Hiiiii pals! Hope everyone had a lucky start to the week. And by lucky we mean more of “Let’s table this for next week” and less of “Do you have 5 minutes to chat?”

Song of the day: Rod’s gearing up for his Return of Top 8, Friday, April 4th at Thalia Hall in Chicago, and “Everytime We Touch” by Cascada will absolutely be on the playlist. Tickets for the night are still available here. We promise you can still be in bed by 10pm... 

Need some advice? We have an answer for you here!

How to Make Friends in Your 30s

 question 
Help! I’m single and in my thirties. I was just relocated for work to a place where I don’t know anyone. Do you have any advice on where and/or how to meet people I actually want to hang out with? —S.

 answer 
As we get older, we’ve realized many people have already built their solid friend groups, settled into families, embraced life with kids, and everything in between. That can make finding new, genuine people to connect with feel tricky. Even though both of us have our core friend groups, we’ve each managed to form some of our closest friendships later in life! Here’s how we’ve done it, and how you can to:

How to Stop Your Boss From Micromanaging

 question 
I recently got a new boss who is an all-time micromanager. I’m talking makes-me-send-an-email-to-her-before-I-send-it-to-the-actual-person kind of micromanger. I love my job and really would like to stay where I am in this position but I don’t think I can handle working with my boss if this is the way it’s going to be. Do you have any advice on how to get them to chill out? —N.

 answer 
There’s nothing worse than a manager who's constantly breathing down your neck. TBH, micromanagers make our jobs harder because they’re usually slowing down our workflow with their constant need to know every minor detail of every possible thing. A few ways we were able to break our old managers’ hoovering habits?

1. Proactively communicate progress

• Keep your boss in the loop with regular updates, even before they ask for them. By demonstrating that you’re on top of things and can manage tasks independently, you reduce their need to check in constantly. 

• Do this: Send weekly email updates or schedule a 10-min touch base to discuss your progress and accomplishments of the week. This builds trust and reassurance that you can handle your responsibilities, so they don’t feel the need to check up on you 24/7.

2. Ask for more freedom and set clear expectations

• Having a candid conversation with your boss about needing some space doesn’t have to be scary! Frame it positively by expressing confidence in your ability to take ownership of tasks while ensuring alignment with their expectations. 

• Say this: “I’d love to take on more ownership of [specific project] and manage it more independently. I’ll make sure to provide you with regular updates to keep you informed.” Setting clear expectations about how you’ll stay accountable can help ease their concerns and reduce the need for micromanagement.

Proving you know what’s going on and offering a clear solution creates a win-win situation where your boss can trust you and back off to focus on the 50 billion other things they actually need to be dialed in to. 

Got a Q? We wanna hear it here! 

…while you stare and take pics of your dog while they sleep. 

34 years old or 4 years old? Either way, we’re def making these Jurassic Bite Bowls thanks to Ashley Harris on Instagram! May or may not also be firing up the Land Before Time while we’re at it…

We are so here for Lindsay Lohan’s recent renaissance and can’t wait for Freaker Friday to hit theaters this August. Since we’re still a few months away, we’ll be replaying the trailer for now and gasping every time we see the Meredith Blake cameo!!

Remember five years ago when we were all told to leave the office but we’d be back in two weeks? Yeah…

Thanks so much for reading! Hope the weekend comes quickly for you!!  Same place, same time next week.

—Rod and Gabi