Photo: Thinkstock

There's something so appealing about the simple act of keeping track. The world is a big place, and life is long, and it's easy for a human to get lost in the fray. There are those who swear by journaling, but for some it's just too much. Elise Nussbaum writes for The Billfold about why she loves, in lieu of journaling, tracking her spending through an old, clunky version of Quicken. "I don’t necessarily need to filter and examine every aspect of my life, but I do want to look back and have some idea of what I’ve been up to," she writes, and "Quicken asks you to confront, or at least remember, where the money went."

Nussbaum explains how the resulting charts Quicken creates help her to see a snapshot of her life, what she values, what she needs vs. what she wants, what matters to her and how she lives. There are financial planning benefits, sure -- she shares how Quicken changed the way she saves, for example -- but it also creates a snapshot of a life. Remember that deserty treat shared with a friend? Quicken does. How much of your resources do you devote to groceries? Lunches? Shopping? Mysterious CVS purchases? (As Nussbaum puts it, " I like to be detailed, except when the charge is from CVS, because I can never remember what the hell I went in there for.")

In other words, your banking is telling a story. The question is, what kind?

Read More:
Suze Orman's Money Class
Make the Most of Your Money

Are you reading Wild with us this summer? Oprah and author Cheryl Strayed are answering YOUR questions about this unforgettable memoir.Brandy Buenafe asked: How did you make the decision to do something so radical with a portion of your mother's ashes?

See Cheryl's video response:



Do you have a question for Oprah or Cheryl about Wild? Ask away here!

Infographic: Ad Council, USDA, USDHHS

File this under "summer bummers": Incidents of food poisoning tend to surge during hamburger-and-hot-dog-months because bacteria multiply faster in warm temperatures, says the USDA. And for those of us who think we're in the clear because we always make sure our ground beef is dark and toasty before taking off the grill, the agency's research shows that 1 out of every 4 hamburgers turns brown before it has reached a safe internal temperature.

But don't let this news douse your BBQ enthusiasm: there are some easy steps you can take to keep yourself and your guests healthy at your July 4th get-together. The USDA and the US Department of Health and Human Services have teamed up with the Ad Council to produce this Independence Day-themed infographic with  the most important steps to handling and serving summertime party food: clean, separate, cook (the food thermometer is key) and chill. (In addition to the helpful advice, we also appreciate that the George Washington character appears to be holding either a teensy tri-corner hat, or a very well-done steak stolen from the grill...).

Keep reading:
Cooking safely with turkey

Photo: Getty Images

During the 2010 winter Olympics, two Canadian friends of mine had the great fortune of scoring tickets to some of the events in Vancouver. They later emailed me about sitting close enough to Johnny Weir's family to make conversation, and about how they could practically feel the ice chips in   Apolo Ohno's wake as he zoomed to victory in the speed-skating finals. Oh, Canadians! How I envied them! I'm sure I'll feel the same way about the Brits next month as I watch the London summer games...from my apartment far, far away in Brooklyn.

Lucky for me, The National Institute of Standards and Technology has put together a neat list of Olympic Fast Facts that help make the games feel a little closer to home. For example, you know the balance beam on which gymnasts flip, run, tumble and leap? It's about the width of a novel--a paperback, no less--like those strewn all over my bedroom. And the 10 meter high dive platform? Somersault-piking off that is similar to diving off the roof my three-story apartment building.

Okay, so these pieces of Olympic trivia may not be the same as finding as a golden ticket to the games buried in the bottom of a Wheaties box, but they'll remind me of the athletes and events every time I open a book, or climb the stairs of my walk-up, or pass a pickup truck (it's the same width as the diving board).

Keep reading:
The musical sounds of the London Summer Olympics
An Olympic coach helps a non-athlete get in game shape

Men! What are they thinking? We can't always answer that, but we'll be posting our favorite glimpses into their world in this space every Thursday.

Photo: imgur

* When Brenna Martin's dad gave her a copy of Oh, The Places You'll Go! for her high school graduation, she thought it was cheesy.  She had no idea she was opening a gift that was 13 years in the making until she looked at the first page. (imgur)

* RIP Lonesome George, the last Pinta Island tortoise on the planet. (National Geographic)

* Withnail and I, a British comedy the Atlantic calls "The Annie Hall of heterosexual male bonding and separation," turns 25 this year. (The Atlantic)

* "It was a good feeling to see a problem—not just in my own life but in my community—and know that I was fixing it, that I'd gone in there and gotten my hands dirty."—Anthony Mackie on opening a bar in his neighborhood. (O Magazine)

Photo: Greg Kessler

Are you one of those people plagued, as I am, by hyperpigmentation (dark spots) caused by sun exposure even when they're very careful about sun protection? (As my dad used to say, no good deed goes unpunished. But for the probable reason you're still seeing spots, I've found help: For about three weeks, morning and night, I've been using Glytone SunVanish with Sunscreen Rx and Clarifying Gel Rx ($64 and $62; lovelyskin.com), which contain 4 percent hydroquinone. The two stubborn spots on my cheek? Fading fast.

Photo: Thinkstock

If summer food is all about simplicity, summer beach food is a step further: a meal usually consists of one dish, probably requiring lots of napkins, that comes together in less than 20 minutes. As this slideshow on NYMag.com shows, chefs' favorite foods to eat after a day at the shore also do not involve an oven and are best eaten with your hands. Based on the foods mentioned in the article, here's my short list of Beach Food Rules:

1. Eat what makes you happy.
Barbara Lynch may run the kitchen at the Boston fine dining restaurant Menton, but when she's in a wet bathing suit, she wants a tuna fish sandwich on white bread with tons of mayo, a jar of Vlasic pickle spears, a Diet Coke and Utz potato chips.

2. You get extra points for drawn butter.
Dipping steamed or grilled shellfish--whether steamed clams (which are Annisa chef Anita Lo's choice) or lobster (Marc Murphy of Ditch Plains' pick)--into melted butter is messy, fun...and probably not something you do at home on a typical February evening.

Circa 1991, my friend Dana and were busying ourselves videotaping some absolutely killer unintentionally-Martha-Graham-inspired choreography in my basement. It was recently suggested that these tapes may still exist and my blood turned cold with dread. Why didn't anyone warn me YouTube would exist in the future? I remain cautiously, hypothetically humiliated. And so my first thought when I saw this completely amazing video of Ryan Gosling and his sister tearing it up to C+C Music Factory at a Mormon Talent Show, was, "Oh, poor Ryan Gosling! How embarrassing! That hair! That silky shirt! Those...moves." Hold on -- Baby-Gosling has got some moves.

And I realized something. In an era where sex tapes make people famous, when fortunes can be made from babies biting fingers, there is no more embarrassment. (Note to Dana: Even, so, do not I repeat not upload. We were no talent show winners.) Is it a sillying-up of society? Do all the troubles in the world -- war, crumbling economies, Twitter outages -- send us searching for goofy refuge in ridiculous dances? I don't know. But what I do know is that dancing preteen Ryan Gosling is impossible to take your eyes off. And that anyone with that much charisma at age 10 probably has never heard of this esoteric, old-timey word "embarrassment."

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The Rainbow Xylophone of Joy
The Most Energizing Dance Video Ever