FROM: STELLA

TO: LAURA

1. My husband and I traveled to Salt Lake City last weekend (blog post coming soon!) and I am now totally obsessed with the beauty of Utah. I am already making a list of places I want to go on our next trip and have been going crazy on Pinterest adding things to our travel board. There are so many gorgeous places to hike all over the state and I’d love to back to Moab – Laura’s honeymoon destination. I went as a kid and would love to do a return trip as an adult.
2. During our trip, we hiked to a beautiful natural sulfur hot spring and I accidentally damaged my favorite silver brackets that I wear every day. Luckily, I’ve found some great resources (1), (2), (3)  on the internet for how to get my bracelets back to normal!
3. Next week, we are heading home to North Carolina and then Maine to visit our families for the holidays. We have a big Christmas Eve potluck to attend so I’ve been recipe hunting for Mashed Potatoes and was thrilled to find this recipe from Frugal Hausfrau because she uses a slow cooker and since we are traveling to someone’s house it will be so much easier to transport and keep warm this way! My mom also has an Instant Pot so we might use this recipe instead. I’ll have to compare and contrast the two and decide! Mashed potato test day anyone?
4. I greatly enjoyed the latest episode of Planet Money (a re-run from 2014) that talked about the value of a penny. I quickly followed up my listen by reading several articles about penny sorting, collecting and storing. I love the idea of investing in a coin sorter and starting up a new hobby, now I just need the storage space!

FROM: LAURA

TO: STELLA

1. Pretty jazzed about Robinhood’s announcement for 3% interest on their soon-to-be checking and savings accounts. Use my referral link to sign up for early access (and boost my spot in line 😉).
2. Someone gifted me some “airplane cocktail kits” a few years ago and I thought they were great! They came in small tins and included things like Bloody Mary mix, rim salt, & a pickle or elderberry syrup and a pair of gummy bears. It was a fun way to dress up a normally drab airplane beverage, but looking at them for gifts really surprised me at the cost ($20-35 for one kit?!). The Art of Manliness had an article this week on DIY’ing the kits and I am so on board.
3. Appreciated TFD’s article on 11 smaller charities that deserve your money and it reminded me of my post from 2017 on end of year donating strategies! Time to plan!
4. Loved this design and UX commentary on an original Macintosh User Manual.