Our very lived-in kitchen, with the reminder "the best is yet to come," felt fitting for this new year. Happy 2024, friends! The new year started on a Monday, which I love. On Wednesday the kids returned to school so in a way it felt like the first "real" day of the new year. Routine seems to be a very good thing for my family so I'm glad to be getting back to it. So far January is already feeling much more relaxed than the holidays. We had a really busy and full holiday break. There was a lot of... Read more →

Team Wharton on the last day of 2023! At the end of 2022 I wrote myself a quick email to be delivered at the end of the year. It arrived in my inbox yesterday. I wrote briefly about "what's great right now" and "what's hard right now" and hoped for my future self that the hard stuff would be less so by this time. And a few of the hard things do feel better! At this time last year we were carrying the disappointment of Chris not getting sabbatical which Chris has now processed and put behind him. I was... Read more →

It’s my 40th birthday today!! What a privilege to celebrate another trip around the sun and to have experienced 40 of them. Like I usually do on my birthday, I have a leisurely day planned full of my favorite things including an early morning Orange Theory class followed by reading over my favorite breakfast at The Coffee Shop (a cafe au lait, a scone, and the San Diegan). For dinner I always request homemade pizza and Chris is going to make my favorite sweet potato brownies (always with ice cream). Later I’m hoping to watch a fun family movie with... Read more →

Oh, for the love of toddlers! Surely they must take the cake for being at once the cutest and most exasperating creatures on the Earth. Our lives have been steeped in Maeve's toddlerness for the past year and a half which has brought so much sweetness, and put our patience to the test (often multiple times a day). Although it feels like we've had a toddler for a long time (and honestly we've had a toddler almost continually for about nine years so no wonder) I know that suddenly this season will be behind us. Lately, I've felt myself looking... Read more →

My brain is in holiday mode. I feel like I have many tabs open, from thinking about Thanksgiving cooking and shopping for gifts to what festive things I want to enjoy with my family. In case you're feeling the same, I thought I would share my holiday thoughts and plans. Maybe it'll give you some ideas for your holiday season, or at least you'll know you aren't alone in trying to keep track of all the holiday planning. Without further ado, here’s everything holiday-related on my mind right now… Pie Friendsgiving: for the past few years I've bought a couple... Read more →

Let's talk about dinner, shall we? That daily meal that can be – at least to me – both a satisfying comfort and a source of unresolved stress. Of all my routines in life, dinner seems to be the one I cannot figure out how to optimize. And for someone who loves to optimize and to cook that can leave me feeling quite frustrated. Not to mention that dinner comes around every. single. day. Last year I wrote about our current dinner situation, its challenges, and some ideas for simplifying. More recently I've been revisiting our dinner routines again, possibly... Read more →

It's November, the time of the year when we seem to enter warp speed. Just when I am most wishing that time would slow down so that we could linger in the good weather and in holiday magic. A few things helping me to slow down time right now are: Christmas planning in my Holidays Master Plan Google Doc and Christmas Gifts Google Sheet; listening to The Lazy Genius podcast How to Make the Rest of 2023 Easier, and queuing up both the Calm Christmas audiobook (for a re-listen; and to note I listen via Hoopla where it's free and... Read more →

Friends, I'm thrilled to share with you that I'll be hosting Your Year to Shine: A Goals Workshop in early 2024! This workshop is a culmination of my many years of practicing and studying goal-setting. For the past several years I've had informal goal-setting sessions with friends to kick off each new year. It's always fun, insightful, and energizing, and for years I've wanted to be able to offer that to more people. With Your Year to Shine I'm finally able to do that and I'd love for you to join me. Registration for the workshop is $129 and will... Read more →

eclipsing / Slide Rock State Park north of Sedona / camping / two half-birthdays in October / the crafts and the mess of fall break Hello from mid-October, friends! We started the month in the woods north of Sedona on our first camping trip as a family of five (Maeve's first). It was just about this time of year and Cedric was just a few months older when we went on our very first Team Wharton camping trip! We had a great trip and Maeve was a champ little camper, helped along by some iPad time in the tent both... Read more →

As of this past week we could declare that we've made it through another hot summer, hallelujah! Let's not think of those endless hot days again until we have to next year. In September we enjoyed being outside again, especially in the morning, and started leaning into fall. From where I sit right now at our dining room table I see little pumpkins at home on our bookshelves, a wax-dripped skull candle holder, and some half-hearted spiderwebs in our front yard tree. (Note: the used spiderwebs at the thrift store are not worth it.) I've pulled jeans on for the... Read more →