As the world becomes saturated with digital alternatives to just about everything, some forms of communication have naturally become less prominent—including the practice of sending actual handwritten letters in the mail. (Remember those?) When the majority of us head to the mailbox, we find bills, unsolicited coupons, and maybe a catalog or two. Rather than a stack of letters and postcards from friends and family, we’re left with envelopes that go unopened before hitting the recycling bin.
Thankfully, all is not lost. The art of snail mail has begun to resurface—thanks, in part, to folks attempting to support the USPS as well as an abundance of time spent at home, unable to see loved ones. Rather than texting or FaceTiming, we’re going back to the age of handwritten letters. In an era with so much difficulty, it’s so nice to find a silver lining.
While receiving a note in the mail is day-making, sending one is even better. There’s just something so therapeutic about sitting down to pen a love letter to your partner, a quick catch-up note to your BFF, or a sweet card to your grandma. Taking the time to actually write—with your hands and not a keyboard—beats an email any day.
Of course, writing letters also allows for myriad creative opportunities. We all want our envelopes to stand out in the slew of bills and coupons. Adding stickers, extra stamps, and going wild with color can turn your snail mail into a genuine work of art. Below, you’ll find some easy ways to spice up your letters—and, in turn, make someone’s day a little bit brighter.
1. Stickers & Washi Tape Are Your Friends
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Do yourself a favor and stock up on cute stickers and a hefty supply of washi tape immediately. They’re an easy way to decorate the front and back of your envelopes—and you can always cut out a few stickers and send them along with your letter as a little treat for your recipient.
2. The More Stamps, the Merrier
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Scavenge Etsy for vintage stamps, then turn them into part of your envelope design. Sure, slapping on one Forever stamp will get your letter to its destination, but it’s much more fun to cover your letter in unique stamps to thrill your recipient from the moment they open their mailbox.
3. Go Bold With Color
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As long as what you’re writing on your envelope is legible, go bold. Try bright colors, metallics, or even sparkles. The sky’s the limit here, so don’t be afraid to break out your most colorful markers.
4. Try All Different Sizes
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Write a miniature note to your beloved and send it in a tiny envelope for a fun pick-me-up. Stuff a huge envelope full of confetti and send it to your best pal for their birthday. Don’t let yourself be limited by the standard 4-by-6 card size— try mixing it up! Experimenting with different shapes and sizes of letters and envelopes can make for some seriously fun mail.
5. Play With Placement
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Play around with where you write the address, name, or return address. Try penning the recipient’s name in big, bold letters and then writing the address small and at the very bottom. Or put your return address on the back of the envelope with a sticker and special message. It’s all about the details.
Sending someone a card or a letter is always a heartfelt and genuine gesture, but there’s no reason it can’t be fun for you too! Whether you decide to break out the craft supplies you’ve stowed away for a rainy day or want to incorporate your loved one’s favorite color in a way that you know will make them smile, there are a thousand ways to express yourself while sharing the love. There’s never been a better time to throw your energy into making someone’s day with a few creative details that will stick with them long after they open their mailbox. When you spend time and energy on a little message of love, everyone wins.
Positivity has been proven to make our lives easier, and it’s not just in our heads! Science shows that positivity can keep us healthy, lowering our blood pressure and even helping to prevent heart disease. We all want a life filled with positivity, but what does that look like? Positivity is all about choices and perspective; every time we recognize our own power to welcome light and be grateful for the good, we create a more positive reality around us.
Living a more positive life isn’t all big, life-changing moves; sometimes it’s about the little choices we make every day. Choosing decor you love, filling a space with your favorite color, bringing in fresh flowers or hanging up photos of your loved ones: if it makes you happy, don’t put off doing it! You can start producing positivity today just by giving your home a few loving touches. Here are seven easy ways to make your space (and your life!) more positive.
1. Place Reminders For Positivity Around Your Home
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When it comes to creating positivity in your home, there’s nothing like a direct approach! For instance, I print out and frame quotes that put me in a positive state of mind or remind me of the things that are important to me. I switch out the quotes every so often so I never get too used to seeing any one quote and sometimes I pick quotes especially for a goal or obstacle I’m facing at the time.
As I’ve mentioned before, keeping books out that resonate with you can also be a good way to create positive energy. If a book you read recently really taught you something you want to keep fresh on your mind, try keeping it in a stack on your coffee table, shelf or mantle. It can add to your environment and every time you get a glimpse of the spine you’ll remember the lesson you learned from it.
2. Keep A Good News List
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Sometimes, retaining positivity is all about being able to see the good in life. If you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by bad news, try keeping a whiteboard somewhere in your house where you can keep track of good news as you hear of it; everything from positive news stories, personal achievements or good news from friends or family will help you remember all the good that is going on in the world.
3. Display Photos Of The Things That Matter
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If you’re missing your family, friends or even your favorite places right now, print out photos that remind you of them. Photos make great reminders of our favorite memories which is why they’re one of my favorite decorations. Remembering the times we felt the happiest and the people we love can help ground our present in love, even when those experiences and people feel far away. Gratitude and positivity go hand in hand and taking steps to remember the things and people you love will always keep your outlook bright.
4. Make Souvenirs and Mementos Into Art
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Do you have a tendency to collect souvenirs or little mementos? If you’re the kind of person who ends up with a lot of old postcards, stickers, brochures and other odds and ends and you never know what to do with them, try turning them into art! Instead of sequestering them to drawers, cabinets and boxes, try picking a few of your favorites and framing them for display. It’ll help you see them in a new light and help emphasize some of your favorite past memories, keeping them present in your home.
5. Create Your Own Art
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Creating art of your own to display can always help a space to feel more like you and lead you to embrace more positivity in the day-to-day. Spending time creating something just for yourself can help you focus on what you really want and can be such a good outlet for creative expression. When you hang up art you’ve made, even if it’s not perfect, it can help you feel a sense of accomplishment and pride in honoring the feelings you expressed through the art. This is a really easy and cheap way to create a home that is stamped with your personality and taste.
6. Decorate With Fresh Flowers And Plants
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Bringing nature indoors is always an easy way to lift the energy in your space. It helps incorporate the elements of the natural world that make us feel most at peace and can help boost positivity. You don’t have to have a green thumb to introduce nature to your home! Even grabbing a bouquet from the grocery store the next time you’re out or picking flowers from your yard can fill your space with life. Whether you pick up some artificial vines or press some wildflowers to display, there are so many ways to incorporate nature according to your own style.
7. Watch Your Light
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Natural light can do a lot to impact how positive your space feels. Human beings need sunlight to stay happy and healthy, and of course the bright yellow sun has always been a symbol for positivity. Don’t forget to give yourself access to sunlight even when you’re inside. Make sure your windows are clean and try opening the blinds when you can to make your space brighter. At night, look at the kinds of lights you’re using and think about how they’re making you feel; are they harsh and fluorescent or do you have soft, diffused and warm light? Little choices can help boost your comfort and make your experience at home a happier one.
Positivity is so important. How we see the world impacts how we experience it, and we can achieve the happiness we allow ourselves to have. Our perception is in our control, and there’s nowhere we have more power than in our own homes and spaces. Every time you make a choice to highlight the positive in your home, whether it’s in decorating or just opening the blinds, you’re choosing to affect your world for the better.
Spring is the perfect season to make a change and embrace the new. After coming out of winter, bundling up against the cold and inclement weather and running short on activities and inspiration, it’s always a breath of fresh air to come into a season with new warmth and fresh growth. Spring provides us with some of the best scents of the year and that’s why it’s one of our favorite seasons to stock up on candles. Whether you’re looking forward to bringing out traditional spring favorites like florals and citrus or are looking to try something new, there are so many wonderful spring scents to help draw us out of drab winter and help us celebrate and embrace every day of spring for its rejuvenating energy.
Read below to see our favorite spring candles that you should consider stocking up this season to keep the good vibes coming.
If you’re looking for a comfort food in candle form, you need to check out Voluspa’s Rose Petal Ice Cream candle. Whenever you light it, a gorgeous scent of sweet roses and vanilla cream will waft through your space. It’s the perfect candle for anyone with a sweet tooth or anyone in love with the color pink.
Perfectly sweet and light, the cactus flower scent is a great one to bring some spring warmth and brightness into the season. This candle is such a unique blend and it can boost the energy in any space as sweet matcha undertones waft from this gorgeous opaque jar.
To me, the smell of coconut always signals that it’s time for vacation; it’s the smell of sun, sand, and relaxation. Tiki Beach adds hints of vanilla and orchid for a more rounded out, tropical scent that summons images of piña coladas and daiquiris. If you’re trying to bring a tropical vacation into your home, Tiki Beach is the perfect candle for you.
If the first hints of spring always have you craving a peach iced tea or a fresh fruit smoothie, Fresh Peach & Nectarine is the perfect candle to break out. It’s all bright notes of juicy fruits, sweet without being overpowering or fake. This delicious peachy blend will bring on the nostalgia and make you feel right at home.
Voluspa’s Santiago Huckleberry is a unique scent that I felt lucky to find; it’s a charming blend of berries that perfectly matches its dark magenta casing. If you’re looking for a luscious, fruity smell that’s deep but not overwhelming or if your ultimate warm-weather treat is fresh blackberries, this candle is a must-have.
One of the most welcome changes that comes with spring is the refreshment of a rain shower that leaves the air feeling clear and fresh. This candle has the same effect, smelling of cool, deep clarity with hints of greens and mint. It really does capture the cleansing smell of the air after a heavy rain; if you’re looking for a spring scent that is calming and not sweet or fruity you’ll love this candle.
Lavender is one of the all-time best scents for inviting relaxation and calm. Lavender Tea smells just like its name; a perfect, freshly brewed cup of tea with lavender buds. This mild but delicious scent will float through the room, perfect for afternoons and evenings when you need to wind down.
In the Love WEN candle, a delightful blend of tropical flowers provide the perfect escape. If you like florals but don’t want to be overwhelmed by dense flower scents, this light atmospheric candle will perfectly diffuse into your environment. It perfectly recreates the soft floral scents you’d encounter at a spa, brightened with notes of grapefruit and acai berries.
You can’t have a spring scent roundup without including fresh oranges. The smell of citrus always summons visions of cleanliness and fresh starts, perfect for kitchens, bathrooms, or any other spaces where you need an energy switch or a mood boost. Brooklyn Candle Company’s Japanese Citrus combines all the boost of a citrus scent while deepening it with bergamot and jasmine, creating the effect of an escape to an orange orchard on a faraway mountain.
Vanilla Rosa from Paddywax is a really unique blend of scents; a swirling combination of spices combined with darker, musky undertones of sandalwood and patchouli create the effect of a sultry evening on the coast. As a bonus, Paddywax’s entire La Playa line comes in gorgeous glass containers that summon up imagery of margaritas on the beach and each one is one-of-a-kind!
If you’re seeking a tropical freshness that has lighter notes, Panjore Lychee has a gentle waft of fresh pear and lychee that adds a refined scent to any space without overpowering it. This candle summons up a tropical feel with an unexpected combination of delicious scents.
Sandalwood Rose is a different kind of floral scent. It’s darker, dryer and has a muskiness to it that other rose scents don’t have, summoning up visions of a Southern California desert night. This dry floral is perfect if you’re looking to break from the usual flowery candles but still want a chance to stop and smell the roses.
If your favorite part of spring is getting the chance to walk through a field of bright wildflowers, Peony Bloom is a great choice. It combines blends of soft but distinct blooms, helping to create a lovely bouquet of smells in your home.
From the fresh flowers wafting through the air and tantalizing scents of more tropical climates, the natural smells of springtime can provide so much inspiration to the home. No matter what your favorite part of spring is, a candle on this list is sure to brighten up your day and remind you that it’s the season of change and new growth.
My home has always been my sanctuary, the place where I can be myself and truly construct a world that reflects my personality, needs and desires. You might not have interior design at the top of your mind, but as we spend the majority of our time in our homes due to the pandemic, the truth is that the way our homes look and feel can have a huge effect on our quality of life. Like any aspect of life, it can be easy to forget to examine our homes critically, thinking about the little details that go into them. Designing your home doesn’t have to cost a lot of money or require huge amounts of energy from you; sometimes it can just be about making small choices to incorporate things you love.
Whenever I talk about my philosophy for creating peace in my home, I have to mentionThe Sensual Home by Ilse Crawford. All of my senses are important to me and I need to think about them when I’m looking at any details for my home, whether it’s wallpaper, furniture, art or even carpeting. When I’m choosing blankets, pillows and seating I have to consider my sense of touch and fill my space with things that feel soft, warm and comforting. When I think about walls and curtains and accents, I want colors and patterns that create energy, movement and freshness. When I’m at home I want to truly feel at home, and each of my senses has to be involved.
Pay Attention To Scents
It’s easy to underestimate how important scents can be to your overall experience. Scents can remind us of happier times or help us find peace even in stress. There are so many ways to incorporate scents into your home: incense, resin burners, sprays and diffusers. I love to use palo santo sprays to clear the energy in my home and make it feel fresh and new. I also love being able to light a candle and let my favorite scent waft across the room. Candles in particular are very special because they provide a sense of movement to the space; the flickering light can have the same effect as opening a window and letting sunlight flicker in, warding off stagnation.
If you want to infuse freshness, you can put some lemon or orange slices in your garbage disposal, or squeeze some of the juices into a bath. Eucalyptus oil can also provide a lovely scent to fill a room.
Focus On The Things That Make You Happy
The most important thing to remember is that your home is for you, not for anyone else. You should focus on incorporating elements that make you the happiest. A lot of the art and even the wallpaper in my home is very personal to me and helps to create the kind of rhythmic energy I like as a dancer. I also like to keep framed quotes around my home, changing them out every so often. It’s important to me to keep a sense of the new and to inspire me as I go throughout my day.
I like to keep a lot of crystals in my home— incorporating elements of the earth and of nature help me feel more comfortable. Being from Hawaii, the earth is a big part of my life. I keep a lot of quartz around to provide clarity. Tourmaline provides protection like a shield, so I keep some tourmaline in each of my windows to feel safer.
I love knowledge and I love keeping books around that are important to me. When they’re stacked or lining a bookshelf, the spines can send their own small messages: Think Like A Monk or May You Life A Life You Love aren’t just great books to read but they also help create signals about the way I want my life to look while I’m home.
Curating a home you love doesn’t have to be expensive; one of my favorite pieces is a canvas that I spray painted gold and silver myself. It was originally a painting I made with Fabian and I didn’t like the finished product but wanted to hold onto the memory. Now it’s a great statement piece that has a little story behind it that I can remember whenever I look at it and it’s completely unique to me and to my space.
Don’t Get Overwhelmed
One of the biggest factors in our home that can impact us negatively is just the clutter of daily life. It’s easy to get overwhelmed or feel like our space will never look perfect. An easy solution is just to take things in smaller pieces. You don’t have to take on a huge challenge like cleaning your entire house— if you aren’t able to accomplish it, you can feel like you failed. Instead, just pick a simple achievable task. Clean out one junk drawer and see how much better you feel. If you like to keep your windows open, just clean them as your task for the day and see if that little achievement and the extra light it lets in makes you feel happier in your home.
The House That Cleans Itself by Mindy Starns Clark is a great place to start if you often feel overwhelmed by household chores. I spent years feeling ashamed because I was never able to keep up with my housework. The House That Cleans Itself helped me realize there are different “cleaning styles” that different people prefer. It made me understand that I wasn’t lazy or inadequate, I just needed to learn a different method that was more suited to my personality. Instead of focusing on trying to do everything in a day, I now break up tasks into more manageable parts, and it no longer feels like I’m constantly behind.
Changing your perspective can change your life. Right now our homes might feel a bit constrictive and if we’re unsatisfied with aspects of them those small grievances can start taking over our minds. Making little changes and holding tight to a pride of and love for our home can start to change our outlook and everything else.
I’ve found that one of life’s simplest treasures can be a traipse around the aisles of Target. I always love being delighted by unexpected finds and taking home a new skincare product or pair of cute socks I wasn’t expecting; half the fun is getting to stumble upon something new that you know will make your whole day. We might not be able to get out as much anymore, but there are still plenty of Target treasures to brighten your routine and help you get a dose of self-love. Whether you’re craving a new scent, a more beautiful environment or an addition to your skincare, these undiscovered Target gems are sure to fit right into your self-care regimen.
If you’re a Target fan and a skincare enthusiast like me, you’re going to want to see Naturium’s collection. Founded by skincare expert Susan Yara who runs the popular YouTube channel MixedMakeup, Naturium is affordable skincare at its best. Their products are paraben-free, fragrance-free, and cruelty-free, and they focus on important active ingredients that actually work. If you’ve got the basics down and want to take your routine up to the next level, I recommend trying one of their serums!
Sometimes self-care means popping on a bold lip and going about your day with that added boost of confidence and glamour (even if your day is just working from your couch). The Lip Bar has rave reviews for their matte liquid lipstick, which comes in 14 fun shades. As a bonus, you’d be supporting a black, female owned business!
Putting on a mask before you go to bed can feel like such a luxurious treat. And feeling fancy can cost you as little as $2! Our site editor, Becca, swears by this tea tree & witch hazel-infused mud mask. This great-smelling mixture is sure to clean out your pores and leave your skin feeling fresh.
Is this Target or Anthropologie? You wouldn’t be able to tell looking at this trendy, opalescent candle. Target’s Opalhouse candle collection comes in many scents and colors to complement any room and could be the perfect addition to your desk or nightstand.
If you don’t want to worry about flames, a scent warmer is a great alternative. This one looks like a cute lantern and is small enough to fit in any space while elevating your aesthetic and bathing your room in a soothing warm glow!
A nice pajama set can really make you feel like you’ve got your life together. This one says “I care about style, even when I’m not actually conscious”. It’s also extremely soft and comes in several colors, making it the perfect post-work reward anytime you’re craving a little self-care.
One of my friends introduced me to a wall of socks at Target that are each $1.50 a pair and it was a game changer. They all have cute graphics and puns to match your personality; who wouldn’t smile at that?
Drinking water is basic self-care. But sometimes even remembering that can be difficult! If you’re into sparking water, I highly recommend the flavors from Good & Gather. You might think all types of sparkling waters are the same, but I swear there’s a difference! This kind somehow tastes smoother than LaCroix, and the ginger peach flavor is yummy.
Self-care isn’t just naps and skincare; it can also mean helping yourself conquer the day in style. Getting your week planned out in writing can feel so rewarding! There’s nothing better than crossing things off of your to-do list. These pretty calendars from Cupcakes and Cashmere will help you do it in style!
Kristin Ess is a celebrity hairstylist turned entrepreneur. Her eponymous hair care line offers high-end quality products and tools at Target prices! I love the curling wand, but am excited to try more of her styling products. The packaging is also super cute, which I am a sucker for.
In an era with so much stress and anxiety, being sure to take care of yourself has never been so crucial. Little things like a calming face mask or a cozy new set of loungewear can be a great way to add a bit of love and luxury and remind yourself that you’re worth taking special care of every day. I hope one of these unexpected finds will provide you with the perfect boost of self-care whenever you need it the most.
Back when Carrie Ann and I were working on her first piece on advice for creating a vision board, I was impressed by her love for the process and her investment in the meaning of creating a board like this. She said it wasn’t an attempt to magically manifest things out of thin air, but rather an exercise to make yourself focus on what you want out of life, and create a reminder for yourself. We thought it would be an interesting experiment if I took what I learned from her and used it to make my own vision board.
I’ve never done a vision board before. A lot of the time I feel like I’m allergic to spending time deeply reflecting on myself, and I’m terrible at knowing what I want. I’m still trying to work myself out of a long-ingrained mindset that time spent only on myself is time wasted; I’ve also had a career path that has rarely, if ever, gone the way I planned. Because I’ve never been great at visual design, I have to admit I was also honestly afraid it was going to turn out ugly. I knew this was going to be an interesting exercise, and despite these potential challenges I was excited to see what the process would teach me.
In general I’ve never been much of a visual processor and I’m much more likely to write things down in bulleted lists when I’m trying to figure them out. The closest thing to a vision board I’ve ever made is some collages, so I tried to approach the board the same way. When I collage, I flip through a lot of magazines and cut out any images or words I find interesting or even funny and keep them in a box. Anytime I create a new collage I go to the box and that’s where connections between the random words and images start to arise.
One of my collages.
With this project, though, I knew my approach had to be different because intentionality is the whole point of a vision board. I would have to decide what kind of themes were going to be a part of it before I started hunting for images. I sat down and thought about what I wanted from this year. In past years I think this would have looked a lot more external; thinking about the kind of relationships I wanted, a new apartment, a career I enjoy, but this year my biggest desires were all internal. I wanted to be stronger, happier, more at ease with myself, more confident in my passions and choices. “Strength” was a word that I kept repeating as I looked for images, as well as “happiness” and “confidence.” As I began my search, I kept a lot of Carrie Ann’s advice in mind: look for more vibes than specifics when perusing images, remember to make space for the things in life you’re already grateful for, and above all do whatever feels right to you.
My clippings box.
As I started flipping through magazines, images of strong women kept catching my eye. “Ideally, I would be like this,” I thought. A photograph of Georgia O’Keefe photographing wilderness struck me. “I want to pursue my creative ventures like this.” Jane Fonda brandishing a pistol in her role as a cowgirl in an old movie. Lauren Bacall refusing to shave her armpits back in the 50s. Emma Stone portraying Billie Jean King who fought every day to be no less than exactly who she was. Each one has something I find aspirational and it became clear they were going to be a big part of my vision board. I even found a big photo of a local politician whose campaign had inspired me and reminded me the difference that individuals can make even in the face of huge systemic issues.
While I had planned a good bit before diving in, there were things I hadn’t planned to look for that also started making it into the clippings box. Almost every photo of a scenic hotel view or a sunny beach or a European skyline also called to me. I don’t think I realized how much I missed travel this past year and it’s something I hope for more than anything in the coming year. I printed out a photo I took at the Joshua Tree Airbnb I worked out of for a few weeks last summer as a reminder that just because I can’t book a trip to Rome yet doesn’t mean I can’t keep finding little adventures wherever I am.
In general I’m more of a detail-oriented person than a big picture thinker which means, especially this past year, I’ve often found myself preoccupied with a constant to-do list and bogged down with a never ending bevy of worries. As I started putting together my vision board, I realized how nice it was to take a break from the worries of the present and put all my focus and energy into visualizing an ideal future.
Putting it together.
I found myself collecting little blocks of words or quotes that I thought were powerful and eventually realized that they would make an entire section. Finally, I saved one corner of my vision board just for things that make me happy. A photo of a hairless cat I follow on Instagram, a sketch of Dodger Stadium, a picture I took at my favorite plant shop, Tony Shalhoub at the Golden Globes. I thought it was important to remember how many little things a day bring a smile to my face. Just because they’re little doesn’t make them less important to me.
Final product.
I really liked my finished vision board. When I look at it it gives me the impression of strength, confidence, spontaneity, humor— all things I find in myself at my best times. I think coming out of a different year where we hadn’t all lost so much I might have been looking for different things than simple open skies and a sense of resilience, but here and now I think it represents exactly what I need from (and hope for) myself and the world in the coming year.
If you’ve never done a vision board because you, like me, don’t consider yourself a big picture visionary or a visual processor or you’re unsure about the benefits it could bring, I’d encourage you to try it out. As someone who usually works with words it was freeing to not feel like I had to come up with a verbal explanation for every image I chose; I could focus more on creating a little world out of visuals and vibes and see new connections and themes emerging that would never have occurred to me outright. It was great to get access to a new outlet and spend some time thinking deeply about my own wants and needs for the coming year as well as the parts of myself that I want to encourage and grow. If you’re ever feeling stuck, stagnant, or unsure where to put your energy, creating a vision board might be a great low-stress way to start answering some of those questions for yourself.
Valentine’s Day is historically a time to spend focusing on relationships and the love you share with another person. But this year, why not spend some time cultivating and drawing on the love you have for yourself? Self love can take many forms depending on what’s important to you, whether it’s cooking your favorite meal or giving yourself a quiet moment to read your favorite book. If you’re looking for a special way to celebrate yourself this weekend, there are so many ways to craft a new ritual for self love. From crystals to tea to flowers to meditations, here’s a guide to giving yourself a Valentine’s weekend devoted to self love.
You can use healing crystals for meditation by holding them, placing them nearby or setting them on chakras that need unblocking or a bit of extra love. You can also benefit from their energy just by keeping them in your home in the areas you spend the most time.
Rose quartz is one of the most popular crystals to promote self-love. It has a strong connection to the heart chakra and having some around will remind you to be softer with yourself, making it the perfect crystal to pick up before Valentine’s day. Its nurturing vibrations are sure to nourish and soften your spirit, restoring any weariness.
Rhodochrosite is a stone for compassion and can be used to generate healing love both inward and outward. Using it in your practice can help you relate more towards yourself, forgive yourself for your mistakes, and help move on from scars of the past.
Amethyst is a stone that tends to connect us to a higher, more spiritual plane. Tapping into this energy can help you feel more calm and peaceful, generating more self esteem and self love. It can be especially useful for furthering meditation practices because it encourages you to wade out of the everyday lower-level concerns and look higher.
Use this Valentine’s Day as a chance to fall in love with yourself. Red Jasper is connected to your root chakra, giving you a strong sense of grounding and connecting you to your truest, deepest self.
Amazonite is a crystal that increases confidence and self esteem and surrounding yourself with a piece of it can wrap you in a blanket of assurance and comfort. It’s also a great stone for dispelling anxiety.
Whether diffused, put in a bath, or rubbed on the wrists and temples, there are a lot of ways to incorporate essential oils into your daily self-care routine. Roses have always had a symbolic connection to love and romance, and for good reason. Both the scent and the taste of roses hold incredible warmth and power for us, helping lift our spirits and our confidence while cleansing us of negativity.
Bergamot encourages hope and self-acceptance and can help you tap into your deeper inner courage. It helps clear away emotional pain leaving you clear and full of self assurance.
Every self love routine should include a little love for your physical body. In essential oil form, grapefruit can help awaken you to physical sensations and make you more aware of your body, telling it that you’re checked into it and care about it.
Sweet Orange is one of the most uplifting scents and can provide a boost of energy and esteem especially if you’ve been feeling stagnant or low.
Tea can be a special ritual to promote growth and healing wherever you need it. While many shops can provide specialty blends, simple boxes available in grocery stores can be just as magical if you know where to look. Hibiscus or rose tea with a bit of honey makes for the perfect blend of love in a cup. Chamomile is a comforting dose of self love. Passionfruit tea can help ignite and engage your deeper passion and zest for life. Jasmine tea is often known for its ability to draw and grow spiritual love and connect you to higher vibrations.
If you’re more inclined to shop for tea blends (or make your own), artist and occultist Katelan Foisy has several tea recommendations for different emotional needs and intentions (you can see her full article here). For self love, she recommends: “Hibiscus, roses, rosemary, cinnamon, nutmeg, and some mint. Put a little honey in it and honestly it does taste like love.” This recipe from Good Witch Kitchen is similar, using many warm, delectable ingredients to form a “love potion” that will give you a moment to restore and reflect.
We often decorate and embellish our spaces for special occasions and romantic dates, so why not keep that energy for celebrating ourselves as well?
Flowers are one of the most romantic gestures we have in our culture; picking up a bouquet or two of certain flowers can be a beautiful way to promote self love. Roses are the most common symbol for love and getting a gorgeous bouquet or a garland to hang around your space this weekend might make your whole area feel fresh and full of love. If you’ve never been one for pink or red, you can also decorate your space with bright and beautiful sunflowers that boost your space and emanate pure love. Delicate blue forget-me-nots are a symbol of eternal love and devotion and will also amplify the loving vibes you’re summoning.
Candles are also an easy way to fill a space with a soft and loving aura. Using candles with scents like bergamot, roses, lilac or whatever scent makes you feel the most at home. You can also buy a self love candle from a specialty shop like House of Intuition or Art of the Root filled with essential oil blends and crystals and promote the ritual even further.
Taking a long bath is an act of self-care no matter what, setting time for yourself away from the rest of the world to soak in the love. There are a few scents and ingredients you can add to boost the positive affirmations and make it into a special occasion, whether it’s a simple bath bomb, a few drops of your chosen essential oil, or even following a luxurious bath recipe.
For maximum love, Katelan recommends making a milk bath and filling it with rose petals, honey, lavender and orange peel. You can create a milk bath using regular milk, goat’s milk or coconut milk or even just mixing instant dry milk powder into your bath after it’s drawn.
A Meditation for Self Love
If you’re busy or just running low on time or energy, there are also very simple ways to instill your Valentine’s Day with self love. If nothing else, you can spend 12 minutes recommitting to a loving, compassionate, and empathetic relationship with yourself over the course of this short self love meditation.
The most important element of self love is simply making time to care for yourself as much as you would for any loved one. Whether this means a moment for quiet, some aromatherapy or a warm bath, I hope you find time this weekend to prioritize your most important relationship: the one you have with yourself.
When COVID-19 began spreading, daily life changed for all of us. But for some people, this adjustment didn’t just mean social distancing and working from home. For some, it meant coming to terms with the fact that one of the biggest days of their lives wouldn’t be going according to plan or schedule. We spoke to three people who had their wedding plans go out the window when the pandemic began about how they adjusted, whether it meant postponing or changing everything.
Jami
Courtesy of Jami Baker
Jami and her then-fiancé Bryson decided to plan their wedding and a whole weekend full of fun activities in San Francisco, one of their favorite cities. The late-May festivities would include the couple’s favorite breweries and restaurants and top off with a Sunday brunch. In March when COVID-19 began spreading in the US, the couple quickly saw that their original plans had become impossible to follow through on. “As we kept watching the COVID numbers get worse and worse, we knew what we needed to do,” Jami says. “There were so many more important things to worry about at that time, like our health and our loved ones, that being upset about having to cancel our party weekend felt trivial. We were both working from home, hustling to make sure we were delivering results for our companies and clients, checking in on family, and drinking a lot of wine! Cancelling our wedding was hard and we wish we could have celebrated with all of our friends, but ultimately there was no other choice.” They drafted and sent out an update to their 70-person guest list, letting them know about the cancellation and assuring them that they’d be kept in the loop on future plans. “We want you to know that this does not cancel the love we have for each other or the love we have for you,” the note read. “We hope and plan to still have a celebration with our friends and family when the time comes, and we look forward to seeing and hugging you all soon.”
With their initial plans cancelled, the couple had to decide on their alternative. Jami says that after tossing out one whole set of plans, she wasn’t in a rush to make new ones, especially in such a volatile set of circumstances. “I couldn’t fathom planning another wedding or picking a new date. Planning a wedding is a lot of work no matter how big or small, so at the time I was just disappointed and exhausted.” After some thought, they decided to keep their original wedding date. “We didn’t want to let COVID ruin all of our plans,” Jami says, “so it was important to us to stick with our date.” They drove an hour north to Jami’s parents’ house and Facetimed Bryson’s Massachusetts-based parents and decided that was all the company they needed. “We both had ‘Zoom fatigue’ from all the video chatting we did when quarantine started (and still do for work) so we just wanted it to feel intimate and close,” Jami says.
“As long as you’re with the right person, it all works out in the end— and make sure you have good pizza.”
They took photos in the back yard surrounded by her mom’s beautiful orchids and picked up a box of their favorite pizza. “We decided to write vows to one another and we read each other’s out loud,” Jami says. They ended up congregating in the kitchen to read their vows and later it occurred to them how perfect it was that her last name was Cook and his was Baker. “Only afterwards did we realize a Baker and a Cook got married in a kitchen!” she says. “I have to admit, I went into the day a little cranky, disappointed and defeated, feelings that are definitely prevalent during this time. But we laughed, ate good pizza, had a dance party just me and my husband and ended up having a great night.”
Courtesy of Jami Baker
Jami hopes to celebrate the occasion with their larger group of friends and family once it’s safe to travel and gather again. “We need to be realistic and put the safety of our loved ones first,” she says. “Hopefully we can have a party by the end of next year, or maybe we’ll just celebrate our 3-year anniversary with everyone instead! I haven’t worn my dress yet, so hopefully that will still fit. It definitely won’t be the full weekend of events that we had originally planned, but I’m sure it will be fabulous.” The biggest lesson Jami learned through this journey? “As long as you’re with the right person, it all works out in the end— and make sure you have good pizza.”
Jenn
At the beginning of 2020, Jenn was looking forward to her wedding in May. It would be a springtime garden wedding in New York, at the perfect time of year for their friends with children or careers in academia to come and celebrate their union. Jen and her fiancé had started planning their wedding in 2018 (“We gave ourselves a leisurely amount of time to plan,” Jenn says), giving them plenty of time to make sure every detail reflected their personalities and relationship. Jenn collects vintage pulp fiction novels, so it only made sense to commission an artist friend to design a wedding invitation that resembled a pulp fiction cover featuring herself and her fiancé as protagonists. “I wrote really funny copy on it” Jenn says. “The tagline is ‘a shocking tale of a quiet musician, a mouthy writer, and their life of scandalous equality.'” A blurb on the bottom reads, “She doesn’t cook! She doesn’t clean! She doesn’t even understand C++! What compels this handsome talented programmer to marry… The Feminist Bride!”
The rest of the theme fell into place from there with a thousand thoughtful details: tables decked out with vintage glass bowls and cake stands stacked with pulp novels, a purple wedding dress, a Heroes and Villains motif for members of the bridal party, a twist on the bouquet and garter tosses where the couple would throw plush carnival prizes to the crowd with gifts attached that were symbolic to each of them. Their registry included non profits they’re passionate about and their reception would have opportunities for matched donations as well. “We wanted to make everything we could have meaning for our community and our values,” Jenn says.
Just two months away from the big day, the world started to change forever. On March 6th, Jenn went to try on her wedding dress. On March 7th, she and her fiancé started quarantining to do their part to stop the spread in New York, one of the places hit first by the pandemic in the US. The next few weeks were difficult as the couple tried to predict what the coming months would bring. “That whole first week we were feeling so guilty about the potential of postponing— what about other people who had nonrefundable airfare or had taken time off from work?” Initially, many were still convinced the world would be back to normal in plenty of time for a May ceremony and it put Jenn in a quandary. “There were so many unknowns. Do we postpone and lose a lot of money and all this work and time and effort? If we don’t postpone are we endangering people?” By March 15th, they made the decision to postpone their wedding by a year. “It was a huge relief once we made that decision but it was still very emotional.”
Now after a year in quarantine, the circumstances are different. Jenn and her fiancé are now postponing their wedding, which they had rescheduled to May 2021, by a whole additional year. Because they’ve already paid for their garden venue, it only leaves them with so many options. “We live in New York and have a garden wedding so there’s only so many times that makes weather sense. We can say maybe it’ll be safe by January of next year, but who wants to go to a garden wedding in January?”Jenn says there’s no way they’d do a ceremony without their community, and they aren’t willing to gather their community while there’s still any chance of endangering a loved one. She and her fiancé are already domestic partners and enjoy the legal benefits of marriage; the entire point of the wedding, to them, is to involve their chosen family in an important milestone. “For us,” she says, “the wedding isn’t just about marrying our life partners, but it’s also about having this bonding experience with our community of chosen family. The wedding is an investment in our friends and community.” Because of this, they’re holding all their fun wedding plans until they’re able to safely involve their community. “We didn’t just want to have a legal ceremony and have a party later, because we’ve already done the legal thing. We went down to city hall a couple of years ago, signed some papers and all of a sudden, bing bang boom, we’re domestic partners, so it was kind of anticlimactic. It wasn’t a particularly romantic experience, it was for legal reasons. We were committed to each other but we wanted the wedding to be the emotional thing, and we wanted the emotional thing to be a part of our community.”
“After this much isolation for this long, it’s going to take a buffer period to bounce back and feel more like ourselves.”
Jenn says a big hurdle in thinking about a future wedding now is the emotional disconnect. She says that even if they were somehow able to safely make their second date, she’s not sure she or her partner would be emotionally prepared after such a hard year. “We were in the 4th hardest hit neighborhood in Brooklyn. We lived in the absolute heart of the pandemic. The reddest of the red spots. There was a two month period where you’d wake up in the morning, you’d hear an ambulance siren, you’d go to sleep, you’d hear an ambulance siren, and you’d never stop hearing them between. So I don’t really have the heart to be thinking about, ‘Let’s go for a dress fitting, it’ll be so fun.’ It’s hard to be a person who’s committed to community and making the world a better place while trying to plan a life-changing event event that’s supposed to be emotionally gratifying and fun and ‘yay.’ Who has the heart for ‘yay’ right now?” She and her partner haven’t left their apartment since that day they started quarantining on March 7th. “If somebody said that in mid-April someone would snap their fingers and everyone would be immune to COVID, would we even be ready emotionally to have this joyful moment of connection with ourselves and our community when we haven’t been out of the house? After this much isolation for this long, it’s going to take a buffer period to bounce back and feel more like ourselves.”
On top of the strain of isolating, Jenn was also exhausted from her experiences trying to educate online circles about COVID safety and precautions. When planning her wedding, Jenn had connected with several wedding planning groups online and grew concerned when she saw that many circles weren’t taking the virus seriously. She hoped to use her experiences, and the example of her city who hadn’t responded to the threat in time and was overwhelmed, to appeal to others who could still take steps to protect themselves and their communities. “Everyone in my circle was taking it seriously but I had access to all these strangers who were going on like nothing had changed. I spent so much time arguing for social responsibility and basic viral containment and basic care for others that could help keep people alive.” She said having these kinds of conversations online took a toll. “The pushback I got from those folks… I had a breakdown. I’m still working my way back from that.”
Ultimately, Jenn and her fiancé know that postponing their wedding, for however long, is the right thing to do because neither of them can imagine having a ceremony without their community there to celebrate with them. Neither Jenn nor her partner has much family, and because of that their bonds with friends are even more significant. “For us a wedding is much much more than decor and venue and all the details that people seem to care so much about on Instagram. Don’t get me wrong, I have a really fun set of things planned, but it wasn’t about that for us. We’re older. I’ve been fiercely independent and waited until I really wanted to marry the person whom I’m marrying. We’re not in our early 20s and we don’t care as much about the trends or trappings as much as we care about a community-centered bonding experience. We’re both people with very small families and this is the kind of rite of passage that people usually experience with their families and we can’t really do that in the way most people do so our chosen families are it for us, in addition to the few relatives that we have.”
Amory
Courtesy of Amory Davis
In early March 2020, Amory and her then-fiancé Woody were feeling victorious after finally finishing their seating charts for the wedding reception they had planned on March 28th. “I was actually really excited about having fit that puzzle together. It made it a little more tangible that we literally had our seating chart and we knew everybody who was going to be there and where they’d be sitting.” What they didn’t realize was that in just one week, everything would be different.
On Wednesday March 11th, the NBA cancelling their season was the first big sign that their wedding was in danger. Amory and Woody decided to fly to North Carolina from New York as quickly as possible— they used that Thursday to borrow a friend’s car and move Woody’s belongings into the Brooklyn apartment they’d be sharing after the wedding and on Saturday morning flew into Raleigh. Later that day they sent out an email to their guests recognizing that some might not be comfortable traveling for the wedding and included an updated RSVP form. On Sunday they got news that the Governor of North Carolina had banned any events over 100 people and by Sunday night the CDC had recommended banning any event over 50. “That was the final straw,” Amory says. “It felt like the rug was being pulled out from under us bit by bit and that was the final bit that left us with no other option besides cancelling our wedding as we had planned it.”
On Monday morning, they emailed their guests to notify them that the wedding was officially cancelled. “That day we had to call all of our vendors and cancel everything. So Monday was our ‘cancel our wedding’ day, Tuesday was our ‘plan our new wedding’ day, and Wednesday we got married.” Their new date was based solely around the small number of the couple’s family that would be able to attend: ultimately the party was made up of their parents, Woody’s brother and Amory’s sister. The idea of postponing was floated, but ultimately they decided they didn’t want to wait. “We were so close to our wedding anyway, we just wanted to get married. It was pretty clear it wasn’t going to clear up anytime soon so it seemed like no matter what, unless we waited potentially a very long time, it was going to be a small family wedding. So we just tried to schedule it around our family.”
Courtesy of Amory Davis
After running the gauntlet of cancellation emails to friends and vendors, Woody, Amory and their parents got to work planning a wedding in a day. They called a local florist and were told they could have some bouquets and flowers for the bridal party by noon the next day. Amory’s mom decided to pick up a fancy strawberry cream bundt cake in lieu of one she had planned to bake herself. “That was the most delicious cake I’d ever had, so that ended up being a really fun decision.”
Amory says that, for all the stress and disappointment, the new wedding plans did offer her one thing: freedom, and hugely reduced pressure. “Once we adapted to the situation, it really was an extremely low-pressure wedding. I had been really nervous about walking down the aisle and being the center of attention with so many people and I really didn’t have a single thing to be nervous about on the day of our wedding. It was a really comfortable time. I think my mother-in-law called it ‘the freedom wedding,’ just because it was free of all pressure and we could kind of do whatever we wanted.” Another nickname, “Our Guerilla Wedding,” arose when it came time to lock down a new location. When the couple called their favorite park about making a reservation to have their new ceremony, they were told reservations had been halted due to the lockdown. Thankfully, one helpful employee told them that if they showed up, nobody would kick them out. “We ended up getting a ‘wink wink’ from a park that couldn’t give us an official reservation.”
It felt like the rug was being pulled out from under us bit by bit.”
Hours before the wedding, one thing was still weighing on Amory: the potential absence of her older sister and maid of honor, who wasn’t sure she could get off work to make the six hour drive for the new ceremony. Amory had already accepted that her brother and sister-in-law, who live in Texas, wouldn’t be able to be there in person and were Skyping in. “I had already adjusted to a lot of disappointment and already adjusted to my brother not being able to come, but my sister who was my maid of honor and the only non-parental family or friends who would be able to come besides my parents… When it looked like she wasn’t going to be able to come either I think that was the hardest part of the entire ordeal.” The thought that Amory wouldn’t have anyone to stand beside her at her own wedding was almost too much to bear. “I woke up on my wedding day very sad, which was my biggest fear all along.” Luckily, a few hours later Amory’s sister called her from the road, telling her she was able to make it after all. “I got a call from her the next morning crying and saying that she couldn’t miss it and she would be there, and that kind of redeemed the day.”
Amory was thankful to have such a beautiful, if unexpected, venue for her new special day. One significant blessing of the new wedding was that Amory’s father was able to walk her down the aisle. “My dad has limited mobility, and at the bigger event and at the outdoor venue on the grass as we had originally planned he didn’t think he’d be able to walk me down the aisle. When our plans changed and there were so few of us and it was a really short, even pathway he was able to walk me down the aisle. That was a really precious thing to come out of all of this.” Amory says she and Woody discussed live streaming their ceremony to all their initial invitees, but Amory decided to embrace the opportunity to have a low-stress, intimate day. “I felt very strongly after such an emotional week that if we were going to have a small intimate ceremony, I just wanted to have that small intimate ceremony and not have to worry about anything else. I still feel really good about that decision for myself.”
Courtesy of Amory Davis
Amory and Woody always planned on having a celebration with friends and family whenever it was safe to do so, but the timeline for it has shifted as COVID continues to sweep through the country. “We’ve started holding that plan a little looser. I would still like to have some sort of wedding celebration with our extended family and friends but I no longer have a time limit on it. I definitely want to have a celebration but I really don’t want to be stressed out about planning it. So I’m in no particular rush at this point. We’re already past the immediacy.”
When she looks back at her wedding day and holds it against her plans, Amory feels a mix of gratitude and grief. “It’s definitely a mixture because there’s part of me that thinks that as the world gets more normal again, if I go to other people’s big weddings I have a feeling that I’ll be a little sad if we don’t ever get to have that sort of gathering. But at the same time the actual memories of that day are really sweet.”
For as long as I can remember I’ve lived with animals and been responsible for their wellbeing. When I was a child, my chores would always include making the coffee and feeding our cats and dogs. I can still remember sitting on my roof most nights, listening to palm trees sway and the tides change in the quiet company of our two cats Snowflake and Tiger. My love for animals, and my understanding that one of my purposes on this world is to make sure they are cared for as best as I’m able, has only deepened in adulthood. It’s such a blessing to me when I have the opportunity to give a rescue pet a chance at a better life, whether it’s through fostering or adopting them myself or just providing resources to place them in a loving home.
There’s a special place in my heart for cats with special needs, maybe because I’ve had so many chronic health issues and understand exactly what it means for someone to take care of you even when it’s hard. I currently have three dogs and two cats, all rescue pets.
Here are the current members of my rescue family, who have returned the love I’ve shown them in quantities I can’t even measure.
Peanut
Peanut is my 15 year old chug, or chihuahua pug mix. She’s the undeniable leader of the pack, keeping everyone in line and out of trouble. She fell right into my lap, literally. Access Hollywood asked me to help promote a few adoptable rescue pets, including Peanut. I agreed, and Peanut sat in my lap and shook like a leaf as we filmed. A week later Access Hollywood called to tell me the other two dogs from the segment had been adopted but Peanut was still available. When they asked me to make another post promoting her, I decided to bring her home instead.
When I found Peanut I already had my first rescue dog, a boxer named Cookie. Cookie had been treated poorly in her life and I had been struggling with finding the best way to help her feel loved and safe. As soon as she met Peanut, Cookie started to open up more and our new addition gave her the love and company that I so badly wanted for her life. These days Peanut has become the boss of everything she sees and after so many years I think she’s earned the right.
Lola + Buddy
I first saw a photo of Lola and Buddy in an email from Mary’s Little Lambs Animal Rescue. The message explained that these two had been found on the street together but were going to be split up and sent to separate foster homes. I looked at the way they were leaning on each other in the photo. They’d been through so much and only had each other; they were just two impossibly cute street rats looking for a chance. I felt certain that the two of them had to stay together no matter what, and a few days later Lola and Buddy became members of my family.
Lola has congenital neck problems, which is common for dachshunds. Because of this, she can have trouble with leashes and harnesses, and more often than not she takes her walks from the comfort of a stroller. This pair of rescue pets changed my life forever and fill my home with love.
Reb
Many nights before I go to bed I look through emails from pet rescue foundations looking for opportunities to help animals- sometimes I help cover medical costs or rehabilitation fees to get animals to the places where they have a chance at a full and happy life. Reb was a feral cat I was sponsoring; he was receiving medical care so that he could eventually be relocated to a farm. This is often a great way to take care of feral cats; they still get to have their freedom and a purpose but have access to food, water, and veterinary care. One day the vet called me to tell me that Reb hadn’t been eating and they were afraid they might lose him. I came to the vet’s office in pajamas and slippers and took him home with me. He had been wrapped in four blankets because he was swiping at anyone who tried to feed him.
After days of sitting with him in my office, I finally got him to eat some chicken baby food off of my finger. I had been going through a breakup and wasn’t looking for another rescue pet but it was clear Reb was here to stay. For a month straight I would spend time with him every day, just the two of us, gaining his trust and making him feel safe. Finally one day I let my cat Mimi into the room and he sprinted right to her and kissed her. Reb was home.
Sophie
One morning on a walk a couple of my friends found a little grey kitten in the engine of a car. When kittens get separated from their mothers they need a source of heat and many of them end up hunkering down in cars where the engine keeps them warm. My friends asked me to foster her and I agreed; at 5 animals already I definitely didn’t need another permanent addition. The second Reb locked eyes on her he pulled her to him with one of his paws and started cleaning her. I already knew Sophie would be staying with us. Reb and Sophie are still inseparable and can often be found cuddling in a sunbeam.
There’s something so pure about the bond between people and their rescue pets. They’re an infinite source of love, and I believe an animal knows when it’s been rescued. I’m grateful for every animal that passes through my life. The love they fill my house with is one of life’s greatest gifts.
Mimi
Many people got to fall in love with Mimi through my social media over the years; she was a much beloved member of my family, and we tragically lost her last September due to health complications. I met Mimi when I was helping out on a show for Heaven on Earth Society for Animals. Mimi was found on the street with a broken nose and ulcers on her face, a former house cat who had joined a feral colony. The team at Heaven on Earth told me that the stress of being in shelter environments, even in nice places, can be hard on animals with health problems. They thought that, because I have chronic illness as well, that we might be the perfect pair. She was right; Mimi was always a blessing and had a unique gift for lifting my spirits every day. Mimi was a very special cat; it was impossible not to fall in love with her. We called her Mimi Vader because her chronic sinusitis gave her a constant rattling snore. Mimi was one of the friendliest cats in the world, always ready to greet new friends with her peculiar purr. She changed the minds of so many people who are unsure about black cats and she’ll always have a place in my heart.
Pet Rescue Organizations I Work With
Adoptions and fosters are up in record numbers as people look for the comfort and love of an animal companion during this time of uncertainty and isolation. If you’re considering adoption or looking for ways to get involved I can recommend these organizations with my whole heart. You can search for adoptable animals and shelters in your area here.
One thing that’s harder to come by in the days of quarantine is a genuine brush with wildlife. Nature is such an important part of life, but while many of us stay at home we remain disconnected from a lot of the natural world and all the restoration and inspiration it can provide. Luckily, many wildlife preserves, aquariums and zoos have live cams that allow us to bring that experience to our own everyday. Whether you want to watch a zoo animal eat its lunch in your own home or just experience the sounds of nature while you work, a live wildlife or zoo cam can be a great way to inject a little excitement and stimulation into your daily routine. We may not be able to travel and visit many of these animals in person, but we can still appreciate and enjoy them.
Nothing inspires as much peace and majesty as the ocean, and the Aquarium of the Pacific gives you the perfect opportunity to benefit from that beauty. Watching fish swirl around this gigantic tank is the perfect way to unwind or take a break from your work-at-home responsibilities.
If you love to birdwatch but don’t have a good feeder setup at home, this live cam feed straight from Panama can help provide you with bright birds and nature sounds twenty-four hours a day.
I often find that the sound of waves crashing help me to unwind or focus. This live feed of some of the best waves in the world will be the perfect addition to your desktop if you feel the same way. The Banzai Pipeline in Hawaii is coveted for its surf-able waves, and now you’ll be able to watch the tide come in (and even spot the occasional surfer) no matter where you live.
If you love to see the beauty of a shark swirling around a tank, this eye-catching live cam from the Aquarium of the Pacific is sure to captivate you for hours.
There’s no animal quite as loveable or enchanting as a panda bear, and thanks to the Wolong Panda Center you can invite them into your home. The sight of pandas playing with toys and cuddling is sure to brighten any workday.
If your workday is feeling stagnant, why not take a break to go on your own virtual safari? This live cam gives you the opportunity to look in on an African watering hole and witness all the animals who wander through, from baboons to cheetahs to warthogs.
Tune in for the Monterey Bay Aquarium’s live narrated feedings at 11:30PST Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, or any other time to experience the gentle swaying kelp forest and diverse fish species of one of the most impressive aquarium exhibits in the country.
The sound of lapping water combined with clear skies and mountain range in the background make this feed the perfect one to leave on for a moment of peace.
Use the Smithsonian Zoo’s live cam to check in on their cheetah cubs who regularly curl up in this den after playing outside. The zoo advises you to turn your sound up so you don’t miss their purrs!
This world is full of beauty and interesting experiences. Just because we’re not able to go out and see as many of them doesn’t mean we can’t still benefit from them virtually. Whether you’re in the mood for a quick trip to the cheetah exhibit or want to spend an hour watching an aquarium swirl around you, live cams can be the perfect way to remind yourself of all the experiences we can still have even while we stay safe at home.
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