Much like the rest of the world, I was so excited to see Kate Middleton finally reveal her baby bump this week at her first public appearance since her vacation last week with William. How stylish is her Max Mara wrap dress? This kicks off a few weeks of public appearances for the princess, and I, for one, can’t wait to follow her every step. Perhaps this is because I have babies on the brain: Both my best friend and my cousin gave birth to their almost-born-during-Nemo babies in the last 7 days, and I am over the moon!

Are you keeping up with Princess Kate’s royal appearances…or am I the only one? 🙂

(Image 1, Image 2) 

What if New York were a blank slate, and you could map it out the way you imagined it to be? That’s what author Becky Cooper attempts to do with her new book Mapping Manhattan: A Love (and Sometimes Hate) Story in Maps by 75 New Yorkers. I first heard about the book when I saw postcards for it in Ted and Honey—my new, go-to neighborhood spot, and where Becky apparently works.

The book is an inspired idea. In 2009, Becky passed out hundreds of hand-drawn maps of NYC and asked the strangers she gave them to for one thing: To fill out the map with whatever best captures your experience in New York. A month later—and flooded with mail—Becky got exactly what she wanted: Beautiful self-portraits of New Yorkers providing their own artful definitions of the city they call home.

This past weekend, the New York Times’ Sunday Magazine wrote about the book and reprinted a few of the maps featured in the book. I love this one, called “Met My Wife”, and this one, which captures the geography of significant moments in one man’s life.

Have you ever thought about how you would define the place you live? How would you do it?

(Images via The New York Times) 

Are you following the Instagram feed of this little boy—named Tasuku—and his dog, Muu? The adventures this duo share together, dutifully chronicled by Tasuku’s mom Aya over in Japan, are too cute for words. It makes me want a puppy, like whoa.

Have you ever been this close with a pet?

Meet my family’s dog here and here.

(Images via Yahoo)

It’s Friday, already?! And a long weekend, too. What do you have planned for the next few days off? I’m having a re-do on last weekend since Nemo got in the way of the majority of my plans (although I did have fun!). This means, at long last: a haircut! I’m so overdue. I’m trying a new place downtown, and making it a special splurge. I’ll try to share pics next week. In the meantime, wishing you a wonderful and relaxing weekend ahead. Here, to get it started right, a few happy posts from around the web:

How to walk. (And eat.)

Feeling inspired by molasses cookies and a novel idea.

A foodie decorator‘s daydream.

Bride+Groom+Dog.

Dessert for breakfast.

Because everyone should play the piano like this.

Pretty shoes.

Bright blues and yellows.

Because you‘re a genius.

An ode to rom coms.

From the point of view of a six-year-old.

(Image via Pinterest)