For those of you who've thought about coming to the MTHR Collective retreat this October, excellent news: they're having a flash sale through Friday night offering Bunkmate Passes (basically: bring a friend to bunk with in a luxury Airstream settled in the Northern California redwood forest, and save money).

As a recap: MTHR Collective’s 4-day, 3-night retreat in Russian River – at which I’ll be one of the speakers – is specifically for mothers who are interested in exploring their creativity in an intimate, informal environment…that just so happens to also be one of the coolest campgrounds (if you can even call it that) I’ve ever seen.

What the long weekend – October 11-14, 2018 – includes:

My children go back to school in less than a month. (Much less.) I am confused by this, because I distinctly remember school starting in September when I was a wee one, but apparently either the days are shorter or the vacations are more abundant, or we're just sending kids to school for (much) more of the year, because August 15th it is.

Which means we have just a little over two weeks left of for-real summer. And since this summer has been less-than-restful so far, I've decided to do my best to make these last few weeks as fun and peaceful (and SIMPLE, please) as possible. My mom is coming out, which is nice, and means that a pedicure is probably in my future. And my daughter's birthday is soon, so a rainbow cake will be made (or at least attempted).

But mostly, what I want to do with these last few summer days is read books. By the pool, in the sand, while hiding in my car during gymnastics classes (who was the genius who decided that nowadays parents must physically watch all of their children's after school activities?? Didn't parents used to...drop kids off for these things? And then go do their things - such as read books while hiding in their cars - while their children were safe and otherwise occupied? Just wondering).

I was never a "mom jewelry" kinda person...but Tiny Tags are irresistible. (This is the "dog tag" style, FYI.)

Oversized bamboo hoop earrings. On sale. Yes. (Bought them.)

One family's tale of living the van life. (The Ultimate California Road Trip, via Travel & Leisure.)

There are plenty of topics I'm not especially well-versed in, but the fact that I didn't know what "Juneteenth" was until yesterday, when I noticed it on my iPhone calendar and decided to Google it, seems inexcusable. Juneteeth - which is today - isn't just (just?!) a "black holiday," it's a celebration of our national determination - and ongoing commitment - to emancipation and equality, and to giving a voice to those who have spent decades, if not centuries, being silenced. Perhaps more than ever, it deserves the national spotlight. 

I'm reprinting Jamelle Bouie's explanation of the significance of Juneteenth in full below. Required reading, guys. 

The Black American Holiday Everyone Should Celebrate but Doesn’t

Juneteenth isn’t just a celebration of emancipation, it’s a celebration of our commitment to make it real.

Sweatshirt | Custom Slides | Duvet | Cat not for sale

Tell me this isn't actually the best sweatshirt you've ever seen. Go on. See, you can't do it! Because it's is, in fact, the best sweatshirt you've ever seen.