FROM: STELLA

TO: LAURA

1. It was our annual summer clean up this past week at my office. We re-organized our storage areas and my desk is sparkly clean. I became a bit obsessed with shredding – shout out to our incredible office shredding machine.

   

2. I’m heading up to Portland, OR (silly coincidence, we were in Portland, ME two weeks ago!) this weekend for a very quick weekend getaway with my husband. I’ve been to other parts of Oregon before but somehow never made it to Portland before. I am so excited to check out the Multnomah Whiskey Library and a few of the many restaurants recommended to us by friends and fellow bloggers (1), (2), (3).
3. Love these workout dice! Such a fun-silly way to get you moving.
4. My husband and one of his best friends have been hosting trivia nights in Los Angeles at various restaurants and breweries for almost 5 years. They finally started an Instagram account a couple of weeks ago. Be sure to check them out if you are in the L.A. area, they have awesome prizes!

FROM: LAURA

TO: STELLA

1. 

   My friend Dylan launched her cooking and lifestyle blog, I’d Rather Be Meryl, with her friend Karen this week and I am oh-so-excited to try out some of their recipes! First up is definitely a whole roast chicken and these popovers, perfectly described as “bread pillows!”

2. For my June wedding reception in L.A. I took on the task of making dessert, which meant 200+ cupcakes and a tiered cake. I had a blast doing it and it definitely got me wondering why more people don’t make their own / have a friend make their wedding cake. Cue my unbridled excitement at getting to follow along on Liz’s journey of making a cake for her friend’s wedding (that she was also a bridesmaid in!). Read up on parts one, two, and three, for all the delicious-looking details!
3. If you haven’t been listening to Aftereffect, now’s the time. The eight-episode podcast tells the story of Arnaldo Rios Soto, an autistic man involved in a police shooting in the summer of 2016 and the toll its taken on his life. The last episode came out last Friday and I was sorry for it to end, the storytelling is fantastic, the story itself is heart-wrenching, and the production lives up to the rest of WNYC’s projects.
4. I’ve had Sublime’s ‘Santeria’ stuck in my head for a couple of weeks for reasons I won’t go into. To try to appease the ear worm, I’ve been listening to covers of it and actually kind of like these three ukulele versions [1], [2], [3].