Have a Relaxing Weekend. | Cup of Jo

What are you up to this weekend? We are planning to hang with friends and hopefully go swimming. Also, hot tip for my fellow New Yorkers: We just discovered this Italian spot in Carroll Gardens, started by four charming friends from all around Italy, and the food is FANTASTIC. It’s still undiscovered, but I doubt it will be for long, so go forth! Hope you have a good one, and here are a few links from around the web…

Portraits of motherhood.

Oooh, chocolate chip cookies with a surprising ingredient.

Is the errand hang the key to true friendship?

I want to wear this pretty top everywhere.

“My issues with the Goodnight Moon bedroom,” hahaha.

And a 10-month-old’s wishlist.

LOVED this honest essay (and photo) from Serena Williams, as she steps away from professional tennis. “I have never liked the word retirement. It doesn’t feel like a modern word to me… Maybe the best word to describe what I’m up to is evolution. I’m here to tell you that I’m evolving away from tennis, toward other things that are important to me,” she says. “I’m torn: I don’t want it to be over, but at the same time I’m ready for what’s next. I don’t know how I’m going to be able to look at this magazine when it comes out, knowing that this is it, the end of a story that started in Compton, California, with a little Black girl who just wanted to play tennis.” (Vogue)

The joys of swimming while fat. (NYTimes gift link)

Dermstore’s HUGE sale is happening right now. (I’m stocking up on this and this.)

This polka dot room!

Plus, two reader comments:

Says Veronica on Toby’s genius way to make friends: “Inviting friends over when the house is a mess is a ‘level up’ of friendship. If you feel nervous about it, you can always work up to it. Before we had children, my husband and I had a friend that we agreed to have dinner with every Sunday, usually at our house, although he occasionally hosted. The first few dinners were more complex and took place in a cleaner house, but as the weeks went by, and it became more routine, our cleaning definitely slipped. It turned out to be the best thing ever for taking our friendship to a more comfortable level. After we moved to another city, we have hosted him for impromptu weekends, again, because we didn’t feel the need to have the house perfectly clean to do so. Also, I remember how happy he was when I told him, ‘You are a messy house friend. I allow no excuse to get in the way of spending time with you.’ He took it as intended, as the highest of compliments.”

Says Giulia on four fun things: “I must be the 4649768012164 reader to ever write this, but I just came to this page after one of those hard hard hard days with no sleep for months and relentless work with my impossibly loved two under 2, and the comment section felt like a warm, easy living room with friends chatting. Got me teary and lifted my mood all at once. Always, always grateful!”

(Photo by Jeff Wasserman/Stocksy.)