Ninety-five percent of my vacations have been with my family. Only one has ever been a vacation with my friends. Pretty sad.

It gets sadder that there’s likely never going to be another friends vacation for us. We’re in the stages of life that include careers, engagements, marriage, and babies, which often makes it difficult to arrange time, even weekend getaways, to see each other. Unfortunately, that’s the sad truth of life and growing up. 

Let me tell you one of the joys I find in the world – ART. Art matters, and art about place brings incredible happiness. I have long followed our Artist of the Month, Candace Rose Rardon, for just this purpose – moments of joy. Candace is an extraordinary writer, sketch artist, and illustrator with a passion for connecting with the world through art.

Unexpected Texas: have you been to the Piney Woods area of East Texas? East of Dallas, it boasts culinary treasures that are worth a visit. I travel for food - do you? If so, you'll find sweets, award-winning BBQ, global cuisine, and farm to table creativity and innovation here.

Need a gift for a new graduate? Interested in helping your international students eat when the caf is closed? Teens and college students are HUNGRY - and don't always know how to make food while in college. Enter a new book by Christine Nelson, entitled Recipes Every College Student Should Know.

Recipes Every College Student Should Know & Oatmeal In a Mug Recipe

Jessica George can’t remember a time when she didn’t know how to sew.
 
“There are 5 kids in my family and one of the ways my mom kept all of us busy was by doing crafts – so I was always crafting,” recalls George, who grew up near Cleveland. 
 
In college, George studied industrial design with the intent to go on to create toys, perhaps for some big-name company. She took time off before completing her studies to volunteer in underserved communities just outside Buenos Aires in Argentina.
 

Rebecca Schuman, Ph.D., is the author of the comic memoir Schadenfreude, A Love Story: Me, the Germans, and 20 Years of Attempted Transformations, Awkward Miscommunications, and Humiliating Situations That Only They Have Words For. She studied abroad in: Germany (1995, 1997); Czech Republic (2004, 2006); Austria (2008)