Some reading and viewing from around the internet to make your Tuesday less productive than it otherwise would have been. James: “You will love this video — it has all of your favorite things!”

Hannah: “Taylor Swift? Ponies? The color yellow?”

James: “Um….what? Seriously? The color yellow?”

Hannah: “You said my favorite things — I love yellow!”

James: “Ok no – but I promise. All your other favorite things. Just watch.”

Then I did watch this video and he was SO RIGHT.  And then I watched this one too, and I just can’t get over it. I have a special nostalgic spot for the Bayside gang. I used to sneak “Saved by the Bell” episodes on super low volume while my mom made dinner, because for some reason it was deemed unsavory for my tender self. Hello nineties in all your different standards of TV purity!

Today marks day 30 of our Whole30 adventure! Don’t you worry — there will be a full-length post with way more than you ever wanted to know about my thoughts on thirty days of hunger, I mean, healthy choices, but for now, some other food articles that struck my fancy lately. Reading  what 5 nutritionists eat for a day instantly made me feel the need to climb right off the high horse of dietary superiority that I’ve been riding the last month. That article led me to this recipe, the write-up of which reminds us that Carbs are not the devil, something proved especially true by  James’ response to the Whole30.

It’s love day this weekend – are you celebrating? Hating? Holding alternate protest-parties? I love those, because they usually include cupcakes. In other love news, I just can’t get over this season of the Bachelor, in which the crop of women and the producers are managing to parody themselves in every single episode.  I know I have shared way too many Bachelor recap links in the past for you to still respect me, but here’s one more, a Bachelor recap that expresses some of the psychologically intriguing things unpacked in the show.

I mentioned a couple weeks ago that my closet purge left me in search of booties (and boots), the items deemed missing and essential from my wardrobe. You all came through with some great suggestions! I crushed on these and these and these for awhile before finally committing to these, not because they were necessarily better, but because they were $20 after the bazillion coupons and discounts that Kohls hurls your way. I know, still new to this “pay more for quality” thing. Luckily, they have proved super comfy and were complimented by one of my students so I feel like a rockstar. Plus, the pair of booties I have worn devotedly for 3 years were $8 from Target, so I am not convinced spending more always gets you more.

The pictures in this post are from this series on the abstractions of reading by Joel Robison and I love them all. They basically sum up my entire life this semester.

I used to be a hardcore This American Life listener, but after the intensity of Serial, I feel a little bored. Anyone have any great new podcasts they are loving? James and I have been listening to Invisibilia lately, but I would welcome all podcast recommendations, as they are the thing that gets me through my runs.

You all know how I have long loved Ashley’s blog. Recently she wrote an awesome post that every Christian who is getting overly fired up about the wrong things (like yoga pants) should read.

My friend Christine started a blog that any of you with babies (or who, like me, have just been to so many showers that you are strangely fascinated by baby gear and fashion) should check out. It is highly probable that she has more style and class in her little finger than I have in my whole body, and she shares some great baby, home, and motherhood thoughts.

This article about an Ikea table had me in tears. TEARS. As in, water running down my face because of that bland lack table that so many of us transient souls have found in our living rooms. In a city where everyone is constantly here for “just a few years,” and constantly looking for the next best thing, it seems perfect to trace our lives through cheap furniture. (PS: one of our weekends as told by our own Craigslisted Ikea table.)

Finally, I don’t actually expect most of you to read this last link, as it is far less fun than babies, food, footwear, or Jimmy Fallon. But should any of you be interested, I read T.S. Eliot’s preface to his translation of Pascal’s Pensées a couple weeks ago for my exam prep and I keep rolling his words over in my soul.

“In this distinction Pascal offers much about which the modern world would do well to think. And indeed, because of his unique combination and balance of qualities, I know of no religious writer more pertinent to our time. The great mystics like St. John of the Cross, are primarily for readers with a special determination of purpose; the devotional writers, such as St. François de Sales, are primarily for those who already feel consciously desirous of the love of God; the great theologians are for those interested in theology. But I can think of no Christian writer, not Newman even, more to be commended than Pascal to those who doubt, but who have the mind to conceive, and the sensibility to feel, the disorder, the futility, the meaninglessness, the mystery of life and suffering, and who can only find peace through a satisfaction of the whole being.”