Fun Reads for the Long Weekend

Vancouver Celebration of Light. Source: Thomas Bullock on Flickr

How was your week, friends? I’ve been busy since my last link post. I’ve been to the waterslides, met an old friend from years ago for bellinis, spent a day hanging out with my best friend’s adorable pooch while she was out of town, and saw some amazing fireworks. Summer in Vancouver has been pretty amazing this year.

Onto the weekly links:

An interesting observation on the culture of extremism in America vs. moderation in France. There are no fat people in Paris

If you have pets, this may shock you as it did me: apparently “pet-flipping” for profit is a thing.

Along the lines of Cards of Humanity, this looks like a pretty fun party game: The Game of Things

Great post from Sarah about how to travel with a group and keep everyone happy.

Loving these new-to-me blogs: Superlatively Rude (NSFW) and Metamorphocity

101 Uses for Coconut Oil. Who knew? I’m definitely going to try it as a moisturiser for super smooth & soft legs 🙂

Fun Reads for the Weekend

Jesse & Celine in Before Sunset… one of my favourite screen couples of all time.

How was your week, everyone? I went hiking to see a waterfall with my mum, did a Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight trilogy movie weekend, and found a great dress on clearance while shopping.

Some links I enjoyed this week:

Do you like playing Would You Rather? Then you will appreciate the incredible difficulty of answering these ridiculous 15 WYR questions.

Some creative pregnancy announcements!

The Heineken Dropped! campaign is pretty neat. They set up some departure boards in airports, and offered travellers a free trip if they would give up their existing travel plans. The catch? They had to press a button on the departure board, wait to see what random location it generated, and leave right away. Would you be up for that adventure?

Lululemon’s app specialist posted his three favourite apps for summer 2013.

Five financial tips for young couples. I like the one about combining finances for income splitting purposes.

Dying to try this summer salad this week: grilled potato, lemon & zucchini salad with romesco.

I highly enjoyed this American girl’s Twitter tale of playing hooky from school in Morocco to track down Matt Damon on a movie set. Promptly followed her on Twitter. Best part: how she stole toilet paper rolls.

The 10 worst people on the subway. YES.

Fun Reads for the Weekend

This beautiful image of an elephant under an acacia tree, by Johan Hoekstra, is just what I’ve been searching for as tattoo inspiration.

How was your week? I made a fantastic Thai shrimp salad, wore lots of dresses in the gorgeous sunny weather, and declared that this was National Technology Fucks With You Week while restraining myself from throwing my work computer out the window. That would have been awkward… then we’d have a busted window AND a busted computer. And a hefty bill from the alarm company. And technology that really didn’t work. #PatOnTheBack?

I am one of those people who always has a million tabs open on my browser and I love weekly link roundups, so I thought I’d start posting one of my own as well when the mood strikes me. Here are some of the blog posts and articles I enjoyed this week:

Are you watching The Bachelorette? It’s my trashy, guilty pleasure made doubly fun by the hilarious recaps written each week by Lincee and Drea. Prepare to snort-laugh.

I met the amazing Jessica Manuszak in Vegas, and loved her post this week about how to pull off pink hair. Spoiler alert: it’s less about the hair and more about just doing the thing you wish you could pull off.

This professional design blogger encourages us to execute & spend on design with careful intention.

ManCakes Bakery is a real cupcakery in Vancouver run by two guys who wanted cupcakes to be less frivolous and have more interesting flavours. Apple Brie cupcakes? Chocolate red wine? Don’t mind if I do…

I’ve been inspired by all the great recaps from World Domination Summit in Portland this weekend, so much that I signed up for notification about next year’s tickets.

Loved reading Alex Franzen, one of my blogging idols, gush about meeting some of her blogging idols.

It’s taken me awhile, but I’m pretty happy with The Old Reader as a replacement for Google Reader. #RIP #ButStillAnnoyed

There are a lot of common phrases in the English language that are commonly misspoken. As a Northerner, I will admit to having uttered the phrase, “What’s you guyses’ opinion?” So. Ashamed.

My Morning Routine is dedicated to interviewing others about how they start their days. It’s an intimate peek at a part of people’s lives that are rarely shared and it’s fascinating.

Have a great week, friends!

An Elephant Story at Go Mighty

Image source: Boon Lott Elephant Sanctuary

I wrote a story about a dream very near and dear to my heart over at Go Mighty: I want to volunteer at an elephant sanctuary. Go check it out :).

The Sea and the Stars

“Selene at the Sea” by Luis Argerich on Flickr

Everyone who terrifies you is sixty five percent water.
And everyone you love is made of stardust, and I know sometimes
you cannot even breathe deeply, and
the night sky is no home, and
you have cried yourself to sleep enough times
that you are down to your last two percent, but

nothing is infinite,
not even loss.

You are made of the sea and the stars, and one day
you are going to find yourself again.

This beautiful poem was written by Finn Butler at A Greater Reality. He’s just 18 years old.