• Joy and Dan Flynn credit their 54-year marriage to simplicity and daily gratitude.
• The couple chose not to have children or pets, focusing on shared activities and support.
• They stay active with sports, community work, and mentoring, emphasizing gratitude and joy.

Joy and Dan Flynn celebrated their 54-year anniversary on November 20. Having spent more than half a century together, the couple says their marriage works because they have kept life simple.

The three keys to their success? No kids, no pets, and leading a life full of gratitude for one another.

"Every day we're grateful for what we have," Dan told Business Insider's Sarah Andersen, who followed the athletic couple in August as they trained together for their next round of competitions, including the upcoming World Championships in South Korea:

Joy acknowledges the great fulfillment that children can bring. "But kids, they cause tension sometimes and cause fights between couples," said Joy, who was 78 at the time of filming.

As for pets, Joy jokes about having pet spiders, the tiny kind that scurry across the floor in her basement. However, that's the extent of their furry friends.

"We have kept our lives extremely simple," Joy said.

A life full of gratitude

The pair met in the Hamptons in 1968. It was Dan's first time visiting New York. Joy was involved with another man, but he was leaving for Mexico to pursue a career as a doctor.

Dan thought Joy was beautiful from the moment he first laid eyes on her. Joy took notice after learning that Dan's birthday was the same day as hers.

"I figured anybody who has my birthday can't be all bad. And so it was true. He is not all bad," she said.

They've basically been inseparable since.

"We've been very fortunate. We tend to do everything together," said Dan, who was 79 at the time of filming.

Over the years, they've played tennis, skied, golfed, and competed in track and field at national and world championships together.

Their gratitude for each other is the final key ingredient to their long-lasting, successful marriage.

"We never ever take it for granted," Joy said. "We thank each other for everything. So if I'm doing the dishes, Dan thanks me. If he's doing the dishes, I thank him."

Filling each day with joy

Joy said their choice to live without children or pets has helped them focus on living a life they enjoy each day.

Dan still works. He's a commercial real estate broker. When he's not at work, the couple fills their time with training, traveling, entertaining, hosting dinner parties, and volunteering in the community.

Most mornings, they wake up early to exercise together. Later, they'll practice for track meets, doing CrossFit, sprint work, and jumps.

Joy said she wouldn't be in track and field if it weren't for Dan and their CrossFit trainer. She'd watched Dan do track and field for a couple of years when, one day, he said she should try it. Turns out, she's extremely good at it.

While she hasn't counted them all, Joy estimates that she has amassed about 120 medals over the last eight years, having won multiple gold medals in the long jump, high jump, triple jump, 100-meter dash, and the 4 x 100m relay.

Dan said he's earned about 60 medals in the same time period and won gold in the long jump and triple jump.

Joy also enjoys volunteering at her church, working at the Garden Club of America and the Westhampton Garden Club in Long Island, and reading to inmates at the local county correctional facility.

She helped get April recognized as Native Plant Month in New York, and helped place restrictions on neonicitinoids (pesticides) in the state.

Dan serves on the Suffolk County Planning Commission and joins Joy on trips to Washington, D.C. to help with campaigns for local candidates whom they support.

Despite not having kids, Joy and Dan, for the past 17 years, have been mentoring and helping raise three children through a Catholic charity program that supports Latino families on Long Island. They've helped provide everything from tutoring and swimming lessons to attending school meetings.

Their ultimate goal is simply to stay busy and engaged.

"The more you are exposed to the world, the better your odds are, the better things are going to be for you," Dan said.

Joy added, "When you have too much time on your hands, that's when you start focusing on your aches and pains. Just get out and do things."

• Mac and cheese is a side dish often served for Thanksgiving, especially in the South.
• Celebrity chefs Martha Stewart and Ina Garten both have recipes for baked mac and cheese.
• Stewart's recipe uses four kinds of cheese and yellow onion, while Garten's calls for tomato.

Thanksgiving is around the corner, and a gooey dish of baked mac and cheese could be just the thing to impress your guests.

Both Martha Stewart and Ina Garten have recipes for baked mac and cheese, so I decided to see which is worthy of gracing your Thanksgiving table. While the recipes were similar, one was a little cheaper and packed a lot more flavor.

Beyond the chefs' baked mac and cheese recipes, they have other recipes perfect for Thanksgiving, including Garten's overnight mac and cheese, cornbread, and stuffing.

Here's how to make Garten and Stewart's recipes for baked mac and cheese, and which one is better.

Up first was Martha Stewart's creamy mac and cheese.

Although Martha Stewart's and Ina Garten's recipes are similar, the biggest difference between them is that Stewart calls for four different kinds of cheese and adds sautéed onion to the dish.

You can find the full recipe here.

I started by melting a few tablespoons of unsalted butter in a pot on the stove.

I chose a midsize pot to make the cheese sauce in. 

While the butter was melting, I chopped some yellow onion.

The recipe calls for ¼ cup of diced yellow onion.

After the butter had melted, I added the yellow onion to the pot and gave it a stir. The smell of butter and onions quickly filled my kitchen.

The recipe says to sauté the onions until they become translucent, which should take about five minutes. 

While the onions were cooking, I set about the somewhat grueling task of grating all the cheeses.

It took considerable effort to hand-grate the cheeses. It was also difficult to measure out each cheese exactly, so I ended up guestimating somewhat.

However, in the end, I had the right amount of each cheese to make the sauce, plus some cheese left over to sprinkle on top of the mac and cheese before baking it in the oven. 

Next, I cooked the macaroni noodles.

It took about five minutes to cook the noodles, as they're supposed to be a little undercooked before going in the oven. 

After the onions had become translucent, I added the flour.

It quickly thickened the onions and butter mixture. Per the recipe's instructions, I stirred the onions, flour, and butter together and left it for a few seconds until the mixture began to bubble in the pot.

I then added 3 cups of whole milk. The mixture was now starting to resemble a cheese sauce.

After a few minutes, the mixture had begun to thicken. 

To finish the sauce, I added the four types of cheese — fontina, Gruyère, cheddar, and Parmigiano-Reggiano — and seasonings.

After stirring the cheese sauce until all the ingredients were completely melted and combined, it was time to add it to the macaroni.

By the time I poured the noodles into the larger pot and added the cheese sauce, I had been prepping and cooking for about an hour.

However, the steps were easy to follow, and I was able to sit down once the mac and cheese was ready to be put in the oven.

You can make the mac and cheese in individual pans or in a larger 1 1/2-quart baking dish.

After scooping my mac and cheese out of the pot and into the dish, I realized I had a lot left over. I could have easily filled another dish. 

I then topped my mixture with breadcrumbs.

You can use homemade breadcrumbs per the instructions from the slow-cooker version, or you can use store-bought in a pinch.

I didn't have a food processor available to make homemade breadcrumbs, but I found that the store-bought kind didn't negatively affect my end result. I was happy to cut out a step and save myself some dishes.

After 30 minutes in the oven, my mac and cheese was done, and it was delicious.

The top layer of mac and cheese had a delicious, lightly browned crust, while the mac and cheese underneath remained perfectly creamy. It was enough to feed about four people, though I could have fed more if I had more dishes to bake the rest of the leftover macaroni.

This mac and cheese was really flavorful, with a slightly smoky taste.

Ina Garten's recipe for baked mac and cheese calls for fewer ingredients.

The recipe only uses two types of cheese — extra-sharp cheddar and Gruyere — making this recipe a little less time-consuming and expensive to make. Perhaps to make up for less cheese, the recipe uses more butter and milk than Martha Stewart's version.

You can find the full recipe here.

The recipe calls for a whopping 8 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

Two tablespoons are reserved for the end, so you start by melting 6 tablespoons in a pot on the stove. It's important to melt it at a low heat — you don't want the butter to burn or boil.

While the butter was melting, I started boiling the pasta.

The recipe calls for a pound of macaroni or cavatappi pasta. The chef also recommends adding oil to the pot of boiling water, which prevents the pasta from sticking.

While this recipe does call for fewer ingredients, it does require an extra pot.

After the butter had melted, I added ½ cup of all-purpose flour. The key is to whisk the mixture until it is smooth and has no clumps.

Meanwhile, in a separate pot, I began heating a quart of milk.

I then added the hot milk to the flour and butter mixture.

The next step was to whisk the ingredients until they were fully combined.

While the mixture was off the heat, I started grating my extra-sharp white cheddar cheese. The recipe calls for 8 ounces, which turned out to be the entire package. It took a while to grate, so I was thankful that I had bought pre-grated Gruyére cheese.

After adding the two kinds of cheese, my sauce began to thicken.

I seasoned the pot of cheese sauce with nutmeg, salt, and pepper. Ina Garten's recipe uses similar seasonings to Stewart's, except for the addition of cayenne pepper, which Stewart does not use.

Garten recommends boiling the noodles fully before putting them in the oven, rather than leaving them slightly al dente.

This was another slight difference between the two recipes.

After my noodles were cooked, I poured the cheese sauce over them and mixed everything with a wooden spoon.

The cheese sauce in the Garten recipe was slightly thicker and had a distinct cheese pull.

I scooped the mixture into a baking dish and waited for the oven to finish pre-heating to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. 

Garten recommends topping the mac and cheese with breadcrumbs and tomato slices before putting it in the oven.

I made one side of my dish with tomatoes and one without, so I could see which one I preferred.

The recipe calls for homemade breadcrumbs, but I opted to use the same store-bought ones I used in the Martha Stewart version for the sake of a fair comparison.

After about half an hour, the mac and cheese was bubbling and browned on the top. The dish smelled heavenly.

The tomatoes were slightly roasted.

I thought the tomatoes took this mac and cheese dish to the next level, but the Martha Stewart recipe was much cheesier.

The Ina Garten version tasted like an adult-friendly version of a childhood favorite, while the Martha Stewart version was more classic.

The tomatoes added tart flavor to the dish and a unique texture, but I was torn over which I preferred.

Both recipes have their high points, but I couldn't ignore the fact that Ina Garten's recipe was cheaper, as I only needed two kinds of cheese. It was also dramatically easier to make. With the Stewart version, I had to prep onions and grate four kinds of cheese, for not that much more flavor in the end.

If I were to choose which one to make again, I would opt for the Ina Garten mac and cheese recipe. I enjoyed the addition of the tomatoes and thought they'd pair well with other Thanksgiving foods.

However, if tomatoes and stuffing don't sound good together, you can always leave them out — the dish is still great without them.

The holiday season doesn't have to be stressful. With a little planning, it can be a season of joy, giving, and smart saving.

Business Insider's story collection, "Spotlight: Holiday shopping season," covers the busiest retail stretch of the year, offering an inside look at the brands, spending tips, and shopping news you need to know.

We'll cover key holiday shopping moments, like Thanksgiving weekend, Small Business Saturday, Travel Tuesday, and Christmas.

Through curated gift ideas, on-the-ground shopping experiences, and retail updates, this destination is your online companion as you navigate the holiday season.

Check out the articles below for shopping updates and follow along for more coverage throughout the winter season.

• Nvidia tried to tamp down fears of Google coming for its chip business.
• A report of Google talking with Meta about chips for its data center sent Nvidia shares falling.
• "NVIDIA is a generation ahead of the industry," the company said in a statement.

Nvidia brushed off concerns that Google is coming for its crown.

"NVIDIA is a generation ahead of the industry — it's the only platform that runs every AI model and does it everywhere computing is done," the company said in a statement posted on X.

The chipmaker's comments followed a report that Meta is discussing plans with Google to potentially spend billions on the tech giant's chips to power Meta's data centers. Shares of Nvidia went tumbling after The Information report. As of early Tuesday afternoon, Nvidia was trading down over 3% on the day.

"We're delighted by Google's success — they've made great advances in AI and we continue to supply to Google," Nvidia said in the statement.

In response, Google said it was committed to supporting both chips.

"We are experiencing accelerating demand for both our custom TPUs and Nvidia GPUs; we are committed to supporting both, as we have for years," a Google spokesperson said in a statement.

Google continues to make strides in the AI race. The recent launch of Gemini 3 drew some positive reviews. Unlike many of its rivals, Google has a "full-stack" advantage, which enables it to control the entire process, from AI research to its cloud, which hosts its models.

In contrast, Nvidia has experienced a rocky couple of weeks. The world's largest company by market cap reported blockbuster earnings for the third quarter, which initially calmed market-wide fears of an AI bubble, only for those lingering doubts to creep back in.

• Shoppers have upped their holiday shopping budgets since this summer, according to a PwC survey.
• Baby boomers and Gen Z are leading the increase.
• The results constitute a rosier outlook than many retailers had going into the fall.

Maybe this holiday season won't be so lean after all.

Despite early predictions that shoppers would cut spending as they bought gifts this year, a PwC report released Tuesday shows that consumers have upped their spending plans by 7% since June.

PwC's Holiday Sentiment survey, conducted by the Big Four firm in October, shows that shoppers plan to spend an average of $770 on gifts this year. In PwC's June Holiday Outlook survey, that amount was $721.

The increase contrasts with predictions earlier this year from some analysts and retailers that shoppers would hold back on spending, potentially making this one of the slowest holiday shopping seasons in years.

"This is the tension defining the 2025 holiday season: consumers said they were holding back — but their actual spend since we
conducted our Holiday Outlook survey suggests otherwise," the report reads.

"In other words, we're seeing a classic 'say-do gap,'" it says.

The oldest and youngest shoppers appear to be powering the increase. Baby boomer respondents said that they plan to spend an average of $858 this holiday season, up from $671 in June, while Gen Z shoppers upped their planned spending to $622 from $586.

Millennials plan to spend less — $843 versus $921 in June — while Gen X respondents had averaged $679 in the latest survey, down from $705.

Going into the holiday shopping season, the National Retail Federation said that this holiday season would be the first holiday season with $1 trillion in spending. At the same time, the trade group said it expects sales growth to be below last year's 4.3% rate. EMARKETER, meanwhile, expects holiday retail sales to grow 3.6% this year. (EMARKETER is a sister company to Business Insider.)

As the holidays approach, chains from McDonald's to Home Depot have warned that middle-income consumers are cutting back on spending.

Yet other retailers have expressed optimism about holiday spending at their stores.

Walmart executives have pointed to strong results from smaller shopping events, such as the back-to-school season and Halloween, as evidence that shoppers are still willing to spend on special occasions — as long as they can get decent value for their money.

And Dollar General has said that it is focusing on low-priced items, including many that cost $1, going into the holidays.

If shoppers do indeed spend more this holiday season, the report said it could come at the expense of their spending in the first quarter of the new year, which is historically a slow time for retail sales.

"When it comes to the holidays, people are willing to stretch their budgets, even if it means cutting back in January," the report reads.

• Google's Gemini 3 AI model has helped fuel a major turnaround for the company.
• But it's not the only thing that has put the company and its stock on an absolute tear.
• Its custom chips, antitrust win, and backing from Warren Buffett have all strengthened its position.

Google is on a tear right now — but its success in the AI race wasn't always guaranteed.

In late 2022, OpenAI captured the moment with the release of ChatGPT. After a number of fumbles as Google struggled to get its own chatbot out the door, some of the closest Google watchers were calling for CEO Sundar Pichai to step down.

Nearly three years later, Google has performed a miraculous turnaround. Its new AI model, Gemini 3, is proving such a win that Marc Benioff said he's switching from ChatGPT. Google has just surpassed Microsoft's market cap and is on its way to a $4 trillion status. Its stock price is up nearly 70% this year.

It's a signal that Google — which has always held the various pieces to compete — has finally got everything working in harmony, all the way from the models up to the platforms like Search that put them in users' hands.

In the fast-moving AI race, no victory is secure — but Google has never looked stronger. Here's why.

1. Gemini 3 is a hit

Gemini 3 rolled out to the public last week with rave reviews. It outperforms its predecessor in coding, design, and analysis, and surpasses competing models in benchmark tests. As we at Business Insider discovered, it's highly adept at designing websites and basic video games, giving it broader use beyond coding.

The new model has allayed some fears that Google was too far behind rivals and that scaling laws — rules that say AI models improve with more data and compute — were slowing down. The company's stock price has increased by more than 12% since the rollout of Gemini 3 on November 18.

2. When the chips are up

Google has spent over a decade developing its own chips for internal use. Known as Tensor Processing Units (TPUs), Google has used these chips to train its Gemini models. That's a great advertisement as Google hopes more companies will adopt the chips for their own models.

Google sells access to its TPUs through its cloud business and has made a significant internal push in recent months to attract more customers. That could pose a long-term threat to Nvidia's business. Google is currently in discussions for a blockbuster deal with Meta worth billions of dollars, which would potentially host some of Google's chips in one of Meta's own data centers, according to a person familiar with the discussions. The Information first reported on the arrangement, which sent the shares of chip companies like AMD and Nvidia tumbling on Tuesday.

3. Google's monopoly win

In September, a federal judge handed down penalties for an antitrust lawsuit brought against Google's search business in 2020. Those penalties, which threatened to tear up Google's lucrative search empire, amounted to little more than a slap on the wrist. Google was told it could continue making payments to partners such as Apple for default status, but could not do so exclusively. It was also ordered to share some search data with rivals.

At one point, Google's Chrome browser was on the chopping block, which could have severed a crucial part of Google's search-advertising flywheel. Despite the judge ruling that Google had acted as a monopoly, the company came away relatively unscathed.

4. Warren Buffett takes a stake

Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway built a $4.3 billion stake in Google parent company Alphabet last quarter, a regulatory filing revealed. That's notable for two reasons. Other than Apple, Buffett has tended to avoid tech stocks. He has also historically avoided expensive, high-growth companies.

As Buffett prepares to step back as CEO, the decision to finally bet on Google — something he said he wished he'd done long ago — suggests strong confidence in the search giant.

5. Search is surviving its AI makeover… so far

Google's core moneymaker is still search advertising, and one of the big investor fears has been how Google's self-disruption might hurt its cash cow. Not a lot, apparently: Search revenues jumped 15% in the third quarter, suggesting that even if AI is hurting some websites' traffic, it's not harming Google's business.

In fact, Google says generative AI is causing people to search more than ever. The company is currently testing ads in AI Mode, its chatbot-like version of search that is gradually feeling like less of an experiment and more like Google's vision for how search will eventually work.

• A 55-year-old health business founder marked his 55th birthday by sharing 55 reasons he feels healthy.
• Kevin Dahlstrom's viral X post promoted quality sleep and strong social connections.
• Dahlstrom told Business Insider his health has been his priority since he fell ill in his 20s.

A health founder marked his 55th birthday by sharing 55 reasons he believes he's his "fittest, sharpest, and happiest" — but you probably only need to follow five to improve your health.

Kevin Dahlstrom, the founder of Bolt. Health, an online testosterone replacement therapy clinic based in Colorado, shared his advice in an X post on Monday. It amassed 4.1 million views and was reposted by Bill Ackman.

In the post, Dahlstrom said that his vitality wasn't down to a secret formula or winning the DNA lottery, but "a million tiny choices, compounded over decades."

While factors such as our genetics and environment play a role in how long we live, research suggests lifestyle factors are also hugely important.

Stacy L. Andersen, co-director of the New England Centenarian Study and an associate professor at Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine, boiled Dahlstrom's tips into five must-follows.

She told Business Insider via email: "These tips point to what has been seen in many scientific studies — healthy behaviors such as maintaining an ideal body weight, keeping moving, eating a high-quality diet, getting enough sleep, and keeping your brain active are the best ways to optimize your aging.

"Moreover, evidence shows that doing all of these together can add 10 years to your life!"

Dahlstrom told Business Insider via email Tuesday that his health and fitness have been a priority since his 20s, when he experienced chronic illness, and the list is a result of what he's learned over time.

"Birthdays (especially after the age of 50) are a good time to reflect on life," he said.

Here are five of Dahlstrom's tips that are science-backed.

1. Walk around 5,000 steps a day

Dahlstrom walks upward of 15,000 miles a week, or approximately 2.5 miles a day. "It's critical to longevity," he said.

If you break it down, that adds up to around 5,000 steps a day, half the famous, and arbitrary, 10,000 steps recommendation that originated in a Japanese marketing campaign.

But research does link walking daily to healthy aging. One study published October in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine found that people who walked for 15 minutes a day at a fast pace were 20% less likely to die early.

2. Take exercise and mobility seriously

While Dahlstrom's recommendation to get "hardcore" about mobility and exercise may not work for everyone, being active is crucial to aging well.

One 2022 study published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine found that of the 99,713 participants aged 55 to 74, those who did regular aerobic exercise and strength training were 41% less likely to die from any cause a decade later.

Business Insider previously reported that making a workout routine fun and talking to close friends and family about it helped people stay consistent for three years in a study.

3. Find your purpose

Andersen said the New England Centenarian Study has shown that longevity is associated with greater feelings of purpose in life, while other studies have found that it is also related to a lower risk of dementia and resilience to Alzheimer's disease.

"Filling your day with activities that are meaningful to you and having things that you want to accomplish keep you invigorated and engaged in life," she said. Referring to Dahlstrom's list she added: "Finding hobbies (#21) and being a lifelong learner (#41) are great ways to also find purpose!"

4. Get 8 hours of quality sleep each night

Getting enough sleep is crucial for our health. Adults should aim to sleep for between 7 and 9 hours per night, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Anything less can have a negative impact on health over time. In one 2022 study published in PLOS Medicine involving over 10,000 British civil servants, those who reported getting less than five hours of sleep a night at the age of 50 had a higher risk of developing chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and dying from long-term health conditions.

5. Stop drinking alcohol

Drinking alcohol regularly increases your risk of chronic disease and impacts almost every organ in the body. Experts increasingly agree there is no safe amount to drink.

The previous US Surgeon General, Dr. Vivek Murthy, published a report in January 2025 warning of the links between alcohol and cancer risk.

Don't blindly follow health advice online

Some of Dahlstrom's tips aren't in line with evidence-based health advice, for instance: "avoid mainstream medicine except as a last resort" and "don't take antibiotics except in emergency situations."

Dr. Kurt Hong, a professor of clinical medicine at the University of Southern California, told Business Insider via email that while antibiotic overuse is "very real" and can impact the gut microbiome, patients only using them in situations they deem an "emergency" is "dangerous."

Hong added that while functional and integrative health can be helpful, one should not avoid mainstream medical practices such as preventive care, cancer screenings, and vaccinations. "This is a dangerous recommendation by the author," he said.

And while research indicates psychedelic drugs could be used to treat chronic mental illness in a controlled, clinical setting, Hong said Dahlstrom's recommendation to "try psychedelics" is dangerous, particularly for patients with mental health issues, which can be worsened with psychedelics, such as PTSD, depression, and bipolar.

Dahlstrom's said: "I believe that everyone should take responsibility for their own health and make their own decisions. The mainstream medical system is fantastic for acute illness and injury, but equally bad at chronic illness."