Friday Five #122
On Toy Story 5, new toy obsessions, books + more!
Hi Friends! I hope you’re having a wonderful week. School is officially out for summer in New York, and we are deep in the throes of summer vacation! I’m talking pool days, beach days, park days, chalk days, sprinkler days, and going to the movies on rainy days. I’m talking barbecues, and lazy mornings, and easy crafts, and library reading challenges! (I love a library reading challenge!)
We’re currently heading out of town to visit some family in Chicago, so I’m excited for a little rest and relaxation this weekend, but really, I’m trying to hold onto that theme throughout the whole summer. Yes, of course, there’s work to do. But I think we (read: society as a whole), schedule ourselves within an inch of our lives. We fill every minute of every day, so much so that we forget to make room for living. For what we want. For spontaneity. For the twists and turns that life will inevitably bring. So, this summer, I’m trying to leave a little more white space in my calendar.
Now, let’s get into this week’s Friday Five:
There were a lot of rainy days this week, so I decided to take my son to Toy Story 5. Friends, it is a masterpiece. Yes, I said masterpiece. I was a little skeptical about how the franchise would manage to pull off yet another movie without making our eyes glaze over, but they did it! Toy Story 5 introduces “Lily”, essentially an iPad/tablet that our beloved Bonnie is using. It highlights the very real ways that technology stunts social growth, how we can often age our children prematurely when we hand a screen to them, and how the use of technology cannot come at the expense of being a well-rounded human. Yes, it’s important to learn how to use a computer, but that cannot come at the exclusion of knowing how to read. To write. To think beyond what the computer is telling you to do. To engage with a human, face-to-face. 10/10 would recommend Toy Story 5 — for kids and adults alike.
I purchased my son a little Grab & Go Sensory Dough from YOUNG + WILD and Friedman, as a gift for his preschool moving up ceremony, and I don’t know who likes it more, me or him. The Play-Doh is perfection. The little themed toys that come with each bundle are fantastic (we went with a dinosaur/jungle theme), and it TRAVELS. What’s not to love? I can’t wait to buy another bundle!
Last week, I announced the eleventh volume of one of the cabaret series that I produce, DUETS: The Concert Series, wherein future Broadway stars sing with their Broadway idols, people who have inspired them to join, and/or stay, in show business. Tickets are now on sale, and you can get $5 off your main dining room and bar rail seats here, with the code DUETS5. Stay up to date with cast and creative announcements by following along on Instagram @duetsconcertseries.
My FAVORITE SHEETS are on sale. I am constantly on the hunt for products that are both organic and functional — I started buying Boll and Branch when we purchased our home six years ago, and I’ve never looked back. And they are so fantastic that I’m only now just needing to get a new set. And that’s got nothing to do with quality, and everything to do with a preschooler who sometimes will walk around the house with remnants of food on their face. #iykyk. Use the code SUMMER for 20% off, with select styles up to 40%. They’re pricey, but they’re worth it.
Emily Henry is the Nora Ephron of the book world, and I will die on that hill. I’m about 50 pages away from being done with Great Big Beautiful Life, and let me tell you, you must read it. It’s delightful. It’s a little spicy. It’s thoughtful. In it, Alice Scott is competing with Hayden Anderson to write the biography of Margaret Ives. But it’s so much more than that. It’s about love, in all its forms. It’s about the legacies we leave and the stories we tell about the ones we’ve lost. It’s about the stories we tell ourselves about the experiences we’ve had. It’s a BEAUTIFUL depiction of what it means to be, not only a storyteller, but a human. 10/10 would recommend.
That’s it for this week!
xo, Megan
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