This week things got a little CrAzY at work (womp womp boooring), and in life (exciting and scary and awesome -- I hate keeping secrets but I will for now and I promise details to come…#YearToBeBrave). So deal with all the madness, I put out the call (via my gchat status) for my friends to send me calming music suggestions. I got: Pat Metheny, The Hackensaw Boys, this station, and David Benoit. Enjoy!
Though this week was not the best, it is Friday, so we still have Best of the Week links.
My most popular post this week was IT Band Knee Pain (Foam Rolling, Stretching, and Strengthening), which means it must be spring marathon season. Foam rollers FTW!!!
Yummmm. “Make a Wish! 39 Amazing Birthday Cake Recipes” Jess’s comment: “Omg these all look so good…why am I trying to turn this cake slideshow into a bracket??” GENIUS! That’s it guys. Next year I’m doing cake March Madness and anyone who lives nearby is eating/voting on winners. GET PSYCHED.
And similar: “42 Fantastic Cupcake Recipes: Chocolate, Red Velvet, Peanut Butter!”
Infographic: “The World as 100 People” The continent, literacy, and water/nutrition breakdowns are particularly interesting.
- A London hotel has undergone a complete renovation to become a mostly edible ‘cake hotel.’ This extreme undertaking, headed up by Tate & Lyle Sugars, took 14 bakers and more than 900 hours to complete. What kind of stuff did they concoct? Edible books, rugs made from meringues, marshmallow garlands, bathtubs filled with caramel popcorn, a giant sea turtle cake and more more than you can sink your cavity-stricken teeth into.
Ok teachable moment!
- Central African Republic is a country.
- They just had a coup, which at least in my very insular professional world, is kind of a big deal
- This is an interesting map: "Central African Republic: Map of Rebel Advance to Capital."
This has been all over the interwebs, and as a Boston University alum, I kind of love it: “What It's Like To Go To School In Boston.”
- TRUTH: And if you're looking for cultural diversity, you're in luck! There are kids from all over New Jersey, Long Island, and California. They'll make it quite clear that they're respectively disappointed in Boston's bagels, pizza, and Mexican food.
- AWWWW! The esplanade is your "campus."
- Work in social genomics reveals that our personal histories of social connection or loneliness, for instance, alter how our genes are expressed within the cells of our immune system. When you share a smile or laugh with someone face to face, a discernible synchrony emerges between you, as your gestures and biochemistries, even your respective neural firings, come to mirror each other. It’s micro-moments like these, in which a wave of good feeling rolls through two brains and bodies at once, that build your capacity to empathize as well as to improve your health. If you don’t regularly exercise this capacity, it withers. In short, the more attuned to others you become, the healthier you become, and vice versa. This mutual influence also explains how a lack of positive social contact diminishes people. Your heart’s capacity for friendship also obeys the biological law of “use it or lose it.” If you don’t regularly exercise your ability to connect face to face, you’ll eventually find yourself lacking some of the basic biological capacity to do so. [link]
- Worst piece of advice: write what you know. Please don’t. You don’t know a lot of stuff. And what you do know isn’t enough. The fun of writing lies in finding out about all the things you don’t have a clue about or discovering new things you want to know. At this point, I’d like to be very clear: I have never ever had a tiger hide inside my bedroom. [link]
A cool slideshow: “In Moscow, Little Girl Soldiers.”
- The young students attend the Moscow Female Cadet Boarding School No. 9 — which Mr. Kozmin calls “one of the elite military academies in Russia.” It is a state school, free to all who attend, though the competition to be admitted is intense.
- They are “the Little Spies of Putin” — or at least that’s what a French publication called them in a piece that inspired the photographer Sergey Kozmin to document them for his series “Girl Soldiers.”
And more because they’re awesome:
Who doesn't need a little extra money on the side? "Five Steps To Finding Your Side Hustle."
- I much prefer they make more money than spend less. So in those cases, I recommend a side hustle.
- A “side hustle” is my term for earning money doing something other than your primary job. For self employed people, a side hustle can be the way to make rent while you’re building the business. Regardless of the reason, a side hustle provides peace of mind and additional income to help pay off debt, build reserves and fund your goals when your regular employment cash flow seems too tight to make it all work.
And finally, watch this guy dancing. Horrifying and yet hilarious. I challenge you not to smile.
Have a great weekend!
