Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope your day is going splendidly and you have a wonderful weekend planned. Today I have a few tools and articles to share with you on relaxing and planning. So let’s just get into the tips so you can get on with planning your weekend.

Yes, I want to share some Lifehacker links on planning, just in case you missed them. I find thinking about planning things anxiety-producing, but actually making and executing a plan very relaxing. Yeah, I’m that kind of person. Anyway, if you haven’t thought about retirement planning, you should, and Lifehacker has a great guide to retirement planning. Sometimes, the Internet is wonderful and the online tools in the article are super-helpful. If you have any other tools you recommend, please share them in the comments.

Also good for planning is Lifehacker’s article on creating a master information kit. I’m totally finishing this kit this weekend and making sure the important people in my life know where to find it and how to access it. Being prepared is good. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Another cool tip is this one from Gizmodo on how to get rid of Google’s black bar. Share it with your friends, family members, and patrons who don’t like the new look of Google. They’ll think you are awesome, really. When I told some of my colleagues how to turn off threading in Gmail conversations, they thought it was wonderful. (I happen to love threading, but you know, different strokes for different folks.) Customization of your online experience= brilliant.

I hope you have the time to take a true vacation this summer. As you get ready for vacation, consider implementing danah boyd’s email sabbatical. This is truly a great idea to avoid having to check email while on vacation and also avoid the dreaded email avalanche when you get back to the office. I find breaks away from work email truly wonderful and plan on implementing an email sabbatical when I go on my next trip, which hopefully will be in the not too distant future (*fingers crossed*).

Finally, I want to leave you with another wonderful photograph from beautiful portals. I hope you have some place similar to curl up with a good book this weekend.

Have a lovely weekend, full of relaxation, good food and good company (also, a good book and a cup of tea are always nice, too). I’ll be back next week with more tech, archives, and library notes and news. Allons-y!