This is the true story of Sabina Shalom who exchanged a brilliant single-life career for marriage and motherhood. After thiry years of making a home for her husband and their two sons, she felt frustrated in her role as live-in-maid and asked her husband for time off with pay! With a back-pack and only fifteen hundred dollars, she traveled fifty thousand miles alone around the world. Stranded in Iran, received by Indira Ghandi in India, she spent the night in a mud hut just a few miles from cannibal country in Papua-New Guinea. Granted an audience with the King of Tonga and trading her clothes for lodgings on Easter Island were some of hte experiences that enabled her to rediscover new strengths and potential long since dormant in a marriage grown stale. But the adjustments the new liberated Sabina and her husband had to make upon her return home six months later, (and thirty pounds thinner) proved to be the most difficult part of her "sabbatical". Ultimately their marriage becomes richer and stronger than either could have imagined. A Marriage Sabbatical is a fascinating and inspirational account of a middle-aged woman's extraordinary, lone, global odyssey in search of herself, told with warmth, candor, and good humor.

Now in paperback, the uplifting, inspirational book that is an open invitation to married women everywhere to go off on their own, follow their dreams and desires, and come back to happier, healthier relationships. From Harriet Beecher Stowe to Ann Morrow Lindbergh, women have been taking marriage sabbaticals for centuries to explore their sense of self. What is a marriage sabbatical? It is simply a time away from your daily routines to nurture your own creative, intellectual, or spiritual strengths. In this personal yet practical book, Cheryl Jarvis chronicles the story of her own marriage sabbatical–a three-month stay at writers’ colonies–and the experiences of 55 other women who took time and space away. Through these reflective and empowering ventures, the author illuminates the issues involved: the logistics, the finances, the fears. Whether it’s hiking the Appalachian Trail, holing up in a cabin to paint, or taking a class in another city, a marriage sabbatical can bring new life and understanding to a longterm partnership.

Worthy author Nancy Levin shows you how to turn the old model of relationship on its head and build something better and more fulfilling than you've had before. Are you ready to go back to the drawing board in your love life--and end up more satisfied than you've ever been before? In these pages, master coach Nancy Levin takes a truly fresh look at relationships, showing you how to build them better from the ground up--or perform some skillful renovations. Permission to Put Yourself First is for you if you fit any of these profiles: you're single and looking for a new relationship beyond what you've experienced before . . . you're happy alone but looking toward a great relationship in the future . . . you're divorced and determined never to do that again . . . or you're recovering from the death of a partner and unsure what's next. It's also for you if you're currently in a relationship that you want to refresh and restore; a relationship that challenges or threatens your boundaries; a relationship you're not sure you can salvage; or a relationship you recognize as the exact right teacher for you, even if it's not easy. Essentially, this book is for you if you're ready for something more in relationship than what the old models have offered. It's based on the essential truth that relationship is first and foremost where we learn to love ourselves. Drawing on many of the same exercises she uses with her clients, Nancy guides you through a 10-step process to dissolve your emotional and psychological roadblocks to self-love so you can have the relationship you truly desire.

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Over a million copies sold! “An eminently practical guide to an emotionally intelligent—and long-lasting—marriage.”—Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work has revolutionized the way we understand, repair, and strengthen marriages. John Gottman’s unprecedented study of couples over a period of years has allowed him to observe the habits that can make—and break—a marriage. Here is the culmination of that work: the seven principles that guide couples on a path toward a harmonious and long-lasting relationship. Straightforward yet profound, these principles teach partners new approaches for resolving conflicts, creating new common ground, and achieving greater levels of intimacy. Gottman offers strategies and resources to help couples collaborate more effectively to resolve any problem, whether dealing with issues related to sex, money, religion, work, family, or anything else. Packed with new exercises and the latest research out of the esteemed Gottman Institute, this revised edition of The Seven Principles for Making Marriage Work is the definitive guide for anyone who wants their relationship to attain its highest potential.

Two cubicle convicts. One jungle village. A life without boundaries. In this real-life comedic memoir, Laura Berger and Glen Tibaldeo expose the blessings and ironic struggles of ditching their cut-throat corporate jobs for life in a tranquil jungle paradise. Following the spirit and encouragement of friends met on a desperately needed vacation two years earlier, they leave their Chicago home with eleven suitcases, two laptops, and two cats to land in Pair-o-Dice Village, the scene of their big life gamble. Surprisingly intense life changes immediately prompt a slew of rarely contemplated questions. Could you: Completely change your sources of happiness? Let a boa constrictor loose in your house to get rid of the bats? Drink mystery potions from a shaman? Brave cliff sides when you're deathly afraid of heights? Make friends with your pesky inner voice at all costs? Join a journey of laughter as Laura and Glen pick apart the foibles in all of us. Find yourself rooting for a couple in a life adventure, at the brink of losing everything they have to get everything they've ever wanted. From random wildlife dropping from the sky and battles with vipers to culture clashes and visits with shamans, Radical Sabbatical captures the thrills and realities of boldly following a dream in a story any thrill-seeker-armchair or roaming-will love.

“Fast-paced and colorful, with hints of The Goldfinch and Malibu Rising, and more than one pitch-perfect love story—Lost and Found in Paris sparkles like the City of Light itself and will have you flipping the pages quickly as you’re drawn deeply into its mysterious world of art, intrigue, and redemption.” —Kristin Harmel, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Lost Names The ultimate escapist adventure in Paris, told with wit, style, and a touch of intrigue, by the popular and dynamic author of The Sweeney Sisters. Joan Blakely had an unconventional childhood: the daughter of a globe-trotting supermodel and a world-famous artist. Her artist father died on 9/11, and Joan—an art historian by training—has spent more than a decade maintaining his legacy. Life in the art world is beginning to wear on her—and then one fateful afternoon her husband drops a bombshell: he’s fathered twins with another woman. Furious but secretly pleased to have a reason to blow up her life, Joan impulsively decides to get out of town, booking a last-minute trip to Paris as an art courier: the person museums hire to fly valuable works of art to potential clients, discreetly stowed in their carry-on luggage. Sipping her champagne in business-class, she chats up her seatmate, Nate, a good-looking tech nerd who invites her to dinner in Paris. He doesn’t know she’s carrying drawings worth hundreds of thousands of dollars. But after a romantic dinner and an even more romantic night together, Joan wakes up next to her new lover to discover the drawings gone. Even more shocking is what’s been left in their place: a sketch from her father’s journals, which she thought had been lost when he died on 9/11, and a poem that reads like a treasure hunt. With Nate as a sidekick, Joan will follow the clues all over Paris—from its grand cathedrals to the romantic bistros to the twisty side streets of Montmartre—hoping to recover the lost art, and her own sense of adventure. What she finds is even better than she’d expected.

What if you could take a vacation from your marriage? A couple decides to give it a shot in this fun, adventurous novel by Lian Dolan, the popular author of The Sweeney Sisters and Lost and Found in Paris. After twenty-three years of building careers and raising kids together, Jason and Nicole Elswick are ready for a break from their daily lives. Jason has spent years planning his dream sabbatical—ditching work for a nine-month-long motorcycle trip through South America. Problem is, that’s Jason’s dream, not Nicole’s. After years working retail and parenting in Portland, Nicole craves the sun of the Southwest and the artistic community in Santa Fe, where she wants to learn jewelry design. A chance encounter at a dinner party presents a surprising—and intriguing—way out of their dilemma. Over a little too much wine, Jason and Nicole’s married neighbors sing the praises of the 500 Mile Rule: their policy of enjoying themselves however they wish—and with whomever they wish—when they’re temporarily far apart. It seems like the perfect solution: nine months pursuing their own adventures—with a bit of don’t-ask-don’t-tell—and then a return to their shared lives. It’ll be a sabbatical from their marriage as well as their day jobs. As Jason bikes his way across a continent and Nicole reclaims the art she’s long neglected, they discover the pleasures and pitfalls of the 500 Mile Rule, confronting temptations of all kinds, uncomfortable truths about themselves, and gaining new perspective on their partnership. But all sabbaticals come to an end…then what?