Happy Friday, dear readers! I hope your week has been lovely and you have a wonderful weekend planned. Today I just want to share some thoughts on various articles I’ve been reading, mostly having to do with work-life balance, in various forms.

I thought it was interesting that Lifehacker published these two articles very close together: why you should embrace work-life imbalance and don’t forget to live. I’d love to hear your thoughts on work-life (im)balance. I believe that we should all do work we love and have careers we enjoy because then the hours do go by more rapidly and are more fulfilling. However, I’m not for being a workaholic. I believe in working very intensely and with great focus in order to accomplish as much as possible, but not having career as the only facet of my life. Having time for friends and family, reading for pleasure (and not for research), baking, and simply being are important, too. Time might be wibbly, wobbly, but we have a finite amount and it seems like a shame not to enjoy life outside of our careers, however fulfilling and enjoyable we find them to be.

Also in the vein of work and life articles, Lifehacker published one on why you are afraid of change and what you can do about it. I think this is useful no matter where the change is occurring in your life. Life is change and it is nice to have some tips on making the most of it.

And since it’s that time of year when people in the United States are doing their taxes and cleaning up their records, I thought tips on what documents to shred and what to keep would be useful.

Finally, on to some beautiful fun. Check out the 2012 International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge winners. Art in science is a truly wonderful thing to behold.

Also, I wanted to share the ongoing lettering versus calligraphy competition. Gorgeous, gorgeous lettering and calligraphy. Take a break and just enjoy how expressive lettering and writing can be.

I hope you have a wonderful, relaxing weekend. I’ll be back soon with more. Allons-y!