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Upworthy's mother's day collection— purchase beautiful crafts this season & save with code SPRING10

Upworthy's mother's day collection— purchase beautiful crafts this season & save with code SPRING10

If you're looking to shop for your mother or anyone else who is like a mother figure to you and you have yet to find the right gift, check out this selection of gifts perfect for this Mother's Day. At Upworthy Market, you can feel good about shopping because every dollar you spend directly supports the local artisans who handcraft their own products.


Romantic Wood Sculpture

Voluptuous curves circle and meld in a fervent kiss that forms a single heart. In this elegant abstract sculpture, the harmony between lovers is manifest as their figures curl together in utter bliss. This exquisite statuette from Made Wirata is a celebration of couples.

Green and Black Onyx Hand-braided Shambhala-style Bracelet

Rituu honors Buddhist meditation practices with the design of this Shambhala-style bracelet. Meaning 'bliss' in Sanskrit, the Shambhala-style bracelet symbolizes tranquility, peace and happiness – the oneness of all. Rituu expertly knots the cotton bracelet by hand with macramé techniques and crowns it with black and enhanced onyx, believed to protect against negativity.

Gemstone Tree

Displaying oceanic blue hues, the leaves of this petite gemstone tree are made from apatite. Joias do Rio offers this Brazilian gemstone tree, which is handcrafted with a trunk and branches made from gleaming brass wire. The tree stands atop a natural amethyst geode.

Blue Fijian Print Canvas Tote Bag

Who doesn't love beautiful, fun and practical totes? This cotton canvas tote bag is handcrafted and printed in Fiji with a mandala motif on vibrant blue. The large tote is fully lined in natural cotton canvas. Perfect for market trips, picnics, weekends away or home storage.

Sterling Silver and Turquoise Cocktail Ring

A single stone of blue composite turquoise rests atop this cocktail ring, presented by India's Aparna. The stone is surrounded by rope and swirl motifs on a sterling silver band for a look that attunes its wearer with the wisdom of the universe.

Fair Trade Modern Sterling Silver Dangle Earrings 'Pirouette'

Gleaming ribbons perform graceful pirouettes in a design from Aoy in Thailand. Meticulously crafted of sterling silver, these earrings are delightfully modern.

Indonesian Rainbow Glass and Driftwood Windchime

Working near Singaraja, in the mountainous northern region of Bali, artisans collect naturally fallen branches and glean wood from the local coffee plantations to fashion these delicate, colorful wind chimes. Once the reclaimed wood — teak and coffee — is gathered, each piece is sorted by size and color before being hand-shaped and strung with pieces of cut glass. Dazzling in the sunlight, the resulting rainbow chime is a gorgeous example of nature-inspired design. Each piece will vary slightly, due to the natural variations of the wood.

3D Tic-Tac-Toe

Waraporn Khamsuk creates a challenging tic-tac-toe from Thailand. Handcrafted from rain tree wood, the game features a square board with nine standing pegs for the addition of complementary X and O shapes. Just like traditional tic-tac-toe, the goal is for one of two players to arrange their shapes three-in-a-row. With this game, however, the rules of the old pastime are brought into a three-dimensional space—fun for the whole family.

Hand Made Wood Mah Jongg Game from Thailand

Handcrafted from raintree wood and painted with intricate characters, this striking game of strategy from Thailand is presented by Waraporn Khamsuk, featuring a box that houses 144 tiles painted with Chinese symbols in the traditional mah jongg style, often spelled 'mahjong.' Intended for up to four players, the objective of the game is to draw and discard tiles in order to craft a winning hand before the others do, with the player shouting 'mah jongg!' when they win. A complex game of strategy and cunning, mah jongg is a game fit for beginners and experts alike, with a popularity stretching from East Asia to Western countries as well. The tiles are housed in a wood box for storage and travel.

Beaded Bracelet

This double strand bracelet features cylindrical blue-green beads accented with brass. Handcrafted by Tiraphan Hasub of Thailand, this bracelet is a lovely pop of color accessory.

Brown Ceramic Turtle Flower Pot from El Salvador

A cheerful brown turtle comes to life in terracotta. Handcrafted by ceramists from the House of El Salvador Artisans, this versatile design is perfect to hold a potted plant. Geometric patterns in white adorn the ornate shell.

Batik Rayon Sarong

Intricate floral motifs alongside borders depicting elephants and deer in bubblegum pink, cerise and black surround a large circular motif in this elegant rayon sarong by Indonesia's Prayascita Dewi. The artisan employs the batik method to decorate each piece, a process where a wax resist is applied to the fabric before submerging it in vats of dye.

Twelve Cotton Worry Dolls with a Pinewood Box from Guatemala

A collection of 12 quitapenas worry dolls offers comfort crafted of cotton and tule wood. The Lopez Garcia Family of Guatemala handcrafts each doll with care, elaborating them with head scarves and dresses in a variety of colors. A painted pinewood box houses this set of worry dolls.

Colorful Nature Masks

Extravagant prints in dazzling colors celebrate nature. By Hari and Arthur, three rayon print face masks are contoured for fit. One features a floral motif on cardinal red, while the other two feature abstract motifs. All are double-layered, washable and reusable, with elastic to loop over the ears.

Painted Folk Art Sun Ceramic Mug from Mexico

Painted onto the surface of this ceramic mug, a colorful and vibrant sun is realized in the tradition of Mexican folk art with the message of 'Happiness' on the reverse. Eufrosia Pantaleon creates this simple and classic mug.

Sterling Silver Dreamcatcher Earrings

Two circular dream catchers are crafted of sterling silver, with elegant wire work and feathers with a combination finish hanging just below. Featuring petite blue stones of resin within their webs, these dangle earrings from Thailand are presented by Pichaya.

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Making new friends as an adult is challenging. While people crave meaningful IRL connections, it can be hard to know where to find them. But thanks to one Facebook Group, meeting your new best friends is easier than ever.

Founded in 2018, NYC Brunch Squad brings together hundreds of people who come as strangers and leave as friends through its in-person events.

“Witnessing the transformative impact our community has on the lives of our members is truly remarkable. We provide the essential support and connections needed to thrive amid the city's chaos,” shares Liza Rubin, the group’s founder.

Despite its name, the group doesn’t just do brunch. They also have book clubs, seasonal parties, and picnics, among other activities.

NYC Brunch Squad curates up to 10 monthly events tailored to the specific interests of its members. Liza handles all the details, taking into account different budgets and event sizes – all people have to do is show up.

“We have members who met at our events and became friends and went on to embark on international journeys to celebrate birthdays together. We have had members get married with bridesmaids by their sides who were women they first connected with at our events. We’ve had members decide to live together and become roommates,” Liza says.

Members also bond over their passion for giving back to their community. The group has hosted many impact-driven events, including a “Picnic with Purpose” to create self-care packages for homeless shelters and recently participated in the #SquadSpreadsJoy challenge. Each day, the 100 members participating receive random acts of kindness to complete. They can also share their stories on the group page to earn extra points. The member with the most points at the end wins a free seat at the group's Friendsgiving event.

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Education

3,700-year-old Babylonian stone tablet gets translated, changes history

They were doing trigonometry 1500 years before the Greeks.

via UNSW

Dr. Daniel Mansfield and his team at the University of New South Wales in Australia have just made an incredible discovery. While studying a 3,700-year-old tablet from the ancient civilization of Babylon, they found evidence that the Babylonians were doing something astounding: trigonometry!

Most historians have credited the Greeks with creating the study of triangles' sides and angles, but this tablet presents indisputable evidence that the Babylonians were using the technique 1,500 years before the Greeks ever were.

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Image from Wikimedia Commons.

Van Gogh’s Starry Night.



Van Gough never got to enjoy his own historic success as an artist (even though we've been able to imagine what that moment might have looked like). But it turns out that those of us who have appreciated his work have been missing out on some critical details for more than 100 years.

I'm not easily impressed, OK?

I know Van Gogh was a genius. If the point of this were "Van Gogh was a mad genius," I would not be sharing this with you.
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Christine Kesteloo has one big problem living on a cruise ship.

A lot of folks would love to trade lives with Christine Kesteloo. Her husband is the Chief Engineer on a cruise ship, so she gets to live on the boat pretty much for free as the “wife on board.” For Christine, life is a lot like living on a permanent vacation.

“I live on a cruise ship for half the year with my husband, and it's often as glamorous as it sounds,” she told Insider. “After all, I don't cook, clean, make my bed, do laundry or pay for food.“

Living an all-inclusive lifestyle seems like paradise, but it has some drawbacks. Having access to all-you-can-eat food all day long can really have an effect on one’s waistline. Kesteloo admits that living on a cruise ship takes a lot of self-discipline because the temptation is always right under her nose.

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Photo by Omar Lopez on Unsplash

Women do better when they have female friends.

Madeleine Albright once said, "There is a special place in hell for women who don't help other women." It turns out that might actually be a hell on Earth, because women just do better when they have other women to rely on, and there's research that backs it up.

A study published in the Harvard Business Review found that women who have a strong circle of friends are more likely to get executive positions with higher pay. "Women who were in the top quartile of centrality and had a female-dominated inner circle of 1-3 women landed leadership positions that were 2.5 times higher in authority and pay than those of their female peers lacking this combination," Brian Uzzi writes in the Harvard Business Review.

Part of the reason why women with strong women backing them up are more successful is because they can turn to their tribe for advice. Women have to face different challenges than men, such as unconscious bias, and being able to turn to other women who have had similar experiences can help you navigate a difficult situation. It's like having a road map for your goals.

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via Pexels

Millennials are now old enough to seriously reflect on life.

It seems like only yesterday a millennial was a college kid that baby boomers chided for being entitled and Gen Xers thought were way too sincere and needed to learn how to take a joke. Today, the oldest millennials, those born around 1980, have hit their 40s and have lived long enough to have some serious regrets.

They also have enough experience to take some pride in decisions that, in hindsight, were the right moves.

The good news is that at 40 there is still plenty of time to learn from our successes and failures to set ourselves up for a great second half of life. These lessons are also valuable to the Gen Zers coming up who can avoid the pitfalls of the older generation.

A Reddit user who has since deleted their profile asked millennials nearing 40 “what were your biggest mistakes at this point in life?” and they received more than 2,200 responses. The biggest regrets these millennials have are being flippant about their health and not saving enough money when they were younger.

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A woman giving a stern warning.

Over the past few years, women named Karen have taken a lot of heat in the media. The term "Karen" has been used to describe a specific type of entitled, privileged and often middle-aged white woman. Typically, "Karen” is depicted as demanding, self-important and constantly seeking to escalate minor inconveniences to authority figures, like demanding to "speak to the manager."

Identifying the folks who create unnecessary drama in our world is important. But calling them a “Karen” isn’t the best way to solve the problem. There are many reasons to have an issue with the “Karen” stereotype. First, it’s terrible for people named Karen, and it’s also a connotation that many feel is racist, sexist and ageist.

Further, according to a new study by Trustpilot, the stereotype isn’t accurate. A recent survey by the online media site found that the people who leave the most one-star reviews aren’t female, and the women who do it the most aren’t named Karen.

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