Monday is too stressful. Wednesday is already hump day. But Tuesday is "you" day: a day when you have the energy to do—or plan—something fresh and unexpected that might just turn your whole week around.
Indulge in a sweet summer campfire classic. How to cook up a totally new kind of chocolate-marshamallow-graham-cracker sandwich tomorrow, National S'mores Day.
Get a little closer to a Great White than your TV screen. Shark Week is over; learn how to swim with sharks ...which, by the way, you don't want to do.
Impress babies, priests and bosses by curtailing your cursing. How to make a life-boosting change by cleaning up your language (except when you're hurt).
Get ready—mentally and logistically—to declutter your home and life this Saturday, Garage Sale Day. How to throw a fast, freeing yard sale with expert advice from Peter Walsh.
"Why people read what they read is a great unknown and personal thing," Sara Nelson once told The New York TImes. Today, O's celebrated book editor —and reader extraordinaire—tells us about her connection to the witty, wonderful jazz-era novel Rules of Civility, by Amor Towles.
"Rules of Civility is to books what the great classic movie, An Affair to Remember is to film. It's salty and funny and so wise about class, ambition and love in New York. Part of what makes the novel work, in my opinion, is that the city is, itself, a character in the book; the author has clearly done his research (but its seams don't show!) about the provenance of certain buildings and jazz clubs in the late 1930s. Most of all, however, I loved the book because I loved Katey Kontent, its protagonist—a tough-talking but tender dame."
| Photo: Gino Domenico |
"Rules of Civility is to books what the great classic movie, An Affair to Remember is to film. It's salty and funny and so wise about class, ambition and love in New York. Part of what makes the novel work, in my opinion, is that the city is, itself, a character in the book; the author has clearly done his research (but its seams don't show!) about the provenance of certain buildings and jazz clubs in the late 1930s. Most of all, however, I loved the book because I loved Katey Kontent, its protagonist—a tough-talking but tender dame."
Read More
| Photo:Thinkstock |
Mental lint. It drifts around in our brains—all those tiny bits of thought fluff that get in the way of our focusing on the stuff that really matters. How can we reduce these endless, minor to-dos and worries—or even, one day, get rid of them? We asked top productivity experts to give us their 9 most effective strategies.
When the hilarious, heart-warming book Unlikely Friendships came out this month—documenting a rhino and a goat that were best buddies, as well as an orangutan and a tiger cub—we were instantly reminded of very human "odd couples" we've observed at restaurants, befriended on vacation or even been in ourselves. For example, the Cheetah and the Anatolian Shepherd.
| Photo:Zoological Society of San Diego |
The Animal Version: "The dog—calm, loveable, adaptable—helps the cheetah relax and accept unfamiliar situations."
The Human Version:
She's the head of a massive real-estate company. He's a carpenter who dabbles in guitar. During dinner at a restaurant, she gets upset about their table and asks the hostess to move them. When it's time to order, she gets the tacos without tortillas and the salad with extra, extra, extra ripe avocado. Then she requests three lemon slices in her water. Meanwhile, he sits there, humming a random tune and playing with his fork.
When her water arrives with two lemon slices, she openly fumes. He smiles very politely at the waiter but asks for the third one, plus gives her his slice from his glass. By now, you might be thinking, "This guy spends his life running around after this woman, cleaning up after her demands. He's the nice one but...maybe kind of a wimp?" Then the tacos arrive with tortillas. A look of outrage and panic crosses the woman's face. She opens her mouth, just as he pats her hand—tenderly but firmly. She shuts her mouth and smiles at him, as if nobody else exists. There it is: the comfort of being reminded that somebody knows who you are...and who you want to be.
Monday is too stressful. Wednesday is already hump day. But Tuesday is "you" day: a day when you have the energy to do—or plan—something fresh and unexpected that might just turn your whole week around.
Treat your neighbors to a cool, sweet, liquid treat tomorrow, also known as Watermelon Day. Whip up some backyard watermelon margaritas with Sheryl Crow's secret recipe.
Amaze your kids in college by mentioning (casually) that you're going to start storing the family photos in the cloud. How to get a sneak peek at iCloud.
Play amateur paleontologist. How to see the fossilized skeleton of a thalattosaur, just found in Alaska.
Trick yourself—or somebody you love—into eating 2 of their 5 recommended servings of fruits and veggies. Indulge in a bowl of sweet corn and black raspberry ice cream.
Celebrate your friends and Friendship Day this Sunday. Buy the ladies you love a grown-up version of a summer camp friendship bracelet.
Every week, we'll be letting you know about new releases the editors at O and Oprah.com couldn't stop reading. On sale this Saturday:
by Robert Olen Butler
The quiet heartbreak that anchors the novel: The day Michael and Kelly Hayes are supposed to finalize their divorce, they separately mourn—and long—for their shared past.
Where you'll travel: From the French quarter in New Orleans to a hoop-skirted historical ball on a Mississippi plantation.
What not to expect: The usual patient, slow unfolding of a story about marriage. This little novel is a page-turner—right up to the last page.
The sentence that had us at hotel: "They look at each other steadily for a long while and then somewhere about her eyes she shows the tiniest moon-ascension increment of a threshold smile, but it too holds and persists without pushing on and he does not have to deal with it, does not have to smile as well or be forced not to smile in return, it is a simple thing with no demands on him and his chest and arms and shoulders go quiet, his mind goes quiet, he knows he can be good with this woman and she can be good with him."
Read More
Our complete review of A Small Hotel
The Irresistibles: 45 lyrical, luscious reads
20 unputdownable love stories
Read More
Our complete review of A Small Hotel
The Irresistibles: 45 lyrical, luscious reads
20 unputdownable love stories
The big decade birthdays are confusing to all of us. When you're turning 30, 40, 50, 60, or up are you supposed to throw a huge bash and embrace the moment with joy? Or are you supposed to throw a huge bash and pretend you're embracing the moment with joy? Or are you supposed to slink off into the night with a good friend and a bottle of champagne? There are my questions. My last milestone birthday went a little dimly. Slinking off is never as much fun as you want it to be.
Thankfully, one spunky woman at the outer edge of 49 has given me a completely new view on how to celebrate the next 0-birthday. Quite frankly, I'm not sure if it's her or her cause that is more inspiring. But I'm definitely going to to tune in to see if she shaves her head to celebrate!
Read More:
Back when I was a little girl in day camp, we used to wrap long strands of multicolored yarn around crossed popsicle sticks. Our counselors called these "god's eyes." I never understood that name. It seemed to me that the craft ought to be called "your counselors are bored teenagers who care very little about art projects."
Thirty years later, I've been tracking the much celebrated Life in A Day film, which opens in theaters this week. Life in Day presents a multi-faceted perspective on the world—created with videos submitted by people across the globe who shot images of their lives on July 24, 2010.
Meanwhile, Good Media recently reported on a very similar project called One Day on Earth. For this film, people from every country on the planet simultaneously captured aspects their lives on October 10, 2010. (You can pre-order it online, or sign up to make your own film on the next upcoming shoot on November 11, 2011.)
I thought back to childhood and that then-mysterious yarn-denoting phrase. I still have no idea what it means in terms of crafts, but in terms of these two films, God's eye is the ideal moniker, because both documentaries let us experience the astonishing, infinite variety of lives being lived all over the planet—as well as reflect the beauty of our own.
Read More:
| Photo: Thinkstock |
Take a step back from the situation, the saying goes, and things will be better. As with most sayings, we tend to ignore the idea. Now, however, is the time to search the attic for any dusty plaques or grandma-looking needlepoint pillows bearing that message.
This month, researchers at the Emotion Regulation and Self-Control lab at the University of Michigan revealed that a change in perspective can lead to newfound wisdom. "In a nutshell," said assistant professor Ethan Kross, "People often experience difficulty making decisions when it comes to intensely meaningful situations."
Giving yourself some psychological distance, his team discovered, can help you think—and understand—in deeper ways. How was that distance achieved? By asking people to visualize their futures as if they were a fly on the wall—so that they could see themselves.
For example, if you couldn't find a job, thinking about your having a job in the future—as say, a software programer—might lead to a less-charged, bigger-picture understanding of your present life, one takes into account the rough economy and your lack technical skills...instead just of how hard you're trying or how tired you are or how frustrated. Voila! Your tired, frustrated, non-technical self now has a potential avenue to explore: taking a computer class.
It's Summer Reading Week at Oprah.com! This week we're profiling the writers and books that you love, as well as some unexpected tidbits about all things literary. Today's homage: the hidden life of bookstores.
Do you remember the fairy tale where little elves popped out of the woodwork at night and helped the cobbler repair his shoes? Personally, I've always imagined similar creatures living at my local bookstore—tiny, luminous Tinkerbells restocking the picture books, surprisingly silent giants transporting boxes of dictionaries and atlases, a very organized troll in charge of the whole operation from the cashier's counter.
Turns out I was wrong. People set up bookstores. People who move very, very, very fast—as Galley Cat proved to me in this silly, surprising video of a bookstore built in one minute, 17 seconds.
Advertisement
about Life Lift
The Oprah blog is a place where you can find engaging news coverage, fresh inspiration, and the straight talk you've come to count on. A place that
provides the tools you need to make a change—if not in the world—then at
least in your little corner of it. It's a place that will raise your energy, lower your blood pressure and
occasionally make you laugh—in short, a place of possibility.
topics
Advertisement
Advertisement
contributors
archived posts
