gorgeous, and it's amazing to have a little book of our vacation. Alex and I have read through it like fifty times. :) Here are a few of the pages...
Anyway, it was easy to make and it's so wonderful to have; now I'm dying to make litte photo books for all our vacations and events, including every Christmas break and our wedding and honeymoon. Thought I'd share! xoxo
P.S. Inspired, I also made some thank-you notes to have on hand at home, using a photo Amy Merrick emailed me of her flowers. :)

Fresh flowers

Amy Merrick arranges the most gorgeous flowers. Here are a few photos to add some beauty to your morning. Don't you love how wild they look? xo

P.S. Motherhood Monday post coming up...

Have a goofy weekend.

What are you guys doing this weekend? We're heading to Michigan to visit my parents. My mom is making grilled shrimp (per request:) and Alex is psyched to go on a driving tour of Detroit. Hope you have a great weekend, and here are a few fun posts from around the web...

Do or don't: A braid bar. Genius or a rip off? It lasts for 96 hours!

Love this museum photo.

I'm starting two new books: Maine and The Help. (Have you read either?)

Another amazing pre-wedding photo, where the bride and groom didn't actually see each other!

The most flattering underwear.

Kind of dying to hang this rad print in our apartment.

Suitcase eyes!

London sky orchestra. Breathtaking.

How to navigate a bathroom while wearing a romper. Hilarious.

Heartbreaking.

Love the idea of photo return-address labels. (FYI, the link takes a second.)

Dancer vs. ballerina.

Shark week awesomeness.

Have a good one, my darlings! xo

(Photo from GQ)

The filming of Breathless

Last Friday, after I posted this smoochy photo from Breathless, I stumbled upon these amazing behind-the-scenes shots of the film, below. Have you seen the movie?
(The third photo above shows the cinematographer Raoul Coutard shooting a scene from a rooftop!)

Motherhood Mondays: How to talk to little girls

This Saturday, Toby and I were riding the bus downtown, when a six-year-old girl sat down next to us. She was wearing a white dress and sparkly red flats, and her blonde hair was twisted into a braid. My first instinct was to compliment her hairstyle, but I stopped myself...

I had just read the GREAT article How to Talk to Little Girls by Lisa Bloom, which encourages adults to ask little girls about ideas and books, instead of complimenting their looks. "Teaching girls that their appearance is the first thing you notice tells them that looks are more important than anything," says Bloom. "I always bite my tongue when I meet little girls, restraining myself from my first impulse, which is to tell them how darn cute/ pretty/ beautiful/ well-dressed/ well-manicured/ well-coiffed they are...It's our culture's standard talking-to-little-girls icebreaker, isn't it?"

(It's true! It's really easy and almost instinctive to compliment a little girl's appearance, don't you think?)

"Clothes or hair or bodies...it's surprising how hard it is to stay away from those topics with little girls, but I'm stubborn," Bloom writes. "Try this the next time you meet a little girl [ask her what she's reading]. She may be surprised and unsure at first, because few ask her about her mind, but be patient and stick with it...Model for her what a thinking woman says and does."

So, instead of telling the girl on the bus how much I liked her hair, I went ahead and asked her what books she liked. She told me that her mom was reading The Little House in the Prairie to her at night, and that they read one chapter per night, unless it was a long chapter, in which case they read half. We talked about books for five bus stops (that's a long time in midtown traffic!) and then I asked her what she had for breakfast. "Pancakes," she said. I told her that I loved pancakes with lemon and sugar, and her mom looked up and said, "That's how I ate them growing up in Germany." And then the little girl told me how she had gone on an airplane (!) to Germany earlier that summer and how she had seen a fox during her trip and how her grandparents took to her swimming and to the movies, where you could eat pizza in your seats.

I was thrilled by our conversation! (Although Toby fell asleep:) It was so much more interesting than braids.

Lisa Bloom's advice to have real conversations with little girls (and boys!) is wonderful. (Think: "Have you been swimming this summer?" "Do you like animals?" "Do you know any jokes?") Changing the conversation topic is such a seemingly small thing, but it can make a profound difference, don't you think?

What's your take? Do you instinctively compliment little girls' looks, too? What else do you talk about with little girls? Do you remember having smart conversations with adults when you were little? Do you have any young girls in your life to at the moment, or do you have a daughter? Will you take Lisa Bloom's pledge, too? (Think how amazing it would be if we all did this from now on!) Do you think it's important or not that big of a deal? I'm curious to hear your thoughts... xoxo
P.S. This book looks fascinating, too. Plus, more Motherhood Monday posts...
P.P.S. I've been starting to use an "after-the-jump" on extra long posts, so that the posts don't take over the blog. Is that ok with you guys? I know some people hate page breaks. :) Lemme know your thoughts.

(Photos by Darcy Hemley, Deborah Donenfeld and Charles Gullung, via Momfilter)

Motherhood Mondays: Baby artwork

Whoa! Have you seen the work of Andrew Miller? He makes children's portraits out of hundreds of tiny family photos of them. How incredible is that? (It must take him approximately 1,000 years.)

P.S. More amazing baby photos...

(Via Daily Candy Kids)

Have a wonderful weekend.

My darlings, what are you up to this weekend? Alex is going to teach me a little bit of guitar. Can you play one? (My secret fantasy is to be like this banjo-strumming mama!) We're also hoping to visit Storm King to see the rad sculptures. Have a great one, my lovelies, and here are a few fun posts from around the web...

Whole Foods Parking Lot made me laugh out loud!

Love these shoes for the fall.

On chocolate cakes, swirled icing looks much yummier than smooth icing.

Speaking of proposals, check out this marriage proposal!!!

A pretty chambray shirt.

Funny cookie cutters.

These childhood photos make my heart swell.

Under the sea.

Damn, now THAT is a sexy skirt.

Mariah's year of cakes in progress.

What a beauty (and puppy).
(Top photo from the movie Breathless; bottom photo of the return of the Mona Lisa to the Louvre after the war, Paris, 1945, via Vic)

Candy bars

How many of these candy bars can you identify? (I can see Snickers and Payday, that's about it!) They look delicious.

(Via I'm Revolting, via TeenAngster)

How to introduce people

My darlings, want to hear a fascinating little etiquette tip? When you're introducing someone, you should always say their name first and their relationship to you second.

Wrong: "This is my sister, Lucy."
Right: "This is Lucy, my sister."

That way, you spotlight the person--not their connection to you. It's a small thing, but it makes a lovely difference! I just learned this, and I'm doing it from now on.

What do you think? Great? Random? Who cares? xo

(Photo by the Sartorialist)

Looking for an editorial intern

My dears, I'm looking for a top-notch editorial intern for Cup of Jo this fall (to help with the juggle). Do you know anyone who might be interested?

Here are the details, below...

*****
About the internship:
* 10 hours per week. The schedule can be flexible.
* A bunch of different tasks, including scouting for posts and products; assisting with round-up posts; conducting interviews; doing blog formatting/coding and admin (I'll show you how); sizing photos; running blog-related errands (e.g., buying flowers for photo shoots, going to the post office), and providing general administrative and editorial support.
* Commitment of at least 3-4 months, starting around September 1st.
* Ideally based in NYC. You can work remotely (from your home) much of the time, but it would be great to work together sometimes.
* Unpaid, but with perks: Exposure on Cup of Jo, learning the ins-and-outs of how blogs work behind-the-scenes, learning how to run a small business, jokes, high fives from Toby, tons and tons of gratitude.

About the intern:
* Reads Cup of Jo.
* Fluent in the blog world.
* VERY detail oriented and precise.
* Great sense of style/fashion/design (for research and scouting purposes...you don't have to dress fancy:)
* Fluent in the online shopping world.
* Adept at internet research.
* A nice email manner.
* Takes work seriously.
* Cheerful, creative and hardworking.
* Punctual, efficient and adept at meeting deadlines.
* Outgoing and comfortable approaching strangers on the street.

* Bonus: Having your own blog.
* Bonus: Experience in graphic design and Photoshop.
* Bonus: Based in New York City (since we'll need to work together at times, especially during training).

Full disclosure: This internship will sometimes be fun--but will also sometimes be boring! It can't be helped! :)

If you're interested, please email cupofjointern at gmail dot com with a bit about yourself and your resume. THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!

(Photo by Crystin Moritz)

Have an adventurous weekend.

My sweets, what are your plans for this weekend? This afternoon I'm getting a massage! It was my Mother's Day present, and I'm finally going. I'm soooo excited. (Have you ever tried one of these?) Hope you guys have a great weekend, and here are a few fun posts from around the web...

What a stunning Indian wedding. The details are mind-blowing.

Pretty earrings.

Grass globe illusion in Paris.

Love this wedding print.

Street-style jumps!

Sweet new stationery.

Rad rooftop playground in Copenhagen (of course).

Two pretty tops for date nights: blue and polka-dot.

The steepest rollercoaster! (Watch the video at 1:35, eeeeeeeks!)

Great birthday cake.

I wish this sailor dress came in grown-up sizes.

This made me laugh.

Wonderful advice about what to say to someone who's sick.

Have a good one, my darlings! xoxo (P.S. For any early readers, sorry about the original post that went up, it was definitely a draft!:)

Finding happiness in Denmark

Have you ever been to Denmark? These beautiful vintage photos are from Denmark's national library. (Fun fact: Some of the photos were staged. The photographer wanted to give people a happy escape from the unemployment, despair and depression in the 1930s and 1940s.)

P.S. Our England vacation photos are coming up tomorrow, excited to share...xo

(Photos by Sven Turck, via My Modern Met)

Have a wonderful weekend.

My lovelies, what are your plans for the weekend? This evening, Alex, Toby and I will be flying across the Atlantic Ocean to this little village in Cornwall, to visit my grandmother, aunts, uncles, dad, brother, sister and cousins. We're sooooo excited to swim in the freezing cold water and eat Cornish pasties all day. :) Next week, I'm happy to have some amazing guest bloggers writing openly about family, marriage, work and life. (Alex and I have loved their posts so much, we've talked about them for hours, no joke!) Anyway, have a wonderful weekend, and here are a great few posts from around the web...

Rad new stamps.

Monkey self-portraits!

This chic magazine editor looks like a grown-up tomboy.

Birthday balloons, too cute.

Vintage maps as wallpaper.

Breaking the rules in plus-size fashion.

What a sweet anniversary post.

Crikey, look at Elizabeth's gorgeous jeans. Now I'm dying for a pair (which I tracked down here.)

FASCINATING post about being the breadwinner of your family.

Great supplies for crafts.

Holding a starfish.

The Design*Sponge book trailer is SOOOOO cute!!! pre-order the book here. Congratulations, Grace!

Plus, five Cup of Jo posts you may have missed:
* Seinfeld reruns.
* France vs. America.
* Banana bites.
* Waterfall madness.
* Lipstick trick.

(Photos by Andrew and Carissa)

Dancing

Isn't this photo of a dancing couple lovely? The print would look beautiful framed (or wrapped up with a red bow as a wedding present).

Puppies

Oh my goodness, this news story made my eyes pop: West Village pet shops have banned "drunken puppy buying." In the evenings, tipsy passersby stumble home from neighborhood bars, fall in love with puppies in the shop windows and drunkenly buy them...only to wake up the next morning and realize that they have a new puppy! Isn't that crazy?

(Thanks, Sophie. Photo by Serena Solomon)

Adventures in babywearing

At our friend's cabin upstate, Toby loved the friendly grown-ups and wanted to be in the middle of the action at all times. But Alex and I could only chase him around and keep him from falling off the dock for so long, so the sling turned out to be a perfect way to keep him happy and immersed. Here, we're fishing with friends--it was the first time for both Toby and me! (We caught nothing:)

Another early, chilly morning during our trip, we walked by a babbling stream and paused to watch the water flow by. It was so relaxing (I caught myself thinking that it sounded just like a noise machine, ha!), and Toby's head rested more and more heavily on my chest until I realized he had fallen asleep. (My other clue was a stream of drool flowing down my decolletage, such that it is.) So I sat down on a bench while the pink sun rose in the sky, and read Operating Instructions while he slept. I wish I had photos of that sweet moment, but Toby and I were the only ones awake! I took a mental snapshot, though. :)

Anyway, the sling was such a lovely addition to the weekend and a wonderful way to have adventures with a baby as a trusty sidekick.

(The only catch is that it makes it tricky to drink a pre-dinner PBR.)

P.S. This post is part of the Sakura Bloom Styleathon, hosted by my friend Leigh. Read more here, if you'd like. Thank you again to Leigh for introducing me to the genius of slings, which are becoming part of my life in beautiful and magical ways.

Daydreaming

This weekend, we joined some friends at a lakefront cabin, an hour north of Manhattan. Every evening, after Toby fell asleep, Alex and I would sit on the dock, drinking white wine (my favorite) and chatting about nothing in particular. It was so beautiful and peaceful. I want to beam myself back there right now. xo

How was your Fourth? Hope you had a good one.