Lifestyle Category

I am fortunate enough to have grown up in a household that never made me question the food I put in my mouth, the shape of my body, the number on the scale, or the size of my pants. I’ve never counted calories, I’ve steered clear of scales, and I’ve worn the same size since I was a sophomore in high school. I’ve managed to live my life as a confident, mildly chubby person with a relatively athletic lifestyle and close to zero body shame. What’s even more curious is the recognition that theRead More

1) Being anxious doesn’t mean we are not grateful for what we have: Many people with anxiety disorders are labeled as pessimists, and in some ways, this is quite understandable. I can tell you first hand that sometimes even I am shocked at the worst case scenarios I will come up with. That being said, when we are not anxious, many of us are extremely optimistic. We love our lives, our jobs, our friends, and truly take time to appreciate the people we get to share those experiences with.  Read More

Summers are the one season that fools everyone. People go around talking about the weather and how nice it will be, and how much socializing they’re going to do with their friends, and all that ever happens is those same people who hyped the sun are now bemoaning its presence and sheltering themselves indoors with Netflix. There is no cure to possibility of heatstroke, and the desire to socialize is often trumped by the overwhelming urge to sleep in an air conditioned bedroom with every shade drawn. The only thingRead More

You’d kiss me at the front door — lips cold from a few blocks walk with San Francisco wind, your cigarette boy sweater lingering on your shoulders. I have to wonder now, how many times did you fuck me right after? How many times did you throw pillows on my floor like plates meant to break afterwards? Right after you addressed her emotional bids? Her tears? With one of your “infamous pep talks”? How many of your ‘I love you’s were straddled between messages to her, affirming your ex-girlfriend’s needs throughRead More

Dear Friends and Family, There is no easy way to share this with you. Lately, I have not been feeling myself. I have continually thought to myself, “Something doesn’t feel right.” I feel like I am in a constant state of denial. I sense that there is a hole in my heart, but no matter what I do, I remain incapable of filling it. Every day, I go on pretending like nothing is wrong. People stop and ask me how I am doing, and though I may return with aRead More

Recently, I cut off my medium length blonde hair to an overgrown pixie. It’s short enough where hair ties mean nothing to me anymore, but long enough where you can’t quite see my skull yet. This wasn’t some radical act I did in light of a breakup or in protest for veganism, gender identity, or Bernie Sanders, or anything. I just didn’t like my hair. And it turned out great! It’s the shortest I’ve ever had it and I absolutely love it. It’s fun to wake up every morning andRead More

It is a sad time for us all. Winter has come, tears have been shed, and a week ago, Season 5 of Game of Thrones came to a (tragic; for many reasons) end. If you’re an obsessive Thrones watcher like I am, you might be staring into the bleak landscape of another 9 months without television’s best show. If you’re a sports fan like I am, this is only made more intolerable by the fact that most major sports are in the offseason. But worry not, friends. There is hope forRead More

Dear High School,   It’s me. Four years later, here I am. Well, maybe not four years exactly. Four years and some days, just under four years, hell, maybe close to five years– you know as well as I do that I’m really bad at math. Bad at math, bad at science, and yet you never cared. Every August your doors opened, and your halls welcomed me like the cold, distant home I never had.   Oh, high school. Where do I begin this letter? You were there during myRead More

At the beginning of this year, I quickly realized my metabolism was no longer that of a 20-years-old college athlete, but my sweet tooth that could make Willy Wonda cringe still controlled me. Not only was I stressing about work, being single, and my love handles that seemed to get more love than necessary, I was losing myself and my confidence. Fate would have it, that work would send me to Atlanta for work for a few days and lucky for me, my old college friend, turned trainer said heRead More

Game of Thrones. Orange is the New Black. Gossip Girl.   There’s a good chance that you, the reader, at some point in your life, will binge watch a TV show. It may be one of the ones above (s/o to season three of OITNB, out June 12), but you will end up in your blue jeans at two am, bleary eyed and yet not yawning, ice cream stuck to your shirt, wondering where the hell the time went. And then you’ll look down at your computer, see that you’veRead More

A gig, a joint, a position, a role, a racket, a profession, a grind, they’re all still a job. Employment. If you’re a creative type, living in the rust belt, or were as foolish as our staff and majored in liberal arts, you’ve probably found yourself unemployed or scrambling from project to project in this post-career employment economy. At some point you’ll have to make ends meet and this will mean one thing: working for someone else. And if your only skills take place outside of cyberspace, or you speakRead More

1. The Dysfunctional Teenager This person is the person who gets stoned before every big school event just to see how different it is compared to the times they went sober. Their mother is done raising them, and says things like, “I’m done! There’s nothing left for me to teach you!” They’re probably into really artsy, expressive things, and are insanely talented. They dabble in any and all forms of art, and somehow still make it thoughtful and art show worthy. They know all the good music, the good concerts, theRead More

Others notice it, or recognize the absence of it.  That silent “R” that Bostonians leave out when speaking.  When you hear it, or don’t, that’s when you know you’ve stepped into the greater Boston area.   You’re now in “Boston Strong” territory. I have no problem screaming at the top of my lungs that I was born and raised in California.  We’re all from somewhere, and yes, I’m extremely proud to be a California Girl, but there’s something about saying I live in Boston that causes a smile that I didn’tRead More

I close my eyes and images appear in my mind. They’re ones I haven’t conjured up. They’re immediate and ugly and ferocious — a dismembered arm, a spider crawling outwards from an eye with its silky, black legs, and a red hourglass on its belly. I can’t sleep. Sometimes I wish I was a hamster. Hamsters are nocturnal, after all, and this sleeplessness at night would then be acceptable. I take a deep breath. (The kind that cracks your spine in a few places at once, but doesn’t calm youRead More

Family. Six letters, three syllables. We all have it in some way, shape, or form. Some people say it’s the people who are there from birth until death do you part, amen, forever. Some people say it’s the people who support you and love you. Both sets of people are right, of course, but the fact is that your family isn’t just what they have in mind– that the group of people who buy birthday cakes and hang your picture on their wall don’t have to be the people whoRead More