Have a Nora Ephron Halloween

There was this unexpected thing that happened when Husband and I watched our first Nora Ephron movie together. He ruined it. Ok, ruin is a harsh word. It didn’t happen right away. At first, it was just an annoyance as I started to notice the things he pointed out. Like when we were watching While You Were Sleeping (not a Nora Ephron movie), and he said, “You know what the best part about this movie is? No one is cheating on Bill Pullman.” *sigh*

Then one day, I was watching Sleepless in Seattle thinking, “Annie Reed is a crazy person. She’s a stalker! Who hires a PI to stalk someone they don’t know?! If this happened in real life, Annie Reed would be committed.”

Maybe it’s just time to say it: Nora Ephron gave us all some very unrealistic expectations about how the world works. Apartments in New York City (that you can afford without a trust fund) are about the size of Kathleen Kelly’s bedroom. No grocery store in Manhattan ever has enough room to practically dance around with a grocery cart the week before Thanksgiving. And, let’s face it, Joe Fox was catphishing by the end of You’ve Got Mail. Beyonce-era women would have a serious come-to-Jesus with their friend Kathleen about boundaries and honesty.

Which leads me to the question of Why? Why am I still so in love with Nora Ephron movies when I can’t unsee the noxious themes? I blame The Nora Trifecta.

The Nora Trifecta

1. Setting
2. Soundtrack
3. Characters with enough cuteness to cover the insanity

Nora Ephron gave every girl who grew up in a small town unrealistic expectations about New York City. But, here’s the thing, walking through Central Park on the right day in late October, Central Park is exactly the way I imagined it would be when I was daydreaming about it in seventh grade. The giant trees are the colors of candy-corn and pair perfectly with giant, expensive drinks from Starbucks. If you listen hard enough, you will absolutely hear Harry Connick Jr. singing in the background and get that determined Kathleen Kelly skip in your step. (Of course, most of that illustration is from When Harry Met Sally, so maybe Ephron totally nailed it with Sally Albright.)

Anyway, today I’d like to propose something. I propose we all dress up as our favorite lunatics for Halloween: Nora Ephron heroines. Put on a jumper, paired with a storybook lady hat, and carry that bouquet of sharpened pencils with pride, honey!

Go in search of your very own Tom Hanks… or just start responding very intimately to all those emails that go to your spam folder. Someday your prince will come. Or you’ll find him via the perfect hashtag, track down a PI, in his area, and see if you can make contact with his child who will then show up at a location of your choice. Happy hunting!

Joking aside, I do love Ephron’s writing. Check out this post for a little about reading Nora Ephron with a book club…

Start a Book Club

TGIF!

Good morning! You’ve made it to Friday–in just a few short hours you’ll be lying on the couch avoiding all those household chores you put off til the weekend. But first, a few TGIF! links to peruse.

Small disclaimer: It really bothers me that people assign colors gender. I’ve never understood why less than a century ago, pink became assigned to girls and blue now belongs to boys. And I am forever indebted to my mother for painting my nursery yellow! That said, Racked had a feature recently called “How Pink Became a Color for Girls,” and it was really interesting!

Proof that girls have always run the world. (cue Beyonce) In 1860, as Abraham Lincoln was running for president, he received a letter from young Grace Bedell asking him to grow a beard. His reply is ever-so sweet, and he actually asked to meet her when he rolled through town on his inaugural train journey to DC. Read the story here.

And while we’re on that subject: I’m just gonna leave this here.

The rainbow was created by this reddit user a year ago, and it’s basically my favorite thing right now.

Design*Sponge’s Grace Bonney recently sat down with Marie Forleo to talk about “Doing The Work You Were Born To Do.” I really enjoyed their discussion. (You can check out more Marie Forleo vids–they’re great!–on her YouTube channel.)

This needs no introduction. Just enjoy! (“We love you, Uncle Jesse!”)

Finally: My day job is working as a designer for HGTV and DIY Network. At the end of last week, we wrapped up a project months in the making: the new DIYNetwork.com! Watch a little intro below and then be sure to check out the new site!

TGIF!

Good morning! Happy Friday! Per the usual, here are a few of my favorite (& very random) TGIF! links from around the interwebs. Enjoy!

In less than two weeks, we have found our next house, listed our current house, sold our current house to the *cutest* family, and bought our next home. Whoo! So I’ve basically been watching this clip on repeat everyday this week.

While we’re in the Parks & Rec realm, have you taken this Buzzfeed quiz yet?

Completely changing topics (remember I said “random”?), The New York Times was killing it this week. My picks ranged from 10 artists drawing their childhood pets to Angelina Jolie’s op-ed treatise on women educating themselves and taking control of their bodies (Amen!). But the one that gave me a “You go, girl!” moment that I can’t stop thinking about was Vanessa Friedman’s “For Michelle Obama, Girlie Clothes That Lean In.” Sometimes clothes speak louder than words, y’all!

“You can dress like a girl and dream about getting a Ph.D. (or a law degree, if we are being picayune), too.” Whoo!

Which brings me to possibly my favorite pick of the week: Evan Rachel Would.

The video is actually part of an ad campaign for the Portland based clothing company Wildfang. Wouldn’t you love to meet their marketing director? Or more accurately, whomever wrote this line:

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to listen to 4 Non-Blondes for the rest of the day because: Beth Ditto.

Oh! Before I go a quick PSA: Third Rock from the Sun is now on Netflix, and I’ll just go ahead and say it: Jane Curtain and John Lithgow are national treasures. That is all.