CTL Weekly 11.01

Happy Friday and Happy November, friends! Did you have a good Halloween? Here’s a funny story from ours: One of the houses in our neighborhood was apparently giving out Ghirardelli peppermint bark squares. A kid came to our house, picked out some candy from our bowl and then handed Tom the Ghirardelli and says “here, you can have this.”

We laughed so hard! Here’s the offending candy.

Here’s what I saved to share with you this week:

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Josh Young talks about the five principles that guide his art, homes, and lifestyle. This article includes beautiful pics of Josh’s Virginia country home. (P.S. I wrote about Josh’s new design book a couple of months ago.)

Design secrets of the Practical Magic house.

My mom had a birthday this week and requested a carrot cake for her birthday cake. We love the carrot cake at J. Alexander’s so I searched for a copycat recipe and found and made this one. It’s very similar to the restaurant version (meaning delicious) and was easy to make. I even used the pre-shredded carrots from the grocery store.

Nora Ephron’s Beautiful, Flawed Representation of New York City. “Ephron’s New York was always seen through rosy, fall-colored glasses, where unreliable subway systems and requisite garbage piles were replaced with a quirky, cozy city in which the possibilities of romance and a tree-shaded brownstone were endless.”

The above article was written by Ilana Kaplan, the author of a new coffee table book Nora Ephron at the Movies: A Visual Celebration of the Writer and Director Behind When Harry Met Sally, You’ve Got Mail, Sleepless in Seattle, and More. What a great gift idea for a rom com lover.

I stopped into Pottery Barn last week (I will never not love PB I think) and the colors of these taper candles were so pretty in person. So many options for a Thanksgiving table. Also, you guys, this woven trunk coffee table was a show stopper.

Will you be watching the Netflix documentary about Martha (Stewart, of course)? This line from the trailer caught my attention: “The hardest thing is to retain cultural relevance as an older woman, and she’s done it.”

A new pullover I’m loving from Amazon. I like the longer length and the unexpected zippers on the side. I got the kelly green but there are 23 colors to choose from.

A writer shares her (honest, funny) experiences with growing out her gray hair. “My daughters are benevolently supportive, but they drag out the last syllable of their compliments in a way that makes me suspicious: “You look prettyyyyyy!” and “The gray is amazingggg!” I doubt they’d pass a polygraph.”

A slow-cooker turkey chili recipe with Bloody Mary mix as an ingredient. Interesting!

NYC’s West Village Halloween parade marchers do the Thriller dance. This is so great!