Hi Reader,

Short weeks - do you love them or hate them? I'm on the fence. Long weekends are nice (less nice than before I had kids, if I'm honest), but I find that it's so rare to effectively curb workweek expectations down to 4 days when that's not the norm. So then it feels like 5 days of work crammed into 4 days. Not exactly relaxing. If you're in the US like me, I hope your 4-day week was manageable and perhaps even lovely! Let's get to your Friday Five.

1. What I bought this month: You might know that if you've ever bought anything I recommended through Amazon, I sometimes receive a commission from that purchase, depending on the item. I then donate 100% of those commissions to charity (I focus on those working on the climate crisis). I thought a fun new way to support more charities would be to put up a page on my website where I capture my fave Amazon purchases of the month in one place. So here you go - a clickable list of what I purchased and enjoyed on Amazon in May 2024. If you find anything you also want to purchase, we'll get to donate a little more to a good cause! If this idea is helpful to many of you, I'll plan to do it again in June.
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2. If you're an iPhone user: I thought this was a helpful article from the smart folks over at Wirecutter about 15 things you might not know your iPhone could do. I only recently learned about the identifying plants feature that's built into the camera, but I definitely didn't know about the grocery list feature or the laundry care trick.
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3. Labels for summer: I'm a big believer in labeling things - for myself and for my kids. It's so much more likely that when something is left behind it will be returned if your name is on it. Good-quality label stickers have gotten laptop charger cables back to me, kids' jackets (many times) back to our house, and even casserole dishes after a potluck when we left in a hurry because of a toddler meltdown. I like the value packs from Name Bubbles (I've tried so many brands, these are by far the best). They gave me a code last year that I'm pretty sure still works for 21% off (JESSICA21).
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4. Setting boundaries tip: I plan to read this book soon (I'll be sure to report back), and I was reading a review that shared this useful tip: "Say what you will do, not what you won't. That is, instead of saying “I don’t instant message outside my work hours,” you might say “I’m available by messaging between 7:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m.” Instead of saying “I’m not taking any new clients right now,” you could say “I’m taking new clients starting in August.” Instead of saying “I can’t do a career chat this week,” you say “I do career chats on the third Thursday of the month” or whatever time you’ve slotted into your schedule for various nice-to-do things."
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5. If you use Canva: Brenda Cadman makes such helpful and quick videos about how to use Canva - I feel like I learn some little tip from her every week. I wanted to capture some of her resources (these are all free) here for anyone that uses Canva like me: 6 quick Canva 101 videos, Canva Organization Roadmap, Quiz on whether you should get Canva Pro, and How to Maximize Canva Pro.

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Have a great weekend!

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