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Pop Culture

Bored guy spent his free time building a restaurant for the squirrels in his yard

It has a menu and everything!

James Vreeland/Instagram

Two for dinner?

One man from the Detroit area put his quarantine creativity to great use. James Vreeland used his newfound free time to, as he put it on Instagram, "get into the restaurant game."

He did that, of course, by building an entire tiny restaurant in his yard specifically for squirrels. It's hilarious and also weirdly very impressive.


It's an open-air concept with communal picnic-style tables and natural grass floors, which really brings a sense of connection to the earth and the source of the squirrel food. It's a brilliant design.

It's called Maison de Noix, or "The Nut House" in English, and it's the newest, hottest neighborhood spot that all the squirrels are chattering about. If they didn't have to social distance, there would be lines out on the sidewalk every day to get a table. It's very exclusive.

communal, neighborhood, creativity

A picnic style lay out for the squirrel restaurant.

James Vreeland/Instagram

It has a tiny coat rack with wire hangers for squirrel jackets and everything! And even though the restaurant is aimed at its squirrel patrons, it's open to all sorts of creatures. James said that the blue jays in the area are also loving the new place.

Not only did James build an innovative restaurant, but his menu is like nothing I've ever seen. It's so diverse, and yet, so streamlined. And don't worry; he's printed out the menu and stationed it at the front of the restaurant for those who might be interested.

Let's take a closer look, shall we?

menus, nuts, comedy, nut house

What’s on the menu?

James Vreeland/Instagram

So simple, yet so sophisticated, you know? A mixed seed trio! How intriguing. And you can't go wrong with stale bread or pizza crust. I appreciate that the chef leads with what he has on hand and fresh (I mean, stale) that day, instead of shoehorning out-of-season ingredients into a year-round menu.

Raw peanuts on the shell are a known squirrel favorite, and counter-softened apples, well, that's an application you don't see very often, mainly because they're so hard to get just right. But I have faith in the kitchen staff of Maison de Noix.

peanuts, Facebook Live, shaky cam, streaming

Business is nutty.

James Vreeland/Instagram

For a brand new restaurant that opened during a global pandemic, Maison de Noix is doing very well. It helps when you are the only restaurant that caters to squirrels in the whole United States. They really cornered the market.

He has even started doing Facebook Live videos that are just a live stream of the restaurant. You can tune in each day to see the animals stop by. At one point during the last live stream, James commented, "Sorry for the shaky cam — there is a bluejay sitting on the camera."

A time-lapse of the "brunch rush" can be found on his Instagram, and it's just delightful. This whole venture is just entirely lovely, and I thank James for his efforts. I hope things like squirrel restaurants don't go away once the pandemic ends. We need them now, and we'll need them then.


This article originally appeared on 4.5.20

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creativity
Pop Culture

Kristen Bell's advice to her younger self about depression is a must hear for everyone

"We're all just human. And you can do it."

Child Mind Institute/Youtube

Actress Kristen Bell speaks up about coping with depression.

Actress Kristen Bell lives with anxiety and depression.

Maybe you wouldn't have guessed it scanning through her work on IMDb. She's the voice behind Anna in "Frozen," after all; the star of a former hit show called "The Good Place," for goodness sake.

Those seem like, um ... happy roles. Right?

That's why Bell is speaking out again about her mental illness.

The media we consume — on our phones, in the magazine aisle, even in Bell's own delightful TV series and films — rarely convey an accurate depiction of reality. And Bell is advising anyone else living with mental illness not to be fooled.

In a video produced by the Child Mind Institute, Bell opened up about what she'd like to tell her younger self.

"What I would say to my younger self is don’t be fooled by this game of perfection that humans play," she said. "Because Instagram and magazines and TV shows — they strive for a certain aesthetic, and everything looks so beautiful, and people seem like they don’t have any problems. But everyone’s human."

She continued (emphasis added):

"Everyone has problems. Everyone feels yucky on the inside sometimes. And you deserve to feel just as beautiful on the days that you wear no makeup, and the days you don’t shower, and the days that you feel like you’re depressed. And you have an obligation to take care of yourself from the inside out, because that’s how you can truly feel beautiful.”

In recent years, Bell has spoken up candidly about her own mental health in hopes it can benefit others.

The actress was diagnosed with anxiety and depression when she was 18 years old. As she explained to "Off Camera with Sam Jones" in 2016, her mom had been the one to fill her in on their family's history with mental illness.

Bell started taking medication to help — and has no qualms about it. "I still take it today; I have no shame in that,” Bell explained. "You would never deny a diabetic his insulin, but for some reason when someone needs a serotonin inhibitor, they're immediately ‘crazy’ or something."

Her anxiety and depression, Bell noted, is probably the biggest differentiation between her own life and the characters she portrays on screen.

Depression and anxiety affect millions of Americans of all ages. But despite their prevalence, stigma surrounding mental illness — dissuading people from reaching out, for instance, or shaming them for taking medication — remains a major barrier stopping people from accessing the resources they need.

Bell wants every kid to know they deserve to feel better.

"Never feel embarrassed or ashamed about who you are," Bell advises viewers in her new PSA. "Never feel embarrassed or ashamed about the uniqueness that is you, because there are people out there to help. And we're all just human. And you can do it."

Learn more about depression and anxiety — and access the help you or your child deserve — at the Child Mind Institute.

children, depression, mind, mental health

Child Mind Institute is an organization changing children's lives.

childmind.org

The Child Mind Institute is an independent nonprofit dedicated to transforming the lives of children struggling with mental health and learning disorders.


This story originally appeared on 5.2.2018



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Pop Culture

Female 'SNL' cast members have the best response to woman's claim that none of them are 'hot'

"Grieving privately and ugily."

Saturday Night Live/Youtube

A TikTokker went viral for saying 'SNl" has never cast a 'hot woman." The female 'SNL' cast responded.

Recently a TikTok user who goes by Jahelis went viral for claiming “Saturday Night Live” has never hired “a hot woman” during the entire run of its show.

Well, the ladies of “SNL” caught wind of Jahelis’s insensitive remarks, and let’s just say they’re having the last laugh.

In the nearly four minute video, Jahelis clarifies “I’m not saying that every single woman who has been a cast member on SNL is ugly. It’s just that none of them have ever been, like, hot.… They all just kind of have looks that eventually grow on you.”

She then proposed the “theory” that this is because society can’t accept that “super beautiful women” can also be funny, followed by a slew of out-of-touch observations to seemingly prove this her pseudo-analysis.

Jahelis first pulled up a picture of Heidi Gardner (whom Jahelis couldn’t even name) claiming Gardner often plays the “super hot and super dumb” girl in sketches, even though “no offense, she’s not that pretty.”

Jahelis surmised this must be because “I guess technically the most conventional hot female on this cast.”

@jahelis Hoepfulky at least one person out there understands what I’m trying to say #kristinwiig #palmroyale #appletvseries #snl #snlwomen #mayarudolph #jimmyfallon ♬ original sound - Jahelis


To really drive her point home, Jahelis then went on to note that Jimmy Fallon, Andy Sandberg, Jason Sudeikis “even Bowen” Yang as “relatively hot men,” as if to suggest this injustice of hiring average looking people was one-sided.

But hey, at least she conceded that Maya Rudolph was “really beautiful.” Sadly, while Kristin Wiig “very conventionally attractive,” she still didn’t make the cut for “hot,” apparently.

It didn’t take long for the rant to make its way to actual female “SNL” cast members, who responded in rare form.

Sarah Sherman, replied on X with this tongue-in-cheek post: “Just found out I’m not hot. Please give me and my family space to grieve privately and uglily at this time.”

Meanwhile on Instagram, Chloe Troast hit back while singing Christina Aguilera’s “Beautiful” and not-so-subtly flipping Jahelis off with both fingers.

Other viewers also chimed in to call out Jahelis’ “random and mean” analysis, not to mention question her logic…as well as her eyesight.

“Ego Nwodim is literally drop dead gorgeous," one person commented.

“Have you SEEN CHLOE FINEMAN?! She's so gorgeous,” another said.

Other perplexed reactions include:

“Kate McKinnon??!!! Melissa Villasenor?! Amy Poehler?!?? Kristen Wig?!!! helloOoOo.”

“Kate McKinnon is unironically one of the most beautiful people I’ve ever seen.”

“Julia Louis Dreyfus is one of the hottest women of all time?”

And perhaps this comment really sums it all up: “normalize journaling.”

Sure, we want to be able to express ourselves, and part of TikTok’s charm is being able to give those raw, unfiltered opinions. But degrading other people to make a point is probably not the best use of the platform. Luckily, nobody took this “hot take” too seriously.

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Joy

'I'm shaking.' Woman spots her future husband in a photo years before they actually met

An accidental photobomb one day, her soulmate the next.

@soimjenn/Instagram, used with permission

You never know where chance encounter might lead.

A woman named Jen Chia is having even the most cynical of us reconsidering the existence of fated encounters after finding an old selfie with her husband Jon visible in the background…years before they even met.

On Instagram, Jenn wrote “I’m still shaking looking at this,” sharing a photo taken in Oct 2012, where she appeared to be enjoying a drink at what appears to be a theater.

Behind her we see a bearded man casually standing with a backpack. That man was apparently Jon. Both were completely oblivious to their future significant others.

“We were at the same place but didn’t know each other existed,” she wrote.

Cut to a photo of Jenn and Jon on an amusement park ride, 2 years laters, when they officially met, then to a wedding photo, 9 years after that.

A few viewers linked it to the viral “invisible string theory,” which is the idea that one’s ideal partner is hidden in plain sight, until the universe decides it’s the best time for you both to meet. It’s a concept based on the Chinese mythology that has found new life on TikTok, similar to the ”shoe theory,” though that’s more about fated break-ups.

Whether the timing was part of fate’s plan or not, Jenn agrees that things worked out as they should.

In her vidoe’s caption, Jenn shared, “We met at the right time. If it was before, I don’t think the relationship would have lasted. I was a narcissistic monster, unaware and naive.”

“Took me a year of traveling and being single to reflect and realize my own mistakes. That’s when we met,” she added. “The right person will always find you at the right time.”

In the comments Jon agreed, saying, “So glad you didn’t meet me in the first picture. We were meant to go on our own journeys. We met a few years later at the perfect time 😍”


Proving that these sort of kismet connections are perhaps more common than you think, previously Upworthy covered a similar story of a young woman who was going through old school photos when she discovered her late mother had been her current boyfriend’s kindergarten teacher.

From a purely scientific perspective, there is no irrefutable evidence that fated relationships exist. Still, many of us have felt inexplicably charged by connections and coincidences. Plus, research has shown that having a little magical thinking when it comes to love, like believing something is “meant to be” can help lead to more committed relationships.

Maybe Jenn and Jon are cosmically intertwined. Or maybe they are two people simply in the right place at the right time. Either way, their love story is a fun reminder that life is so often trying to work with us, not against us.

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