A few good gems

Merry weekend to you! It's a rainy early fall day here in Canberra; these are the weeks when I feel like our weather here overlaps with the early spring weather my family is experiencing in the  northern hemisphere. It's like we meet and high-five each other as we pass toward opposite seasons.  Wherever you are reading this, I hope it's a lovely, refilling weekend for you!

painting by Erin Fitzhugh Gregory

First a few good gems to take you into the weekend:

I was blown away by this article about the amazing Thread volunteer mentor program--unconditional, round-the-clock community support for TEN YEARS to struggling students identified in 9th grade. Fascinating!

Speaking of mentors, I learned from and enjoyed Courtney Martin's essay on the art of being mentored. 

On dealing with imposter syndrome. So good. (I'm oddly relieved to learn that nearly everyone suffers from this now and then. The Imposter Society.)

This Mexican Tortilla Casserole (via Cup of Jo)  is so good and super easy--I've taken it to potluck dinners and served it to guests here with either this vegetarian version or adapting it to include shredded chicken. 

Don't you love these fabulous, space-saving bunk nooks via Style Me Pretty? Sign me up!

photo by Jana Carson

Fun, simple birthday traditions for tweens and teens. 

To file under the category of it's never too late to do what you want to do, this week 90-year-old Colette Bourlier got her PhD in geography after 30 years. She wrote all 400 pages by hand!  Go Colette! ("I am old. Now I just want to relax" she said.)

Lastly, I found this a really interesting podcast interview (on Design Matters) with Humans of New York founder Brandon Stanton:

Debbie talks to photographer Brandon Stanton about his ongoing project "Humans of New York" and why total strangers open up to him.

Happy weekending!