Things making me smile/on my mind/causing distraction these days:
--As we all know, I am a girl who reads excessively. I'm led to believe that most people either find this intimidating or laughable. Dearest Hannah, however, sent me this article about why readers are the best people to fall in love with. Citing our ability to empathize and our greatly-expanded worldview, the article also extols our higher-than-average levels of intelligence and kindness as reasons you should totally be trolling the library instead of bars for your next date. It's science.
--In heartwarming human interest news these days, if you haven't seen the story of Emmett and Erling of Farmington, MN, you need to visit KARE11 right now and watch/read this. This is a town close to where I grew up, and it's one of the more precious fluff pieces I've seen. Summary: Precocious two-year-old befriends 90-year-old WWII vet and they share a bond the likes of which even "Up" can't touch. Be still, my beating heart!
--I started hunting for a new apartment a few weeks ago, and with that, for the essentials to fill it! Although I still have all the furniture I could possibly need, I'm sorely lacking in kitchen goods and bedding. I picked out this gorgeous Anthropologie quilt awhile ago, and just recently discovered these Nate Berkus sheets at Target to go with them. I picked up "Coral Crosshatch" and "Citron;" both are perfect matches for the colors in the quilt and are so soft it feels like they've been washed and snuggled in forever.
--Since I was a little girl, I've notoriously bitten my nails and picked/scraped at my cuticles and the skin on my thumbs until they bled. Enter A La Mode, an Edina nail salon that Alyssa, Steph and I tried out in mid-June. I got my first shellac manicure and, instantly, miraculously even, my nails are now gorgeous and my hands are untouched and flawless. Manicures have lasted me over three weeks without a chip or hangnail in sight. Best part? You get complimentary champagne with your nail service, and the salon also functions as an adorable boutique. Twin Cities girls, who's joining me?
--And ending on the word-nerd note I started on, I discovered the Anagram Hall of Fame the other day in perusal of another blog. This stuff is my crack, guys. I mean, as if "dormitory=dirty room" and "Clint Eastwood=Old West Action" wasn't enough, they basically had me at United States of America and Church of Scientology, and then won my heart forever with their rearrangement of Hamlet's "To be, or not to be." OMG.