The Awesome List

A few things I've been loving that might brighten your life:

Kara and Nate. Nate and Kara are a sweet couple who run a travel YouTube Channel that nourished my spirit during The Year(s) of Sad. If you're bereft at the state of the world and need something hopeful to watch, pick this.
The Daily Drop. I've been learning a ton about travel hacking and this newsletter has been SO enjoyable, friendly, and helpful. If you want to get into the shockingly rich and delightful world of free/heavily discounted travel, start here.
AMEX. I thought American Express cards were only for fancy people, but I had relatively normal-person good credit, applied, and got approved. I ended up with over $1000 of travel points just paying for normal stuff due to the welcome bonus And if you're worried about the fees (same. I get it), do a few minutes of math, because I found that even without the welcome bonus, the fees more than pay for themselves. Higher level cards come with travel insurance, Uber credits, Audible/Hulu/Netflix/Walmart+(and therefore Paramount which comes with it) credits, luggage credits, hotel credits. It's a pretty wild and delightful financial ecosystem if you love a deal. (And I do love a deal.) If you're considering an application (read the above linked article from The Daily Drop, because that will help you make the best call on what travel card makes sense for you), using this link could net me $300ish dollars in points. And that would delight the heck out of me. I'm not officially sponsored, the referral link is just a normal-person thing they offer, and I've been enjoying their service, so I'm passing the recc on to you. <3
These pens. If you, like me, mourned the demise of the extra fine point sharpies with the nice plastic nips, have no fear, solutions are here. Also, these pens. Also, these brush pens. You may notice an art supply theme. Well done.*Sam
Sam Irby's writing and her general existence. I especially love her hack for situations where people want to judge you for liking a thing. She says to just say "I like it." with conviction and that usually shuts people up. 10/10 trying that. Here's the original clip. It's a gift.
This treatise on pursuing dozens of rejections a year, on how it can be a goal and not a failure. Written for writers, but gorgeous in general.
Bereft at the state of the world and still need some canned hope? May I suggest Chef's Table? The recent Pizza series was gold.
David Cain's thoughtful articles on Raptitude.
John and Hank Green's curiosity, enthusiasm, kindness, and whimsy on Vlogbrothers.
Being able to organize everything from receipts to quotes and recipes in Evernote.
Visiting I Waste So Much Time and its sister site, Slow Robot, humor aggregators that seldom fail to make me laugh, or at least smile while exhaling slightly more forcefully.
Front Porch Forum. If you live in Vermont, the thing is amazing. I've found housing and multiple jobs thanks to that gloriously simple email list.
The Internet.
Food.
Kind people.