Web Time Wasters

How was your week, guys? I celebrated my birthday on Monday by doing all my favorite things – hash browns, pedicure, cocktails with friends, night out with my husband. Hilariously, I actually share a birthday with my 10-year-old stepson so this weekend we’re hosting a backyard birthday party for him complete with chocolate lava cake and cornhole.

Links for you!

Interesting! Interviews with 27 women in cross-cultural relationships.

I write a lot about friendship – how to make friends as an adult and how to show your friends you love them. But how do you revive dormant friendships?

JUST AS I SUSPECTED! I always feel so much more capable and competent when I’m, um, not wearing yoga pants. This is what scientists are calling ‘enclothed cognition.’

I’ve been discouraging over-planned travel for years (see?!) Now, science tells us that our vacations will seem longer if we don’t plan them to death.

A sweet essay about the songs that define different eras of our lives.
Tired of Being Alone by Al Green
Fast forward to freshman year of high school, when my crush from second-period biology class asked out my best friend. The afternoon I found out, I curled up on my bedroom windowsill and cued up Al Green’s buttery voice on my iPod. “I’m so tired of being alone, I’m so tired of on-my-own,” I sang. This was true heartache, I thought. I had lost my one shot at love. I would be alone forever.

Are we friends on Instagram? If we are, you probably know my photos aren’t particularly perfect … but I do spend 15 seconds staging them just like everyone else. I loved this post about bloggers revealing the ‘truth’ behind their IG photos.

Let’s talk about making good food with bad tomatoes.

YUM. Kimchi fries with avocado mayo!

In praise of dabbling.

A great essay about learning and using a second language:
I order my coffee (“Je voudrais un cafe, s’il vous plais”) and then I pick up the cookie and point to it, eyes wide. “Grande!” I say. This is literally the most complex joke I can create at my current level of French: pointing out that a big cookie is big. Is it even a joke? Maybe we’ll call it “observational humor.” Or prop comedy. If only I had an oversized hammer to smash my grande cookie.

I am OBSESSED with my pedometer, but I loved this take on why one woman won’t get a fitbit.

17 women of all ages, shapes, and sizes wearing swimsuits.

Interesting! What 100 days living on an oil tanker looks like in 1.50 minutes of video.

And a few Yes & Yes posts you might have missed: Let’s stop pretending it’s always easy, True Story: I’m chronically ill, and True Story: I’m a roadie.