Friday Favorites

It’s Friday AND this weekend is Labor Day Weekend. Whoa. Is anyone else feeling extra pumped?

Kevin and I are in Chicago this weekend (with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law) visiting some of our favorite family friends, Jim and Sandy Napolitan. We’ll be spending today in the city and then heading to their home on Lake Michigan to relax the weekend away. It’s become a bit of a tradition for us to head up to this part of the country over Labor Day, and we look forward to it each summer. The weather tends to be just about perfect, and it’s a great way to end the summer festivities. I couldn’t ask for a better holiday weekend! (Oh, and Kevin and I are trying our first SoulCycle class today. Wish us luck!)

As you kick off your own long weekend, here are some things I’ve been loving this week:

• Kevin and I had a date night Wednesday to go see Mike Birbiglia’s new movie, Don’t Think Twice. (Fun fact: It was produced by Ira Glass!) The cast was incredible, and the movie was much more thoughtful than I expected it to be. I definitely recommend catching it if if comes to a theater near you.

• This guy, protesting “premature pumpkin spicing,” totally has my support. It’s way too early for that nonsense, Starbucks, etc. I’m anxious for fall, too, but this is just ridiculous. People are still having cookouts.

• Winston-Salem friends: Did you see this amazing news that a J. Crew is coming to Thruway? It’s about time, right? Can’t wait! (No news on timing yet for the opening, but this is definitely a step in the right direction. Now if we could only get a Lululemon and an Anthro…)

• How incredible do these No-Bake Almond Butter Cup Bars look? And they’re a Minimalist Baker recipe, which means they’re guaranteed to be amazing. I may need to whip up a batch of these sometime soon…

• As a lover of short stories, I can’t believe I’d never read anything by Canadian writer Alice Munro. This week, I finished her 2005 short story collection, Runaway, and can’t wait to read more by this author.

Happy holiday weekend-ing, y’all!