The days keep ticking by. There are only 97 days left in the year, a fact which has me slightly reeling, but also has me feeling reinvigorated with purpose and clarity. I’ve been asking myself how I can make these 97 days count the most, and prioritising putting time into my dreams. Otherwise, they’ll never come to fruition!

I don’t know about the weather where you are, but it has definitely been cooling down in NYC. I picked up a Michael Kors white leather jacket (similar) the other day and have been wearing it practically non-stop. If it’s chilly where you are too, go make yourself a cup of tea and read through this lot!

I’m totally loving these 101 travel tips. There’s plenty of new information in there, even for hardened travellers!

Paul Jarvis wrote the short and sweet guide to video interviews. Essential reading for bloggers and wannabe media darlings!

50 ways to be ridiculously, shockingly generous — and feel ridiculously, shockingly good. Thanks, Alexandra. You always bring the goods!

How does Diane von Furstenberg start her day? By sending out an email that doesn’t benefit her at all. How fabulous is that?

On bullshit jobs:

Huge swathes of people, in Europe and North America in particular, spend their entire working lives performing tasks they secretly believe do not really need to be performed. The moral and spiritual damage that comes from this situation is profound. It is a scar across our collective soul. Yet virtually no one talks about it.

How can we change bro culture? This piece has some ideas.

Would you ever go to a toilet-themed restaurant? I’m not sure I would…

We’re immensely proud to count Justine Musk among our blogcadettes. She just turned 41 and here are 41 things she knows for sure.

I enjoyed this: 6 Lessons From Yoga That Will Help You Create A Fulfilling Business.

Check out this assortment of sculptures on the beach!

These compilations of historic NYC crime scene photographs — a mix of “then” versus “now” — are great. Plus, it’s always nice to be reminded that life went on before you!

DANGER! Chocolate fudge in a jar! A recipe so easy even I could do it.

An abandoned elevator shaft hides secret museum in NYC. This is wonderfully bizarre. Its treasures include the shoe that was thrown at George Bush!

Secrets of supremely happy people.

According to psychologist Peter Kramer, resilience, not happiness, is the opposite of depression: Happy people know how to bounce back from failure.

My friend Ruby from The Numinous (which you need to check out!) tweeted this article, Take Your Body With You, on the temptation to avoid all “impure” earthly things on the path to being spiritual. It is gorgeous.

God or spirit isn’t waiting somewhere outside the world, cheering you on to escape this mortal coil, but rather is present in every particle of creation. Everything is not only alive, but soaked with divinity, dunked in “god-ness” or “goddess-ness.”

More good stuff from Ruby: she interviewed Gabrielle Bernstein about her style and I love the results! Here’s a great piece on practical magic, too.

Madonna did an Ask Me Anything on Reddit and it was, of course, amazing. (Plus, Snoop Lion wades in to comment. I mean… !!!)

Becoming a meme and what it all means.

I’d like to stay in all 8 of these treehouse hotel rooms. Won’t you join me?

Very interesting: The Top 7 Online Marketing Trends That Will Dominate 2014.

You can always count on Danielle Meder for a damn good piece. Cool Front/Hot Mess is all about the new fashion scene.

The reason fashion feels so stagnant at the moment is because it is always the same people writing about the same designers dressing the same celebrities. … The people who think change is the problem never seem to consider that change is their problem. … When people say that fashion is doomed, they are admitting only that fashion is moving on without them.

Do you believe in the power of no?

Here are six ways to grow a “brand you” business, from Fast Company.

Why do productive people have empty schedules? Love. LOVE!

More brilliance from Alexandra Franzen: sorry, “working on a novel” is not a business model. True that!

How to Get Flat Abs, Have Amazing Sex and Rule the World in 8 Easy Steps. Thanks to Eva for flicking this one through!

Have you ever wondered why successful people don’t want to mentor you? Related: using small barriers to avoid kooks.

This enterprising author sold a million self-published books… !

This enormous read on Eyes Wide Shut is absorbing and brilliant.

What does it really cost to write and publicise a book?

The ultimate college challenge to fool my kids into not going to college.

We always say at The Blogcademy that commenting culture has changed. Here’s proof.

I love this feature on my friend Betsy: Spirit in the material world.

Dinner with a psychic twist! Wowsers.

Are you really your own boss? Here are some great ways to more efficiently manage yourself.

Harsh but eye-opening writing tips from great authors.

Erica Jong’s novel, Fear of Flying, is now 40 years old. Does it hold up?

Did you catch the weird Kimmel skit that makes fun of Kanye and Kanye’s response? Here’s why Kanye is right.

I loved, loved, loved what Tara Stiles had to say about shopping to impress others.

Brooklyn Bridge Park is getting a rollerskating rink!

I enjoyed this experience: What planet are you on?

When deciding who to spend time with, ask yourself, “Is there stillness within this person?”

Here are 10 Fast Ways to Become a Better Writer (Even When You’re Burning the Midnight Oil and Can’t Afford an Editor Just Yet).

Wow. Corey Feldman knows how to party…

Here’s why you need to become an independent publisher.

In Japan, the elderly are holding their own funerals.

A night in the cheapest hotel in Manhattan. Or so he says. This one is $10/night.

“You need to build an ability to just be yourself and not be doing something. That’s what the phones are taking away, is the ability to just sit there. That’s being a person. Because underneath everything in your life there is that thing, that empty—forever empty. That knowledge that it’s all for nothing and that you’re alone. It’s down there.”

Have a great weekend, babe!