What are you doing this weekend?

You guys, I am not going to lie: I have been a ball of stress this week, and I am exceptionally glad it's Friday. That week before the week before Christmas is always hard, isn't it? I mean, next week I'll have met my deadlines, I'll have a couple of holiday parties to look forward to, and on Friday night I'll be heading home to see my parents and brother for the long weekend (especially delightful now because the Great Christmas Travel Nightmare of 2012 is over—don't ask). But for now, I'm just really glad it's the weekend.

Speaking of, what are you guys up to for the next few days? I'm heading north to spend some time with ACS in his natural habitat, so that will be fun, and I'm making a pit stop at my parents', too.

And if you're in the mood for some reading this weekend, here are three fun links:

36 hours in Sarasota. Decent picks (C'est La Vie: yes! Some others: so-so); reminds me, too, that one day I need to publish my little city guide for this blog... (The New York Times)

Anne Hathaway's Excited Red Carpet Face: Pretty amusing. (Vulture)

I love Louis C.K., and I thought his Proust questionnaire was funny. ("You hips need to get it together.") (Vanity Fair)

Hope you guys have a wonderful weekend. See you Monday. xoxo

Update: I wrote this post last night, before I heard the terrible news about what happened in Connecticut this morning. I feel like a jerk for complaining about being stressed out when it could be so, so, so much worse. Hug your loved ones a little tighter this weekend. I know I will. 

Photo: Oscar and me. Did you know that petting cats relieves stress? That's a fun fact I learned this week thanks to this gal.

2012 Favorites: Music.

As this month winds down, I'd like to share some of my favorite things from 2012—things that range from music to books to tastes to those little moments that have stuck with me.

First up: music. I wrote about The Lumineers in June after hearing their song "Ho Hey" in a Bing commercial, of all things. As I recall, I Shazam-ed the song on my phone, hunted down the album on iTunes, listened to the whole thing one night while driving to my parents' house in Orlando and immediately declared it the soundtrack of my summer. Turns out it's the soundtrack of my year, because I haven't been able to stop listening to it (and this is saying something, since John Mayer also released a new album this year and we all know how I feel about him). The band is getting more and more popular these days, too, which is great because they deserve all their success—"Ho Hey" is on the radio, and I heard the opening track, "Flowers in Your Hair," on Parenthood the other night.

Anyway, The Lumineers' self-titled album is definitely one of my 2012 favorites, and if you're thinking of downloading it, I can't recommend it highly enough. My top three favorite songs from the album are "Ho Hey," "Flowers in Your Hair" and "The Candidate" (lots of hand clapping, which is awesome), but really, it's all so good.

What's your favorite album of the year?

Sweetness and light.

For the past six months or so, I've been doing a lot of wedding coverage for work, which means I've been looking at a lot of wedding photos, and I have to say: Binary Flips takes some of the most beautiful pictures I have ever seen. There's just something about the way the photos are composed...and then there's the light. Stunning.

See more here.

P.S. How to plan a Sarasota beach wedding.

Salted caramel sauce.

I don't know about you, but salted caramel and I have a very intense relationship. As in, I make it, I use it for baking (salted caramel brownies, for example, or a doomed salted caramel banana cream pie), and then I slowly, over the course of several days, eat the rest of it by sneaking into the fridge, spoon in hand, and dipping into the jar. I'm planning on making an apple pie with salted caramel for Christmas dinner this year (my first apple pie ever; I'm a little scared!), and I already can't wait to make the caramel sauce.

If you're looking for a great recipe, I use Deb's, and it is perfect. Melt sugar until it's copper-colored, add good-quality salted butter (Kerrygold works well, I find), whisk in cream and stir until smooth. Oh, man. Yum. 

P.S. Salted caramel—poured into a Ball jar and packaged with pretty gift tag tied with baker's twine, maybe?—would make a great gift, too, for the holidays or for anytime. Also, for the next week or two, I'll tag posts like these—that would double as fun gifts—as "gift guide 2012," in case you're looking for ideas.

P.P.S. This post was totally an excuse to talk about salted caramel sauce.

Photo credit 

Hair apparent.

I am really bad when it comes to my hair. I can do a pretty decent blowout, and I'm OK with a flatiron, but other than that, nope. I picked up a curling iron for the first time this year—seriously—and I've only recently figured out what products actually work for my long, wavy, fine locks.

Also, my hair is pretty much always in a ponytail, but I've realized that if I wash it and blow it dry at night, then sleep on it, I get a pretty nice wave, even if I'm just wearing it up. But the other night we had our office holiday party and I figured I should try and do something with it, so I came home from work, changed into a sparkly sweater, and then—using this Everygirl hair tutorial as inspiration—pulled some front pieces back, bobby-pinned it all (admittedly kind of randomly) and then hairsprayed the you-know-what out of it. And I thought it came out pretty well, so I'm doing it again for a dinner I'm going to this week. (Here's a photo of how it turned out the first time, if you'd like to see.)

Do you have a go-to hairstyle?

Photo via The Everygirl