How to choose a vintage engagement ring

Jared from Erstwhile Jewelry is a fifth generation jeweler. His family opened their first jewelry shop in Russia in the 1800s, so "I've been surrounded by the business since I was little," he says. Here, he reveals seven tips for choosing an antique engagement ring...Read More >

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Girls Season 2: Trailer

Yes! Can't wait until January 13th. (Also, I have the biggest girl crush on Marnie.)

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Homeland

Have you guys been watching Homeland? Alex and I are obsessed. The show follows a bipolar CIA agent (Claire Danes), who suspects that a rescued prisoner of war (Damian Lewis), who has just returned to the United States, has actually become a terrorist. It is SO TENSE. You're on the edge of your seat for the whole show.

We got the first season on DVD and have been glued to it every night for the past week. It’s funny when you have the dvds and can watch all the shows in a row, because it gets in your head. Usually when we go to bed, we talk about Toby or life or whatever, but now we get in bed and we’re like, "Oh my gosh! What do you think her deal is?!!! Who do you think was on the call?!!"

P.S. Claire Dane's cryface.

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Paris elopement

Karl and Leslie eloped to Paris, and their friend Duncan Wolfe captured it on film. Love the groom's flirty dancing at the end.

P.S. Three elopements, and a Swedish wedding dress.

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Have you ever fallen for someone's...bookcase?

Years ago, my sister invited her friend Paul over to her apartment. While she was in the kitchen making some snacks, he took a look at her bookcase. At that moment, he says, he knew he would fall in love with her. Her bookcase revealed all her passions—from Roald Dahl short stories and funny plays to mountain biking guides and How We Die. She had even tucked The Baby-Sitters Club next to a book on Linear Algebra.

Three years later, they were married.

It's funny how much your bookshelf can reveal about you. So I was PSYCHED to hear about the new book My Ideal Bookshelf, in which one hundred creative thinkers share their absolute favorite books. The book interviews writers (Michael Chabon, Mary Karr, Jonathan Lethem) and chefs (Alice Waters, David Chang) and Hollywood personalities (Judd Apatow, James Franco) and big thinkers (Malcolm Gladwell, Atul Gawande) and musicians (Patti Smith, Thurston Moore) about the particular books that made them who they are. My only small quibble is that I wish the people explained why they chose each book, but overall the collection is fantastic and makes you want to curl up under a blanket and read all day.
So now, of course, the big question is: What's on YOUR ideal bookshelf? Mine would include: The History of Love, Epilogue, Ghost World, Peter Pan, Private Lives, Operating Instructions, Sense and Sensibility, The BFG, Middlesex, the list goes on...

(Top photo of my sister and her husband by Max Wanger)

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Mindy Kaling on friendship

Did you guys watch The Mindy Project this week? I was laughing out loud through the entire episode. If you haven't yet seen it, sneak away from your desk and watch it right now.

New York Magazine wrote a profile on Mindy a while back, and this paragraph has stuck with me: "My relationship with my mom is really the single most profound relationship that I’ve ever had in my life," Mindy tells me...But her voice breaks when she starts talking about how she sat down with a pen and paper and asked her mother to give her all the advice she could possibly give her before she died, and Kaling realized she’d never be able to ask her mother for advice again. “I said to her, ‘Mom, I’m going to be so lonely without you.’” She’s crying now but keeps going. “And she just said, ‘You have to be your own best friend. If you always remember that, you will always have someone there with you.’”

P.S. Did you know that Mindy Kaling's real name is Vera Chokalingam?
P.P.S. Who's secretly in love with Danny Castellano?

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NYC Date Idea: Magic show

So. Alex and I are usually pretty skeptical, but last weekend our minds were blown...
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Bake sale photos

Thank you so much to everyone who helped support our Hurricane Sandy bake sale. Here are a few photos...
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Friendship

Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another, "What! You too? I thought I was the only one." —C.S. Lewis

P.S. Making friends as an adult.

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Do you have a vibrator? Truly, get a vibrator.

It's a rainy Thursday, so let's have some real girl talk...Read More >

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YES WE CAN.

Yes, Obama. What a thrill.

What was your voting experience like? Oh my goodness, I voted under the wire. Toby went to bed, Alex got home, and I literally ran to our polling site at 8:55pm. People on the streets were yelling, "You can make it!!!" Later, as we were following the election results on TV, we could see the Empire State Building from our window and watched as the blue line rose higher and higher.

Obama's speech was fantastic. More great photos here. And remember this shot?

How do you feel about his win?

(Top photo by Doug Mills for the New York Times)

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Do or Don't: Cardigan over a wedding dress

Wouldn't you love to have a fall or winter wedding? (Did any of you?) The crisp air would make your cheeks rosy, and you could wrap a cardigan over your dress. Here are seven gorgeous brides who did just that...
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Fall Challenge #3

The third weekly fall challenge is to eat something you've never tried before. For example...
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Fall Challenge #2: Memorize a poem (how'd you do?)

Last week, I suggested memorizing a poem, and you guys were so into it! I was thrilled. How did you do? Here's my recap....
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The Loneliest Planet

The Loneliest Planet is a new movie featuring an engaged couple—played by Gael Garcia Bernal and Hani Furstenberg—backpacking through Georgia's Caucasus Mountains. The synopsis: "The couple hires a local guide...Walking for hours, they trade anecdotes, play games to pass the time of moving through space. And then, a momentary misstep, a gesture that takes only two or three seconds, a gesture that’s over almost as soon as it begins...Once it is done, it threatens to undo everything the couple believed about each other and about themselves."

Fascinating, right? Will you see it? It's the first movie I've been really excited about for ages; it opens tomorrow and will be on demand on October 30th.

(Via MUG)

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A dating tip from Joan Rivers

Picture this: You're on a date with someone you really like, but...
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Fall Challenge #2

Our family used to drive six hours to visit our cousins for the holidays, and to help pass the time, my mom and I would nerd out and memorize poems. The first one we chose was this picker-upper from Emily Dickinson. I still remember every word.

So, for the second fall challenge, let's each memorize a favorite poem by next Thursday. How amazing to have beautiful words bouncing around your head. What do you think? Are you in?

P.S. Rudyard Kipling's If and Mary Oliver's Wild Geese are both beautiful...

(Photo by the wonderful Kari Herer; graphic design by Rachel for Cup of Jo)

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Fall Challenge #1: No TV for a week (how'd you do?)

Last Thursday, I wrote about doing weekly fall challenges (think: write a handwritten letter, go see a movie alone) and was psyched that you guys were up for it. So, the first challenge was to NOT watch TV for one week. How did you do? Here's our recap...
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Who's game?

After watching the Happy documentary, I've been mulling over the idea of happiness. One evening, I was reading a magazine, and a single quote gave me a lightbulb moment...

"Happiness isn't being cheerful all the time," says John Sharp, a psychiatrist and Harvard Medical School. "It's being interested in things—finding out more about something, learning how to appreciate something better, incorporating something new that fits with what you already have."

So! Inspired, I decided to have more everyday adventures this fall. Then I wondered if I should make it a new series on the blog, since it's more fun to do things as a group. Would you want to join me?

How it would work: Each week, I'll issue a single challenge. (Think: learn to tell a great joke, write a handwritten letter, go see a movie by yourself.) The following week, we'll regroup and share our experiences! What do you think?!

The challenge for this week, should you choose to accept it, could be to not watch TV for a week. (Or, at least, cut way back.) And see what surprising things unfold in your life...

Thoughts? Are you in? Does this sound fun to you? Fingers crossed, I really hope so!!!

P.S. The no-complaining challenge...

(Photo by Christine Carreira. Graphic design by Rachel for Cup of Jo)

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Canoe elopement

If you love heartfelt weddings, you have to see this...
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