u/Wonderful_Mango_5395

Ok looking for some specific weird girl books that will resonate with me.

I want realistic contemporary fiction only, no fantasy elements.

An underdog type protagonist, that might be:

Not conventionally attractive or average looking

Not successful in career/ life

Not confident or self assured

Maybe living in the shadow of more attractive confident women

Feeling lonely or down on herself

I've read Eleanor Oliphant which was okay; The Maid and Convenience Store Woman which I didn't love because the characters were too confident and okay with their weirdness lol. Also read Eileen, it was okay but don't remember it making a huge impression.

As a kid/ teen I loved Judy Blume, and would love a grown up character like Margaret.

On a lighter side I very much enjoyed Becky in the Shopaholic series (tho she's definitely not lacking confidence but she is hilariously self deprecating) and Rachel from Something Borrowed, and both sisters from Jennifer Weiner's In Her Shoes. Also enjoyed the protagonist in The Wedding People, however the other characters and storyline ended up a little boring.

Any others I should take a look at?

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Okay I'm getting really depressed getting bombarded with facelift content everywhere I look.

I'm 43 with great skin but unfortunate facial structure (weak jaw, flat cheekbones but heavy cheeks) that's causing severely premature lower face sagging.

I get it, nothing works except a facelift; but at this point I cannot, in good conscience, go through with the cost, risk and recovery of a facelift and that's not likely to change anytime soon. I won't get into further reasons (going abroad etc) so no advice on that end please.

I am just seeking out other women in the same boat to commiserate with. Lower face laxity. Terrible nasolabial folds. Facelift not on the menu. But you still care about looking good and aren't doing the "aging is a privilege so I'm fine being a bog witch thing either". I'm just so depressed reading every other comment being, 'I'm just saving for a facelift", "I tried a few things and then just got a deep plane" etc etc. it's majorly triggering my dysmorphia and fomo so I just don't want to see any of these comments on here please.

I am open to anything that's an in and out visit, is under say $2K per year, and doesn't involve sitting through a long period of active pain (ie Morpheus or anything else people compare to a hot staple gun on your face. When you need to be talking about bringing a fan and some juice so you don't faint from the pain, that's when I'm out lol).

I already get forehead and dao Botox and have been contemplating chin filler as my recessed one is also contributing to jowls, but still scared to pull the trigger.

I've also seen mixed reviews of filler in nasolabials - some say never do it but lots seem to say they did it and love it, so happy to hear either version.

If facelift isn't in the cards for you either nor were you blessed with perfect genetics - please share what you are doing and what results you are seeing, thank you ladies!! 🙏🙏

I feel like the early 2000s were the golden age of light women's fiction, with Sophie Kinsella, Emily Giffin, Jennifer Weiner, Jodi Picoult, Liane Moriarty. Their success spawned off so many copycats but the vast majority of them just weren't good and diluted the genre into a gaggle of these overly fluffy cartoony formulaic stories with brightly colored covers.

I've been trying to sift through and find good ones for the last several years and haven't had much luck. I just started The Wedding People and it's hitting the spot, and I'm looking for more along the same lines. Lighthearted, cozy, with some humor but not like it's trying to be a bad standup in print form, with actual character development and insight. Or more serious is good too just not trite. For instance Kristin Hannah and Colleen Hoover have very much been hit and miss, more miss than hit due mostly to predictability and cliches. Read most by the authors mentioned above and find their newer stuff is also not as good as the originals. Some of my favorites were In Her Shoes, Something Borrowed, Fly Away Home, the Shopaholic series, House Rules, Hypnotists Love Story. Also really enjoyed Broken Country by Claire Leslie Hall, and most stuff by Catherine Ryan Hyde. I'd love more of that style - warm, comforting, sentimental, understated. Something that leaves you with a warm fuzzy feeling. It doesn't even specifically have to be women focused, family relationships or coming of age stories etc are welcome but with the same type of feel. NO: fantasy/ scifi, period/ historical, no themes of cancer or war.

Please suggest any gems in these categories, thank you!🙏

This sub is weird about adding model photos so can't show what I mean but I'm sure you all know the style: the lady in the south of France somewhere heading to the market with her basket; or picking flowers and frolicking in the fields. These flowy, loose, romantic dresses blowing in the breeze. Usually midi length with an a-line silhouette, more fitted on top but still loose with short sleeves and a small v neck, from a light almost sheer cotton or gauzy fabric, white or pastel or striped.

I love the idea of that look. However inevitably whenever I see it in fashion communities they are said to be shapeless unflattering sacks. Especially as a petite curvy woman, I'm finding that whenever I try them I look like I'm wearing my grandma's nightgown, an Amish cult member or mental hospital escapee. But I see other women wearing them and looking chic and effortlessly feminine. What am I missing to make this look work??

My son forgot his iPad Pro M5 in the seat console on a United flight. We reported it to United right away and they claim not to have found it yet it's been two weeks. It has no cellular data and was last connected to wifi at the airport . When we open Find My on my MacBook at home the last seen location is showing at the hotel we were staying in, and not even at the airport (when it was last connected to Wi-Fi.). He couldn't connect to the Internet on the plane so figured that was why, but I learned that Find My devices can track the location anywhere as long as there are other Apple devices connected to Bluetooth nearby, and even when it's powered off for the newer models . Does anyone know why it's not showing the last location at least before the battery died, and is there any hope of locating it?

Basically the title. Long time sahm in my forties, degree in communications and publishing but very little work experience nearly twenty years ago and have been doing freelance writing from home since. Its fine but pays almost nothing and I'm honestly a bit tired of it and as kids are older now and I have more time I want to explore doing something else. We are doing fine financially and I will still be relied on to run things at home so looking for part time/ flexible and personally fulfilling rather than just making a buck any way I can.

However I am not sure where to go. I feel like corporate is closed off to me at this point I've been out of it too long and it's too cutthroat. Teaching or medical billing etc are usually the things SAHMs are told to do but I don't want to do either. I'm willing to do some extra training but not to invest a ton into an all new degree.

Ideally I would like something where I am offering a service to clients on my own terms rather than working for an organization. But just looking for ideas I may not have considered because I'm a bit stuck.

Things like, that I've been considering:

Postpartum doula

Nutritionist

Meditation/ wellness etc teacher

Infant nanny, however the rigid full time schedule most positions require might be tough

Life coach

I would be interested in teaching some sort of adult education classes, but they all require a master's and I only have a bachelor's and don't feel doing a MA right now would be a worthwhile investment.

I feel there is more along the same lines I'm not thinking of so wanted to brainstorm. Oh and I'm not good with animals and not a confident driver so nothing with either of these. I would love to work with women in some capacity - new moms, older women or whatever.

Ideas?

My situation:

42F

Long time sahm with BA degree and background in journalism/ copywriting however I am not interested in a business related to that field

Relatively high earning spouse meaning high tax bracket so any investment and revenue from a business would need to be worth the time and effort accounting for that. Looking for small one person operation scale nothing with major investment, facilities needed etc.

What I have:

Some degree of capital to invest however keeping it very very low on the risk scale

Time to invest, including completing a course/ certification if needed

Access to affluent suburban clientele, lots of upper class families with lots of children, busy lives and disposable incomes

Good sense for people's needs, intuition, good sense for fashion, styling, decor, aesthetics, ability to curate the right image with branding etc

Some knowledge of fitness, nutrition, psychology, child development, but no professional credentials in any of these

What I don't have:

Any sort of physical/ manual/ crafts skills

Not tech or mechanics savvy

Not good with numbers

Not a super confident driver

24/7 availability outside the home as I am still responsible for my kids outside school hours, that said they're old enough now that I can have some flexibility around that

Please throw out all and any ideas you have I don't care how outlandish, I want to hear things I may not have considered. I am looking for ideas that are unique enough to have a market. In a pre Amazon world I may have considered something like a clothing boutique but now this is oversaturated. Not interested in content creation/ influencing either for similar reason (also don't have a great video presence)

*I am not looking for suggestions on getting a job or different career training etc to work outside the home. looking for something that would be on my own terms and fulfilling. Financially we are doing fine, but as I have more time now I would like to explore doing something else with my life and bringing in a little extra money*.

I'm a long time sahm with older kids and now that I have more time I want to explore doing something else with my life but that will allow me flexibility still to handle stuff at home.

I have a communications degree and have been doing some freelance writing from home but I'm bored with it and it pays almost nothing. I want to do something where I can use my strengths - I have a great sense of style, good intuition, ability to find almost anything shopping wise, I can create a good aesthetic (but not good at making social media content so not that). I was exploring some sort of personal stylist course but it just seems like a losing battle in a place like Seattle. I was thinking maybe combining it with some sort of life coaching gig - like working with women teaching them how to get in touch with their true selves and how to match what they look like on the outside to the inside if that makes sense. But I don't know how much demand there will be for that? And while I have a bit of money I could invest, I don't want to be shelling out a grand a month for an office space and i don't have a private enough space to use at home.

Any thoughts, ideas? Maybe a business niche you would want to see here as a BWT lol?

We're flying into Chicago for the first time this weekend, I have a boat tour booked for Saturday noon through Viator and right now the forecast is showing thunderstorms right at that time. Wondering if anyone knows what that looks like, is it going to be rainy as well, would they cancel the tour if its stormy? Or should we play it safe and see if I can reschedule on my own? Not excited to tour if its raining lol

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I'm so confused about filler.

I have a similar face shape to the before pic and at 42 am both too young for a facelift and it's likely not ever in the cards for me due to a variety of reasons.

With the world being the way it is I'm not planning for what I'll do with my face in ten or twenty years from now, I'm just praying I'll stay healthy enough to still care. But I want to look good NOW while I'm still not in my fully invisible years.

I keep seeing before and afters of jawline/ chin filler and so called "non surgical facelifts" like above which look amazing and is exactly the result I want. I had a consult with a dermatologic surgeon and their clinic had similar photos and he told me that it would have good results for me and counterintuitively would make the lower face more snatched and defined as I was worried about adding more volume when its already heavy. I have a weak recessed chin and full cheeks that are sagging down into jowls.

Yet on here I keep reading that filler is a huge no no when you're dealing with an already full lower face and it's just going to add volume and puff up and drag everything down.

At the same time I've also read comments from women who actually had it done and some seem extremely pleased with their results and it looks similar to above, however there are also some horror stories.

I'm so confused and don't understand how it can be such a polarized experience. I mean obviously the clinics want to sell their services but are they blatantly lying in these photos or are these results not typical? Or are the bad results rare or is it luck of the draw? I don't understand.

Note: *PLEASE SAVE YOURSELVES THE TYPING OF "JUST GET A FACELIFT" . I KNOW ITS THE BEST SOLUTION, JUST NOT FOR MY LIFE RIGHT NOW. I WANT REAL FEEDBACK ON CHIN/ JAW FILLER *ONLY**