What are you doing this weekend?

Happy Friday! What are your plans for the weekend? I'm going to a wine tasting tonight (not complaining!) and then tomorrow I'm heading out of town to meet ACS for a weekend of relaxation. We're staying in a hotel, which is one of my favorite things ever—something about the big beds and tiny shampoo bottles makes me really happy. How about you? What are your plans?

And if you need some weekend reading, here are three things I've read lately that I want to share (I'm going to try to do this every week—share three long-ish articles that I've read recently—and maybe you'll share some with me, too, in the comments?):

A great profile of the awesome Mindy Kaling. Are you watching The Mindy Project? (NY mag)

Online ethics. And this post, too. (Le Projet D'Amour)

What the wife of a Ponzi schemer knew—or didn't know. (Sarasota magazine)

Plus, a bonus: This one's making the rounds, but it's worth a read: Scientology, Tom Cruise...and Katie Holmes. I find Scientology fascinating. Kind of terrifying, but fascinating. (Vanity Fair)

P.S. If you're reading this post in Google reader or the like, pop on over to the blog itself—I gave it a little makeover and I'm pretty happy with the results. The pink, the polka dots...it just feels more like me, you know? (Plus I totally took inspiration from this fruit. No, seriously.)

Have a great weekend!

Photo of Mindy Kaling by Zachary Scott for New York magazine.

Feeling dotty.

This may be the most beautiful coat I've ever seen: Vintage, mohair, ivory with blue polka dots...and ringing in at a whopping $895. You know, pocket change. 

Things I realized while traveling last week.

Things I realized while traveling last week:

I could never live far from the ocean. (Nighttime walks on the beach reinforced that. Why don't I do that more here?)

That said, South Florida (i.e., Fort Lauderdale, Miami, etc.) is not for me. It's just...too much. Sarasota all the way.

Nothing beats wine on a patio overlooking the ocean. (Especially when it's complimentary wine.)

The Internet is truly The Great Connector. I've now been introduced to two real-life friends via Twitter (hi, Megan and Ashley!).

Staying in a hotel is so much fun, no matter how old you are. (Bonus points if your hotel room has a balcony overlooking the hotel pool and the Atlantic Ocean.)

I am perfectly capable of and happy to enjoy a meal alone. I still can't do it without having my phone/some reading material on me, but—like going to the movies by myself—I even kinda prefer it sometimes.

I absolutely, 100 percent chose the right career for me. This really hit home when I was listening to Pulitzer Prize-winning author/journalist Rick Bragg speak on Friday morning—I'm so glad I have a job that allows me to do that. (P.S., a tip for writers from Bragg himself, about writing with color: "The thing I've learned in my old age is that simple and powerful is probably better.")

Coming home from a few days of travel, especially when it's to your cozy apartment, soft bed and two happy, fluffy cats, may just be the best part of it all.

Photo: My own.

Your Sister's Sister.

I was sick for most of last week (nothing serious, just a weird cold that's—annoyingly—still lingering) and felt like doing little more than lying on my couch and watching movies almost every night after work. So one night, I made a big pot of soup and curled up with the cats and Your Sister's Sister, a sweet film starring Emily Blunt (my girl crush), Rosemarie Dewitt and Mark Duplass (my new boy crush; he's adorable). It's a love triangle of sorts, but something about the smart, character-driven plot feels very French, and the cinematography—filled with shots of the Pacific Northwest—is beautiful. I watched it more than once. Thumbs up, for sure.

Dress like your fruit.

Here's a sentence I never thought I'd type (also, we can officially file this post under "most random ever"): I would be totally happy dressing like the dragonfruit I discovered hanging out in the hotel breakfast buffet over the weekend. Hot pink and black-and-white dots? Yes, please.

Photo: My own.