At this point in our lives, we single girls are budgeting and prioritizing so it’s time to get creative with our resources for the holidays! Here are some fool-proof gifts for your girlfriends (and even one for your best guy friend!).
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Catherine’s review: Well-written and well-researched. You may think that you get the gist from her TEDTalk, but there is so much more to Sandberg’s words. Thought-provoking and discussion inducing… A must-read for women as well as for men. I can’t wait to discuss with others who’ve read.
Jacqueline’s review: Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In is kind of like a pep talk for women. She argues to believe in yourself, “lean in,” and trust you can have it all. I love how she asks, “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” But sometimes it’s not that easy. However, we all could use a personal cheerleader every now and then. So that’s how I see the book, as a pick-me-up when you need a little push.
Jacqueline and I got together over Google Hangout for a two-person book club discussion about Sheryl Sandberg’s Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead. Despite the limited scope of opinions, Sandberg’s content prompted some disagreement and controversy.
Happy Thanksgiving! When we set out on this journey, we were focused on finding a creative outlet for ourselves. We knew we had a great idea to share our experiences as twenty-somethings with others and to call on our girlfriends to share their life lessons with us. The Single Diaries hit its three-month mark last Sunday, and we are overwhelmed with the response we’ve received from our extended circles in this short amount of time. When you’re focused on writing and getting posts up on time, it’s easy to block your view of where the website stands in the public sphere. Because of this, your words of encouragement, support and affirmation mean the world to us. We are grateful that you are reading. We are grateful that you find value in our words. We are grateful that you want to share in our vision. We are grateful to have you wonderful people as friends.
We wanted to celebrate our work, your work, and our friends, so we hosted our first Single Diaries Friendsgiving at Jen’s new place.
“No one seems to remember exactly how The Rules got started, but we think they began circa 1917 with Melanie’s grandmother, who made men wait nervously in her parents’ parlor in a small suburb of Michigan. Back then, they called it ‘playing hard to get.’ Whatever you call it, she had more marriage proposals than shoes. When Melanie got married in 1981, she freely offered this old-fashioned advice to her single college friends and coworkers like us. When you follow The Rules you learn how to be a ‘creature unlike any other’—confident, radiant, happy.”
In The Rules: Time-tested Secrets for Capturing the Heart of Mr. Right, Ellen Fein and Sherries Schneider break down their dating philosophies on how any woman can capture the heart of the man she desires. The Rules, while not new, have survived and been passed down for several decades from one generation to the next through grandmothers, mothers, and trusted friends. The Rules may make you uncomfortable or seem old-fashioned seemingly defying everything we stand for as modern women. But the real question is do they work? As crazy as the advice may seem, is it worth taking?
Join The Single Diaries’ second book conversation as we discuss The Rules and how today’s Single Girls can apply or defy them. Pick up a copy and read by December 10th to send in questions: in the comments section of this post, via Twitter tagging @SingleDiariesXO and #SingleGirlTheRules, or via email leadingladies@toastmeetsjam.com.
We will post our discussion on December 20th, so don’t forget to come back to continue the conversation. We can’t wait to hear what you think!
“The only thing you need to focus on is yourself, and I promise everything will fall into place.”
Breaking up is like skydiving. Leading up to the jump you feel anxiety, uncertainty and fear. The moment the door opens you ask yourself, “What the fuck am I doing jumping out of a perfectly safe plane?!” Suddenly you want to take off your parachute, climb back in, and chomp on some complimentary nuts.
But you don’t. Instead, you jump. Suddenly you’re free and it’s exhilarating. And look at that, you landed safely with both feet on the ground in a completely different place than where you started. Sure, you may have a scrape or two and your head might be spinning but those things heal, just like a broken heart.
Whether you’re doing the breaking or you’re being broken, neither role is easy, and both people generally known deep down when the relationship has ended. What’s scary about a relationship ending is the unknown but even scarier is knowing that if you don’t jump you’re going to miss out on new experiences that are critical to your personal growth.
I’ve just gone through a breakup of my own and come out on the other side better for it. Though it has been an emotional roller coaster, I’ve figured out how to ride it out and want to share the lessons I’ve learned about moving on.