Do Your Laundry or You'll Die Alone


Book Description

The perfect gift for grads—and their mothers! As Becky Blades prepared to send her firstborn daughter off to Harvard, it occurred to her how much she still needed to learn. About dreams. About life. About laundry. Do Your Laundry or You'll Die Alone is the frequently poignant and always true collection of advice your mom might've forgotten to give you, like: · Good posture is slimming · Multi-tasking doesn't always save you time · Don't heat-dry your delicates Blades also reminds us that "it's okay to outgrow your dreams," and to "make something every day." A perfect gift for mothers and daughters to share.




Start More Than You Can Finish


Book Description

Master the art of the start with this new way of thinking, with exercises to help you unleash your ideas and create more. In Start More Than You Can Finish, writer, artist, and entrepreneur Becky Blades offers a powerful new mindset for our modern world: acting on more ideas makes us happier – and reveals our highest creativity. She empowers readers to become "stARTists"– initiators with a bias for action and the courage to ignite ideas and introduces the concept of "stARTistry," spotlighting the 4-step starting process: 1. Imagine 2. Think 3. Decide 4. Act Using digestible data, humorous and honest personal experience, interviews with artists and entrepreneurs, and assignments to help you get started, Start More Than You Can Finish challenges the tropes our dads, moms, and third-grade teachers told us about finishing. In today's world, we must, in fact, start more than we can finish. FOR READERS OF: Start, Do Work That Matters, Show Your Work!, Do It For Yourself, and The Creative Curve A BOOK FOR RISING CREATORS: A plucky non-fiction creative muse, Start More Than You Can Finish is a guilt-busting pep talk. It’s Austin Kleon meets Elizabeth Gilbert and Julia Cameron meets Daniel Pink. AN INTRODUCTION TO stARTistry: Get familiar with power of creative initiative and the 4-step process that moves ideas from imagination to action. Reminiscent of NaNoWriMo (No Plot, No Problem) and Listography. ESTABLISHED AUTHOR: Becky Blades speaks and teaches on the topic of creativity and has written articles for Oprah.com, McSweeneys, Live Happy, and others. GIFT + SELF PURCHASE: An encouraging gift for a friend, family member or colleague struggling with their creative confidence, or an empowering gift for yourself – to give you the tools to act on your ideas. Perfect for: • Fans of Austin Kleon, Elizabeth Gilbert, and Julia Cameron, Daniel Pink • Creators struggling to begin a new project • Recent graduates embarking on a career of entrepreneurship or the arts • Artists and entrepreneurs looking to build creative courage • Adults searching for creative inspiration • People with passion projects in mind who might not know how to start




You’re Gonna Die Alone (& Other Excellent News)


Book Description

A refreshingly honest, wonderfully humorous, and entirely inspiring exploration of change, fear, and what it really means to be alone from everyone’s favorite TikTok oracle, Devrie Donalson. Dear Reader Just Doing Your Best, I can’t say I know a lot, but my life has been one of many lessons. The small amount of wisdom I’ve managed to collect while the universe desperately chased me down, clobbering me with things to learn while I scurried around like a little rat dodging feet to reach an abandoned slice of pizza on the street, I now happily share with you. I’ll tell you about my junior high soulmate, my haunted house, and running away to Scotland to lose my virginity. I’ll tell you about my ardent belief in the power of cheese, the rules for attending my funeral, and my struggle to reconcile feminism with Brazilian bikini waxes. I’ll tell you about my greatest failures and the many ways I suffered because of my fear. I’ll tell you about my greatest triumphs and exactly how I figured out how to become a person I am proud of. If you’ve ever felt the visceral fear of being abandoned or the anxious anticipation of impending change, you might find something here like hope or validation. If you’ve ever wondered if you had it in you to start over, or if you’ve found yourself questioning what you’ve always believed, you might find a road map to navigating both. I hope you find in these pages a little laughter, a little healing, and permission to be okay. I hope you find the courage to embrace sudden change. I hope I can convince you to reimagine what it means to be alone. Sincerely,Devrie




I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die


Book Description

A compassionate, shame-free guide for your darkest days “A one-of-a-kind book . . . to read for yourself or give to a struggling friend or loved one without the fear that depression and suicidal thoughts will be minimized, medicalized or over-spiritualized.”—Kay Warren, cofounder of Saddleback Church What happens when loving Jesus doesn’t cure you of depression, anxiety, or suicidal thoughts? You might be crushed by shame over your mental illness, only to be told by well-meaning Christians to “choose joy” and “pray more.” So you beg God to take away the pain, but nothing eases the ache inside. As darkness lingers and color drains from your world, you’re left wondering if God has abandoned you. You just want a way out. But there’s hope. In I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die, Sarah J. Robinson offers a healthy, practical, and shame-free guide for Christians struggling with mental illness. With unflinching honesty, Sarah shares her story of battling depression and fighting to stay alive despite toxic theology that made her afraid to seek help outside the church. Pairing her own story with scriptural insights, mental health research, and simple practices, Sarah helps you reconnect with the God who is present in our deepest anguish and discover that you are worth everything it takes to get better. Beautifully written and full of hard-won wisdom, I Love Jesus, But I Want to Die offers a path toward a rich, hope-filled life in Christ, even when healing doesn’t look like what you expect.




How to Not Die Alone


Book Description

A “must-read” (The Washington Post) funny and practical guide to help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams. Have you ever looked around and wondered, “Why has everyone found love except me?” You’re not the only one. Great relationships don’t just appear in our lives—they’re the culmination of a series of decisions, including whom to date, how to end it with the wrong person, and when to commit to the right one. But our brains often get in the way. We make poor decisions, which thwart us on our quest to find lasting love. Drawing from years of research, behavioral scientist turned dating coach Logan Ury reveals the hidden forces that cause those mistakes. But awareness on its own doesn’t lead to results. You have to actually change your behavior. Ury shows you how. This “simple-to-use guide” (Lori Gottlieb, New York Times bestselling author of Maybe You Should Talk to Someone) focuses on a different decision in each chapter, incorporating insights from behavioral science, original research, and real-life stories. You’ll learn: -What’s holding you back in dating (and how to break the pattern) -What really matters in a long-term partner (and what really doesn’t) -How to overcome the perils of online dating (and make the apps work for you) -How to meet more people in real life (while doing activities you love) -How to make dates fun again (so they stop feeling like job interviews) -Why “the spark” is a myth (but you’ll find love anyway) This “data-driven” (Time), step-by-step guide to relationships, complete with hands-on exercises, is designed to transform your life. How to Not Die Alone will help you find, build, and keep the relationship of your dreams.




Do Your Laundry Or You'll Die Alone


Book Description

When Becky Blades sent her firstborn daughter off to Harvard, she knew the world's top ranked college would not be covering the most important material: How to be kind, happy and appropriate in public; how to protect oneself from sock monsters, boring conversations and scary dates; why to keep the clothes clean. Just in time for her youngest daughter's graduation from high school, Blades illustrated the prose with her signature mixed media artwork, creating a thought-provoking, conversation-starting book. With warmth, wit, and a hint of motherly sass, the book blends bite-sized morsels of coming-of-age common sense such as "Keep at least one stuffed animal," and "A bad attitude makes your butt look big," with tiny essays on topics like forgiveness and phone etiquette. The perfect gift from mother to daughter or from friend to friend, Do Your Laundry Or You'll Die Alone is wise counsel for women of all ages, reminding us to trust our instincts and to show our dreams who's boss.




How to Die Alone


Book Description

There’s an entire industry built on the idea of helping people to push hard and succeed in love, work, fitness, and finances. But what about those people who would so much rather stay home and eat pizza with the cat while binge-watching Netflix? Who’s telling them that it’s OK to be a couch potato? Blair, that’s who. The creation of cartoonist and stand-up comic Mo Welch, Blair is the awkward, self-deprecating, totally relatable anti-heroine who already has 65,000 followers on Instagram and an animated show on TBS Digital. Now Blair is the face, the voice, and the attitude of How to Die Alone, the perfect self-help book for not helping yourself—and a funny, irreverent gift for millennials struggling to “adult.” Forget winning friends and influencing people—here’s advice on how to win the Worst Friend Award instead, including: Always be late, never offer to drive (anywhere), and treat your friend’s kitchen like an open bar. Plus the ins and outs of terrible dates, permission to eat cookies instead of going to the gym, and how to treat your job like the inconvenience that it is. It’s the genuinely funny, tongue-in-cheek guide to just saying no.




Second Firsts


Book Description

Presents a guide for dealing with grief and loss, detailing five steps of healing that can lead to a lifestyle alignment with personal values and new possibilities for a re-engaged life. --Publisher's description.




The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning


Book Description

*The basis for the wonderfully funny and moving TV series developed by Amy Poehler and Scout Productions* A charming, practical, and unsentimental approach to putting a home in order while reflecting on the tiny joys that make up a long life. In Sweden there is a kind of decluttering called döstädning, dö meaning “death” and städning meaning “cleaning.” This surprising and invigorating process of clearing out unnecessary belongings can be undertaken at any age or life stage but should be done sooner than later, before others have to do it for you. In The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, artist Margareta Magnusson, with Scandinavian humor and wisdom, instructs readers to embrace minimalism. Her radical and joyous method for putting things in order helps families broach sensitive conversations, and makes the process uplifting rather than overwhelming. Margareta suggests which possessions you can easily get rid of (unworn clothes, unwanted presents, more plates than you’d ever use) and which you might want to keep (photographs, love letters, a few of your children’s art projects). Digging into her late husband’s tool shed, and her own secret drawer of vices, Margareta introduces an element of fun to a potentially daunting task. Along the way readers get a glimpse into her life in Sweden, and also become more comfortable with the idea of letting go.




It's The End of the World and I'm In My Bathing Suit


Book Description

A hilarious new middle-grade from Justin A. Reynolds that asks: What happens when five unsupervised kids face the apocalypse under outrageously silly circumstances? Twelve-year-old Eddie Gordon Holloway has concocted his most genius plan ever to avoid chores... especially the dreaded L-A-U-N-D-R-Y. If he can wear all the clothes he owns, he'll only have to do the laundry once during his school break. On the day of the highly anticipated Beach Bash, Eddie's monstrous pile of dirty laundry is found by his mom. And Eddie's day has just taken a turn for the worst. Now he's stuck at home by himself, missing the bash, and doing his whole pile of laundry. But mid-cycle, the power goes out! With his first load of laundry wet and the rest of his stuff still filthy, he sets out to explore the seemingly empty neighborhood in his glow-in-the-dark swim trunks, flip-flops, and a beach towel. He soon meets up with other neighborhood kids: newcomer Xavier (who was mid-haircut and has half his head shaved), Eddie's former friend Sonia (who has spent her entire break trying to beat a video game and was mid-battle with the final boss), and siblings Trey and Sage (who are dealing with major sibling drama). As they group up to cover more ground and find out what happened, they realize that their families aren't coming back anytime soon. And as night falls, the crew realizes that they aren't just the only people left in the neighborhood, they might be the only people left... anywhere.