Have a Lovely Weekend.
What are you up to this weekend? Toby has a big baseball game tonight, so we’re going to cheer him on. Also, we’re discussing dirty talk on Big Salad, if anyone wants to weigh in. It’s a fun conversation! Have a good one, and here are a few links from around the web…
Will be wearing these shorts all summer.
Whatttttt!!! Olivia Colman is going to play Mrs. Bennet in Dolly Alderton’s six-part series of Pride and Prejudice.
Enjoyed Youngna Park’s newsletter about kids and money. “[My son] tells me that a kid in his class who is ‘not really a friend’ has offered him a deal. If he carries this kid’s lunchbox and water bottle up the stairs every day after recess for the rest of the year, this kid has promised him a ‘bag of money.’”
How stunning are these candlesticks?
My group chat is raving about this summer nail color.
“I get bored at the beach. Where should I travel this summer?” (NYTimes gift link)
Do you listen to the podcast Las Culturistas? It’s really funny, especially the episodes with Mike Birbiglia and Amy Poehler (she talks about menopause and aging, and they hang on every word).
Two desserts to feed a crowd.
I think about this iconic post every few weeks of my adult life.
Plus, three reader comments:
Says Amanda on 10 surprising parenting tips: “As a parent of an 18-year-old and 14-year-old, I have three words for you: The Sibling Date. We realized our kids get along great on vacation, when it’s just the two of them and they don’t have distractions. So, at home, when they start driving each other (and us) crazy, we send them on an errand together. Rule is no phones except for navigation. They run the errand, we buy them lunch. They think they’re doing something for us, but we’re actually getting them to talk to each other. First time we did it, they came home with a plan for the rest of the afternoon.”
Says Cheryl on 10 surprising parenting tips: “Take more videos of YOU with your kid. Reading a bedtime story, singing a song together, sharing drawings you’ve done side by side. It’s something you and your kids will cherish as you all grow older. I recently recovered some home videos from family trips with my parents, and they brought me so much joy.”
Says Ari on Marry Me Beans: “My husband of 10 years said these were the best thing I’ve ever made. We’ve been going through a difficult patch together but still have a sense of humor. I told him these were called, ‘Stay Married to Me Beans.’”
(Photo by Chris Zielecki/Stocksy.)
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Comments
97 commentsSimilar to The Sibling Date (and good for younger kids), we have put the kids at a table near ours at a family friendly restaurant. It costs a little extra in desserts that the kids order and a big tip for the patient and accommodating server, but it makes for a fun family outing for all.
OMG – I’ve been reading since before Toby was born and I just made the Reader Comments!
Congrats! 🥳
Such a great comment too!! Well done and thank you for sharing. I’m sending my kids on a sibling date this weekend! <3
The other great thing to do is make a voice recording of your kids. I like to do it when I’m driving the car. It’s so sweet to listen to their little voices navigate our drive or randomly sing Twinkle Twinkle.
I think of that Go Dog Go post every time I read the book to my daughter. We have been reading Go Dog Go for almost a decade to multiple children!
I am actually friends with the person who wrote that post. She’s an absolute delight – a true gem!
Same here. Ever since seeing that post we’ve brought the book back out and read the improved version where that dog owns her hat choices like a total boss.
Eid Mubarak to those that celebrate!
I screenshotted Amanda’s advice as my kids are 4 & 1.5 But I think about what their relationship might look like as it’s a bit like oil and water at the moment lol. I love the idea of the outing together also giving them independence which is so good for them in general. We live right by a market so I can imagine asking them to run little errands for me when they’re in the kid golden years. i wish my sis and I got more chances like that!
I realise that I am alone in this, but P&P is boring and it annoys me because Olivia Coleman is great and there are so many wonderful stories that could be made for screen, why do this one again? The Colin Firth and Jennifer Ehle version however was brilliant and I can’t see anyone doing it better. It’s like Hamlet was the only play written and P&P the only novel. I prefer darker tales with women in attics and lots more mud.
LOL! Which tales are you thinking of with the attics and mud, etc? Olivia Coleman is awesome, and her scenes in The Bear made me wish I had more women friends. Right now I am super interested in seeing The Materialists, as it is getting interesting and positive reviews (that I skim through to avoid spoilers).
the attic makes me think of Jane Eyre? not sure about the mud! maybe wuthering heights?
I recall some mud in Outlander, does that count? (I do love that series). Does Jurassic Park have mud?
LOVE the hottie hot 4 inch shorts. As a mom of 2 in her thirties I wouldn’t necessarily describe myself as “hottie hot” lol but they are the perfect shorts for hanging out all summer.
The Ugly Volvo!!! I also think back to her post All of my Issues with the Goodnight Moon Bedroom. I would re-read it again occasionally when my kids were young because I knew it would make me laugh when I needed it.
Yes! Other favorite posts are Yelp Reviews for Newborn Babies and a Ten-Month-Old’s Letter To Santa. I often send both of these links to new parents.
Oh Ari, I am sending my hopes for you!
Anyone in NYC should RUN not walk to see the Last Five Years on Broadway. Nick Jonas is great but his co-star Adrienne Warren is outstanding. I’ve wanted to see this show live for 20 years and it was fabulous. Well worth the trip from Pittsburgh! It closes on June 22nd!
I haven’t seen this but want to say– while you’re running over to Broadway, go see Boop! It’s a joy-bomb of a show and the dancing is incredible. Jasmine Amy Rogers is a star!
I have to confess that I LOVED Go Dog Go as kid and now always include a copy in my gifts to babies/ littles and I always think of that piece when I do ha. I need to find a way to include a link – such a perfect companion piece.
Hi Jo! Do you still recommend Cafe Cluny? I was reading evergreen posts, and it’s mentioned often! Also, I know you did a what-I-eat in a day post for a NY publication, but I’d love to see day-in-the-life post here on the site! Like, a time-stamped run-through of a typical day in your fun Brooklyn-based life etc. Just a thought! I read the site so often during downtime at work and it’s rare how many of your posts remain just as fun and engaging as the day they were published. It’s like rewatching SATC: there’s always something relevant!
Thank you so much for your incredible sweet comment! I’d love to do this, and yes I still recommend cafe Cluny — I went there in April with my sister! :)
Will enjoy seeing how the new P&P mini-series compares to the 1995 Jennifer Ehle/Colin Firth series. As much as I love the 95 one, i bet Coleman will be a better Mrs. Bennett.
I love the 1995 version so much that I now have the audio files from the miniseries on my phone to listen to as a podcast on long car drives. The musical theme always lifts my spirits!
I love that, Lucia!
I was just showing the Go Dog Go letter to my teenager this week! Always a classic. And a big thumbs up to Amanda. Our kids are 15, 12, and 9, and we live in NYC so they can walk wherever. The policy is if any combination of them go for Starbucks/Pinkberry/whatever, Mom and Dad will pay. They haven’t exploited it too much, and a great way to get them out for some fresh air and sibling time!
One day Poughkeepsie will get its day. If you’re visiting the Hudson Valley, ignore the hate you might hear & give us a try! Places like Beacon used to have the same reputation (though I don’t want that gentrified mess for us)! They’ve made it hard to love this place because of racism and lack of funding but we have excellent people & some really good food spots & so many parks & an incredible walk over the Hudson River. Had to give my two cents because I really like my little city and can’t stand the hate it gets (always from wealthier people who don’t live here/use us as their commuting route). Come give us a chance! We’re really nice! If you want some recommendations for a visit that aren’t just go somewhere else, let me know! Part of the hudson valleys charm is that we have all these cool little towns so explore away but also give us a shot!
I have it on my list. I have always wanted to walk across the Hudson. That stretch of towns along the Hudson is really a fun area to explore in NY.
What a sweet love letter to your area!
I have no doubt Poughkeepsie is awesome. I grew up in the Hudson Valley, which is so beautiful, and the whole area has a place in my heart I’ve been away a long time, but I miss it still.
I concur, Poughkeepsie is great! I’m upstate and it’s a fun quick get-a-way.
Is that were Vassar is located? I love college towns.
I’m from Poughkeepsie and my parents are still in my childhood home. This comment made me so happy to read!
Amanda that tip is gold!
Oh my, the cat with the hat post is amazing. It’s exactly what my younger self needed a few decades ago. I will be passing it on to my friends, we are all in our 60s but it’s still so relevant.
I lost my mom in April & agree so much with take more videos! Take them of your parents, your kids, your friends, your siblings, & yes, of yourself!! I wish I had more of my mom with my kids. I will definitely take a bunch with my dad when he visits us this summer.
Very sorry for your loss, JK. Wishing you well.
I love Jane Austin so will make an effort to appreciate the new one, (esp with Oliva Coleman!!), but I do love the 2005 version with Keira Knightly and Matthew Macfadyen. He was SO GOOD and they were so good together. I thought the father was also great – so overwhelmed by their situation he’s just given up. He played that so well.
I adore Olivia Coleman and think she’s going to be fantastic, but I have trouble believing any other version could be as good as the 2005 one!
Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy (no more needs to be said)!
You need to watch the BBC version with Colin Firth as Mr Darcy. In my mind still the best one :-)
I hear you and all, BUT I remember when the 2005 version came out and people were very dubious of it, saying it would never be as good as the 1996 BBC version! I think it’s cool to love what you love and have favourites, but I’m personally in the ‘give me all the Austen adaptations again and again until I die’ camp.
The father in that film was icon Donald Sutherland. He was my favorite thing about that version, along with the scenery.
This is related to nothing but has anyone else in the COJ Brooklyn 99-obsessed community realized that Rosa is the voice of Mirabel in Encanto?!?!?! My mind is completely blown and I need company.
Yes! she sings in The Heights, too. Stephanie Beatriz!
Umm I’ll be your company because I had NO idea until I read your comment!! I love B99 and have watched Encanto 20+ times with my kids, I cannot believe I haven’t put this together yet. Thank you for this public service announcement!!
I noticed that she played Gloria’s crazy sister in Modern Family and that shocked me for a few days 🤣
The live Encanto show at the Hollywood Bowl blew my mind! She was incredible in it! We’ve reached that more than the original animated film, it’s that good.
Friday posts have been kicking off my weekend for years… thank you for this important part of my weekly ritual!
Same here! But since I’m in a different time zone, it’s important part of my Saturday mornings ritual :)
Yes! It’s definitely a Saturday morning ritual on the West Coast!
Me too!
Re: Amanda’s parenting tip. I hated my sis when we were kids. I didn’t get her. Now that we’re not in the same house, we get along great. After college, we eventually ended up in the same city. A friend of my mom’s asked why we weren’t living together to save rent. She laughed and said we’d kill one another. It’s true. Our relationship works because we are no longer together all the time. Parents with kids who might not get along day to day – don’t fret and don’t force a relationship. It will likely work itself out. I love my sis now. And forever. We can even do trips together! And I’m her kids guardian if anything were to happen. FWIW. We are only a couple of years apart. I never had this issue with my littlest sis who’s quite a few years younger.
This is exactly the same for me! My sister and I (16 months apart) constantly butted heads growing up, but now that we’re both adults living separately we get along so well, and admire each other very much.
My girls were bffs, just adored each other as toddlers, preschoolers, little kids, until they weren’t as bigger kids and teens. They went through some stuff and it was just very hard, for years. But now, mid to late 20s, they are friends again, kind to one another, understand each other. They needed some space. I’m really proud of them for not giving up on each other. And it just makes my mama heart happy to see them make their little jokes, eye rolls, gang up on their dad, and just enjoy each other again.
I use the jet setting after reading any Trump tweets. Otherwise shower setting only.
Those desserts to feed a crowd look terrific, but if I had to choose between them and that sweet faced little cat, I’d go with the cat. No question. Every single time.
READERS PUBLICISTS FINALISTS KATIES/KYLES RISE UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Reader here!!! ❤️❤️❤️
DYING for Jo and the team to feature Matt and his stylist for a week of outfits!!!!
COJ READER / LAS CULCH PUBLICIST HERE!!
DING DONG!
The culture that made me say culture was for me are you ladies.
Finally the crossover the Kayteighs have been waiting for!! 😂
READER HERE!!!!!! The pod gets me through my Wednesdays <3
Hi Jo! Saw a correction to make! It’s Las Culturistas. Thanks for another great Friday roundup!
Thank you!!!
Excellent weekly wrap. The iconic post link doesn’t want to work, fyi.
I think we are crashing their site! Tomorrow it will likely work once the traffic rush slows down.
Las Culturistas and Good Hang by Amy are the best podcasts out there at the moment! They give me such joy and good feelings all around.
Agreed!!! A Good Hang with Amy Poehler is like hanging out with super funny, kind friends ❤️
Question: did you have a hard time listening to the Renee Rapp interview? I didn’t know if I was just old or she was actually insufferable.
Tara, yes I have loved all of the episodes on Good Hang so far but Renee Rapp WAS a difficult/annoying listen. But maybe I am also just old and don’t get it!
Tara: great question! I also thought about this while listening to that episode, and found myself loving Amy Poehler EVEN MORE (if that’s possible) for her ability to respect and speak to the beauty in everyone. I’m trying to be a little bit more Amy out there in the world.
Love your picks around the internet this week. Thank you! I’ve tried to look at the iconic post and it doesn’t work for me. I’ve tried several times to get it to pop up, but to no avail. I hope it can be fixed
FYI, the “iconic post” is finally loading for me… but from the URL -as I wait- I do remember it and I also think about it more frequently than I’d like to admit. It’s truth.
I met Catherine Newman at her book reading & signing on Wednesday night at the Barnes & Noble in Hingham, MA. What a great time! It was really great to hear her very thoughtful responses and listen to explain more details about writing Sandwich. She was friendly & kind- I was thrilled to chat with her for a few minutes. I loved when she wrote the advice column for Real Simple magazine. It would be amazing if Cup of Jo did an event on the south shore of MA with her!
Second this!!
Those candlesticks look like they’re going to sneak up and set you on fire while you nap like Dark Lumières (which, in fairness, is what happens in one fashion or another when you fall asleep around any lit candles, BUT STILL).
I know, they have a threatening aura.
Yes!!! They look totally creepy to me! :-)
Creepy is the best. (For tablescapes, not, like, ferry captains on desolate piers.)
If anyone uses a setting other than shower, I genuinely need to know why. Soak is for 3 year olds spraying mud ONLY.
The mist setting is the MVP.
I use shower, exclusively, for normal watering. Yes. But I use center, which is like between shower and jet, to hit the far back corner of my side yard garden without dragging the hose any farther. And I use flood, which is soak, to fill the water containers for my hens, and the water tables for my preschool children. It’s oddly satisfying.
Flat is straight-up diabolical!
lol yes, non-shower folks, please advise? Not that I’ll be convinced
Same thought!
Ha. I use flat when I need to water low to the ground and avoid wetting the foliage of plants in mid day sun.
I use jet to get gunk off my bird bath before I scrub it …shower for all flower watering and mist for little grandkids to squeal in. And flat is only used for the second after I turn the hose on after my husband without noticing he’s changed from my shower position.
Echoing these! Shower for most garden watering but center to get things further away, jet for cleaning and quickly filling watering cans, and mist for playing with kids. But based on these comments I’m definitely going to try flood for filling our water table this weekend, and will keep flat in mind for high summer watering near the ground!
Obvs shower is the mvp but have you ever offered a hot pup a “fairy shower”? My girls will stand still and squint, tails wagging as I hose mist into the air and it floats down, all sparkly onto their little wet noses. It’s glorious!
lol I love this. Soaker, unless I’m watering seeds or grass! You want the water at the base of the plant, not on the leaves. What could flat possibly be for (besides entertainment for bored eight year olds)?!
My kids hate sprinklers but they love mist. I turn the sprayer on mist and lock it and then hook it on the clothesline and the kids run through it for ages and it waters my garden at the same time.
Tracey G, this is the most delightful comment. I’m going to try it for my Nora this afternoon. She loves ice cubes more than life itself, wondering if a nice mist on a hot day will also delight her?
Tracey G, your comment made me smile! <3 Your pups are lucky babies!