Blog Posts by Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Many little girls dream of swimming with or meeting a mermaid, but Linden Wolbert actually left her day job to become one.

"I have always had a magnetism to water," she told Yahoo! Shine in an interview. "I have always been fascinated with it, not just because of the animals that live in it, but because I feel so comfortable swimming in it. I just was always a swimmer and loved to be in the water."

Also on Shine: The Mermaid Trend -- Shine Tries It

After three years of working 9 to 5 as a residence director for Emerson College, "I was just daydreaming over every single lunch break about being in the water and among the fish," she said. An avid swimmer and SCUBA diver, Wolbert also loves freediving, in which you dive as deep as you can and swim back up to the surface in a single breath—perfect training for a professional life as a mermaid. She made the leap from office worker to mermaid in 2005 and hasn't looked back since.

Slideshow: 25 Chic Mermaid Gowns

Though Wolbert, 32,

Read More »from Linden Wolbert on What It's Like to Be a Real-Life Mermaid

Princeton grad Susan Patton reads from her open letter to the University's female students. (Photo: CBS News)Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says the key is to "Lean In." Xerox Corp. CEO Ursula Burns jokes that the trick is to "marry someone 20 years older." But executive coach and Princeton University grad Susan A. Patton offered up some "have it all" advice last week that has left many women baffled: Find a husband before you finish college.

Also on Shine: Western Wedding University, Where Students Go to Earn Their Mrs. Degrees

"For most of you, the cornerstone of your future and happiness will be inextricably linked to the man you marry, and you will never again have this concentration of men who are worthy of you," Patton, who earned a degree in art and archaeology from Princeton in 1977, wrote in a letter published in The Princetonian. "Here’s what nobody is telling you: Find a husband on campus before you graduate."

Also on Shine: Why Are We Blaming Feminism for Our Inability to Have it All?

"I sincerely feel that too much focus has been placed on encouraging young women only to

Read More »from Dear Princeton Grad Susan Patton: Why Aren't You Pushing Marriage on College Men?

Khloe (left) and Kourtney Kardashian in Miami in December 2012. (Photo: Olivia Salazar/FilmMagic via Getty Images)On Sunday's episode of "Kourtney & Kim Take Miami," Khloe revealed that she and her husband, Lamar Odom, are battling infertility -- and her sister Kourtney offered a touching (if conveniently TV-friendly) solution to their problem.

Also on Shine: 5 Surrogates Share Their Stories

"I just wanted to say that if you did need someone to carry your child, I would volunteer my services," 33-year-old Kourtney, already a mom of two kids, told Khloe, 28, during the episode.

Also on Shine: Maine Woman Gives Birth to her Own Grandson

But playing surrogate to a family member is easier in theory than in reality. For starters, not everyone in your family may be on board with the idea. "You don't just go putting babies in other sisters because you can," Kourtney's partner Scott Disick rants. "It's too much for me. This is freaking me out!" -- but he eventually comes around.

Still, before anyone—Kardashian or otherwise—embarks on this kind of undertaking, there's plenty to consider.

In 2010, 

Read More »from Kourtney Kardashian offers to carry Khloe's baby. What's sibling surrogacy really like?

Vicki Gunvalson in 2011 (left) and this year. Does it look like she got a chin implant? (Photo: Bravo and WENN.com)When it comes to plastic surgery, what's left to do once you've already had everything else lifted, sculpted, or tucked? You focus on your chin, apparently.

Also on Shine: Surprising Plastic Surgery Trends Around the World

Just in time for the Bravo reality show's 100th episode, "Real Housewives of Orange County" star Vicki Gunvalson has debuted her newest improvement: A more prominent chin. And her catty frenemies Tamra Barney and Gretchen -- no strangers to plastic surgery themselves -- didn't waste any time picking apart her new look. “Does she not look different, look at her chin!” Barney squeals while showing Rossi a photo of Gunvalson. “She got a chin implant!”

Also on Shine: The Most Coveted Celebrity Body Parts

She's not the only one. According to the American Society of Plastic Surgeons' 2012 Plastic Surgery Statistics Report, chin augmentations were the sixth most-popular cosmetic surgical procedure -- and the second most-popular type of implant -- performed last year.

Read More »from Did Real Housewives Star Vicki Gunvalson Get a Chin Implant? They're Totally a Thing

A new report released this week from the Center for Science in the Public Interest has found that a whopping 97 percent of the nearly 3,500 fast-food kid meal combinations they analyzed didn't meet basic nutritional standards for calorie, fat, and sodium content -- not even the so-called "healthy" ones. "Given that children consume on average 25 percent of their daily calories at fast-food and other restaurants, the nutritional quality of those meals is important," CSPI said in their report. CSPI set limits of no more than 430 calories and 770 milligrams of sodium per meal, with no more than 35 percent of calories coming from fat; another group, the National Restaurant Association's Kids Live Well program, put the cut-off at 600 calories. Here's how some of the most-popular fast-food places fared. -- Lylah M. Alphonse, Senior Editor, Yahoo! Shine

Read More »from Fast Food Meals for Kids: Worse Than Ever?

Another study says that women make better bosses than men. (Photo: Getty Images)A new study has found another reason why the business world needs more women at the top: They make better bosses than men.

Also on Shine: Sheryl Sandberg on Women, Work, and the Need to 'Lean In'

"Women seem to be predisposed to be more inquisitive and to see more possible solutions," the study's co-author, Gregory McQueen of Still University in Arizona, said in a statement. "At the board level where directors are compelled to act in the best interest of the corporation while taking the viewpoints of multiple stakeholders into account, this quality makes them more effective corporate directors."

Also on Shine: Why We Need More Women Leaders

The study, published in the International Journal of Business Governance and Ethics, surveyed 156 female and 486 male board members. It found that companies where women wielded significant influence were more successful than ones with men at the helm.

"We've known for some time that companies that have more women on their boards have better

Read More »from Study: Women Make Better Bosses than Men

Russian artist Sergey Balovin discovered that he could live without money by accident.

When he moved to China in 2010, "I didn't know almost anybody in Shanghai," he told Yahoo! Shine in an email. He speaks mostly Russian, a little English, and no Chinese at all, he explained, and was making good money selling expressionist landscape paintings. When a neighbor agreed to give him her easel in exchange for a hand-drawn portrait, he realized that other people might be wiling to make similar trades.

Also on Shine: Family Lives Without Money (By Choice!) and Thrives

"I gave the announcement on a Russian Shanghai forum," he said. "I said 'I am ready to draw portraits and exchange them for things useful in my home.' A few weeks later, I had a few dozen of new friends and everything that is necessary for everyday life."

German Grandmother Lives Money-Free, Says She's Never Been Happier

He called it The In-Kind Exchange Project and, aside from raising rent money by holding regular artist

Read More »from Russian Artist Sergey Balovin and the In-Kind Exchange Project: How He Lives Without Money

Intense micro-intervals are at the heart of the hottest fitness method: Tabata training. (Photo: Getty Images)If you could get in shape with a super-fast, super-intense fitness routine, would you try it? Tabata training, an intense regimen first developed for athletes in Japan, is gaining popularity with people the world over who are incorporating the high-intensity interval training into their regular workouts.

Also on Shine: Fitness Fads that Are a Waste of Money

Tabata training is made up of 20-second bursts of give-it-your-all effort, followed by 10 seconds of rest, repeated for eight intense cycles. You don't have to do a particular set of exercises—biking, running, pushups, crunches, it's all good—as long as you're pushing yourself to your limit each time.

PHOTOS: 10 Fitness Essentials to Make Exercising at Home Easier

The fast, four-minute session was developed in 1996 by Dr. Izumi Tabata, who noted that short, but difficult, intervals of hard exercise seemed as effective as hours of more-moderate training. He later tested out his short-form interval training on university student

Read More »from Tabata What? The Hot Fitness Method from Japan Gains Popularity