Blog Posts by Sarah B. Weir, Yahoo! blogger

Original Ad for 5 Boro Bike Tour

The organization Bike New York is pulling the signs that had been promoting its popular Five Boro Bike Tour in New York City. Installed on bus shelters and in subways and commuter trains, the ads picture a packed crowd at the starting line flanked by two dramatic pyrotechnic displays shooting flames skyward. The signs use a photograph of last year's event. They are being removed in response to the Boston Marathon bombing tragedy. They were deemed too reminiscent of the explosions detonated near the race's finish line.

VIDEO: Security Remains in High Alert In NYC After Boston Marathon Bombings

The cycling event, which is scheduled for Sunday, May 5th, is expected to draw 32,000 participants for the 40-mile tour of Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Manhattan.

PHOTOS: Explosions Near Boston Marathon's Finish Line

"Our hearts are with the people of Boston," Ken Podziba, the CEO of Bike New York, tells Yahoo! Shine. "Out of respect for the victims and their

Read More »from NYC Bike Tour Pulls Ads Featuring Pyrotechnics at Starting Line in Response to Boston

Skinnygirl logo, left, and Slim-Fast ad, right

It's a battle worthy of an episode of "Real Housewives." Television personality and diet mogul Bethenny Frankel is claiming that Slim-Fast stole her trademark black and red "Skinnygirl" logo for a print ad.

More on Yahoo: 6 Things You May Not Know About Bethenny Frankel

On Monday, Frankel told her followers on Facebook, "Thank you for all of your concern regarding the confusion with Slim-Fast using my logo without permission. They approached me to do a deal for Skinnygirl Daily nutrition bars, which I declined. I'm shocked to see they used it anyway. I will handle this situation immediately. Thank you for always being so protective of me."

More on Yahoo: Lindsay Vanderpump talks "Real Housewives," "Vanderpump Rules" …and Butter?

The Slim-Fast ad shows a curvier figure than Skinnygirl's rail thin image, but does use bright red clothing over a black silhouette and a high, bouncy ponytail similar to Frankel's super thin avatar. A Facebook fan named Lindsay posted, "100%

Read More »from ‘Skinny Girl’ Bethenny Frankel Accuses Slim-Fast of Swiping Logo

What's worse than getting doused with pig's blood like Carrie on prom night? Showing up in the same dress as another girl, apparently. According to the New York Post, teenagers are using Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and other social media to make sure they will be wearing a unique outfit to the big dance. Brooklyn Technical High School's Facebook prom page reads, "Welcome to the page where you tell people you will physically hurt them over formal wear."

More on Yahoo: Couple Wears Duct Tape Outfit To Prom

While girls used to go shopping with their friends, now they can hit the department store alone and instantly post their chosen garment online for others to see—along with menacing tweets such as "This is my prom dress, if anyone gets/has this dress, I will personally come to your house, steal the dress" and "just ordered this beauty, I swear if anyone steals my prom dress I will kill you…."

Facebook pages devoted to securing dibs on a gown include posts such as "Don't Steal

Read More »from Prom Dress Wars: Girls Use Social Media to Get Dibs on Gowns

You can have the love you want

Ever feel that your relationship suffers from a unique brand of frustration, tension, distance, or any number of other troubling feelings? The reality is, there is struggle in every romance. "If you are experiencing disillusionment, well, join the human race," relationship expert Helen LaKelly Hunt tells Yahoo! Shine. LaKelly Hunt and her husband, Harville Hendrix, PhD, are co-creators of Imago Relationship Therapy and have been helping couples for more than 30 years.

More on Yahoo: Is This The World's Most Epic Marriage Proposal?

Hendrix, author of the best selling book, Getting the Love You Want, started examining the question, "why do couples fight" in the late 1970s. After studying and working with thousands of couples, he and LaKelly Hunt have found that there are 10 common bad habits couples engage in that make relationships miserable and can lead to break-up or divorce.

Watch: Woman Goes a Little Crazy When Boyfriend Catches Foul Ball

1. Be critical. Even

Read More »from 10 Ways to Ruin Your Relationship

Cold brewed iced coffee

As temperatures rise, our steamy morning cups of joe and afternoon lattes and macchiatos suddenly seem too darn hot. With the coming of spring, we start thinking, "mmm...iced coffee."

"Too Much Coffee Man" On Yahoo!

Most iced coffee is made from old hot coffee and tends to taste bitter and stale (pass the sugar and half and half, please). Moreover, at a couple of dollars a pop, it's annoying to purchase when, in the back or your mind, you know it would just be chucked at the end of the day anyway.

Top 10 Perks of Coffee

The best option: make your own sublime cold coffee concentrate. The recipe calls for a minimum of 12 hours to brew so set it up on the weekend. This iced coffee will smoothly take you through the week and costs a fraction of what you would pay at your local Starbucks.

Cold Brewed Coffee

Ingredients

1 cup freshly ground coffee beans (medium-coarse)

4 cups cold tap water

Equipment

Glass pitcher, carafe, or large jar

Large basket paper

Read More »from The Best Iced Coffee: No Boiling Required

Should you ditch your bra?

Marilyn Monroe slept in a bra to keep her assets firm and perky, according to Hollywood lore. A new study out of France suggests it might have been more effective for the screen goddess to go "au naturel" instead.

Yahoo! OMG: Lady Gaga's Controversial Assault Rifle Bra

Researchers spent 15 years studying the breasts of over 330 women (only in France, folks), and concluded that wearing a bra does not prevent sagging or ease back pain as commonly thought. "Medically, physiologically, anatomically-breasts gain no benefit from being denied gravity, Professor Jean-Denis Rouillon, from the University of Besançon, told France Info Radio. "On the contrary, they get saggier with a bra."

More on Yahoo: The Disgusting Truth About How Often Women Wash Their Bras

Taking measurements with a caliper, the researchers found that by not wearing a bra, muscles around the breast actually strengthened and the "nipple raised 7mm per year toward the shoulder." However, the scientists did not

Read More »from Braless is Best? Study Says Bras Make Breasts Saggier

Before they were A-listers dripping with money, stylists, and loaner diamonds, most celebs were just regular teenagers with so-so taste, pimples, and a secret dream of looking like a Disney princess (or prince) on prom. Even Blake Lively, famous for her role as chic "it girl" Serena van der Woodsen on the popular series "Gossip Girl," acknowledges she made a fashion faux pas when choosing her gown for her prom in 2005. According to MSN, the singer said, "My idol was Britney Spears. My prom dress looked like something she would have worn….I had to wear flat shoes with it, as my date was so short." According to a video made by Access Hollywood that date was none other than actor and musician Kelly Blatz. By the looks of a photo we dug up in her yearbook, Brit may have some regrets of her own.

Read More »from Bad Celebrity Prom Dresses from Blake Lively to Britney Spears

"Nora’s writing was about the world witnessed by her,” Tom Hanks said on Friday at the Women in the World Summit 2013. The actor, who is currently starring in Ephron’s posthumously produced Broadway play, “Lucky Guy,” delivered a loving tribute to his friend and colleague who died of cancer on June 26, 2012.

Hanks explained that to Ephron--who was trained as a journalist--“everything was copy,” meaning that she used every bit of her experience to imbue her fictional work with tender, funny, and fierce reality. Many of her favorite haunts around Manhattan, such as the shop where she bought bagels on the weekends, ended up as locations in her films.

Hanks described her rich career and her uncanny intuition. “She covered the Beatles and ‘thought they were adorable,’” he said. “She invested in Starbucks when there were only 100 Starbucks.”

Ephron was a woman who preferred great conversation at a sit-down dinner to cocktail party “hubbub.” She insisted people be able to speak well but also Read More »from Tom Hanks Celebrates the Life of Nora Ephron