6 Hobbies For Couples That Can Strengthen Your Relationship

Feeling bored doesn’t have to mean you don’t love your partner anymore. It’s probably just the right time to find something new and interesting to do together. Taking up a new hobby is one great way to start.

It will give you something new to talk about. It can give you and your partner a fresh perspective, too.

If you are curious to know, take a look at these six hobbies for couples that you can try out today. They might just bring you and your partner closer together.

Cooking

cooking together

Whether it is Japanese or French, learning a new cuisine can be loads of fun for couples. It’s not only enjoyable and creative, but it can also let you learn new things.

Taking a class is an excellent way to start. If you don’t want to leave the house, there are many YouTube video tutorials and online classes you can check out at little or no charge. With a little practice, you’ll soon be able to try new and intriguing recipes.

Cooking together provides an excellent chance to take charge of your health. Besides, every chef needs an assistant, so it makes a perfect partner activity.

Physical Training

There are a variety of sports that are best done with a partner. Biking, running, weight-lifting, yoga and hiking are great examples.

Picking something that is fun and challenging for both of you will give you the opportunity to really support one another. It will also give you the chance to better your health and achieve things you never thought possible before.

Who would be better to cross a finish line with than the person you love the most?

With physical training, you’ll get the satisfaction of having pushed yourself to new heights as well as being able to form a deep connection with your partner.

Language

Learning a new language is one the most difficult yet useful things you can do.

Have you ever thought about traveling to another country?

If yes, then pick a place that interests you both. Once you have selected a place, you can begin doing your research. You can use online programs, software and apps so you can learn that country’s language from the comfort of your home.

You and your partner can learn and practice together. It won’t be long before you can say “I love you” in another language.

See Also: 5 Tips to Learn Languages by Reading Foreign Books

Games

fun relationship

It may sound like child’s play, but learning a new game is an excellent way to keep your mind sharp. You can try board, video or online games.

Most of these games require a lot of thought and strategy to master. These things can help build important relationship skills, like communication and respect. It can also teach you a lot about teamwork, too.

See Also: Video Games and Relationships: A List of Pros and Cons

Dancing

Whether it is ballroom or hip-hop, dancing is a rewarding pastime, especially with a partner. Learning choreographed moves to music helps build coordination, mental acuity and physical health. Doing it with someone you love makes it all the more fun. Dancing can also be very sultry and romantic. This can bring you closer both physically and mentally.

Building or Refinishing Projects

Maybe you have an old piece that needs updating already. If not, take the time to scour garage sales or flea markets with your partner and find cool items that you can update. Hunting for that hidden gem is a great activity to do together.

Even if they have no place in your home once done, you may be able to sell them again for a profit. Engaging your creativity along with your partner’s and then working toward a common goal, will bring you closer.

Conclusion

No matter what your hobby of choice is, having something that you can do as a couple can help deepen your relationship. Remember, hobbies for couples don’t have to be expensive. There are lots of tutorials you can find on the internet.

Hobbies can be therapeutic in general and, for a couple, that can translate to a stronger and happier relationship. Who knows, you may even discover some interesting new things about each other or yourself that you never knew before.

The post 6 Hobbies For Couples That Can Strengthen Your Relationship appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Church Located in Taichung City, Taiwan Designed by JYCArchitect + DCDAssociates

Located in Taichung City, Taiwan, this church has a small congregation located right next to the Shuinan redevelopment zone. It covers an area of 1,350 square meters and was designed in 2016 by the architectural firm JYCArchitect + DCDAssociates, by a team formed by Jing-Yao Chang, Hsuan-Ya Kao, and Yu-Cheng Lin. Its interior is subdivided into areas, and so we find that the first level houses the auxiliary space, while..

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Summer Home located in Halkidiki, Greece

This small construction, designed for a client that wished to have a tiny summer home, is located in Halkidiki, Greece. It is a low-maintenance home and it is surrounded by a vast field of olive trees. It has wonderful views over the sea and beyond, towards the famous monasteries of Mount Athos. The project is highly experimental and employs cutting-edge digital CAD/CAM technology in an innovative way. All building components..

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3 Practical Driving Tips To Save You Money On Gas

How far away do you live from your job? Ten minutes? Thirty minutes? An hour?

If you live far from your job or if you drive a lot, these fuel efficient driving tips will liberate you from spending precious minutes and dollars at the gas pump.

I’ve collected my own data to compile this list to ensure that you’ll come up with the same money-saving results I got. Take note that the more aware you are as a driver, the better results you will reap from this information.

I’ve had these tips put into practice with my own driving for years and saved hundreds of dollars on gas money.

Have a steady foot

You may not have heard of a steady foot, but how about a lead foot?

A lead foot is not ideal for gas mileage because the throttle is linear. What do I mean by that? Simply put, the harder you press the gas pedal, the more fuel is sent to the engine and burned up.

You’re never going to see that fuel again.

Being too aggressive with the throttle will use up your gas quickly. Instead, be light with the pedal. Never put it all the way to the floor. And if you really want to save gas, don’t even go past halfway.

You might be thinking, “I wish there’s some gauge or instrument that can help me out with this.”

Well, there is!

It’s called the tachometer and it’s the second large gauge next to the speed. Here’s a picture of it, the one with numbers 1 through 8.

car tachometer
Via commons.wikimedia

Also called the RPMs (revolutions per minute x 1000), this gauge basically measures how hard the engine is working. The higher the number displayed on the tachometer, the more fuel is being used to move the car forward.

So, it’s easy to see how lower RPMs makes for less fuel consumption.

To keep the RPMs low, work on being easy with the throttle. As I put it before, have a steady foot.

My rule is to always keep the RPMs below 2000 or 2. Although I speed up quite slower than everybody around me, I am saving a ton of gas in the long run by doing this every time I start.

Prepare for the hills

saving fuel

For most of us, our daily driving doesn’t consist completely of flat road. To be more realistic, we have to throw in some hills, dips and slopes.

So, how do we prepare for this kind of terrain?

Think back to when you were a kid riding your bike down a hill. You could fly down that thing with no effort while still being fast.

Well, it’s the same thing for your car.

When you see a hill coming, slowly begin to accelerate enough to compensate for the hill but don’t exceed 2000 RPMs. Upon reaching the hill, adjust back to normal cruising RPMs. Try to keep it as low as possible. Personally, I aim for 1250. Your goal is to have the speed back to whatever your cruising speed was before the hill.

Note: I would not use cruise control unless you are on flat roads. The car’s computer does not anticipate terrain and therefore cannot adequately prepare for it.

Of course, the result you can get from this tip will depend on the size of the hill. After you reach the top, you can use the downhill slope to gain speed without using any gas.

Basically, you need to ride it like a roller coaster while using the gas pedal as little as possible.

Don’t use the brakes so much

On today’s roads, everyone is constantly driving bumper to bumper. Not only is this dangerous, but it wastes a ton of gas as well.

Be the smart driver on the road. Allow for plenty of room between yourself and the guy in front of you.

Why?

How many times have you approached a stop light and started braking 15 feet before you reached the light? You came to a screeching stop at the line only to realize that the light turned green and you need to start your car again.

There’s a big problem with this.

Your car uses a whole lot more energy to get going from a standstill. So, by stopping and starting constantly, you’re essentially throwing away gas.

Instead, as you approach a red light, start coasting as you get nearer. It will take you longer to get to the light and it may even turn green while you’re coasting towards it. This way, you won’t waste gas by starting your car from a full stop. Do this continually and you’ll be able to save a significant amount of gas money.

There are a ton of ways to save money on gas, but these are the most fuel efficient driving tips in my experience. Put these into use and start using that gas budget on more fun things!

The post 3 Practical Driving Tips To Save You Money On Gas appeared first on Dumb Little Man.

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Small Cabin located in Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park

This small cabin, measuring only 47 square meters, and which appears to hide between the mountains and the snow, is located in Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park and was designed by the architectural firm Moxon Architects. Located in the grounds of the client’s highland estate, it provides a space for entertaining guests that takes full advantage of its scenic surroundings. It was the client’s wish to create a space with the..

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July 14th

I address you all tonight for who you truly are: wizards, mermaids, travelers, adventurers, and magicians. You are the true dreamers.

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The 12 Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee You Should Know

You’re reading The 12 Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee You Should Know, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

BENEFITS OF coffee

Morning consumption of coffee aids us going throughout the day and provides us with higher energy levels. But there are plenty more benefits of consuming coffee. Yet there is always a debate: Is coffee good for you or bad for you?? Reading reviews on the coffee maker and wondering if coffee is beneficial for health? Read more for some interesting, scientifically proven, benefits which show that coffee is beneficial for health.

1. Coffee enhances energy

Coffee possesses an element known as caffeine. After the body absorbs the caffeine, it is transmitted to the brain. Caffeine inhibits neurotransmitter known as adenosine, causing an increase in levels of dopamine and norepinephrine giving a boost to certain areas of the brain, thus providing you with a burst of sustained energy.

2. Adding coffee to your diet plan

Caffeine is used in every supplement to burn fat. Coffee reduces fat by increasing metabolic rate by 3 to 11 percent. It is one of the rare natural substances used to burn fat as well as increase metabolic rate. Although, this effect will decline in consumption in the long term, it’s a a great way to kickstart your goals.

3. Enhances corporeal potential

Here’s some more good news: the intake of coffee rises in adrenaline boosting physical energy. The nervous system is stimulated by the caffeine, which causes adipose cell which breaks down causing body fat to also break down releasing fatty acids as fuel. The vigorous corporeal exertion our body gets prepared for after drinking coffee is due to increased adrenaline levels in the blood. It’s essential to have coffee 30minutes before the gym.

4. Aids in combating depression

Psychological illness reduces the excellence of life. 350 million people around the world suffer from depression. Studies have proven that coffee combats depression and therefore reduces the risk of suicide.

5. Reduces chances of Type 2 Diabetes

Individuals who consume coffee are less likely to develop this disease, which affects 30 million people all over the world. Researchers found out that coffee drinker’s possibility of getting diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes decreases.

6. Reduces cancer risks

Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells in any body organ and one of the leading causes of death. Coffee has proven to defend against colorectal and liver cancer. Researchers have found out individuals consuming coffee have 40 percent lower rate of cancer of the liver.

7. Cup filled with vital nutrients

It’s a cup packed with vital nutrients not just a cup to sit back and enjoy. It contains vital nutrients such as potassium, B2 Vitamin, magnesium and B5 Vitamin.

8. Decreased possibility of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s is the most prevalent disease, occurring because of the demise of neurones that generate dopamine. It’s essential to focus on Parkinson’s disease prevention as it has no proper cure. Consuming a cup of coffee a day reduces chances to 60 percent, although individuals consuming decaf don’t have reduced risk of the disease.

9. Defends the liver

The liver is a vital organ performing essential functions, but sadly the liver can be affected by many diseases such as fatty liver disease, cirrhosis etc. In cirrhosis, a large scar tissue replaces the liver. Individuals who consume more than four mugs of coffee have reduced risk up to 40 percent.

10. Healthy heart

The surprising fact is coffee prevents diseases related to heart and reduces the risk of stroke. The assumption is that coffee causes a rise in blood pressure. New studies now confirm that these ideas are false. Although there is claim by researchers that there is reduced chances of stroke and of heart diseases in women.

11. Increase life expectancy

It’s obvious by now, since coffee lowers the chances of getting certain diseases, it also helps an individual to live longer. Several studies now support the finding that coffee drinkers have a lower chance of early death. In men, the risk is lowered to 20 percent while 26 percent for women.

12. Pro driving

It’s believed that drinking coffee aids in driving better. The majority of accidents on roads are caused by fatigue or drowsiness. A study in Netherlands concluded that population who consume one cup of coffee rated their driving as more responsible and maintained driving momentum preferable.


Edna Francis is a professional content writer, digital marketer and contributing editor who is working on many blogs like http://ift.tt/2kvDhdi. Apart from the blogging activity, she has a deep passion for singing and has performed at the National level.

You’ve read The 12 Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee You Should Know, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2vjq90T

The 12 Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee You Should Know

You’re reading The 12 Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee You Should Know, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’re enjoying this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

BENEFITS OF coffee

Morning consumption of coffee aids us going throughout the day and provides us with higher energy levels. But there are plenty more benefits of consuming coffee. Yet there is always a debate: Is coffee good for you or bad for you?? Reading reviews on the coffee maker and wondering if coffee is beneficial for health? Read more for some interesting, scientifically proven, benefits which show that coffee is beneficial for health.

1. Coffee enhances energy

Coffee possesses an element known as caffeine. After the body absorbs the caffeine, it is transmitted to the brain. Caffeine inhibits neurotransmitter known as adenosine, causing an increase in levels of dopamine and norepinephrine giving a boost to certain areas of the brain, thus providing you with a burst of sustained energy.

2. Adding coffee to your diet plan

Caffeine is used in every supplement to burn fat. Coffee reduces fat by increasing metabolic rate by 3 to 11 percent. It is one of the rare natural substances used to burn fat as well as increase metabolic rate. Although, this effect will decline in consumption in the long term, it’s a a great way to kickstart your goals.

3. Enhances corporeal potential

Here’s some more good news: the intake of coffee rises in adrenaline boosting physical energy. The nervous system is stimulated by the caffeine, which causes adipose cell which breaks down causing body fat to also break down releasing fatty acids as fuel. The vigorous corporeal exertion our body gets prepared for after drinking coffee is due to increased adrenaline levels in the blood. It’s essential to have coffee 30minutes before the gym.

4. Aids in combating depression

Psychological illness reduces the excellence of life. 350 million people around the world suffer from depression. Studies have proven that coffee combats depression and therefore reduces the risk of suicide.

5. Reduces chances of Type 2 Diabetes

Individuals who consume coffee are less likely to develop this disease, which affects 30 million people all over the world. Researchers found out that coffee drinker’s possibility of getting diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes decreases.

6. Reduces cancer risks

Cancer is an abnormal growth of cells in any body organ and one of the leading causes of death. Coffee has proven to defend against colorectal and liver cancer. Researchers have found out individuals consuming coffee have 40 percent lower rate of cancer of the liver.

7. Cup filled with vital nutrients

It’s a cup packed with vital nutrients not just a cup to sit back and enjoy. It contains vital nutrients such as potassium, B2 Vitamin, magnesium and B5 Vitamin.

8. Decreased possibility of Parkinson’s disease

Parkinson’s is the most prevalent disease, occurring because of the demise of neurones that generate dopamine. It’s essential to focus on Parkinson’s disease prevention as it has no proper cure. Consuming a cup of coffee a day reduces chances to 60 percent, although individuals consuming decaf don’t have reduced risk of the disease.

9. Defends the liver

The liver is a vital organ performing essential functions, but sadly the liver can be affected by many diseases such as fatty liver disease, cirrhosis etc. In cirrhosis, a large scar tissue replaces the liver. Individuals who consume more than four mugs of coffee have reduced risk up to 40 percent.

10. Healthy heart

The surprising fact is coffee prevents diseases related to heart and reduces the risk of stroke. The assumption is that coffee causes a rise in blood pressure. New studies now confirm that these ideas are false. Although there is claim by researchers that there is reduced chances of stroke and of heart diseases in women.

11. Increase life expectancy

It’s obvious by now, since coffee lowers the chances of getting certain diseases, it also helps an individual to live longer. Several studies now support the finding that coffee drinkers have a lower chance of early death. In men, the risk is lowered to 20 percent while 26 percent for women.

12. Pro driving

It’s believed that drinking coffee aids in driving better. The majority of accidents on roads are caused by fatigue or drowsiness. A study in Netherlands concluded that population who consume one cup of coffee rated their driving as more responsible and maintained driving momentum preferable.


Edna Francis is a professional content writer, digital marketer and contributing editor who is working on many blogs like http://ift.tt/2kvDhdi. Apart from the blogging activity, she has a deep passion for singing and has performed at the National level.

You’ve read The 12 Health Benefits of Drinking Coffee You Should Know, originally posted on Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement. If you’ve enjoyed this, please visit our site for more inspirational articles.

http://ift.tt/2vjq90T

Our Little Racket

Angelica Baker’s Our Little Racket is a massively ambitious debut novel about the fallout from massive ambition coupled with unbridled greed. Her tale of the human wages of capitalism run amok explores how the malfeasance and meltdown of an investment bank that was one of the pillars of the financial industry — think Lehman Brothers in 2008 — affects its longtime CEO and his family. To chart the damage, Baker spreads her narrative’s wealth between five women in Greenwich, Connecticut: the CEO’s coolly elegant wife and feisty teenage daughter, their two purported best friends, and the family’s Ivy League–educated nanny.

Our Little Racket takes its title from Anne Carson’s “Little Racket”: “I can hear from their little racket, the birds are burning up and down like holy fools . . . don’t keep saying you don’t hear it too.” But its concerns — with old money versus new, the powerlessness and helplessness of women whose positions rise and fall with their husbands’ net worth, and the moral implications of extreme wealth — come from Edith Wharton.

In lieu of New York society, Baker takes aim at Greenwich’s elite (though not the Russian billionaires who have taken up residence more recently). Among the targets most squarely in her sights are the over-groomed, over-educated, under-occupied women who have outsourced the care of their children and obscenely opulent gated estates to hired help. She has a bead on the telling details, from iced tea garnished with sprigs of basil to a private, in-home shopping party that spares these trophy wives the awkwardness of having to seek their latest luxury fix of jewel-toned stilettos and bead-encrusted gowns in public so soon after the financial collapses that devastated so many investors. This scathing description, from the nanny’s point of view, of the scene along Greenwich Avenue captures Baker’s tone:

It was a mommy playground, and by midafternoon all the frustrated energies of these underutilized women had them trolling this street in droves. They prowled the boutiques and the juice bars, quaking with everything they had but could not use. The Ivy League educations they’d been allowed to pursue, matriculating when they did, in the wake of feminism’s second wave. The endless pluckings and bleachings and injectings that left them in a perpetual state of both tranquility (no wrinkles) and surprise (unnatural eyebrow arches) but also seemed to extract their sexuality from them as if by syringe. She’d never seen so many beautiful women who seemed to live life at such a distant remove from their own sexiness.

The question is, how much time do you want to spend in this company? The bulk of the novel — and it is bulky — focuses on the “shell-shocked year” after Bob “Silverback” D’Amico’s investment bank, Weiss & Partners, sinks into bankruptcy amid swirling suggestions of possible criminal wrongdoing, including shady accounting tricks. While Bob, largely a cipher, stays holed up in their New York apartment, his classy wife, old-moneyed Isabel Berkeley, retreats to her Greenwich bedroom in shock. Isabel gets through the first weeks on Xanax supplied by her friend Mina — the classic outsider straining for admission — before she uncoils into action.

Meanwhile Lily, the D’Amicos’ overqualified nanny, keeps the household running, though we never fully understand why she would embed herself with these people and endure their condescension for nearly ten years, with no plan to write a Nanny Diaries sort of exposé, no matter how much they’re paying her. Her function in Our Little Racket is the critical observer, and above all she’s outraged that neither parent thinks to comfort their eight-year-old twin “robber barons” in training or their fifteen-year-old daughter, Madison, a sophomore at Greenwich Prep, in the midst of this upheaval.

Poor Madison, acting on scant information from her AWOL parents and unable to conceive of her hard-driving, hard-drinking father knowingly committing any wrongdoing, must navigate the brutal gossip and cold shoulders at school, but she’s no pushover: “Madison was her father’s coarse energy poured over ice,” Lily notes. “She was her mother’s goddess features, infused with her father’s ceaseless certainty that he was right.”

As if things weren’t bad enough, Madison’s best friend’s father, a Yale economics professor, considers it his moral imperative to vent his outrage at her father and his ilk in his Paul Krugman–esque columns for The New York Times, despite his daughter’s pleas for tact. The first of his many diatribes on the subject includes these lines: “Weiss is now the Roach Motel — its investors checked in, but they can’t check out . . . And what of D’Amico himself, the King of the Cockroaches? Did he scramble his way out of that car before it went over that cliff? Or will he have to answer, in court, for his crimes?”

Madison, at once unbelievably savvy and credibly vulnerable, takes her father’s “implosion” the hardest, and her story dominates the book. It is the most fully realized — in fact, her perspective alone could easily have carried this novel — but also, in the early chapters, the most tiresome. Pages upon painful pages unfold in school hallways, locker rooms, playing fields, and at the unchaperoned parties where Madison’s unbearably catty, snooty peers trade slights, barbs, precious intel, illicit cocktails, drugs, and sexual favors to elevate their status, making us feel at times as if we’ve wandered into a “Fast Times at Greenwich Prep” sort of story.

But the novel — like many businesses — picks up in its fourth quarter, when the whole situation comes to a head at a local gala and Baker finally generates a modicum of sympathy for these spoiled characters. She captures their very real misery while stressing the repercussions of a heedless “willingness to gamble away” the most important things in life — including family and empathy.

Years later, Madison reflects sagely, “No one, it turned out, ever told the truth about this kind of pain. It wasn’t a crucible; it didn’t always make you new.” Our Little Racket, while it takes too long to get there, ends in just the right place and on just the right note. The bottom line: Angelica Baker is a writer to watch out for.

The post Our Little Racket appeared first on The Barnes & Noble Review.

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The Passion of Liu Xiaobo

Liu Xiaobo felt haunted by the “lost souls” of Tiananmen, the aggrieved ghosts of students and workers alike whose ages would forever be the same as on the night they died. His “final statement” at his trial in December 2009 opens: “June 1989 has been the major turning point in my life.” In October 2010, when his wife Liu Xia brought him the news of his Nobel Peace Prize, she reports that he commented, “This is for the aggrieved ghosts.”

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