I'm Garik Khachatryan, an editorial writer with a BA in Journalism and Mass Media and over five years of experience as a writer covering news across the Americas and Europe. I've been writing for Bright Side since 2022, creating articles on trends, human relationships, travel, culture, and the emotional experiences that connect us for millions of readers around the world.
I did a high school semester in New York City, spent a year living in Spain, and can speak conversational Spanish. These days, between articles, I'm perfecting what I consider my most underrated hobby: watching Harry Potter.
I write about the things that fascinate me most: the kindness behind human relationships and the world you discover when you actually leave home. A multiple international essay award winner, I bring the same curiosity I once used in newsrooms to everything I publish here.
Backed by a journalism degree and half a decade of editorial experience, I cover the emotional and the experiential: why we connect the way we do, and what the world looks like when you're willing to explore it.
You can email me at garik.khachatryan@id.thesoul.io, follow me on LinkedIn and on Instagram @garikked
November is here, and if you’re planning a nail salon appointment before the holiday rush, now is a good time to choose a pedicure that won’t feel outdated by December. This year’s fall pedicure trends are moving beyond simple seasonal colors, with ombré finishes, updated French tips, and chrome nail designs offering fresh ways to carry your look into the festive season.Nail technicians are highlighting everything from delicate metallic details to rich, dimensional gel manicure shades for fall and winter 2026. Whether you’re searching for nail salons near you or looking for at-home pedicure ideas, there’s no need to choose between something cozy for November and something festive for the holidays.For anyone searching “nail salons near me” before the December rush, these 10 late-fall pedicure trends offer fresh inspiration for your next pedicure appointment, along with easy ways to recreate your favorite designs at home using nail polish.
November is when jewelry trends take a more expressive turn, with vintage-inspired earrings, colorful gemstones, sculptural bracelets, and statement necklaces bringing fresh energy to late-fall outfits. Ahead of Thanksgiving 2026, fashion experts are exploring bold shapes, unexpected textures, and modern takes on classic jewelry designs. From oversized silver chains to irregular pearls and personalized charms, the latest fashion trends offer plenty of inspiration for anyone browsing jewelry stores near you or looking to refresh pieces they already own.From mismatched earrings to colorful cocktail rings, these are the 10 jewelry trends worth exploring ahead of Thanksgiving 2026, including simple styling ideas you can recreate at home using pieces from your own jewelry collection.
With Thanksgiving just around the corner, November is the perfect time to refresh your pedicure before the holiday rush. From cozy fall colors to glossy gel manicure shades, nail experts are embracing fresh designs that make even the simplest toenails feel special. If you’ve been searching for “nail salons near me,” this season’s pedicure trends offer plenty of inspiration. Think soft velvet finishes, playful nail art, and cute color combinations that go beyond the usual burgundy and brown.These ten November 2026 nail trends offer fresh inspiration for your next salon appointment, along with easy ways to recreate your favorite pedicure looks at home.
Ask a parent which gift they kept, and it’s rarely the expensive one. It’s the lopsided scarf, the pot holder with one wide side, the card with glitter still coming off. Handmade gifts like that make a parent happy, and they do something for the kid who made them too. Oliver Scott Curry and his colleagues went through 27 experiments on kindness, 4,045 people in all, and found a small-to-medium boost in the giver’s well-being (it’s a 2018 meta-analysis). So when a teenager sits down with a colorful knitting pattern for the first time, or a kid leaves lunch on a desk, the happiness goes both ways. The holidays are close, and these 13 acts of kindness are small, thoughtful gestures of compassion that made some parents’ year.
As we all know, retirement is supposed to be the reward, but for many people it’s when the phone goes quiet. A 2025 AARP study found that 40% of U.S. adults 45 and older are lonely, and it named retirement and grown children moving away as common triggers. Gardening won’t fix a family, that’s true, but gardening gets you outside, and outside is where kindness finds you. In retirement, a little kindness from strangers, and a lot of gardening, can rebuild a whole life.Margaret H., 77, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, only wanted to keep her hands busy. Her kindness at home ended up growing a lot more than flowers.
Many people right now turn to gardening when loneliness fills the home. A peer-reviewed University of Essex study followed 53 people in a community garden program and found their wellbeing rose and held steady during a period of social isolation. Some people fight loneliness with tree planting near home. And sometimes, the way out of loneliness is a stranger’s empathy, waiting in the ground.Lauren T., 31, of Kansas City, took a gardening job to pay rent and escape a too-quiet home. She found something she never expected to see again.
Somewhere right now, someone is winding orange yarn into a ball and promising to finish a table runner before the guests arrive on November 26. They have company. Yelp’s 2026 Trend Forecast, compiled with trend expert Tara Lewis, found searches for crocheting classes up 220%. Thanksgiving dinner itself is the easy part: the American Farm Bureau Federation’s 40th annual survey put a classic feast for 10 at $55.18 last year, with a 16-pound turkey at $21.50. The handmade part takes longer. A set of coasters takes an evening, a table runner a weekend, and a pumpkin-colored blanket for the back of a chair a few weeks, so the patterns you pick this week decide what’s on your Thanksgiving table. These 12 cozy crochet trends will give your home a real handmade Thanksgiving, and there’s still time to finish one before the turkey comes out of the oven.
Thanksgiving is almost here, and November is bringing a fresh season excuse to update your pedicure. This year’s fall nail colors go beyond the usual burgundy and brown, with warm metallics, cozy neutrals, and rich berry tones joining the gel manicure shades worth trying before the holiday.Whether you’re searching for nail salons near you or planning an at-home pedicure, there’s plenty of Thanksgiving nail inspiration to choose from. Some trends need nothing more than two coats of polish, while others bring a festive touch with chrome finishes, French tips and delicate nail art.From glossy cranberry red to champagne shimmer, these 10 Thanksgiving pedicure trends for November 2026 offer something for every taste. We’ll also show you how to get each look at home, so you can try your favorites without booking an appointment.
Thanksgiving falls on Thursday, November 26 in 2026, and somewhere right now a first-time host is staring at a frozen turkey and wondering how long it takes to thaw. Help has been waiting for her since 1981, when six home economists answered 11,000 turkey questions on a toll-free line. Today, the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line has more than 50 experts who answer more than 100,000 questions every November and December, according to Butterball. That’s kindness at scale, a stranger talking a stranger through her oven. The best Thanksgiving kindness doesn’t need a hotline, though. It’s a man who carries your suitcase down a long flight of stairs, a mother-in-law with a thermometer wrapped in a dish towel, a quiet hour for yourself before the guests arrive. These 13 Thanksgiving moments put kindness next to the roasted turkey and the family traditions, and remind us that the cook is allowed to sit down too.
November is when summer’s glossy brights finally give way to richer colors and more textured pedicure designs. This year, cool denim blue, smoky teal, icy pearl, and glittering metallic finishes are giving autumn nail polish a fresh direction. Nail artists are also exploring ways to make darker shades catch the light, while softer colors offer a break from the usual burgundy-and-brown palette. The result is a new wave of beauty looks that work just as well with cozy sweaters as they do with open-toe shoes.From glossy black patent to delicate manicure-shade pearl chrome, these are 10 cozy autumn pedicure trends to try this November 2026, including simple tricks for recreating salon-worthy pedicures at home.
Paying it forward sounds automatic, but in most cases, it really isn’t. In 5 experiments, Kurt Gray, Adrian Ward and Michael Norton found that people treated greedily by a stranger passed that greed on more often than people treated generously passed on generosity, according to their study in the Journal of Experimental Psychology: General. That makes the people in our parent stories today rarer than they look. With the holidays near, these stories show kindness and generosity doing the hard thing, getting passed on.
In 2026, retirement is supposed to be the reward. For many widowed people, though, retirement means a quiet kitchen and dinner for one. A Flinders University review of more than 20 studies, covering over 80,000 older adults in 12 countries, found that seniors who eat alone tend to eat worse than those who share meals. Grief usually shows up at the dinner table first. But kindness can show up there too, and in retirement, a little kindness from family or strangers is often what brings happiness back.Patricia L., 72, a retired school secretary from Louisville, Kentucky, learned that kindness can start with one very spicy casserole.