I recently hosted a Moana-and-Marshmallow-themed birthday party for my 3-year-old, and so many people asked me about the details of the party that I decided to publish a post about it. (I do this semi-professionally, after all.) Below, you can scroll 11 cute Moana birthday party ideas that I created for this event, with links […]
Cool Ideas
A Behind-The-Scenes Look at New York City’s Epic “Cake Picnic”
New York City’s first ever “cake picnic” was a lovely, sweet affair that came to NYC from San Francisco for the first time in 2024. Fans of the series (myself included) were quick to call Cake Picnic NYC “Cake-chella”– and when we arrived to gather at a cozy event space in the lower West Village […]
The 6 Best Reef-Safe Zinc Sunscreens of 2026 (Most Effective + Elegant Formulas)
Reef-safe zinc sunscreen– which always contains physical UV blockers rather than chemical SPF– is better for coral reefs because these formulas don’t contain avobenzone, oxybenzone, octinoxate, octocrylene, octisalate, or homosalate– six active chemicals that are known to be toxic to precious marine ecosystems. (And they’re not great for the human endocrine system, either!) It’s […]
How Cold Therapy Became a Pop Culture Phenomenon: Ice Baths, Cold Plunges, The Wim Hof Method & Beyond
Amid the discerning consumers of post-pandemic wellness culture– in which the prospects for future thriving look increasingly like things we used to do in the past— ice baths and cold plunges are having a pop culture renaissance. I first heard about cold plunging almost ten years ago, when the talking heads in the New York […]
The 10 Best Cruelty-Free, Non-Toxic Nail Polish Brands of 2026
So, you’re in the market for cruelty-free, non-toxic nail polish. And if you aren’t, here’s why you should be: new studies from Duke University and Environmental Working Group show that nail polish chemicals can seep into the bloodstream even through the nail bed. Ah! For that reason, and the fact that traditional nail polish has […]
Yes, You Can Eat Magnolia Flowers— Try This Easy Magnolia Spice Cake Recipe for Spring
Yes, you can eat magnolia flowers— and they’re having a renaissance right now. Magnolia season arrives in early spring every year, and it is very short– usually lasting only two weeks, so it’s sort of like a shooting star in the realm of seasonal food (like ramps or morels, they are special in that way, […]
The 5 Coolest Clean Beauty Stores in NYC (For Your Bucket List)
New York City’s clean beauty and natural skincare game– while this may at first pass seem to be a very “California” thing– is actually quite excellent. The Big Apple is the fashion capital of the world, after all, and what would a fashion capital be without a copious number of places to explore the world […]
5 Wonderfully Calming Qi Gong Videos For Relaxation & Energy
In an era when most of us have a heightened awareness of the negative effects of overstimulation, the slow, methodical mind-body practice of Qi Gong has become increasingly appealing. Everyone wants to feel calm and centered in their minds and bodies, right? So why not look into the time-honored healing practices of the ancients to […]
The 6 Best Birthday Cake Bakeries in Asheville, North Carolina
Asheville, North Carolina is a charming little mountain town known for its wonderful food, which showcases the robust Appalachian tradition of using seasonal, local, heritage ingredients. This description may conjure images of Edenic farmers’ markets (which are indeed idyllic in Asheville), but this is also true when it comes to birthday cakes. Local bakeries here […]
Why Anxious People Are More Likely to Have Allergies
Those looking for more concrete examples of how, exactly, anxiety impacts health should know that there might be a hidden link between allergies and mood disorders– at least according to new research recently reported in The Atlantic. Apparently, the inflammatory pathways of these two diseases are so similar that they might have a cause and […]