How to make friends as a grown up: stop being a victim, start making plans
I got into a huge conversation recently with an old friend of mine. He’s in his mid-30s, self-employed, and works from his home in the burbs. He recently broke up with his girlfriend, and is newly single and realizing he just doesn’t have the group of friends that he did in his 20s. I’ve had the same conversation with other friends in their late 20s and 30s (and 40s)… how the fuck do you make friends as a grown up?
How does one go about creating an old-ladyship home?
As a single woman of 68, and living in France far from my family, I am beginning to look at end of life issues — such as how to age gracefully in place, how to create a support group and face the last how-ever-many years with dignity, control, and pleasure. I have been discussing creating a shared home with four or five other women and wonder if anyone else thinks of this.
One-lowsmanship, money anxieties, and being a work in progress
There is a great article that John Cheese wrote about what growing up poor does to your brain. It’s pretty dead-on. One of the things is that when you have extra money, the desire is to spend it RIGHT NOW before some disaster happens and you have to use it to take care of that instead. For years, that was me. And then, after lots of soul searching and hard lessons, I went so far the opposite direction that my cheapness probably qualifies as a mental illness.
8 tips for developing personal style when you have none
I have never considered myself “fashionable.” Growing up, I had the tomboy thing down and wore jeans and t-shirts through high school. Every so often I would get the urge to “dress cuter” and swear not to acquire any more free unisex t-shirts, and wear a skirt here and there. But inevitably I ran out of outfits to wear and reverted back to the same jeans-and-t-shirt look, not because it was more “me” but out of habit and because it was easy. Then, I decided this was the year that I would finally dress the way I really want to, as part of my quest to figure out what being an adult really means to me. After a few months of going through my closet, lots of online searching, and one exhausting trip to the mall, I am starting to get a wardrobe I really like and figured I could share some tips for those of you who also didn’t just figure this stuff out at puberty.
Permanent multi-generational homes: Would you do it?
My mother and I are contemplating buying a house together and establishing a multi-generational home.
“Then and now” family dog photos!
Ariel alerted me to this adorable Laughing Squid article: Then and Now Photos of Kids & Their Dogs. Of course, being big ‘ol dog-lover that I am, I this project totally got me all teary-eyed and thinking about my family dog, Ayla, that has been my pal for going on 12 years. So I did our own “then and now” photo…
I Miss Drugs: the domestic lives of aging hipsters
The video is part of a series from I Miss Drugs, a Twitter feed and a series of very short web videos that skewer the all-too-familiar-to-me life of the gently aging hipster. It reminds me a little bit of an update on Will Farrell’s infamous “Maybe later we’ll go to Bed Bath & Beyond” bit from Old School a decade ago… except of course they’re making jokes about Etsy and Trader Joe’s. Witness…
Growing up: Can I settle down and be offbeat at the same time?
I am having cold feet about the next stage of my life. Homies, is my reluctance to buy a house and move in with my significant other a warning sign? Am I giving up an exciting, quirky life by planning to settle down?