Hi Reader,

A warm welcome to the 600+ of you who have joined us here in this Friday Five community in the last week. I'm Jess, and every week, I share 5 things that I think are helpful. I hope you love reading it as much as I love writing it!

On a different topic, did any of you get to see the Northern Lights this last week? I didn't, but it was SO fun to see pictures from friends in all parts of the world that don't normally get that treat. Maybe I gotta get to Iceland one of these days to see them for myself. Let's get to your Friday Five!

1. Safari Browser Trick: I just noticed this feature recently, and it's so useful! If you ever use the Safari browser on your phone or desktop, you can now click in the top left of the page (you'll see AA) and then you'll get a menu that includes "Listen to Page". It will read you the article or page - it's pretty effective for blogs or other longer-form pieces. Here's a blog of mine for working parents if you'd like an article to listen to this way.
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2. Building a Second Brain: My friend Atnre has been telling me for months and months to read this book, and I should have listened sooner. I LOVED this book, and it has shifted my thinking about how I organize my digital information at work and for personal use. I added it to my "Favorite Books for Work" page of my website, which now includes 10 books that have all made a big impact on my professional life.
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3. Summer Essential Calendar: Those who have been in my universe for a while know that I love Essential Calendars for getting a big-picture view of a given season. If you've got kids, I feel like summer is the absolute best use-case for these calendars. Calm the chaos of summer schedules by managing kids' activities, family vacations, work schedules, and holiday travel—all in one convenient place. So helpful. Get the erasable gel pen if you get a calendar - it's a helpful accessory. You can get 10% off with my code JOYFULLYMANAGED.
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4. For Creatives Looking for Gigs: I thought this was so helpful for any of you who are creatives like photographers, designers, writers, video editors, etc! Each week, the folks at Creator Lens (I like their newsletter) deliver 20 handpicked creative opportunities directly to you. Their AI scans the web to find gigs that match your unique skills and creative talents! Plus, it helps tailor your application to ensure you land the job. Their site says to use code EARLY24 to get early access and help them shape their roadmap. Let me know if you try it!
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5. How to Celebrate the End of the School Year: If you have kids in your life, I loved these ideas for how to celebrate the school year ending - a school paperwork bonfire literally would have never crossed my mind, but now I can't stop considering it. It also gave me the idea of passing out popsicles to kids walking home from their last day of school past your house - how fun would that be? There are lots of other easy and more involved ideas in the article.

Bonus Friday Fave: We got a new ice cream machine and I think we'll call this the Summer of Homemade Ice Cream in our house. It's so much easier than the crank machines of my childhood! Technically, you're supposed to take a few hours to make the ice cream, but we've found that it makes excellent, delicious ice cream in about 20 minutes if you don't have that much time. So it works well for a fun dessert even if you didn't plan much ahead (as long as you keep some heavy cream in the fridge). This little ice cream maker-ball is also really fun (here's a video of us using it a few years ago) if you want to play with a toy and have it make you some ice cream.

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