Did you know that you can create your own holiday? It’s true! Last year Chris and I made up a new fall holiday – Falliday! – and it’s coming up in October. Both Chris and I love the fall season: crisp air, changing leaves, and wearing sweaters, to name a few things. Where we met in Connecticut fall arrived right on time; but sadly the Phoenix area doesn’t embrace autumn with such enthusiasm. At the beginning of October it’s still pretty hot, the leaves stay green, and wearing a sweater will just make you sweat. When the temperatures finally start... Read more →

My sister and me on the first day of 2nd and 5th grade. You're welcome. You might not be able to tell from this photo, but I was not born with an amazing sense of fashion. I’ve never been into purses or shoes (except the kind you wear with scrunch socks, obviously) and clothing stores usually overwhelm me with all the choices and the price tags. In fact, my husband likes shopping and fashion more than I do! But, I do recognize that clothes can be a fun way to express personality and I’ve noticed that I feel more confident... Read more →

Negotiating can come in handy when your shoes come untied, too. Thanks Chris! In graduate school I earned a master's degree in environmental science but I think that one of the most useful classes I took was called, simply, Negotiations. It was offered through the Yale School of Management (I attended the Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies). In the class we learned about using negotiation appropriately and successfully in lots of different scenarios but the skills I learned have been especially helpful for salary negotiation. Something that we learned during class that I found very interesting is that... Read more →

My Septembert art-a-month makes me homesick for Austin! I found this little print (it's 5 x 7) through Young House Love when they tweeted that Dutch Door Press was having a 15% off sale. I checked out their Etsy store and found cute prints of state flowers and birds. At first I considered buying three prints: Connecticut, Texas, and Arizona to represent where Chris and I met, where we got married, and where we live now. But unfortunately they didn't have a print for Arizona. (Maybe soon!) So I went with the Texas print since it's not only representative of... Read more →

Chris and I think we might be ready to have a baby in about three years. But imagining how different our life will be with a baby can seem overwhelming. I know it will impact our relationship, our finances, and how we spend our free time (if we have free time!), among other things. At the same time, it's a change I'm excited about. It seems like I've always known that I'd want to have a baby someday and I know Chris will be an amazing parent. It'll be so fun to share the adventure of parenthood with him! When... Read more →

Sometimes I start to feel anxious on Sunday afternoons as I start to think about going back to work on Monday. The weekend always seems to go by too fast! I think part of my anxiety comes from feeling that I don't have enough time to do everything that I want before Monday rolls around again. During the weekend I get so much happiness from spending time with Chris and with friends, working on projects around the house, having time to cook, volunteering, writing for my blog, and just relaxing. The impending work week feels like an end to all... Read more →

When I asked Chris to write a guest post (on the topic of his choice) I thought he might want to contribute a post on food or cooking since he’s a nutrition professor. Or that he might want to write about budgeting and savings, since he’s the one who taught me to budget down to the dollar. But he wrote about ties! I had to laugh because it's actually the perfect topic for him to write about; this guy has an amazing tie collection! It was fun making him try on all the different combinations and snapping pictures. Did you... Read more →

It's been 8 months since I made my 2011 resolutions. With the year more than half over (what?), here's how I've done so far: Go paperless and plastic-less in the kitchen (inspiration from here). Accomplished. We no longer use paper towels (we use flour-sack towels and cloth napkins, which I posted about here) and our overflowing tupperware shelf has been reduced to one basket of glass storage containers and a few good quality tupperware containers. We've also been pretty good about taking our reusable bags to the grocery store (I even found some reusable produce bags) so there's not an... Read more →

This weekend was a rush of emotions. We celebrated Chris's birthday at our new favorite place, The Duce. Most importantly there were good friends and there was lots of laughing. This weekend we also remembered. I've been emotional every day this past week as I've thought about that day and listened to the coverage on NPR. I can't stop thinking about this story and this story in particular. There are no words but I am feeling so deeply thankful for the amazing people that are in my life. Read more →

A lifelong goal of mine is to always have some type of volunteer activity in my life. There are no requirements for how many hours or how often I should volunteer, only that I seek volunteer opportunities with causes or organizations that are important to me. So it may be once a week or just a couple times a year, depending on how busy life is. Sometimes the world we live in can seem like a pretty dark place (economic recession, wars, natural disasters, climate change…and on and on). Volunteering lets me take action to make the world a better... Read more →