There is not much in life better than a solid chunk of time spent laughing, talking and playing a board game with other women. Have you played Settlers of Catan? What’s your favourite board game?

Here are some things I’ve seen lately that I thought I’d share. My #1 blogging inspiration, Elise is doing them once a week now and it’s inspiring me to do the same.

The colours in this woven wall hanging make me want to travel to New Mexico, stat.

I got home too late to catch the Olympic opening ceremonies. This blogger in Winnipeg liveblogged them, though, and reading it was really funny.

The “How to be smarter” tip in this post is about how to make happiness come easier.

This piece is about writing, advice to an aspiring writer. I love this line: “But here’s the thing about writing: nobody can say anything better than you can, because you have your own story to tell, your own life to live, and your own lens through which you see the world. If you put 100 writers in a room and ask them to write about the sunset, not two stories would be the same. That is the beautiful and hard thing about writing—it is 100% you, 100% of the time.”

The next time I have $20 to spare I am so ordering this adorable/hunky calendar.

This was an interesting, although quite long, article about women lifestyle blogging and how it mostly reinforces the old stereotypes of domesticity. I loved this line: “It seems important to question why the blogs that have come to define “lifestyle blogging” are emblematic of deeply normative, well, lifestyles, even when they don’t necessarily set out to be. Context matters: The bright tone of blogs may tacitly discourage questions about what or who isn’t represented in all those cheery Instagrams. The copious images of female-focused domesticity can’t help but underscore that, while we’re all free to choose our choices, a clear and privileged path to happiness and achievement runs through the kitchen, the garden, and the nursery.”

Natalie in Ottawa fundraises like a boss and gives tips on how to raise money for a great cause. She also has a lot of fun, which I think is key.

This post that I read one morning changed how I felt about my body, all day long.

And this is a six-minute animated short about a pigeon, a CIA agent, and the Washington monument. Very cute and funny. I said to Adam the other day, “The real reason I want to have kids is so I can watch animated movies with no shame.”

Happy weekending, whether you’re being super productive, super lazy, or somewhere in between!