Worry Not.

I found a box of these tiny fabric dolls while helping pack up my parents’ garage in LA this past weekend, and couldn’t remember what they were. Turns out, they’re Guatemalan worry dolls - share your anxieties with them, place them under your pillow, and let them whisk away your worries. (I could have used a set this winter.)

Read more, here, and purchase the dolls in the picture (profits go toward a good cause), here.

Cups With Character.

I've always been drawn to things that are slightly askew, so of course I love these wheel-thrown clay mugs, made by a craft-loving pharmacist in Barcelona named Neus Batllori Bas. Glazed in blues and greens and pinks and yellows, each cup is one-of-a-kind and pleasantly, prettily imperfect. One design comes with a crooked handle, another comes with an uneven saucer that resembles paper with its edges curled. 

See more on Etsy, here. Happy Tuesday.

Measuring the Universe.

I hadn't heard of artist Roman Ondák's 2007 installation Measuring the Universe until last month, but I wish I'd been in New York at the time to see it. In it, a thick streak of black forms a ring around a white room - a closer look reveals that the mass is made up of thousands of markings indicating the names and heights of museum goers. (The date of the visit is recorded, too.) What a beautiful idea.

Read more about Roman Ondák, here. Top image via MoMA. Bottom images via Designboom. (To the reader who introduced me to this project, thank you so much. I can't seem to find your comment directing me to the link, but whoever you are, I appreciate it!)

Lastly, links for Monday, just because:

-"Sorry I'm late, but I didn't want to come."

-I'll eat anything covered in flowers. (Related: mango with wild roses, acacia fritters.)

-Sun tonic/moon tonic.

-I conducted an interview last week with Noah Bernamoff, the New York restauranteur behind the wonderful deli Mile End, and the newly-opened Black Seed Bagels. You can read it on Conde Nast Traveler, here. Have a wonderful start to the week!

POV: Small Worlds.

POV ("point of view") is a series that addresses many of the same themes covered in my Equals Record column: growing up, saying yes to adventure, learning to embrace a quarter-life crisis. Each POV entry will include a photograph and a short reflection based on what’s pictured. While my previous column focused largely on ideas, POV focuses on moments - glimpses, glances, tiny stories. 

When I was growing up, there was a tree in my front yard that I loved to climb. It had sprawling branches, bark mottled with mold and moss, and leaves so green and alive they glowed. On one end of the tree, three separate limbs converged to form a seat, and I would sit there after school, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone with a book.

In third grade, I hung a plastic globe from a branch on the opposite side, and from my “seat,” I'd pretend I was in lost in space, drifting in a sea of stars. If I tried hard enough, I could convince myself I was airborne and on a mission, that I was far, far away from the world I knew.

Marvelous Murals.

My roommates and I have a large, bare wall in our living room, and with the one-year anniversary of our move-in approaching, we still haven't been able to figure out what to do with it. These self-adhesive wallpaper murals by Anewall may just have solved our conundrum. (Thanks, Pinterest.)

Shop more at Anewall, here. Have a wonderful Thursday!

Photographs by The Nickersons.