Author: Editor

This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Luana Ribeira, founder of Dauntless PR. It has been edited for length and clarity.Little about my relationship with Al is traditional. For starters, Al was my former husband’s best friend. After my husband and I divorced, I moved to Portugal, where Al was living. I was planning on spending time with Al as a friend, but the second time we hung out, he called my ex to say, “There’s something here.” Luckily, my ex gave his blessing.I started dating Al soon after, in 2017. In 2020, we moved to the UK,…

Alexa Occhipinti’s family has been through a lot in their home. Loading audio narration… Occhipinti, 34, and her husband, Doug Occhipinti, bought their house in Sacramento in 2020, where Occhipinti works at the Sacramento County Department of Technology. It became the backdrop to huge milestones in their lives: getting engaged, married, and welcoming their two children. The Occhipinti family. Alexa Occhipinti As their lives have evolved, so has the house. For instance, Occhipinti turned a second-floor loft into a bedroom for her son, helping to move their home from an adult-focused space to a kid-friendly one.And in December 2025, Occhipinti…

“Either we give this a real shot, or we don’t,” my husband said during one of our nightly phone calls.By that point, we’d been together for five years (off and on) and married for one. We’d skipped all of the ceremony and quietly wed at City Hall. It felt quick, in part, for practical reasons — I could get on his health insurance, and know where he was when the United States Navy sent him out on deployment.Shortly after we eloped, we returned to our separate lives, connected only by a nightly phone call and occasional visits. He went back…

Money doesn’t buy happiness, but some of it could help you afford a happy community.A recent WalletHub study ranked 182 of the largest US cities based on the happiness of their residents, using a range of factors, including income.”Research shows that having more money only increases your happiness until you’re making at least $75,000 per year — anything more you earn likely won’t have an impact,” WalletHub analyst Chip Lupo wrote in the study.As such, the study used a yearly income of $75,000 as a benchmark for happiness and measured the share of households that make more than that a…

Aisha “Pinky” Cole, the founder of the fast-food chain Slutty Vegan and the newest cast member of the coming season of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta,” said on Thursday that “business debt” drove her to personal bankruptcy. Loading audio narration… Testifying under oath during a meeting of creditors in her bankruptcy case, the 38-year-old entrepreneur said she had personally guaranteed much of her business’s debt, prompting creditors to pursue her for repayment.”The creditors were coming after me,” said Cole, who is set to star in Season 17 of “The Real Housewives of Atlanta” next month.Cole launched Slutty Vegan in 2018…

When I was 21, I fell in love for the first time. Loading audio narration… Tim and I met online before it was cool. An avid fisherman, sports fanatic, and gifted salesman, he wasn’t my usual type — but he was charming, funny, awkward, and sweet. I fell for him, hook, line, and sinker.There was only one problem. Tim lived in Minneapolis, and I lived in Chicago.We made long-distance work for as long as we could. On the rare weekends I wasn’t waitressing, I traveled to Minnesota for ice fishing and bar hopping. When Tim’s schedule allowed, he visited me…

Oil futures climbed in early trading on Sunday as the US and Israel’s war with Iran entered its third week, disrupting the global supply chain. Loading audio narration… Brent oil reached $106.33, up nearly $3 from when the market closed on Friday. West Texas Intermediate hit $101.19 on Sunday.For Americans, surging oil prices mean spending more at the pump. The national average price for gasoline hit $3.69 on Sunday. Gas prices have surpassed $3 in all 50 US states for the first time since 2023.The International Energy Agency said last week the war has caused the largest oil market disruption…

Jimmy Kimmel took several digs at CBS and President Donald Trump while presenting two awards at the Oscars on Sunday. Loading audio narration… While announcing the nominees for best documentary short film, Kimmel took a swipe at CBS over free speech.”As you know, there are some countries whose leaders don’t support free speech. I’m not at liberty to say which. Let’s just leave it at North Korea and CBS,” Kimmel said.His remark appeared to allude to several recent controversies at CBS, including the network’s decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” a move some lawmakers have questioned as…

We spent New Year’s Eve wearing paper crowns at a cozy New England restaurant that felt like a living room. The owner stopped by our corner booth while he worked the room; our friends, who run their own bakery, slipped away to say hi to some regulars. Loading audio narration… My husband leaned over and said, “I love this.”The year before, we had been wall-to-wall at a roller-rink club in Brooklyn. Although we had a good time, sitting in that small-town restaurant — watching fireworks over the river — felt like exactly where we were meant to be.There was no…

Kalshi’s legal battle with states is heating up. Loading audio narration… Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes on Tuesday filed criminal charges against the online gambling company — a first for the company that lets people bet on real-world events, from who will win a pro sports game to the weather.Mayes’s 20-count filing against the prediction market platform includes 16 charges of operating an unlicensed gambling business and four charges of election wagering.”Kalshi may brand itself as a ‘prediction market,’ but what it’s actually doing is running an illegal gambling operation and taking bets on Arizona elections, both of which violate…