9 Tips For Making New Friends That Have Actually Worked For Us

Chloe Williams​
Jan 30, 2023
how to make new friends with other women as an adult

Fun date night ideas aren't just for you and your S.O. Learning to become better friends with your siblings or keep up a long distance friendship are their own kind of difficult, but figuring out how to make new friends can be complicated when you're an adult because so much of your life is settled in a way that wasn't the case in your teens or even your young adulthood. It might feel like everyone has already found their people, but don't underestimate the value of a relationship with you.

Whether you're moving to a new city, or you decided you needed to breakup with a childhood friend, these are some great friendship tips that we've actually put into practice! Once you really click with someone and begin putting in the effort, you'll be able to become almost just as close as you were with your old friends, if not closer. As the shining star of our generation, Shania Twain, once said, "Let's go girls!"

How To Identify Whether You Want To Be Friends With Someone

Sometimes you know right away whether you want to be friends with someone, but other times you're trying to work through awkwardness or busy schedules, and have a hard time figuring out whether you want to pursue a relationship with them. When you find yourself in this position, here are some things to keep in mind. They're not the end all, be all of friendship, but they can help guide you in the right direction:

  • You have similar interests: When you enjoy the same movies, museums, or subjects, you won't have to fight to keep up the conversation.
  • You want to make an effort to hang out with them: Actually wanting to go out of your way to see someone is definitely a good sign, but more on that later.
  • They make an effort to hang out with you: Doing what they can to spend time with you, especially if they have limited free time, will show they also value the relationship.
  • You have similar beliefs: There are some friends that you can't have deep conversations with if you don't align on certain things, which makes similar beliefs a great friendship foundation.
  • You just click right away: When you know, you know.

Where To Meet New Friends

  • Bars
  • Work
  • Social clubs
  • Mutual friends
  • Volunteering
  • Social media
  • Coffee shops
  • Gyms

How To Deepen Your Friendships

Image via KoolShooters/Pexels

First Things First...

One huge block that we face when entering into new friendships is nitpicking everything about ourselves or bringing baggage from past friendships into the future. Girl, it's time to cobweb your brain! Figure out what habits and thought patterns aren't life-giving, and figure out how to tackle them. The best thing you can do is learn to stop caring what people think about you — or as Dolly Parton put it, "Find out who you are and do it on purpose."

Accept That Making An Effort Is Sometimes Inconvenient

When you're making new friends, sometimes you have to make things more inconvenient for yourself if it's a relationship that you want to pursue. That can mean asking them questions to hear about their lives instead of talking about your own, or meeting them in their neighborhood if they're short on free time and can't travel. It's not okay if they start to take advantage of that, but a good friend will do the same for you in time.

Have A Daycation

Go on a friend date and be tourists in your hometown. This is a great way to spend an afternoon with a new friend — you're exploring something you have in common, and you're not sitting in silence with nothing to do.

Get Rid Of Phones...Until You Need Them

When you are spending time together, it's important to really show that you're listening. You definitely don't want to spend the whole time glancing at your Apple Watch while you're spending quality time with someone in person. Not only is it rude, but it can also actually make the person you're with feel excluded. The best friendships are the ones that make you completely forget about your phones anyway.

However, during the times you're not together, use your phones to your advantage. Call rather than text them, or send each other the occasional meme and video on social media.

Image via RF._.studio/Pexels

Get Creative

If you're totally tired of asking "what do you do?" when getting together with new friends, try asking one of these hyper-specific and fun questions for new friends that they'll actually want to answer. You can also use some unique ice breakers that will get the conversation flowing.

Workin' 9 To 5

Working in an office gives you plenty of time to talk to your coworkers, but if you want to get to know them better, invite them to go out for drinks or appetizers. If you're working remotely but live in the same city, try co-working together. It'll help your workflow and deepen your connection at the same time!

Play Hostess For A Day

Host a Galentine’s Day Brunch (or literally any other kind of brunch) to invite your new friends over to chat and chow down on delicious food. You can't go wrong with Vegan Baklava, Chocolate Covered Cheese, or some Pink Cocktails.

Get Vulnerable

Invite your friends to see into the messier parts of your life. If you trust their advice, open up to tell them about something going on in your life, or ask them questions if you know they've gone through something vulnerable. Knowing you better, and building that trust, will make your relationship way stronger than it was before.

Do Nothing

Spend time without your phones and without an agenda, and just talk. Some of the best nights we've had have been when we were planning on watching a movie, but never got around to it because the conversation was too good. You won't regret it.

Check out our email newsletter for more friendship content and let us know your best tips for making new girlfriends on Twitter!

11 Obvious Signs You’re Actually An Empath, According To A Therapist

You and your friends have likely spent countless hours together, decoding everything from imaginationships to the best comfort shows to watch when you're sad. You've probably even settled into a designated role within the group. Maybe you're the super adventurous one, always suggesting friend date ideas for the group to try, while someone else always knows how to comfort everyone when life gets rough. But, have you ever wondered if you're the most empathetic friend in the group? That's easy, just ask Brianna Paruolo, LCMCH. She's the founder and clinical director of On Par Therapyso she knows how to recognize signs you're an empath, plus how to take care of yourself!

How To Know If You're An Empath

  • Empathy is when "you feel what others are feeling."
  • There are physical, emotional, social, and mental signs that you're an empath.
  • You may be an empath if you get physically exhausted after being in crowds, feel anxious or overwhelmed in emotionally charged environments, feel responsible for other people's happiness, or you find it hard to distinguish your own feelings from someone else's.

Are there really assigned roles in friend groups or am I just imagining things?

Gary Barnes

Like I said before, it can seem like you and your friends unintentionally gravitate toward certain 'roles.' It's not like anyone woke up one day and decided, "I'm going to be the 'mother hen' of the group," but it tends to happen. Why?

Paruolo says, "In my clinical work, I've consistently observed that our friendship roles often mirror our early family dynamics. These patterns show up naturally — think about who in your friend group gets the first crisis call, who plans all the gatherings, or who everyone turns to for emotional support." I'm willing to bet you thought of a name for each scenario — including yours — because I know I did!

"Like in families, we each fall into specific roles that feel familiar to us," Paruolo further explains.

What actually makes someone an empathetic person?

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There's so many definitions for empathy, but I thought it would be wise to ask a licensed professional for her opinion on the matter. "Empathy means to feel what others are feeling. You do not have to have a personal direct experience with something to feel empathy for another person," shares Paruolo.

For example, your friend could call to tell you she has to have fibroid removal surgery and is feeling scared. You may have never had surgery, but you could find yourself feeling the need to comfort her in spite of this. Paruolo says, "The cool thing about our brains is that we have mirror neurons, which means part of our brain is set up to feel what others feel. The ability to attune to others' emotional states comes naturally to some people, while others may need to develop this capacity more consciously."

Yaroslav Shuraev

To break it down even further, here's signs that Paruolo says point to your empathetic nature.

Physical Signs:

  • Getting physically exhausted after being in crowds
  • Feeling drained after social interactions, even enjoyable ones (OMG I feel so seen!)
  • Needing extra time alone to recharge

Emotional Signs:

  • Absorbing other people's emotions like a sponge
  • Feeling anxious or overwhelmed in emotionally charged environments
  • Finding it hard to watch violence or cruelty in movies/TV

Social Signs:

  • Feeling responsible for others' happiness
  • Having trouble saying "no" to people who need help

Mental Signs:

  • Picking up on subtle changes in others' moods
  • Being highly attuned to body language and tone
  • Finding it hard to distinguish your feelings from others' feelings

It sounds like I'm the empathetic friend, but are there any downsides to this?

Mikhail Nilov

I've been an empath for as long as I can remember and I've found that I have to 'recharge' my social batteries at times. I thought it was because I was trying to be superwoman by fixing others' problems, but it turns out theres more to it than that. Paruolo says, "Empathetic friends and people have an uncanny ability to sense others' emotional states even when unspoken, and frequently need recovery time after intense social interactions. They tend to be deeply affected by others' experiences and naturally consider situations from multiple perspectives."

In the long run, she says it can be "distressing" for some people to always feel the feelings of others. Over time, she says, "it can cause you to shut down and retract." This can look like not being as quick to respond to the funny memes your friends send you or not even answering their phone calls right away.

cottonbro studio

But, this doesn't mean you're the only person who tends to go through this. "Many empaths struggle with maintaining boundaries due to their deep emotional attunement," she says. Color me guilty because this sounds so much like me. It got so bad at one point that my sister nicknamed me 'Captain Save-A-Lot,' which is actually the clean version of what she truly meant. Still, empathy fatigue is no laughing matter nor does it mean you're defected. You just have the natural ability to show people their feelings are important to you.

How can I protect my peace as the empathetic friend?

Kaboompics.com

You know you need to set boundaries, but what does that mean? Paruolo says, "The key is understanding that empathy needs to be balanced with compassion - it's not just about feeling others' emotions but also knowing how to help without depleting yourself."

One of the things she loves to do is "encourage empaths to set clear boundaries around their emotional availability and make time for regular grounding exercises." As with gratitude journaling, try to focus on an activity that calls for you to be present. Focus on what you can hear, see, touch, taste, and smell.

"Self-care isn't just a luxury; it's essential maintenance for empaths. This might mean scheduling alone time, finding a supportive therapist, or joining communities where you can process your experiences," Paruolo implores.

I know how to be there for others, but how do I ask for emotional support when I need it?

Vitaly Gariev

You may feel like it's impossible to ask others for help since your shoulders are the ones people cry on, but you're only doing yourself a disservice by not speaking up. No one's super resilient or able to handle all of their distressing feelings alone. We're not meant to.

It's the reason Paruolo wants you to speak up about what you need. "The most effective approach I've seen is being direct about your needs rather than hoping others will figure them out," she says. I made this mistake during postpartum and found myself expecting my family & friends to know exactly how I felt, but they're not mind readers. The more I verbally asked for help with little or big tasks, the more my mental and emotional load lightened.

Paruolo wants you to look at "asking for support as strengthening your friendships through trust and vulnerability, instead of waiting until you're overwhelmed." By the time you reach that point, you'll be ready to enter rage or full-blown shut down mode and they're not fun.

Avoid unlocking their proverbial doors by scheduling "regular check-ins with trusted friends," suggests Paruolo. "This creates a sustainable support system and helps prevent emotional crisis points.

We have even more self-care stories for you to dive into if you need a mental and emotional boost!

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10 Money Hacks To Save For Your Dream Life Now

It can be tricky to navigate seasons of life where money is tight and the cost of living is high. You want to make sure you aren't wasteful with what you have, but you also want to have some fun. Getting on top of your finances requires more than just checking your balance at the end of the month, and that's why we talked to cool girl and self-proclaimed "Financial Popstar" Haley Sacks (AKA Mrs. Dow Jones).

These money tips will make saving money more fun, and help you better understand the world of finance so that you can achieve your own "Financial Glow Up." Here's how you can start saving money for your dream life today.


Image via Adrien Pellerin

Contrary to what you might have been taught, you don't have to entirely cut fun things out of your life in order to save money. Doing so might actually have the opposite effect: you could burn out and spend way more than you would have if you simply added spending into your budgeted.

"If it’s a splurge that you’re obsessed with and will up your quality of life — then let’s figure out how much it costs and how you’re going to pay for it," Sacks says. She recommends the 50-30-20 method for your budget.

"Start by calculating your after-tax income and break it into 3 categories: 50% for needs, 30% for wants, and 20% for future you!" she continues. "That 30% number is what we are going to focus on. That’s the amount you can spend every month on…whatever you want. This splurge included! Just make sure you don’t go over that number because you should never spend on your current self if you’re not also putting money away for future you."

Saving Up For Your Financial Goals

Budgeting helps you divide up your savings before the money goes into your account. That way, you always know what you're saving for. (It's also a good idea to have extra savings because you never know when your car will need a new battery or if you'll have an unexpected trip to the ER).

Saving requires some self-control since it's money you aren't able to spend right now, and it can be difficult to release your current spending habits. "[That stubbornness] really just comes from a fear of the unknown," Sacks says. "We often choose what is comfortable over what’s new! But the more you understand why you’re doing something, the more that stubbornness can be released." Here are some specific financial goals to save up for:

Goal: Becoming Debt-Free

Think how much more money you'll have to save *and* spend once your debt is paid off! Check out the snowball method vs. the avalanche method to figure out what's best for you, and just take it one day at a time.

Goal: Taking A Bucket-List Trip

Whether you've been dreaming of going to France since Emily in Paris dropped or you want to go on a solo trip to your favorite small town, you'll definitely want enough cash to have a good time. You can't go wrong spending money on an experience you'll love.

Goal: Scoring Tix To See Your Favorite Performer

Concert merch, movie tickets, name brand collections — start saving now for these once-in-a-lifetime events and your future self will thank you.

How To Start Investing

Investing is different than a regular savings account. When you invest your money, instead of just sitting in an account, it's put to work in a variety of projects so that you make a net profit and end up with more money than you had before. You can invest with a retirement plan, or government-related options like stocks and bonds. Here's some more investing info to get you started.

Consider getting a financial advisor early in life. Financial advisors can really make a difference in your long-term goals, whether you want to buy a home, start a family, or retire well. Make sure you find a certified financial advisor who is a fiduciary, which means they are legally or ethically bound to act in your best interest. They can help you figure out where to invest your 401Ks and really help you invest and build your savings over time.

How To Become Financially Literate + Financially Independent

Financial independence can feel like a crazy goal when you're in the throes of debt and bills. But there's one thing that can help you move toward it: financial literacy. After all, knowledge is power.

"The more that you take control of your finances, the more you take control of your life and destiny," Sacks says. "Financial literacy also ensures you never get taken advantage of and that you’re maximizing the benefits of all the financial products you use."

Everyone has a different financial situation, which means that everyone has to make different financial choices. Taking a step toward financial independence can mean anything from reexamining your grocery bill to creating streams of passive income that make you money while you sleep (more on that later).

All in all, financial literacy and financial independence can go hand-in-hand. Check out the 5 Tax Terms That Can Save You Money, or these 6 Money Tips For Kids. It's never too early to learn!

How To Make Saving Money Less Boring

You might be thinking, "Saving money just doesn't sound fun," and technically you're right. Saving might not feel fun on its own, which is exactly why we're here! Pinterest Predict's Cha-Ching Challenge got us thinking about ways that we can turn saving into a game. Try one or all of these ideas, and let us know your favorite.

Make Learning Fun

If you want to learn more about finances, find a program that puts the terminology into your language, like Sacks' own aspirational finance media company, Finance Is Cool. "It makes being good with your money chic," she says. "I designed it with the goal of helping the future rich people who follow me take control of their finances step-by-step and provide them with the tools they need to grow wealth, all with a little humor and a lot of Kardashian references so we can have fun while we learn."

Maximize Your Card

If you have a credit card, or a debit card with benefits, use the points and rewards to your advantage. Sacks loves the Amex Rewards Checking account. "I earn Membership Rewards points on eligible Debit Card purchases that I can use on shopping, traveling, and more," she says.

Set up an automated deposit into your checking account when the rewards reach a certain number, or save up all your points for a dream-worthy trip during the summer. You can also check out Brit's interview with The Points Guy for more inspo.

Make Money In Your Sleep

Create one (or more) streams of passive income to bolster your paycheck. You can create downloadable guides and video tutorials, sell photography, or add affiliate links to blog posts, but the beauty of passive income is that whatever you choose will do the work for you.

Have Regular Money Dates

A money date can be carving out time for yourself (or with your partner) to create a comfortable space and review your priorities, values, and overall financial goals and hopefully actually set a plan in motion to achieve those. Take yourself out to a cafe or have a glass of wine by your side to make it fun while feeling good about where you're going. Good luck!

With so much information at our finger tips, it's never been easier to take control of your finances. Check out our email newsletter for more money tips and tricks to help you have your own financial glow up.

Lead image courtesy of Pexels/Karolina Grabowska.

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10 Unique Ways To Stay In Touch With Long-Distance Friends

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Greeting Cards

Life happens. We take new jobs, reach new goals, buy new homes, perhaps get married and have kids — all good news, but sadly sometimes that means moving away from our besties. It can be challenging to stay in touch, especially when you’re in different time zones, but with a little effort and creativity, there’s so much you can do to keep meaningful connections with your long-distance friends beyond a group text or meme share. Here are 10 tips to help you stay close.

I Miss You So Much Card

Send a personalized card with audio or video. Moonpig lets you create unique cards with cute templates, photos, videos, audio clips, and your own handwritten copy! They’ll even mail them for you – saving you a trip to the post office.

Happy Birthday Card

Choose from a selection of more than 20K cards to share with your bestie no matter what is going on in her life – engagements, birthdays, babies, new job, or just because you want to say hello, make her laugh, and show how much you care for her. Moonpig cards cost less than a regular card, and you can find free e-cards as well! Want to send a birthday gift too? You can add a gift card from a bunch of popular retailers like Sephora, Nordstrom and Uber Eats to your card.

Thank You Bridesmaid Card

Thank You Bachelorette Card

Celebrate The Milestones

Staying present in your friends’ lives, even as they change direction, can help keep you connected. Reach out to share your latest news, and congratulate them on the engagements, promotions, weddings, and other milestones. The B+C staff took a moment to share their favorite Moonpig Cards with their favorite friends. Have a reason to celebrate with a group? You can have friends and family sign by creating a Group Card.

Scroll down to get a free card yourself with B+C’s promo discount code for new customers and find more tips to help you stay close.

Schedule Virtual Coffee Dates

Thank You Friend Card

Find a regular time that works for both of you to share your stories over a morning cup. Maybe it’s during your morning walk for coffee, or after work on your commute home. Chatting by phone vs. via social media can help you get into deeper details about your life and theirs. Hearing a real LOL can really make your day too. With Moonpig’s cards, you can add multiple photos so you can share a glimpse into your life lately.

Host A Virtual Happy Hour

Hello You Card

Virtual happy hours sort of came to a halt once the world opened up, but they’re a great way to stay in touch with long-distance friends. Have fun with it with new cocktail recipes that you can share beforehand, and then shake and stir while you chat!

Make Them A Playlist

Bejeweled Birthday Card

Music is a great way to connect and relive the best of times. Look for songs that remind you of your bestie, from the cities you’ve shared to the concerts you’ve danced to all night together to your car karaoke favorites.

Take An Online Class Together

Engagement Card

Whatever you have going on in your lives, finding the time to get creative and healthy together, even if it’s a one-day workshop around something you have in common, will strengthen those bonds that brought you together in the first place. This could be a great gift too – a fitness class, a cooking class, a business class to build your bestie empire, whatever it is it will remind you why you’re friends and why you’re always there to lift each other up.

Send Surprise Care Packages

We’re Expecting Card

If your friend could use a little self care postpartum or just needs a little TLC during this time, send over a care package of her favorite things and little mementos of your time together. Add a Moonpig card too, where you can add an audio or video message via QR code that says you’re thinking about them and wish you could be closer.

Take An Annual Trip Together

Congratulations Card

Annual trips with your besties are so good for the soul. Find a central location where you can all meet without the expense being too much for one person. Gather to celebrate a birthday or other milestone or just because. It’s a great way to feel connected to people you care about most and remind yourself what truly matters in life.

Start A Remote Book Or Recipe Club

Friends Like You Card

Share your favorite books or recipes (or both!) each month and host a virtual monthly book club or dinner club to catch up and talk through some of your highlights of the experiences.

Host A Virtual Trivia Night

Living The Dream Card

Get the squad back together for a silly trivia night based on a theme, such as ‘90s movies, women’s sports, or random trivia about our love lives.

Send Them A Just Because Card

Thinking of You Card

Even sharing the smallest details can help you stay connected and boost your mood. Surprise your friend with a note that you’re just thinking about them. And supersize it! Moonpig has Extra Large Cards too. Nothing feels so good as to know your friend went out of their way to just say hello, in the most thoughtful way possible.

Here’s how Moonpig works:

  1. Click on a card that you love. You have a choice: e-card, standard card by mail, or a large card to really wow them. You can also choose a Group card or Create Your Own Card with Moonpig templates, fonts, and graphics.
  2. Click on Personalize to add your personalized text (take a photo of your handwriting to replicate in the card), photos, stickers, video, and audio, which are shared via QR code.
  3. Choose a gift card from your dad’s favorite retailer if you’d like to sweeten the deal.
  4. And voilà! Moonpig will ship off your card to the lucky recipient. Easy peasy.

Find your friendship card at Moonpig! New customers can use code BRITCOFREE to send some love to long-distance friends today!


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New customers! Head to Moonpig for your free card using code BRITCOFREE!

Lead image: Moonpig Happy Birthday Bestie card

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I Made The Starbucks Medicine Ball Drink At Home – Here's How It Went

When I was working barista shifts at Starbucks over the winter, we'd get Medicine Ball orders every single hour. And not going to lie, I really hated them. Let me get this straight — I didn't hate the drink, but I more so disliked the fact that the customers ordering them almost always demanded their tea between a swarm of thick coughs and countless small sniffles. Yuck.

It truly felt like I was on the fence of getting sick pretty much every time someone stepped up to the register. But, I remained strong and I did what I had to do as a service worker, which in this case, was to pour the peachy-citrus tea into a pool of honey syrup, then top it with steamed lemonade. Coughs and sniffles aside, I often questioned why someone would order the Medicine Ball, based on the cost of the drink alone (up to $6, and that gets expensive when you're ordering it all the time).

Popular during sick season, the Starbucks Medicine Ball (AKA the Honey Citrus Mint Tea) may be good, but it's not good enough to cure you of that semi-flu, or whatever other pathogens might have been floating around in my café. It's also not worth putting someone else's health in jeopardy. Turns out, you can make the Medicine Ball at home — which saves money and effort (and spares others' safety) in the long run.

Scroll on to find out how simple making the Starbucks Medicine Ball really is!

@k.ard Medicine Ball for only $1.69 each! #medicineball#fluseason#coldseason#starbucksdupe#budgettok#SephoraConcealers#DrPepperTuitionContest#halloween#fall2022♬ Halloween - KenZie DarkStar

TikTok always makes recipes look effortless. So, I took this trusty tutorial into our own hands to compare how good an at-home Medicine Ball could really be against the real one from Starbucks.

Ingredients for the Starbucks Medicine Ball Drink

Starbucks

How can I make a Medicine Ball at home?

Anna Pou / PEXELS

Making a Starbucks Medicine Ball at home is pretty straightforward:
  1. Heat 1 cup of lemonade in the microwave for 45 seconds to a minute.
  2. Add 1 cup of hot water and stir in 1 tablespoon honey.
  3. Add one bag of Peach Tranquility and one bag of Jade Citrus Mint, then steep for a few minutes.
  4. Enjoy your Medicine Ball!

How I Made The Starbucks Medicine Ball At Home

Meredith Holser

First, I embarked on an ever-iconic Target run to gather my copycat Starbucks Medicine Ball recipe ingredients. Since they were out of the exact Teavana teas I needed to replicate the TikTok recipe, I picked up two similar ones: first, the Good & Gather Organic Peach Honey Tea, and the Good & Gather Organic Mint Tea. I also picked up a jug of lemonade, and planned to use the honey I already had at home. All together, the three ingredients I needed ended up costing me about $9.50.

Step 1: Heat Lemonade

Tara Winstead / PEXELS

I measured a cup of lemonade, and just popped my Starbucks mug in the microwave for a minute.

Step 2: Add Water and Honey

Roman Odinstov / PEXELS

While the lemonade was in the microwave, I set some water on in my electric kettle. Once both liquids were heated up, I measured a cup of water and combined it in the mug with a tablespoon of honey. Yum!

Step 3: Steep Tea Bags

Anna Pou / PEXELS

Then, I put the two teabags in the mixture to steep. The tea wasn't overly hot either, and I steeped them for about 3 minutes before giving my homemade Medicine Ball recipe a lil' sip.

Is the homemade version of the Medicine Ball as good as the one from Starbucks?

Meredith Holser

To my surprise, my homemade Medicine Ball recipe was extremely delicious, and it mimicked the Starbucks one so closely. Before tasting, I gave my tea a sniff, and the smell was pretty much identical to the drink made in stores. The flavor hit the exact same mark.

Overall, I rate my homemade Starbucks Medicine Ball a 4.7/5.

The only detracting factors are the temperature of the drink – Starbucks steams their lemonade to make the drink super hot, and mine wasn't nearly as piping. Of course, this is just personal preference, and next time, I can heat the lemonade for a longer duration, or reheat the drink altogether. Another reason for the minimal point deduction is the drink wasn't as sweet as I expected it to be. Again, this is a personal preference, and you can add as little or as much sweetener you desire!

All of this goes to say, that a homemade Starbucks Medicine Ball is just as yummy as the one you can get at a Starbucks cafe. By following the steps above, you can make a copycat recipe that's going to satisfy your hankering for a citrusy, hot tea!

Looking for more at-home copycat recipes like this Medicine Ball from Starbucks? Browse our site for more DIYs!

Brit + Co may at times use affiliate links to promote products sold by others, but always offers genuine editorial recommendations.

This post has been updated.

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Um, Gavin Casalegno Is Married!

You might ship Jeremiah and Belly on The Summer I Turned Pretty, but actor Gavin Casalegno is officially off the market. On November 12, the actor hard launched his relationship on Instagram by announcing he had gotten married and the chats went crazy. The Vampire Diaries actor has been keeping things very low-key for over a year, so if this news surprises you, you're not alone!

Keep reading for everything you need to know about Gavin Casalegno's wife.

Is Gavin Casalegno married?

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A post shared by Gavin Casalegno (@gavincasalegno)

"FOREVER CAPTIVATED BY YOU🕊️" Gavin and his new wife Cheyanne said in a joint Instagram post November 12. Gavin wore a black tux while Cheyanne wore a gorgeous strapless gown with a gauzy train and separate, lacy sleeves. As for the veil? The bride wore white fabric over her neck over her shoulders. Gorgeous!

Naturally, the comments went crazy. "okay hard launch !!!!!" one reads, while another user says, "DID I MISS A COUPLE HUNDRED CHAPTERS????"

Gavin and Cheyanne have been together since (at least) spring 2023, when Cheyanne posted him on her Instagram stories. Since then Gavin (or at least, his hair) has popped up on her Insta grid — by the ocean, in Paris, and in the car. Even though Gavin never name dropped his SO at the time, he did talk about dating.

"I definitely have just learned to be more private, which is super interesting because I’m always out in public," he told Shondaland in 2023. "I had to really learn to navigate my own privacy and well-being. So, the quick fix for me is just deleting Instagram and all these apps to kind of check out, to be with my family and be with myself, to spend some time with the Lord — that’s really where I thrive.”

He also told Cosmopolitan that he's had to learn “what it means to just mature a little bit in the dating space."

"You’re dating to marry; you’re not dating to just date,” he said. “I think that gets lost a lot of times in younger generations. So I really try to be intentional with everything that I do as far as spending my time and gift giving and flirting and all these things. I really try to be intentional about it.”

Who is Gavin Casalegno's wife?

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Cheyanne King (er, Casalegno) is a registered nurse who graduated in 2023 from Baylor University, according to her LinkedIn.

How many exes does Gavin Casalegno have?

Gavin Casalegno dated model, dancer, and actress Larsen Thompson (who also has 1.2M followers on TikTok) for six years before the couple split in 2022.

Want the latest news on your favorite celeb relationships? Madison Bailey Got Emotional About Rudy Pankow's Outer Banks Exit Amid Cast Drama Rumors.

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