Happy Friday! What are you up to this weekend? We are heading to James’s family’s ranch in Cross Plains, and, as always, I’m excited for fresh air, home cooking, and lots of relaxation. Also, word on the street is that the local rodeo will be in town…

Enjoy your days off as well as some fun links from around the world wide web!

I can’t wait for Wit & Delight’s party collection to debut at Target on Sunday! I am so excited to see what fun, decorative, and creative pieces that Kate Arends came up with for her personalized collection, Craft Social. I am not-so-secretly jealous of everyone who got to attend the Wit & Delight for Target launch party this week – it looked amazing (especially that pie bar, reminiscent of our wedding desserts!).

I finally took the plunge and purchased this lamp (in white/gold) from One Forty Three for my home office. I had seen it on my friend Natalie’s blog nearly a year ago and had been waiting for just the right time to purchase it. I sold my previous office desk lamp at last week’s garage sale (where we raised $5,238 to benefit Touch A Life’s Fence Fundraiser campaign, exceeding our goal of $5,000 – so exciting!!), partially because I wanted to accumulate as many items as possible for the sale and also, subliminally, because I wanted an excuse to buy the One Forty Three lamp (if I don’t have a desk lamp anymore then I have to buy a new one, right?). I also snagged two of these Ikea lamps (in white as well), after having observed them all over the blogosphere and admiring the minimalist style and cheap price tag. I got one to top the dresser in our master bedroom and one for my office at work. Let there be light!

So many good movies are coming out soon! After reading This Is Where I Leave You, I am stoked to see the movie, and I also am looking forward to seeing The Skeleton Twins. Kyla and I have plans to check it out the latter film on Monday – we’ll let you know what we think! P.S. If you haven’t seen Chef yet, you absolutely must – it may very well be my favorite movie of the year!

This really well-written article about the Ebola virus a bit of a somber link but it’s a really important one. Reporting on the epidemic in West Africa has really lessened over the past few weeks, and in some ways, that’s a good thing. But we can’t lose sight of the fact that this is the worst Ebola outbreak in the history of the world (according to the article, “there has been more human-to-human transmission in the past four months than most likely occurred in the last 500 to 1,000 years”) and we need to start being proactive instead of reactive. Some good food for thought.

Let’s end on a positive note! Las week on A Cup of Jo, Joanna Goddard shared this post about the most brilliant Friday night tradition. I immediately e-mailed it to James with the subject “LIFE GOAL.” I so want to replicate this at our house someday!