Blog Posts by The_Stir

friendshipI am pretty sure whoever first said, "Make new friends but keep the old" was in her 30s. The fact is, we all go through our teens and 20s making new friends with ease, spending tons of time with them and bonding through shared activities. But once we reach our 30s all that ends.

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Writer Natalie Thomas addressed these issues in a blog for Huffington Post this week. And it's so true. It's so much harder to make friends than it is to date when you're a busy 30-something. The fact is, at this age, most of us are settled into our routine. For those of us who are married, we may have kids and a house and bills. We have jobs and lives that are pretty much non-stop from 6 a.m. to 11 p.m. every day of the week.

Friendship? What's that?

It's sad to say that 90 percent of my communication with my friends is via email or Facebook or text. I don't have time for long phone conversations, and if I do go out with a

birth control pillsPresident Obama is lookin' out for us ladies! Beginning today, August 1, given the government's new health care reforms, private insurance companies must start providing contraception for free! In other words, without any kind of co-pay. And that's not all. The rule applies to a bevy of other preventative women's health services, including well-woman visits, mammograms, gestational diabetes screening, HPV DNA testing for women 30+, STI screening (including HIV), breastfeeding support/supplies/counseling, and domestic violence counseling. Yippee!

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But before running over to your local drugstore to demand the pharmacist fork over your monthly pill pack, check out this easy breakdown of how the new law may affect you, depending on your insurance sitch ...

If you have a private health insurance plan from your employer or that you pay for out-of-pocket, the new rules apply to you. About 65 percent of

Birth control was easy when you were younger, probably. You just headed down to the student health center and picked up cheap birth control pills or a strip of like 20 condoms for $1.

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Fast forward however many years, and the options are way better than we had back in the day: IUDs! Essure! The ring! The patch! But of course, with more choices comes more confusion. Which is the right birth control for you?

Dr. Logan Levkoff tackles the issue in the latest episode of Mom-Ed: In the Bedroom. She runs through several questions you need to ask yourself if you're considering your birth control options. Read on, below:

1) Are you interested in growing your family in the next few years? If so, short term methods are probably best. You can use hormonal methods, like the Pill, the ring, or the patch, or barrier methods like the cervical cap or a diaphragm.

2) Are you concerned

3D fetusWanting to have certain keepsakes to commemorate your pregnancy is normal and totally understandable -- but would you actually consider purchasing a miniature 3D replica of your fetus? Yes, a replica, as in a tiny little statue that sits encased in resin and rests in a jewelry box -- and looks exactly like your baby-to-be.

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The new Japanese token of pregnancy affection is called "Shape of an Angel," and in order to get one, an MRI is taken of your baby and the replica gets printed out from a 3D printer -- and voila! You've got yourself a fetus statue, to the tune of $1,230.

Do you believe that? $1,230!?! Who would shell out over a thousand dollars for something that looks like it came out of a gumball machine?

Please tell me I'm not the only one who finds this thing to be a little bit on the creepy side, not to mention over-the-top weird. Don't get me wrong, the 3D ultrasound technology

mark joanna montgomeryI have to say, I love my baby and all, but I really miss my husband.

I miss being able to, as my husband would say, "get after it" any time the urge strikes.

I miss having the energy and stamina to stay up late with my husband, having marathon sexual encounters in various places throughout the house.

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I miss being able to be as loud as we like when we are being amorous. (I would say "during our lovemaking" but that word has always skeeved me out for some reason.)

I miss having lazy mornings in bed with my husband.

Before I had a kid, I remember hearing people talk about how romance went out the window after the children arrived. How they no longer had the time or energy or privacy for sex. How at the end of a long day chasing after a young one, all they wanted to do was sleep.

I thought, "I'll never be one of those people ... sex will always be a

Joann from Bensonhurst

I don't know what the deal is, but the minute you get pregnant, it's like everyone and their mother suddenly feel the need to fill your head with all sorts of advice about what you should and shouldn't be doing now and after your baby arrives.

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And honestly, sometimes you hear so many conflicting tips on how to do things correctly that it can be beyond overwhelming and hard to tell who has the right intentions and who is simply trying to put their two cents in. And that's why I'm loving this new episode of JoAnn From Bensonhurst from CafeMom Studios -- because she tells it like it is, and gives valid (and hilarious) advice without coming right out and telling pregnant women what to do.

Take a look at this video to hear what JoAnn has to say about getting pregnant, cravings, working during pregnancy, and yes -- even having sex with a big ol' baby bump.

LOL!! Isn't JoAnn

Tracy Reese Persephone Shift dress ($400)It seems like when it comes to some of the most basic rules of the wedding road, you just can't win. So far I've learned that you can pretty much guarantee someone's going to complain about every last detail -- from the time of the ceremony to the type of champagne being served. It's inevitable. But thank goodness for certain traditions that can actually serve to protect a bride from irrationally irate guests. Like when's the last time you heard a wedding guest lament that they couldn't wear white? That's an obvious "no-no," right?

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Not anymore! Nationally recognized etiquette expert Diane Gottsman recently wrote, "As long as guests do not upstage the bride or appear to be in competition with her, a winter white or summer cream dress is now considered okay." And she's not the only one with this controversial mentality!

Peggy Post told New York Times readers they only need to worry about not

Soma IntimatesLike any mom, I love feeling stylish, but I also have to be realistic. Being a work-at-home mom means that my typical "work" uniform has to be ultra-casual and definitely machine washable.

In fact, sometimes my life is so distinctly un-glamorous that it seems like a waste of time to get out of my PJs at all. And now, I don't have to!

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People! I've found nightgowns for daytime! Nightgowns that look like real clothes! Really CUTE clothes! I AM TOTALLY SERIOUS.

First, the backstory.

I was at the mall a month or two ago and stopped in Soma Intimates for the first time. I had never been in the store before, but I'd seen some cute things there online and was hoping to score some new loungewear.

Instead, I saw what looked to be ... dresses.

I looked more closely. They were dresses, all right. BUT THEY WERE MADE OUT OF NIGHTGOWN MATERIAL.

SCORE.

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