Weekend List!

Sarah's List:

Guess what! Good news! Reproducing might not destroy the planet. (As long as you raise your kids right.)

And let your kids play. They probably won't kill nature either.

Photo credit: Jill Humphrey

This. This is exactly what I needed to read at this precise moment in my life. This is the last week of the only life we've known for quite some time.  And it's the pits. Can it just be the future already? Or I'll settle for a week from now when I twist off the cap on a mini bottle of Air France wine.

Speaking of airplane perks, The Ultimate List of Airlines That Serve Free Alcohol.

  by  Î£Ï„αύρος 

Ever been on the beach and wondered what's across the way?

Adam and I were Stayers (expats left behind) for a long time. I agree with this article, that sometimes it's harder than leaving. Take away: It hurts because it is good.

We're doing lots of packing, ditching and giving away. The only consolation is it feels so, so good to fit our lives in 8 suitcases. But check out these minimalists.

Using Parentology to raise your kids. This guy's got all the answers.

And the strangest thing happened this week. Mama Youyou came to work wearing this shirt, which I swear is an old shirt of mine from high school. I remember buying it because I thought it looked so cool and "African." I guess Mama Youyou thought the same when she found it at the marche. It's completely possible this is my actual shirt.

 

P.S. These dogs after a bath.


Jill's List:

Always researching ways to feel beautiful on an airplane. (Insert laughter.)

Sapeurs.  The endlessly fascinating dandies of Central Africa. Thanks, Alice!

These people will put together your Ikea furniture for you.  Interesting.

I've been attempting a hipster top knot again recently and it freaking hurts my hair.  Sarah and Johan are really sick of my detailed descriptions of scalp pain.  This is an interesting explanation, but really, I do wash my hair!

Wish I had her hair.  Like everyone else.  At least we can now copy her beauty routine.

Speaking of hipsters.  This article is blistering:

Gentrifiers focus on aesthetics, not people. Because people, to them, are aesthetics

For all of you expats who aren't packing up.  Moving's hard, but so is staying behind.

Once again, the Onion cuts to the chase.

At press time, residents of the only economically advanced nation in the world where roughly two mass shootings have occurred every month for the past five years were referring to themselves and their situation as “helpless.”

When Sandy Hook happened, Elias was also in 1st grade, the same age as the children who were shot and killed. I was so thankful my family was "safe in Africa".  I am actually more anxious thinking about my kids' safety in the U.S. than in the Congo.  My fear is insane, yet legitimate, thanks to this idea that unless everyone has a right to an automatic weapon, our freedom is threatened.  Like the father of Christopher Michael Martinez said, "What about [my kid's] right to live?"  Not one more. 

Image from Moms Demand Action.  Let's get to work.

And.  Kids and their guns.