True confession?  I didn’t know the Super Bowl was happening here in the Bay Area until last Saturday when my gay Mormon activist friend Mitch mentioned how early festivities had impacted the traffic coming from the city to a conference in Berkeley that we were both attending.  Now how in the world did I miss that?  I’m not that sporty but I do tend to tune in for big sporting events like the World Series or the Olympics.  And this year the Super Bowl is here in my back yard! I don’t have any loyalties to either team in the game but I’ll be watching for the commercials and the Coldplay concert. I’ll also be cooking up some Big Game food from this month’s featured cookbook “The Gourmet Today Cookbook”. Last month I had fun working through some recipes from David Leibovitz’s “My Paris Kitchen”–more about that later–but Sunday I’m planning to make some citrus-sauced ribs and an old family Super Bowl favorite—Whoopee Pies.  Score!

Here are a few other things that touched down with me this week.

Super Bowl “Ad-mojis.”

Some tips for buying Valentine flowers.

Trying to separate Bill Cosby from Cliff Huxtable.

Swimming as an adult. 

Bay Area artist Lisa Congdon’s coloring books!

James Cordon and Rosie O’Donnell rapping Hamilton lyrics.

My friend Dana’s son making the Top 24 on American Idol.  Go James VIII!

Happy Super Bowl Weekend All!

Feeling redundant this week after being told that the Home & Garden section for the Bay Area News Group is going away.  I suppose it was inevitable. Anyone reading (or writing for) newspapers has seen design coverage diminish drastically over the years so I won’t bore you with sad talk about How it Used to Be.  But I couldn’t let this Friday Things post pass without saying that I will miss writing (and reading!) longer features about Bay Area design professionals, projects and events for a newspaper group that has been my home for twenty some years.

Here’s to figuring out new ways to share the stories that I’m pretty sure people still want to read.  In the meantime, I’m here.  Saying hi.  Talking about design at home, in the garden and out and about.  Thanks for sticking with me.

In happier news, here are some things that caught my attention this week:

Design knows no age limit.

Life hacks for people over 50.

Joan Didion and Celine.

Ideal body types through the ages.

How much do you resemble your ancestors?

Some thoughts on the Parenthood finale (major spoilers) here, here and here.

Dreamy or creepy? Jeff Bridges sleeping tapes.

Enjoy the game this weekend (or at least Katy Perry’s half-time show.)

Happy Weekend All!