Occasionally, in my ample free time, I like ponder Life's Great Mysteries. Lately I've been stuck on this: How is possible that two people who essentially follow the same routine EVERY SINGLE DAY after school have such trouble remembering it? I mean, these are not complicated steps. Remove shoes, deposit shoes in shoe drawer. Use potty. Wash hands thoroughly with soap. After that, the world is your oyster. Play, build, read, beg mommy for video game time. OM MY GOD WHY MUST THIS BE SO COMPLICATED AND TAKE SO LONG??? And, I'm sorry, but TEARS? Really? Every. ... [READ MORE]
Older (alternatively: All About Lash Extensions)
February 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
Before I get started on this post which is (spoiler alert) about a bit of vanity and cosmetic upgrades, can we have a moment? Can we all take a collective breath and say SHEESH! This parenting gig can be So. Freaking. Hard. I mean, how do you know if you are completely screwing it up?? You don't. Sigh. Okay, that's done. Thanks, all. I needed that tonight. Back to business. I was going through some old photos searching for a title image for this post, and it forced a little bit of a look at how I am aging. Wait: before you can roll your eyes: I know. I know I'm hardly an ... [READ MORE]
The Explorers
January 26, 2016 by Leave a Comment
A few days before the Airport Fiasco we had pretty much the best day ever. Parenting high-fives all over the place. It wasn't perfect -- there were tantrums, and certain parties were bored and starving and exhausted at various points throughout the day -- but on the balance? Whoa, it was a winner. First off, we did something that we have NEVER DONE BEFORE. This is a rare occurrence. We know what we like and we have our routines...but sometimes, and long weekends in particular, just beg for a break from the norm. Also, it stopped raining for ten minutes which meant we absolutely had ... [READ MORE]
Failure: An Anecdote in Three Parts
January 21, 2016 by Leave a Comment
I. Signs that you have not had enough downtime in the last six months or so: You get so excited just to be alone in an airport bookstore that YOU MISS YOUR FLIGHT. In my defense, the entire landscape of the SFO Terminal 3 has changed significantly since the last time I was on an airplane back in the Dark Ages. It’s all vast and light-filled and there are about 50 restaurants. Walking into it I was like a child who hasn’t seen the outside world before. Also, the flight left ahead of schedule by about ten minutes. (This, by the way, is why they advise you to be at the gate 30 minutes ... [READ MORE]
The Tiara and the Baptism Bonnet
January 14, 2016 by Leave a Comment
When I was growing up I had a science teacher whose true calling was outdoor education; he was a good teacher, of course, but he was a beautiful outdoor educator. He led every outdoor education trip I took in Middle School, one per year for four years. None of these were particularly arduous (though we felt like they were at the time, because, ugh, Middle School girls), and it's safe to say that I didn't exactly emerge an outdoorswoman (ahem, in these shoes?). Still, if I had to drill down to one takeaway from those journeys, it is that he taught me how to experience solitude in a brand new ... [READ MORE]
Tahoe, Yo!
January 11, 2016 by Leave a Comment
The truth is, although I was a bona fide world traveler in my twenties, my thirties have seen me sticking rather closer to home. As in, we pretty much go to Tahoe and that's about it. I sometimes look at friends who bundle their tots off to Italian ski resorts and Japanese food capitals and Spanish beaches and think, Huh. So that's a possibility. But Tahoe is so close, and, with kids, so fabulously fun and so incredibly easy in that there is so much to do and so little formality. My parents bought a condo there about ten years ago, and thanks to their generosity we have a little mountain ... [READ MORE]
Aftermath
December 29, 2015 by Leave a Comment
I realized this year that the only day that makes me as happy as the day we decorate for Christmas -- and I LOVE that day: love buying the tree, love the everything-old-is-new-again wonder of pulling 3.5 decades' worth of ornaments out of the storage bin, love the way my kids dance around my husband who just wants to get the lights on before we start hanging things please and for heavens sake you guys, love the way the Manhattans taste just a little bit toastier in the glow of the lights, love it all -- is the day we take it all down and reclaim our living space. Much more than New Years ... [READ MORE]
