Friday Roundup

Happy Friday! I wish I was in Seattle to celebrate Teresa's birthday this weekend. Instead, I get a bit of a day off in New Zealand and am excited to sleep in! Here are a few things that have kept me entertained in-between flights and shows this past week. 

"Newborn" announcement for adopted son. I love this.

SAT updates,  for those of you who miss high school.

Vogue on Seattle

Remember "Hangin' with Mr. Cooper"?

Read this and you too will want to be friends with Busy Philipps.

Keith Richards has written a children's book, and it looks super cute.

Interesting facts about songs. #42 is something I often tell people about.

Now you can tip your barista with the Starbucks app. 

Facebook makes you happy? 

Photos above from a show in Brisbane, Australia, check out more of what Jason and I have been shooting at macklemore.com. 

TERESA: IT IS YOUR BIRTHDAY.

You are 30! I'm so sorry that I can't be there with you to celebrate.  

Thinking back a DECADE (wow) to when we we're 20, I couldn't have imagined the lives we have now. You are a MOM and you make it look so easy! Mylo is exceptionally lucky to get to be your son. You're also an amazing and thoughtful friend, wonderful wife, stylish career woman and awesome blogger.

It makes me excited to see where we're at when we're 40. And when we're 80, hopefully traveling from Cape to Cairo by luxury train. Although, not so excited that I want that to come any quicker. Mainly, I'm thankful that when I'm with you we can still act like we're 18 sometimes. 

PS. I feel like there might be a little bit of Myles in your adorable baby face! 

Update On Lent

So I took the plunge and gave up sweets and TV for Lent like I was thinking about. It's only been one week and I already read an entire book! Jenny had let me borrow her copy of Where'd You Go Bernadette and I pretty much devoured it. It actually hasn't been hard to find other things to do in the evenings and with the time change (hallelujah!) they seem shorter any way. Giving up sweets on the other hand....has been a challenge. I LOVE my sweets and getting through the afternoons at work by gnawing on a banana or orange instead of a Snickers or milkshake just isn't quite the same. It's good for me though! I do want to detox from sugar and put healthy things in my body, just easier said than done. This recipe for homemade Samoa Girl Scout cookies looks so tasty, maybe for Easter??

Vegemite

A play by play of Jenny trying Vegemite:

To set the stage, I'm sitting in a cafe in Adelaide. I've ordered fruit and toast and on the side of my toast, is a small yellow packet. It's Vegemite. It's my last day in Australia, I must try it. It's meant to be. Here's how it goes down...

-Skeptically look at package, does it tell you what it's made out of? No. 

-Open package, it smells like dog food. What IS this? 

-Set it down and contemplate if I can manage to not draw attention to myself if I gag while eating it in this cafe filled with Australians who probably love Vegemite. 

-I'm brave. I can do this...

-Spreading it in a small corner on my toast...it's similar to Nutella in color and consistency...

-I quickly eye my coffee, making sure I have easy access to it.

-One, two, three, BITE!

-Ick! Ick! Ick!

-It taste like salty, like someone's sweaty socks that have been put in a blender with a some saltwater. 

-Maybe this is the sort of thing that grows on you? 

-SECOND BITE

-Nope! Didn't grow on me. 

-I gulp down the rest of my coffee, look around to see if anyone is watching the gross face I'm making.

-I can still smell it, wafting up from my plate as I put butter on my second piece of toast.

The next day...

Now that I finally have a free moment and access to working wifi, I've managed to google Vegemite and discovered it's made from leftover yeast made from brewing beer and it's good for you, rich in vitamin B. 

PS. Vegemite is available at World Market if you want to give it a whirl!

Do What You Love

I posted this article in the roundup a few weeks ago about the Do What You Love (DWYL) motto but since then I've had quite a few conversations about it. The mantra "Do what you love and you'll never work a day in your life" is pervasive among my generation and within the blogging community. I thought the article was thought provoking and brought up the flip side of DWYL and how it impacts those who aren't privileged enough to have that option and also those who are able to do it but aren't fairly compensated.

What do you think? If that version is too long here are some quotes from the article and a summary from Hairpin:

"There’s little doubt that “do what you love” (DWYL) is now the unofficial work mantra for our time. The problem is that it leads not to salvation, but to the devaluation of actual work, including the very work it pretends to elevate— and more importantly, the dehumanization of the vast majority of laborers.

“Do what you love” disguises the fact that being able to choose a career primarily for personal reward is an unmerited privilege, a sign of that person’s socioeconomic class. Even if a self-employed graphic designer had parents who could pay for art school and cosign a lease for a slick Brooklyn apartment, she can self-righteously bestow DWYL as career advice to those covetous of her success.

If we believe that working as a Silicon Valley entrepreneur or a museum publicist or a think-tank acolyte is essential to being true to ourselves— in fact, to loving ourselves— what do we believe about the inner lives and hopes of those who clean hotel rooms and stock shelves at big-box stores? The answer is: nothing.

(DWYL) shunts aside the labor of others and disguises our own labor to ourselves. It hides the fact that if we acknowledged all of our work as work, we could set appropriate limits for it, demanding fair compensation and humane schedules that allow for family and leisure time.

And if we did that, more of us could get around to doing what it is we really love."

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Tour Update

Hello from down under! We've just finished up with Australia, and are now onto New Zealand. I never thought I'd see so many Australian airports! A few of the cities were way too quick, not to mention back to back shows in the same day. But thankfully, we've gotten a few sightseeing adventures along the way, including a lovely day off spent boating in Perth and a rooftop movie night and some shopping in Melbourne.

Monday Motivation

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