Adventurous Souls/Laughing Hearts.

Below, a quote, a poem (love Bukowski), and a photo, all too good not to share. 

It might be the changing of the seasons, but I've been feeling especially reflective lately. And I've become very absent-minded because of it. Twice this weekend, I missed my stop on the train - or got on the wrong one altogether - because I was so caught up in daydreams. Oh, well. There are worse things, right?

(Oh, and speaking of adventure, I know it's been a long time since I did one of these. I've got a couple of posts in the works - really looking forward to sharing them soon!)

Happy Monday!

Image 1: Shahir Zag. Image 2: via Every Day is Garbage Day. Image 3: "Swimming in the Rain" by Camila Massu.

Page Turners.

Everything about Prudie Sept's Pinterest board "Shh...Reading" makes me smile, especially that image at bottom left. Bathtub reading is the best.

Images, clockwise from top left: from Desperately Seeking Susan; Esther Haase via Le Figaro; Edouard Boubat; via This Recording (photographer unknown; please share if you know!); Imperial War Museum London; unknown (again, please share); Iban Barrenetxea. 

What are your plans this weekend? I've got a busy one ahead of me: I'll be grabbing dinner in Williamsburg with these beautiful girls, heading to the spa on Saturday with a couple of my closest friends, attending a football season kick-off party (stranger things have happened), and, somehow, squeezing in some work (I've got two deadlines on Sunday). Whew.

Wishing you all the happiest weekend, in the meantime. See you Monday!

Mining the Man Cave .

I've been a fan of the Etsy shop This Charming Man Cave for a long time. Brilliantly curated by Minnesotan Jeff Ibling, it's "a place to find vintage items that are strong enough for a woman, but made for a man." I love the books, grouped and sold by color,

the vintage records,

and all the various other odds and ends, including ice tongs from the 1930s, PBR salt and pepper shakers, a Rita Hayworth studio portrait, and a set of vintage archery arrows.

Charming (and yet, still manly), indeed. Great if you find yourself stumped - as I often do - when it comes to buying gifts for guys. See more, here.

Have a wonderful Thursday and a happy Fashion's Night Out!

Forms of Courage.

I'll be honest with you: submitting this week's Equals Record post made me incredibly nervous - It's never easy to admit when you don't do something well. In my case, I've always prided myself on being an optimist, but I've realized recently that when it comes to dealing with the harder things in life, I've got some work to do.

As always, an excerpt from the new post: "For a span of several months, I had a Holbrook Jackson quote as the wallpaper on my computer screen. Happiness is a form of courage, it read. I remember reading this for the first time, years ago, and feeling electrified. I found it so empowering. Every day, we’re confronted with a myriad of reasons to be angry, bitter, disappointed, discouraged, worried, frightened. People get sick. Friends move away. Relationships fall apart. We lose jobs, miss trains, trip on the stairs. We say things we don’t mean. Do things we wish we could take back. Take risks that lead us nowhere. To choose to celebrate the good in life in spite of all of this - to focus on the positive when really, it’s the last thing we want to do - is a beautiful thing. I believe this wholeheartedly. But. I’ve learned a curious thing recently."

Read more at the Equals Record, here. You can find past entries from my column, Looking Forward, here. Thank you so much for reading - I appreciate your support!

Image: Kogtev via this isn't happiness.  

Sweet Thing: Bakeri.

It's both a blessing and a curse to live within blocks of Bakeri. It's the kind of place you'd imagine might exist in the pages of a book, or in a romantic comedy, or in some lovely corner of an adorable Parisian neighborhood (this is coming from someone who's never been to Paris). Its excellent coffee, charming backyard, and cheerful staff (you can purchase the powder-blue jumpsuits they wear) make it one of my most beloved Brooklyn haunts. 

What's best, and also most dangerous: its glass cases are stocked daily with an abundance of alluring treats like this one, the curiously-named skolebrød (Norwegian for "school bread"). Pillow-soft, with a shower of sweet coconut and a velvety vanilla custard center, it is, dare I say, even better than a doughnut. And true to its name, it's also the perfect pastry to ring in September, a month I'll always associate with the buzz of going back to school. 

I'll take another, please.

Top two photos by Hiroko Masuike for The New York Times.