“Out of clutter, find simplicity.”
― Albert Einstein

Truncated weekend due to a day in the office so here are your links for the weekend, quick and dirty! I’m off to wring the last dregs of delight out of Sunday evening.

I’m a fan of Everlane so this is interesting news.

Fantastic interview at The Lifestyle Edit with a go getting girl!

It’s been a long week. Let’s enjoy some baby elephants who think they are puppies.

That bad of a week, you say? Here, have another cute animal story!

Right up our collective alley, kittens.

House of Cards is back, let’s discuss the footwear of Claire Underwood and its significance.

It was International Women’s Day this week, here’s some photo inspiration and a bonus piece in Esquire by the uniformly fabulous and funny Caitlin Moran. Language and content warning, obviously. It’s Caitlin.

Now that the final episodes of Downton Abbey have aired stateside (gorgeous soap opera…failed utterly to live up to its potential…), have a read about the origins of the “tragic gay suicide” trope and why it’s important to show real diversity of real stories. Because it in turns shows real diversity of outcomes to lives lived.

ROAD TRIP!

With my 30th birthday approaching (fingers crossed we can make a trip to New York work to celebrate!), I really loved this article from The Muse about things you don’t have to have figured out by that date. Wonderfully refreshing and actually useful.

Podcasting and Youtubing are two mediums that I love, admire, and wish I had some more practical knowledge about. I’d love to try creating content in either for many reasons, not least of which is that both are platforms full of a lot of generous creators who share a ton of knowledge about their respective crafts (videography, editing, writing, collaboration, etc.) for free. There are also a lot of examples of creative generosity, one of which happened this week in which a vlogger posted a vid about a project he had been working on the subject of which was unintentionally scooped by CPG Grey, and wondering whether or not it was worth releasing his own work now that someone else had tackled the topic. To which CPG Grey released an open letter vid encouraging him to do so, bolstered by a heartening wave of supportive commentators, and talking honestly about the desire to create, the need to be unique, and the perils of a world where it’s next to impossible to have an original thought to talk about.

I own about half a dozen. Seriously.

Have a read and take a scroll through.

This short video about the world’s oldest family business is surprising, beautiful to watch, and just a little bit heartbreaking.

“Pray don’t talk to me about the weather, Mr. Worthing. Whenever people talk to me about the weather, I always feel quite certain that they mean something else. And that makes me quite nervous.”
― Oscar Wilde

The hints of Spring continue to tantalize! I woke up this morning to bright sunshine and blue skies, and daylight savings doesn’t even start until next week. I might be the furthest thing from a sun bunny but heaven knows I welcome the return of the ability to get some Vitamin D that is not in capsule form.

This weekend we’re hitting up an exhibit on the Museum of London on the history of tattoos, we’ve done brunch at a favorite joint, and are generally being virtuous with working out and food shopping. I’ve also spent some time giving the site a facelift (lend me your thoughts! I’ve got a few tweaks to make but am generally happy with the upgrades) and catching up on reading. All in all, we’re going to call the weekend a win. Here are your links and tell me what you’ve been up to lately!

John Oliver talks Donald Trump, and the internet explodes in response.

More scientifically, FiveThirtyEight and Nate Silver weigh in on the hows and whys of Trump’s (relative, it turns out) popularity and how he stacks up not just against his Republican rivals, but how the R and D fields stack up compared to one another. Good reporting and numbers driven data don’t solve the problem of election for the highest office in the land (literally) turning into a dick measuring contest this week, if you’ll pardon the vulgarity…but they help distract me from that embarrassing and deeply depressing fact.

And now, a palate cleanser! I want to find this fox…and steal it. The cuteness slays.

A profile on the fabulous and adaptable Eva Chen and the rise of Instagram.

I’ve been eyeing a number of vintage “souvenir jackets” from the Pacific rim for months now (when I find a good enough design at a decent price, I’ll probably bite), but I loved this short look at how bomber jackets have evolved from military necessity to fashion statement.

Simple but inspiring image.

The College Prepster has some good blogging tips for anyone interested in getting started in the medium. Smart girl, lots of success, read up!

Madewell now ships to the UK and I have to sit on my hands not to take advantage of the fact. On a related note, I just managed to put holes in my house cardigan, and want to replace it with this beauty.

We’re one step closer to Jurassic Park now. Humanity, make smart choices!

And finally, a beautiful photo project spanning the gamut of the Black American experience.

“Love elevates the beauty of life.”
― Farshad Asl

Happy Valentines Day, lovers!

Another hectic but good week. Jeff, bless him, is working really demanding hours and while not as bad, I’m not far behind him! The good news is that in spite of some coworkers dealing with a minor outbreak of plague and some last minute priority assignments, I was able to work on some really fun projects as well (filming was involved, as you may have glimpsed). It’s amazing how even one fun project can really flavor a lot of more administrative ones more positively, there’s a life lesson in that somewhere I’m sure.

In other self-care and restorative news, Jeff and I are making good on travel goals already with a trip to Belgium booked next month and a holiday in Spain with our friends Kelsey and Cody (who you may remember from Ireland) is planned for November. In between now and then we’re looking at all kinds of breaks both long and short which will be good for the soul. I’ve also scored some tickets to an exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery celebrating a century of British Vogue, so good posts are on the horizon as promised. Here are you links, kittens, and tell me how your week went!

I don’t love or agree with everything the Green brothers have ever talked about on their incredibly prolific channel vlogbrothers, but this short piece on Millennials was interesting to me as a lot of the problems (admittedly largely “first world” in the extreme) he mentioned are topics that have been on my mind recently.

Economics, kids.

I have one, and most women I know do too.

Road trip?

This whole thing is downright Shakespearean.

Giving voice to the voiceless.

Note to self, sit up straight.

I’m on restricted clothes buying for the foreseeable future (due to prioritizing of investment purchases, of which I am still ridiculously proud), so someone else needs to snap up a pair of these.

In new always relevant to the minion coterie: Beyonce. Specifically her fantastic new video drop and some of the great pop culture writing that has sprung from it. More here. And yet more here. And yet more here!

For you marketers out there, this is a handy bit of info!

Yes, yes, a thousand times yes.

How to get that perfect 1920 bod.

Last Days in London.

This cartoonist’s project has been making the rounds, and it’s damn charming.

Surprising precisely no one, these shots of Misty Copeland are amazing.

Let’s read about a jewelry feud! Which of course is more complicated than than it sounds.

Also relevant to our interests, this blog.

A tiny bit of humor to round out the week (because it was a bit ridiculous how funny I found this video). Do. Not. Mess.

And in bad V-day news…