Stories
Things worth knowing
Gift guides, getting-ready routines, and notes on scent, season and mood.
The compliment effect
Affection on an ordinary Tuesday
Relationships are not mostly made of occasions. They are made of Tuesdays, and Tuesdays get almost no attention at all.
2 min read
The compliment effect
Anniversary ideas that are not dinner again
Most anniversaries default to a nicer version of a normal evening. Here is how to mark one so it is actually distinguishable from the other 364.
2 min read
The compliment effect
How to be present on a first date instead of performing
The problem with first dates is not nerves. It is that you are running a presentation and a conversation at the same time, and the presentation always wins.
3 min read
The compliment effect
How to give a compliment someone actually remembers
Most compliments evaporate because they are about a category, not a person. Three small changes fix that, and none of them require being clever.
3 min read
The compliment effect
How to keep a good night without turning it into content
Photographing an evening is the fastest way to stop being in it. There is a version of keeping the memory that does not cost you the night.
2 min read
The compliment effect
What to send someone far away that is not a generic gift
Distance gifts fail when they are objects. They work when they carry a piece of sensory information a message cannot.
2 min read
The compliment effect
Small ways to feel closer without a grand gesture
Grand gestures are a way of paying off intimacy debt in one lump sum. These are the small deposits that mean you never build it up.
3 min read