friday link love

A bleary-eyed happy Friday to you, friends. Last night around 2am, our smoke alarm decided to go off, and of course it took us a few good minutes – while it was emitting the most gut-wrenching high pitched sound – before we figured out what was making this horrible squeal and subsequently disabling the thing. I don’t know about you, but the sound of those smoke alarms pierces to the depths of my soul – it is a sound I can’t stand. It took me another two hours to fall back asleep and then, less than two hours after that, my wake-up alarm went off. Needless to say, this is going to feel like a long, tough slog of a day. If anyone has any recommendations on smoke alarm/detectors that don’t scare you half to death in the middle of your REM cycle, I’m all ears. And before anyone recommends Nest, keep in mind that they’ve just recalled nearly 500,000 units.

I’m going to try to put together that final kitchen reno post that will tally up the cost. A few of you emailed me curious about how on-budget we stayed (we didn’t, but I can explain why) and what the bottom line was (not that much, given everything, but more than we were prepared to spend, which is probably why everyone tells you to take your budget and add 50% to it because – you never know). So hopefully, I’ll post that sometime early next week.

Anyway, without further ado, here are a few of the links I found thought-provoking and engaging this week. I’m going to go and drink that second cup of coffee – I’ve earned it. Have a great weekend. xo, olga

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The most amazing, visual kitchen conversions graphic. Print this out and hang it in your kitchen! You’re welcome.

Here’s Dave Wondrich’s list of the best bars in America. Anyone fancy a pint… or a cocktail?

Alan Lightman on our yearning for immortality and why we long for permanence in a universe of constant change. This is beautiful…

I don’t know why we long so for permanence, why the fleeting nature of things so disturbs. With futility, we cling to the old wallet long after it has fallen apart. We visit and revisit the old neighborhood where we grew up, searching for the remembered grove of trees and the little fence. We clutch our old photographs. In our churches and synagogues and mosques, we pray to the everlasting and eternal. Yet, in every nook and cranny, nature screams at the top of her lungs that nothing lasts, that it is all passing away. All that we see around us, including our own bodies, is shifting and evaporating and one day will be gone. Where are the one billion people who lived and breathed in the year 1800, only two short centuries ago?

Would you guys ever drink Soylent? I can’t see myself doing that anytime soon, but then again, I seek out opportunities to eat and find the process pleasurable.

Big dairy is putting microscopic pieces of metal in your food.

The skin has its own Circadian rhythm.