FROM: STELLA

TO: LAURA

1. We are officially on the road from Maine to NC. We’ve split the drive into three 5 hour drive days with a break day in the middle. I got Colby two new toys (this rainbow circle and this fun ball within a ball within a ball) for the road and they’ve already been big hits.

2. A friend made homemade pierogis for us this week and they were incredible. Highly recommend the NYT recipe! Be sure to have extra onions on hand, they really up-level the dish.

3. I binged Firefly Lane on Netflix this week and felt fairly lukewarm about it. I enjoyed it a lot at the beginning, but by the last couple of episodes didn’t land for me. I am fascinated to check out the book because it sounds like it is quite different from the show.

4. This week I listened to the audiobook, Black Magic: What Black Leaders Learned from Trauma and Triumph. It was written by a friend of a friend so it’s been on my list since it was released a couple months ago. The book is part memoir and part interview-style. I really enjoyed the memoir parts and learned so much from the interviews.

5. I just switched to the Parent Choice (Walmart’s store brand) diapers and actually love them. They are way more affordable and seem to fit Colby better than the Kirkland brand or Huggies brand both of which we’ve loved in the past. It’s a good reminder to keep trying different types and fun to see the savings add up!

FROM: LAURA

TO: STELLA

1. This medium post did the rounds in my women and non-men in tech circles this week and puts words to a very uncomfortable feeling that needs to be addressed in the diversity, equity, and inclusion conversation. White women who have felt like a diversity hire (🙋🏻‍♀️) have a lot of reflection to do on harms we have perpetuated.

2. I super highly resonated with the takeaway from this New York Times piece on “the neglected middle child of mental health,” also known as “languishing.” It hits between depression and flourishing and is that middling “blah” sensation that has been following me around for most (all?) of the pandemic. It’s helpful to have a word to assign to the feeling, but also I wish more people were talking about steps to take to get beyond it.

3. This week’s episode of the Girls Just Wanna Have Funds podcast was really great. Their guest, Aditi Shekar, is the founder of Zeta, which is a company I hadn’t heard of before but am definitely interested in, especially after she described it as the “love child of Oprah and NerdWallet.” They provide a way for couples to share finances without necessarily merging all accounts and also have this awesome money therapy 20 questions challenge to do with your partner or spouse.

4. I’ve really appreciated seeing more people in my network start to be more open about career gaps when it comes to parenting and caregiving. As someone who took the last year off to be a full time mom, I really appreciated seeing that LinkedIn released this update to their platform allowing for easier ways to communicate that on a resume.

5. An old high school classmate of mine has a substack newsletter covering nature, outdoor adventure, and the environment and it’s always a lovely read. This week she has a slew of TikTok recommendations and I, admittedly, usually avoid that platform at all costs, but this was a nice end of the week break to watch some naturey clips!