FROM: STELLA

TO: LAURA

1. I was in San Francisco for work last weekend. It was a bit rainy, but we still had a great time. I found a new favorite restaurant that I can’t wait to return to. Seriously, I want to try everything on their menu! I was presently surprised that it was so good especially given how touristy of an area it is in. Thanks Yelp!
2. Very excited for Claire and Erica’s new book, Work Wife. We’ve been a fan of their podcast for a while now and love their working relationship. Plus, they have a weekly newsletter where they both put the “things” they’ve discovered. We certainly see a few similarities between us and them, and we can’t wait to read the book!
3. Southwest airlines added flights to Hawaii this week! It’s been a long time coming but I was still very excited to get the news. The tickets aren’t super cheap any more for most dates (at first they were $49 one way!) but the calendar isn’t open yet for the full year, but on March 14th they’ll open up the next set and the tickets always start low until at least a few people have started buying them. I love that Southwest has refundable tickets. I bought tickets for my 30th birthday on a whim, my husband and I have talked about it a little but hadn’t really decided yet and I wanted to get a good price so went for it. I love that I can still return them if we change our mind.
4. I had another big shopping win this week. I bought this shirt at target a few weeks ago and completely fell in love. It is so comfortable! I may or may not have basically worn it for a week straight… don’t worry, I finally washed it. Naturally, I put a price tracker on it and it dropped in price by $5 this week so I bought the rest of the colors!

FROM: LAURA

TO: STELLA

1. My brother was featured in our hometown’s newspaper for his homegrown sugaring setup. If you’ve never been around the sugaring process (how maple syrup is farmed), it is time consuming work but the payoff is oh so sweet!
2. I’m getting closer to maternity leave and with that comes lots of research on what legal leave I’m entitled to, how much of that can be paid, etc. I had many (many!!) questions at the start of figuring out my time off, and only feel slightly more informed now. I particularly liked this timeline of paid family leave as a visualization and found this article on paid family leave availability in different states pretty informative. I’ve also (already?!) started thinking about what it will look like when I return to work post-baby and how that balance will play out. I enjoyed this Refinery29 article on that very topic.
3. Laughed a bit at this “tell all” by a man who posted his credit score on Tinder, first in the “about me” section and then as the only photo on his profile!
4. Oof. Hearing about the “secret lives of Facebook moderators in America” struck a pretty severe chord. Lots in there that does not engender the company or brand in the best light.