FROM: STELLA

TO: LAURA

1. We had a very silly NYE this year with an 8:05 pm bedtime, gotta sleep while you can with a baby! Ever since we moved to the West Coast, we’ve always celebrated East Coast New Year by watching the ball drop at 9:00 pm. It just does not feel the same to watch it drop again three hours later when California hits midnight. This year my husband and I used YouTube Livestream to watch Newfoundland celebrate the new year at 8:00 pm so we could get to bed early. We had a quick cheers and had a piece of this deliciousness and called it a night. It was silly and fun and I’m sure will become a tradition for years to come.
2. In my constant journey to figure out newborn sleep and a schedule of sorts for Colby, I stumbled upon this letter from a baby about keeping their parents up and engaged with them. Even though it didn’t help at all with sleeping, it at least captured my attention during a late-night feed and helped me stay awake for a few more minutes 🙂
3. I love that I am always finding new services that Amazon has created. I recently discovered the Amazon Warehouse, where you can buy “open box” items at a nice discount. I think this is going to become a great hack for diaper purchases in my future. Who cares if the box is open as long as the diaper packets are sealed?!
4. I thought this movie was a very cute Netflix original and am super excited that a sequel is in the works.

FROM: LAURA

TO: STELLA

1. I prided myself on doing exactly zero Black Friday/Cyber Monday shopping this year, but I did squeeze in a Tuesday purchase that was still part of that week’s deals with Stasher Bags. They are reusable plastic bags for leftovers, snacks, produce, dry goods, and whatever else you can think to put in a bag. I’ve been loving them so far, and always appreciate any way to cut down on our environmental impact. We have also been using these machine-washable reusable produce bags for grocery shopping. Don’t worry though, I still have a stash of plastic ones I’m working through with all of these uses in mind.
2. My husband and I are behind the times and newly obsessed with The Great British Baking Show. One of my favorite parts so far is learning all about the differences in cooking words and techniques that they use across the pond. I loved this explainer on desserts vs puddings, and was very excited to find the blog, Separated by a Common Language, by way of her post on “pudding.”
3. I went to a conference a few weeks ago centered on web design, accessibility, design trends, etc. and was super excited to get to see one of the speakers, Jen Simmons, as I’ve followed her on various internet sites for a number of years and have really loved her pioneering work in the space. She shared her “lab” site where she hosts many design challenges she sets for herself and I’ve had a blast looking through lots of them and piecing apart the code.
4. This article on how “link in bio” can affect the general architecture of the internet really sent my mind for a loop. It’s crazy how a seemingly small and simple tech decision can have so many consequences on how the web is used and is shaped in the future.