Happy, happy Friday! I'm in Utah this weekend on an annual friends' trip with some lovely ladies I met long ago when our children were very small. I think this is our eighth year to meet up (maybe ninth?), and it's always a restorative (if not entirely restful) time to connect with great women and hear about their lives. We mostly talk and eat the entire time. It's heavenly.

But while I'm friending, I wanted you to have a few good gems for your weekend reading . . .

• I found this article on how to achieve more with less super interesting. Plus, the author is faculty at my new workplace. Perhaps I'll stalk him. (Note to human resources: just kidding!)
• My next Smitten Kitchen cooking adventure: Broken Pasta with Pork Ragu.

• And while I'm Smitten Kitchening, I made these Bake Sale Winning-est Gooey Oat Bars last weekend. They are fab. The recipe is actually in her new cookbook, but it's also at the end of this post (for your baking pleasure).
• I'm ready to buy a smart speaker. This article makes me think the Apple HomePod isn't the way to go. Any advice?
• I love pegboards. Once upon a time I tried to talk Sterling into a pegboard business. That was a no-go. But look what's on Etsy! 

• Judy Blume's advice for aspiring writers. I'll never get over Judy Blume. She wrote the backdrop of my childhood.
• NPR's Book Concierge. Because who doesn't need more books? Or to play with book lists? With book filters? 

Okay folks! Here's to stretching out the weekend and bulking up on carbs!! See you next week!