Comic Relief

Whenever I've had a bad day and need a good laugh, (or even when I've had a good day but still want to laugh) I have a handful of websites that don't disappoint.

Hyperbole and a Half: Allie Brosh's hilarious stories, mostly about her own life, accompanied by so-bad-they're-good drawings. They're all awesome, but "This is Why I'll Never Be an Adult" is probably one of the most well known. Unfortunately, Allie doesn't update frequently, but the content is funny enough to read multiple times. She also released a book last year: Hyperbole and a Half: Unfortunate Situations, Flawed Coping Mechanisms, Mayhem, and Other Things That Happened.

The Oatmeal: Another website of comics, created by Matthew Inman. This one is updated pretty frequently. The topics vary - observations, stories, even educational stuff presented in a funny way. One of my favorites: the Minor Differences series. He has several books out: How to Tell If Your Cat Is Plotting to Kill You, The Terrible and Wonderful Reasons Why I Run Long Distances, and a few others.

The Bloggess: Jenny Lawson's blog, comprised mostly of funny stories from her life. One of my favorites is an old one, but the first time I read it I laughed so hard I had tears in my eyes: "And that’s why you should learn to pick your battles." Jenny also has a hilarious book: Let's Pretend This Never Happened.

Tumblr Post Compilations: Not any specific site, the link is just an example. For some reason some of these are ridiculously funny.

Pinterest: Browsing the Humor pins on Pinterest is always entertaining. These are too wide ranging to summarize, but I think Pinterest is how I initially came across Hyperbole and a Half.

Links & Pictures

Mash-up of pics and links ...

Excuse my dirty floor. I swear I vacuumed shortly after I took this pic. Anyway, I caught little miss Maddie under the table like this. I walked around to the other side to see what she was doing ...

Sure enough, something naughty. She's obsessed with trying to steal the cat's food. She prefers it to her own, apparently. We've had to feed the cat on paper plates lately because whenever she managed to get to his food, she'd eat it then promptly to destroy the plastic bowl. She went through three of them. I ordered him a new one, and this time went with metal.

One of the kids in Audrey's preschool class brought in a lawn gnome for show & tell. I don't know why I found this so funny, but I did.



Currently reading one of Stephen King's recent books, Mr. Mercedes. Love that he referenced It, the movie that was based on one of his own books. Being able to use your own work as a cultural reference is pretty bad ass.



I probably used many of these as AIM away statuses back in the day :)

Love this article about hyper-parenting

And this similar article about parenting. To sum up both: Calm the hell down.

Emma Watson's awesome HeForShe speech (this links to the text, with a link to the video at the bottom)

Mmmm, ice cream.

Will definitely have to watch this

Love seeing how quickly this map is changing

From the Interwebz

A grown up coloring book. Because hey, who doesn't still like to color? But Dora coloring books are lame.

Relationship Goals. So Sweet.

50 Best Joan Rivers Jokes. RIP.

Whoa, this is awesome.

Kale salad trend ... haha

This awesome bachelorette party

From the Interwebz

Some links I've either stumbled upon recently or have enjoyed for a while:

Women Listening to Men in Western Art History. This made me LOL.

Looking for Dirty Dancing: The Teenager's Guide to Lake Lure. I too was once obsessed with Dirty Dancing. I was introduced by some teenage babysitters when I was probably too young for the movie, in the 90s. I own the DVD today and will always stop and watch if its on tv. This essay brought back memories of my own childhood love of Baby & Johnny.  

29 Short Stories You Need to Read in Your Twenties. I usually prefer novels, but I have started making my way through these, beginning with the ones available online.

What People Talk About When They Talk About Life in New York. I haven't read Thought Catalog in a while, but this article from almost three years ago is perfect. It's so relatable. The pride in slowly becoming a true New Yorker, the realization that NYC will chew you up and spit you out, the unsettling feeling that maybe this isn't where you belong after all but the reluctance to let go - I've experienced all of these in my almost decade here.  

Living Alone is Hard. I loved this article before I discovered The Office, before I read "Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?", before I even knew who Mindy Kaling is. (I now adore her - how can you not??). I lived alone - truly, totally, alone - pre baby, no pets, no roommate, no boyfriend - for a year in New Jersey. There were some lonely moments but I was busy enough that they were rare. I loved it. I'll never live truly alone again, I'll always have Audrey, but I wouldn't have it any other way.

Blueberry Lavender Honey Jam. I've read Annie's Eats for a long time. It was one of the first food blogs I discovered, and read every day - even back when I was waitressing and wasn't in front of a computer nearly as much as I am now. The blog has heavily influenced my cooking and baking, and Annie herself is inspirational - she beat cancer, is a doctor, has a family and still finds time to make basically everything from scratch - no store bought cupcakes for this chick. Hell, she even makes her own bread and tortilla wraps. And I think I'm busy. Anyway, I'm visiting my parents this weekend and my mom and I plan to try canning some stuff. Originally we were just going to do tomatoes, but this recipe inspired me to plan to try jam also, although I think I'll go with a different fruit combo. Stay tuned.