What Normal Life Looks Like

Want to get the At Home newsletter in your inbox? Sign up here. Welcome. A couple of weeks ago, I asked what “back to normal” means to you. The resumption of an activity? A reunion with family? Being inside without masks and not fretting about it? Here’s what you said. For Carlee Clarke in Frankfurt,…

12 Stellar Recipes for Your Next Outdoor Hang

What differentiates an outdoor hang from a picnic? A sort of informality, certainly. Outdoor hangs are more spur-of-the-moment, an enthusiastic reaction to spotting a 72-degree day very near on the horizon, while browsing through a weather app. But spontaneity doesn’t mean you throw planning to the wind. Consider channeling some of that enthusiasm into these…

How to Deal With the Rental Car Crunch

“If the car rental search engine says the cars are all gone, get crafty,” said Leigh Rowan, the founder of Savanti Travel, a travel management service, who recommends using Google Maps to search for car rental locations near your hotel or vacation home rental. “In major tourist spots like Wailea in Maui, there are four…

How to Feel Better

Good morning. The organizational psychologist Adam Grant wrote a fascinating piece for The Times this week about languishing, which he calls the forgotten middle child of mental health: a state of void that isn’t burnout, nor depression, but a kind of joyless aimlessness. He thinks it might be the dominant emotion of 2021. Languishing is…