Lifestyle Category

Post-friendsgiving and pre-ginger-ale ordering at a bar because the fear of vomiting after the many mixes and matches of food and drinks was real, a friend inquired about my plans to go home for both holidays. “You’re going home for Thanksgiving and Christmas?” He asked, surprised at the repeated venture, requiring an airline flight or ten hour car ride a matter of weeks away from one another. I gushed to him about how significant the holidays were to me, my brother was extremely sick a couple years ago and the morbid fearRead More

Every weekday morning, I turn on the news to hear voices.  It is unlikely that I will engage in active listening before I’ve had my first cup of coffee. However, hearing the weatherman’s warm voice and seeing the traffic reporter in full hair and makeup reminds me that there are other souls awake.  As a non-morning person, this daily routine inspires me to get up and stay up.  Sometimes I’ll drink my coffee and pause for a second to hear what my news anchor friends are blabbing about.  Last Monday, before 7am, they toldRead More

The age old profession of bartender, like the hairdresser, barber, or manicurist, also doubles as a cheap therapist. Something about the job just makes people want to tell you things, oftentimes also looking for advice. Having been working in a bar for two months now, I’ve already heard some of the most intense stories I could have imagined. I’ve heard from two men whose wives left them in their sleep after ten plus years of marriage, and conversely happy oops babies after years of thinking that was long over with.Read More

I find myself glumly returning to the pool of unemployed college graduates JUST in time for holiday parties.  How convenient.  I broke up with my job on Friday and I have to admit, it felt good!  I’ve never broken up with a person and felt this positive afterwards.  But, like any split, we have to deal with the allocation of snacks, random gifts, and office supplies (that turned out to be more happenstance than intentional because I left in a hurry).  Here’s the way the cookie crumbled:   What TheyRead More

I may not have you yet, and am not in a position to have you this year or even the next. But I do know that I will love you when I do.  I envision us during the holiday season, my son playing with action figures by the fireplace, my daughter playing with a new doll. And if it is my daughter playing with action figures, and my son cradling a new doll, I know I will be just as happy.  Although I can’t guarantee exactly how your lives willRead More

I’m the type of person that will avoid conflict, confrontation, and basically, any form of criticism at all costs. As a kid, I would write notes to my parents whenever I was asking for something. Not because they were mean people, but because they might say no and I would rather receive that information from a checked box than a verbal, “Not this time, sweetheart.” I quit a job via letter once. After my boss received it, she called me and left a voicemail. I was too nervous to listenRead More

We all have that one Aunt or Grandparent that asks too many questions about your life at Thanksgiving dinner, and frankly, you don’t have the energy or care to answer them. It is annoying; it is a waste of breath; and you are most likely just going to be yelled at for whatever answer you give them, even if you’re telling them something good. You’re never right and they’re never wrong. Here are the generic, irritating and useless questions I’m sure we all have received at least once:   1.Read More

As a young female professional who’s had a full time job for about four months now, I think I’m mostly qualified to write this article. Which, judging by the way the business world works, should mean I can probably manage to pull it off. There are a few basic struggles I think pretty much all of my 20-to-30-something female peers working in an office environment can relate to. Correct me if I’m wrong.     1. Older professionals thinking you’re clueless Nothing is more annoying than having a more ‘experienced’Read More

To be considered beautiful in our society is to be skinny, slim, have that endearing little thigh gap. Plus Model Magazine claims, “Twenty years ago the average fashion model weighed 8% less than the average woman. Today, she weighs 23% less.” How far is pushing the scale to be “pretty” in our society? We are made more aware of the immense prevalence of body image and how they affect females of all age and races in Western societies. The weight loss industry is so successful because it preys on peoples’Read More

I’ve heard many personal accounts from friends who suffer from the frequently talked-about, “Resting Bitch Face.” These friends are sick and tired of people asking them, “What’s wrong?” and telling them they need to smile more. They can’t help that their face invokes fear into every fiber of random onlookers’ being – they were just made that way. And while I can try to sympathize, I can’t say that I really understand what that’s like. Because while they’re trying to stop people from assuming they are habitually pissed off, I’mRead More

If someone asks me what my father does for a living, I tell them he makes cake. Not intending to sound like a brat, but my father really does make dough. He’s a baker. Being the daughter of a baker, you can imagine the delicacies and delicious treats that are always within my hand’s reach. But eating my fill of chocolate goodies is not the only benefit I have. Watching my father run his establishment has provided first-hand knowledge and insight into what it takes to run a small business.Read More

Wearing a bra is more exhausting than wearing pants. Yes, they are necessary and eventually become a regular way of life, but you have to realize we go through training for that shit.  And it is both exciting and horribly embarrassing at the same time.  The extreme blush of buying your first bra with your mother, the shy confidence that comes from having your bra strap snapped by the boys at recess–bra training really drains your emotions!  Now I wonder why I was ever excited about training for this perma-seatbeltRead More

I have a little secret trick that works as an excellent detox from the harmful things we fill our minds and bodies with on a daily basis. It works in just one day and instantly makes me feel much better. I feel refreshed, I feel happier and I feel way less stressed and anxious. So what’s my one day detox? I stop using social media. We are all so helplessly and pathetically addicted to social media. I’m not shunning any of you or pointing the finger, I’m standing right there withRead More

She grabs your shoulders from behind, in a back-hug and shakes you around like a my-sized, standing shake and bake…also how you’re not supposed to shake a newborn baby. “Look at you! You’re amazing!” She says to your reflection that stares from an abandoned and mirrored headboard on the sidewalk that you’re sure has witnessed a night or eighty of raunchy sex. You tell her you may cry because you’re hungry and tears are your undue reaction to low blood sugar. You try not to for the sake of theRead More

1. Your weekend plans in the kitchen with your co-worker whose name you forget, but whose mustache crumbs you always remember. The necessity to construe a wholesome response before 8am because having morning sex and eating ramen twice in bed isn’t an acceptable answer to a person who is supposed to regard you professionally is irritating. And if you decided to make toast instead of cereal on that Friday you must engage further while he makes poor over-coffee talk about how fast weekends go by. And how it’s supposed toRead More