Life

Don’t wait — they’ll be gone before you know it.

Here’s how it works.

One of my favorite parts of childhood was show and tell. I always had something to talk about and show off to my classmates — I had a lot of interests — and to this day, I think it’s a great way to get to know another person. So I was excited to discover an event in Chicago called Show and Tell for Grown Ups, where a small group of presenters have five minutes each to talk about their passion, with a few minutes after for the audience to ask questions.

When I wake up on a chilly, gray morning or come home on a cold, windy night, there’s nothing I want to do more than curl up, get cozy, and stay inside for as long as I can.One of the best ways to do this is with a thick, soft, plush blanket, and Costco has just what you need for when temperatures start dropping: a faux-fur blanket from a cult-classic brand.I first learned of this popular blanket through a TikTok video posted by The Costco Twins.

A few years ago, I booked my first trip to Iceland. I was excited to soak in the country’s legendary hot springs, hike under the midnight sun, and explore the black sand beaches and ice caves. I chose Hotel Ranga on Iceland’s South Coast as my base. The boutique, family-run hotel offered a range of unusual amenities, including a house astronomer, northern lights wake-up calls, and hot tubs fed by thermal hot springs that were open year-round. Another unexpected option?

I’ve had a Hatch alarm clock for a few years. I am a big fan of the clock — I love that at 9:30 every night, it starts emitting calming sounds and lights to let me know it’s almost time for bed. I love that it keeps me off my phone first thing in the morning. I love the white noise options that I can change up every night, if I want to. It’s helped me sleep a bit better, and I appreciate it for that.

Everyone has preferences when it comes to their bedding and sleep. I hate sleeping with the air conditioning on, and I will do whatever I can to avoid it — even in the dead heat of summer. I much prefer a steady, beating fan. I am also firmly, forever, deeply team top sheet. (You can pry my top sheet from my cold, dead hands.) I also hate percale and sateen — I hear over and over that they are the most cooling sheets that exist, but I really dislike the feeling of them on my skin.

Sleep better on a budget.

My New York City apartment is relatively small, and my bedroom is even smaller. And despite my best efforts to downsize and organize, I consistently remain amazed at how much space gets occupied by … stuff. Some of it is good to have around just in case, like boxes of bandages or cookbooks I only occasionally reference but can’t bear to part with, but a lot of it is things I’m planning on donating.

All of the yummy scents, without the flame.

Think outside the game-night box.

A few years ago, I noticed my downtime had devolved into hours of doomscrolling on the sofa. Like many other people, I was caught in a loop of passive consumption that left me feeling hollow. Constant screen time, I realized, was flattening my creative drive. Feeling stripped of all inspiration, I decided to spend a Saturday afternoon entirely offline. As I brainstormed ways to pass the time, I thought back to one of my favorite childhood pastimes: the art of collage.

Whether you’re a beginner or you’ve been playing for years — get clacking.

One thing about me? If it comes in leopard print, I’m going to buy it. It’s probably a reaction to my mom being so against animal print when I was a kid, but nonetheless, the Y2K trend has infiltrated every part of my home: Crocs, purses, coats, pillows, dresses, you name it. Some are even calling it the “new neutral,” and I’m totally on board with it.

It feels like everywhere I turn these days, I’m seeing people all over tap into nostalgia. Whether it’s building physical media libraries or re-creating a landline in the kitchen, people are finding ways to bring past trends back into their lives. And this phenomenon is not just relegated to how they live at home — at least not according to this new research.

It’s my comfy constant.

On the weekends or days when we’re both working from home, my husband and I often sit down in the afternoon and have a coffee. It’s a little daily ritual that I look forward to, but up until recently I didn’t have a name for it. Then one day, while waiting with my kids at a doctor’s appointment, I picked up a magazine to read and pass the time and discovered a small mention of something called “fika” in a local coffee shop ad.

I’m one of those people who has never met a stranger. But I am painfully aware that this isn’t a universal human trait — especially as I step into the role of caregiver for my aging father. When he was younger, he could talk the chrome off of a bumper, given the opportunity. That’s why the isolation he’s been experiencing more recently has become a noticeable and daunting issue for him.

Personally, it’s hard to imagine life without my various to-do lists. If I don’t write something down in some way or put it in my calendar, I’ll forget it was ever on my mind. I’ve gotten a lot better at remembering to write down tasks I want or need to do, but now sometimes I get overwhelmed because I have too many items on my list.

Right now, it feels like so many people are wanting a ’90s-style kitchen. I’ve seen videos of people putting old vintage TVs on their kitchen counters and looking for ways to hang up their cellphone like it’s a wall phone. If you too want a little mini television to put on your kitchen counter — or to even take with you outside this fall — Sam’s Club dropped just the thing.

And I’m obsessed with the color.

Dryer lint is a pain. You have to remember to take it out of the dryer each time you toss in a load, and it inevitably seems to drop little pieces everywhere. Cleaning your dryer lint trap can be a nightmare. Up until now, I’d always tossed dryer lint directly in the trash — but then I discovered the many uses of dryer lint. As it turns out, dryer lint uses go far beyond getting caught in a filter.

For years, I loved using packing cubes to organize my suitcase. The color-coordinated, stackable containers are touted by travel professionals and organizers alike. I thought I was packing efficiently and smartly, but then I learned about how my military son was packing his duffle bag for military academy. To pack his 40L duffle bag, my son uses Ziploc bags as an efficient and simple way to organize his things.

I must admit: I like going to the grocery store. If I could, I would spend an hour or more walking through every aisle and department, looking at everything available and grabbing whatever feels right in the moment. As lovely as this sounds (to me, at least), it’s not exactly practical. So, I rely on grocery lists to help me make the most of my time at the store.However, I’ve never really found a grocery list method that’s worked for me.

I live in New York City, where there are quite a few Eastern European saunas and bath houses. I’ve only been to a few of them, but every experience has been memorable — partially because of how intense-slash-relaxing a sauna or spa day can be, but also because of the ambiance. Some spas serve full meals, and some have rooms where the walls are made entirely of ice. And sometimes I’ll see someone getting brushed with leafy sticks while steaming up in the sauna.

It's my new holiday tradition!

One thing about me: I love a good beverage. Seltzer, Diet Coke, a gorgeous iced coffee, fancy kombuchas, non-alcoholic Ghia Spritzes, good natural wine, ice-cold cheap beer — the list goes on. As such, my mom once got me a wine fridge for Christmas that could hold up to 12 bottles of wine. It was nice enough, but it was no match for my apartment’s winter heating system and internal summer temps, so it could really only hold the wine at about 55 to 70 degrees.

My mornings and evenings are so much cozier now.

I seriously suffer from jet lag — especially after a long-haul flight, even if I’ve managed to get a few hours of shut-eye. It seems like my jet lag symptoms seem to hang around for days. Even when I’m in an exciting new country, I find myself walking around like a zombie during the day, and being fully awake ready to run a marathon in the middle of the night.

It's back!

I confess that I thought I would be much further along financially when I reached my 40s. However, between my lack of financial planning, being laid off, and one financial emergency after another, I found myself in a place I never imagined I would be — starting all over again. Honestly, it’s scary how fast your finances and credit can get derailed, and at this stage in life it’s vital to get things back on track as quickly as possible.

As hard as it is to believe, autumn is nearly here. It can be sad to see the summer go, but fall is a wonderful time of year and deserves to be celebrated. You can go apple picking, put a simmer pot on the stove, bake a pumpkin pie, or add an autumnal wreath to your front door. There’s another even simpler way to bring some festive, calming fall vibes to your daily routine, and it doesn’t require going on a trip or carving up a pumpkin.

Quirky marriage discovery alert: After years of being together, I noticed that my husband has a unique way of eating dinner. He always eats his veggies first, but not because he particularly enjoys them. It’s quite the opposite. To him, veggies are something to be endured in the name of good health rather than actually enjoyed. So when his meal hits the table, he immediately eats whatever vegetables are on his plate as quickly as possible.

I grew up in southern California, where the weather is fairly consistent, so when I moved to New York I basically stepped into a new world with four distinct seasons. Now I can easily travel an hour or two out of the city and go on a hike where I’m surrounded by lush trees in beautiful colors in the fall. But when the leaves change colors, they do it fast — so it helps to keep tabs on when your area’s trees will be looking their most autumnal.

From personalized water bowls to beaded treat pouches.

I love a movie night at home, but I love a movie day even more — a Saturday or Sunday afternoon spent in my apartment, in front of my television, lazing the day away. Unfortunately, because my living room is one of the brightest rooms in my house (with three windows across two walls), movie days can be harder to pull off because of the glare of the sun on my television screen.

Savings up to 85% off!

Score up to 30% off!

This is the perfect lightweight comforter for hot sleepers.

Move over, Black Friday.

Before the ’90s, there was no such thing as a smartphone, and cell phones had yet to reach commercial popularity. The most common way to get in touch with someone was to walk into the room where your landline phone was placed. (In my house when I was growing up, this was the kitchen.) While they still exist, landlines are rarer than they used to be. They were corded or wireless, and often mounted to the wall.

When I think about mini fridges, I think about my freshman year of college, when I lived in a tiny room with three people, no kitchen, and one mini fridge. Our mini fridge was our lifeline, but it wasn’t particularly nice to look at; it felt a bit like an afterthought. But all this time, I could have had the cutest mini-fridge ever, if only I knew where to look. Right now, there’s one cute retro-inspired model available at Costco.

I did the fieldwork for you.

From Helix, SweetNight, Leesa, and more.

From IKEA, Design Within Reach, Wayfair, and more.

Perfect for hot summer nights and those who sleep hot no matter the season.

You can print photos right from your phone!

It holds so much!

No spa membership (or massive backyard) needed.

When you share a bed with someone, it’s possible that you’ll have different mattress preferences. At least, that’s the case for me and my fiancé, Jeremy. He’s a side and back sleeper, so he likes a firmer mattress, while I’m a stomach sleeper and like something softer that I can sink into. Our differing opinions became very apparent when I was testing mattress toppers for our Best List of mattress toppers, and Jeremy was naturally testing them with me.

I might be great at picking out great housewarming gifts, but wrapping them up neatly is another story entirely. Most of the time I do a fine job, but I still always seem to end up with wrinkled, crinkled corners instead of neat, clean lines.I often default to gift bags for this reason, but they can be a little uninspiring at times. Plus, both of these methods can lead to a lot of paper waste.

They’re quick-drying, too!

When my boyfriend (now fiancé) and I moved in together, we sold my mattress and decided to keep his. While it was very comfortable, I still wanted to get a mattress topper to add some extra oomph. And because we’re both hot sleepers, I prioritized finding one that was cooling. Then there was the added challenge of finding a topper that was comfortable for all sleep positions, as he sleeps on his back and side and I sleep on my stomach.

I spent $170 on mine, but you don’t have to spend more than $10.

I enjoy writing in a paper journal, be it a weekly planner or just a diary, but the really nice looking ones, like a leather-bound one, tend to be expensive. A more ordinary journal gets the job done, sure, but I’ll admit there’s something about a visually-pleasing notebook cover that legitimately increases my motivation to journal on a regular basis.

It’s under $100!

By mid-August, I find myself wishing for summer to be over and for fall to be here. I like to refer to this awkward period of seasonal transition as “hotumn” (aka hot autumn). I feel the itch for chillier weather, all things pumpkin spice, and cozy sweaters, but summer still hangs on. I could set the mood with a simmer pot, but it’s too hot to run my stovetop. Still, I’m ready to transition my space for fall.

There’s no better time to save big.

Hello, cozy season!

Say “welcome home” in style.

Ask anyone who knows me, and they’ll tell you that I’ve never, ever had any trouble falling asleep. It’s waking up that’s the problem. I’m a notorious snoozer, and I have the horrible habit of oversleeping, then jolting awake in a panic about being late for work (not exactly a graceful start to the morning).

I’m a to-do list person. I have a notebook for my work tasks, a personal planner for my life admin, and a notebook at home for weekend to-dos like cleaning, laundry, and other tasks. I need to write everything down; otherwise, frankly, I will forget. But I often keep my to-do lists on random sheets of paper that inevitably get lost under my pile of mail or even tossed out by accident — and then I’m back to square one.

The pain of lost luggage can put a damper on an entire vacation. There’s nothing worse than waiting at the baggage carousel, only to walk away empty-handed. As a frequent traveler, I have dealt with my fair share of luggage woes — no matter how expertly I packed beforehand. On a 48-hour trip to Copenhagen without my checked suitcase, for example, I spent the first day searching for clothes that fit.

In theory, hosting a dinner party is wonderful. But somewhere between planning the menu, shopping for groceries, cooking, and setting the table, what should be a fun evening with friends can easily become an exhausting project. The pressure to time every dish perfectly and make everything look “just so” often drains the joy out of the night. As the host, you’re stuck doing the work preparing (and often cleaning up) while everyone else unwinds and spends quality time together.

Throughout my twenties, life outside of work and grad school revolved around comedy. Whether I was channeling group mind with my improv classmates or throwing together slapdash weekly sketch shows, I was never far from a theater. I never pursued comedy professionally, but I loved the creative outlet. These days, I’m in need of a new hobby.

The scent is so subtle.

From percale sheets to a luxe linen duvet cover.

This is not a drill! Get it while you can.

If you’ve ever had the pleasure of traveling south of the border, then you know that Mexico is one of the most hospitable countries on earth. I grew up in a Mexican household, so I can attest that’s no hyperbole. Stop by for a quick errand, and my mom will feed you until you’re bursting at the seams — and then some.

Maybe you just moved to a new city (or country) for a job, or gone through a breakup and your friend group was shared between you and your ex, or felt like you’ve outgrown your current friendships and want to expand your connections. Whatever the reason you want to forge new bonds, it can be hard to make friends as an adult, especially in your 30s, when it feels like everyone else has their friend group locked and loaded.

It can be easy for me to get swept up by the wonder and whimsy of a thrift store. There’s so much stuff to dig through and so many unique items that can be tempting to bring home, especially when the thrift store has just restocked. I used to struggle with decision fatigue in the store and often left feeling guilty — sometimes I’d feel guilty for not buying something or I’d feel guilty for buying it.I love to thrift, so I knew something needed to shift.

Long ago, I started skipping keychains and T-shirts while on vacations and opted for vintage goods as souvenirs instead. That’s why I always look for secondhand stores on my travels. On a recent trip while my husband and I were wandering the streets of Lucca, Italy, we happened upon an adorable antique shop named Benedetta Bodega. There, I found something a bit more unorthodox compared to what I usually buy (original art or antique tins, for instance): a chipped wooden stool.