Remember when you were younger and you shared friendship bracelets with your BFF? I love the idea of symbolizing friendship with a simple handmade bracelet. They’re personal, creative and they show the person you’ve taken the time to make them something unique.

A couple of months ago, I went to my local arts & crafts store and bought a starter-kit on How to Make Friendship Bracelets. I’ve already made a few for my friends and sisters but lately I’ve just been making them for myself. I’m the type of person that can’t stay idle for a long period of time so making bracelets keep me busy.

The Candy Stripe

There are various styles and patterns, but most are based on the same simple half-hitch knot. The Candy Stripe is the easiest pattern and great for beginners!

You will need 6 pieces of embroidery floss (2 each of 3 colors) cut to 24″ long.

Tie a knot about 3-1/2″ from the top.

Clip the knotted end to a clipboard or a sturdy notepad. You can also tape it to a table end or pin it to your jeans, whatever’s more comfortable for you to work with.

To simplify the instructions, let’s name the strings. Starting with the first pink string on the left, that’s string #1, then #2 (purple), #3 (white), #4 (pink), #5 (purple), and #6 (white). You will be working your way from left to right.

First, loop string #1 over and then under string #2. It’s important to hold string #2 straight and pull the knot taut with string #1.

Make the same knot with the same two strings. This is called a “double knot.”

Now move string #2 aside. Take string #1 and string #3 and make a double knot.

Keep moving string #1 through all five strings. You should end up with something like this:

Now that string #1 is all the way on the right, start moving string #2 along. Tie double knots, left to right, all the way across the other strings.

Keep moving the left strings across one at a time. You can now see the bracelet come to form.

Keep going until the bracelet is as long as you would like.

Gather the strings, tie a knot to secure and trim the ends if necessary.

Remember to be patient when you’re making your friendship bracelet. It’s easy and inexpensive, but the impact they leave on loved ones is immense.

For more bracelet styles and patterns, check out MakingFriends.com.

I did a little science project when I was in 4th grade called “What Types of Soda Have the Worst Effect on Our Teeth?” After the experiment, I realized that if soda could be that bad for our enamel, the hardest and most highly mineralized substance of the body, then it couldn’t be good for our health!

Soda, pop, cola, soft drink — whatever you call it, it is one of the worst beverages that you could be drinking for your health. Sodas contain little to no vitamins or other essential nutrients. What they do contain is caffeine, sugar substitutes, carbonation, and food additives such as artificial coloring, flavoring and preservatives that is the problem. Research has determined that consumption of soda in high quantity, especially by children, is responsible for health problems that include tooth decay, nutritional depletion, obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease.

Skip the soda and go for:

• Water. The vital beverage for good health. Each and every cell needs water to perform its essential functions. If you’re the type that has a hard time with drinking water, like myself, enhance the flavor with a refreshing infusion of basil, mint leaves, and a drop of honey.
• Fruit Juice. To cut back on the sugar content, try watering down your juice by diluting it with three parts filtered water to one part 100% concentrated juice. You will get a subtle sweet taste and the benefit of antioxidants. After a couple of weeks, you will no longer miss the sweetness of sugary concentrated juices.
• Tea. My drink of choice! Black, green, white, and oolong teas all contain antioxidant polyphenols and numerous health benefits. Herbal tea does not have the same antioxidant properties, though it is still a great beverage choice with other health benefits, such as inducing calming and relaxing effects. If tea doesn’t satisfy your sweet tooth, try adding a little honey or cinnamon instead of refined sugar.

Even if I couldn’t convince you otherwise, you should know how soda affects your body so that you can make an informed choice on your own. Drinking soda in moderation is better than nothing!

To read more about What Soft Drinks are Doing to Your Health, check out Ask Mr. Mao.

My sisters and I are going gaga over the iPhone Emoji app! Emoji is the Japanese term for small emoticon pictures. The word ‘e moji’ literally means ‘picture + letter’. It is a set of picture characters popularly used in Japan much in the same way as emoticons here in the US. Unlike emoticons, the Emoji pictographs offer a wider variety of images such as accessories, gems, animals, as well as holiday goodies like a Valentine chocolate box, Halloween pumpkin and Santa.

Emoji support was added to the iPhone in firmware 2.2 and can only be sent from an iPhone running OS 2.2 with a SoftBank email account and a SoftBank SIM. Viewing Emoji picture characters on an iPhone requires iPhone OS 2.2 or later and a SoftBank SIM. Emoji picture characters cannot be sent from an iPhone with a different SIM or an iPhone running OS 2.1 or earlier.

Emoji is available from the App Store for $0.99.

To install Emoji on your iPhone for free, check out Gizmodo.

Visit the developer’s website for more information on iPhone Emoji.

Full credit goes to the image authors.