Happy Friday!

You might remember how a few weeks before I left for Europe, I was told that I'd be laid off from my full-time. Well luckily for me (though it'd been such a pain for months before), I'd been working 52 hours a week due to my second job covering music and celebrity news for BET.com. So when I mentioned that I'd be leaving my day job, I just took up more hours with them. This week, I started my new schedule and I can't complain. Aside from my original night shifts twice a week, I'm also producing content for the site's lifestyle section Monday through Fridays 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. This leaves my afternoons free to wander around the city, pursue my other projects, relax, or celebrate the weekend a little early like I did today.

I've only just started this new routine so I still need to get better organized and schedule in exercise, creativity, and other freelance work. One thing's for sure though, I now have more energy to share things with you and finally upgrading to a MacBook Pro has made researching and writing so much easier! Next week, a roundup of where we stayed during our travels, the one European item I just needed to have, a chat with an author/creative force behind a popular stationery company, and sounding off on a first date issue.

Have an amazing weekend my little monkeybutts. If the rain holds off tomorrow, A., a couple friends, and I will be heading to Six Flags!



A sweet stop-motion Spanish music video by sibs Jesse & Joy and here's how they made it. (via Lola's Cookies)

Build your own strand of lighted balls at this colorful shop in Paris. (I popped in, too!)

Cheap, community-driven classes courtesy of the Brooklyn Brainery. (via Swissmiss)

Would you ever try these galaxy nails?

Draw a Stickman makes your wack drawings come to life.

I'm finding these cinemagraphs mesmerizing. Here's more about these "still images that move."

Oral sex tips to use on him and her.

A simple way to make pretty paper tassels.

Stunning photos of emptiness and color.

It's obviously not the same as being there, but Arounder lets you take virtual tours of cities around the world. Visit Barcelona, New York, or Shanghai from your chair while I use it to remember the places we visited this month and see where I should go next.

P.S. Have you heard of Occupy Wall Street? It's a NYC movement that's gone on for two weeks now to protest the greed running through the financial district. A. and I went to check it out on a whim today and ended up participating for nearly four hours and marching against police brutality. I'm in awe of those activists who fight tirelessly for changes every chance they get because good God we got home tired, thirsty and damn near deaf from all that yelling!