friends

Making new friends can get tougher and tougher as you get older, but it's definitely a pursuit that can bring you a lot of happiness.

Most of us are used to leaning on our friends in good times and bad, but according to Kelly Valen, author of The Twisted Sisterhood, female friends aren't always on your side.

We spend so much time and energy trying to guess what's going on in someone else's head, and we often jump to the worst conclusions. I have a habit of doing this everywhere in my life - from friends and family to work associates - and it definitely highlights some of my more neurotic tendencies.

It's not always easy, but picking up the phone or sending an email - even after years have passed without contact - can be really, really worthwhile.

I've spent the last year and a half traveling pretty consistently for work, and it's been thrilling. I've been to Greece, Hong Kong, Jamaica, India, Turks & Caicos, Mexico, Spain and a whole bunch of other amazing places. I have had my favourite leather boots stained by milk fresh from a goat on a mountaintop in Crete. I have received a deep tissue massage from a former Mr. Jamaica. I have written about a seemingly endless array of beauty treatments — from thalassotherapy to chocolate body wraps. And I have expanded my eating repetoire to include snake, turtle, crickets, ant eggs, gizzard and pretty much anything else that has been waved under my nose.