The title alone makes most cringe: the gift giver, the gift opener, even the standers-by who may or may not someday play one of these roles. It’s a part of every shower, though, and for good reason; the people you love are excited to shower you with gifts for your new journey into married life or motherhood, and you want them to know how much you appreciate them...
Read More
After reading this article in my Worthy Reads post a couple months back, my mom texted me about it, comparing her own mindset to the men in the article. We were talking about how strange money is, and how relative it is. But, she said, she also hates that to want to experience more in your life is to essentially want more money, and she hates that the two are so closely tied.
Read More
And some (potentially) exciting news...
Read More
I learned about a new way of doings things, and I have to say, I'm pretty intrigued...
Read More
When I was young and my family took one of our only long distance vacations to Hawaii, my dad coined a term for my mom that stuck on a long-term level, extending into other people’s vocabularies, as well...
Read More
A Q&A session with two veterans of both.
Read More
A long time ago, I was out to dinner with some of my friends, and I posed a question that I had read about in a blog earlier that week and found quite thought provoking.
Read More
I’ve truly grown up with the inward and outward sentiment that my parents’ divorce didn’t really hurt me. I don’t remember it tearing my life apart, yearning for my parents to get back together, or not understanding it. Rather, I’ve always felt like it made sense to me, and that it was unique to them—not something that was bound to spoil my own relationships someday or color and shape my views of my own marriage.
And by now you might be rolling your eyes, or at least raising an eyebrow...
Read More
Happy (early) Mother's Day to my favorite person on earth...
Read More
Do you know about Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? It’s a theory in psychology about motivational needs experienced by humans, starting with the most basic physiological needs such as food, and leading up to the more intangible level of self-actualization that a person only yearns for or seeks to fulfill if the other levels of need are already satisfied...
Read More
Jon and I recently tackled the task of babysitting Jon’s nephew for the first time at our apartment...
Read More
How much does it blow you away, bowl you over, knock your socks off when someone does something incredibly generous or thoughtful for you? Being on the receiving end of unexpected kindness is a feeling unlike any other, and one that I look forward to experiencing throughout my life, even if just a few times. Part of what makes this kind of thing so special is that it’s rare and unexpected, and it’s a total day changer.
Read More
During our recent trip to Mexico, 90% of our awake time was spent outdoors: laying poolside, playing on the beach, hiking, exploring the town, eating at local street meat and taco stands, dining al fresco. Even our hotel room had an entire wall of sliding doors that were open to an outside balcony. Everything about this scenario day in and day out was divine. Needless to say, the transition back into real life has been difficult (understatement of the century)...
Read More
Sharing a personal story today.
Read More
One of my very favorite things is hearing about other people's traditions, especially those related to Christmas. I love hearing how other people do things for the holidays with the hope that I'll be inspired in different ways to incorporate some ideas into my own family's traditions someday.
I asked all of my friends to share some of their favorite holiday traditions with me, and just as I suspected would happen, there is such a fantastic range of sweet/unique/funny ideas and events and memories.
May your Christmas be merry and bright and full of joy, and may these stories get you in the Christmas spirit and help drum up some of your own warm and cheery Christmas memories!
Read More
I am someone who, with too much time on my hands, can quite easily fall into what is most accurately described as a funk. A day can start off with a lot of promise, and yet it seems if I don’t attack it with enough purpose or direction, I begin “bumbling” aimlessly and my mood can spiral downward pretty quickly. And I find myself so envious of those who love to lounge all day, never leaving the house, etc. I WANT to love it, and I crave it and look forward to it when I’m busy or after a week full of work, but when it actually comes around to it, I go a little bit insane doing it. And with enough sitting or lounging, I get into a kind of funk that can be difficult to pull myself out of. Do you relate at all to this?...
Read More
How wonderful are good memories? And I don't mean the specific details of your memories, but just how wonderful it is that we're able to feel nostalgic. There's nothing quite as rose-tinted as a good memory. Much like looking forward to things in anticipation, memories are also painted in the best light—an unsullied, unadulterated light. It is easy to be critical in the current moment, or to be distracted, or to wish things were slightly different. But when you look back fondly or you look ahead with excitement, everything seems to be painted in the most flawless light.
Read More
The one thing about holidays that can be slightly more stressful than enjoyable: the splitting of family time. It’s a wonderful thing to have enough family members for this to even be an issue, but it can feel like an issue nonetheless. Christmas, although seemingly a more important holiday to many, is actually the less difficult one, I think, compared to Thanksgiving—given that it’s really a two-full-day celebration at minimum. Therefore, most people I know don’t have too much trouble splitting it someway between Christmas Eve day and night, as well as Christmas morning and night. However, Thanksgiving can feel like the trickier one due to its meal-centric nature. It’s hard to have an early meal at one location and then move to the next place to endure your food coma and not partake in that meal. It’s ok, of course, because company is still enjoyed, but there’s something about not being able to partake in the meal that just doesn’t feel right.
A good friend of mine (Hi Julia!) has a tradition in her family that I think is an absolutely brilliant alternative to splitting time...
Read MoreIf you’re at all like me, you’re cringing right now at that title alone. Maybe you even avoid articles of this nature because of the discomfort they cause you. I promise you, I get it, and I've been there, and I know I will be there again sometime. But without further ado, I thought about some concepts that have helped me and pushed me to be brave over the past several months, as difficult as they were to embrace. I think these truths are really relevant for anyone who might be in the same boat and is subconsciously looking for that boat to be rocked a little.
Read More