This recipe for vegan pad thai has become a regular in our weeknight dinner rotation and I've been meaning to share. I found this recipe after checking out The Vegan Table from the library and getting a recommendation from Steph to try the pad thai. Such good advice! There's a bit of chopping involved and some staged cooking and whisking of the sauce but once you've made this Pad Thai a couple of times it comes together really fast. We use whatever veggies we have on hand, sometimes it's just broccoli but I also love the meatiness of sauteed mushrooms... Read more →

f/5.6 1/10 Dashiell is so in to books right now. He will pick out a book, bring it over and "hand" it to us (which looks very similar to throwing it at us) and then turn around and plop down in our laps or situate himself in his chair. It is the best. I peeked into Dashiell's room while these two were reading the other evening and was able to snap a picture without disrupting the moment. I like that this captures an everyday moment and that it's not a close-up, detail shot, which is something I do often. The... Read more →

I recently mentioned the Sarah R. Bagely Podcast, as one of my favorites and I'm thrilled to be featured as a guest on the episode that airs today. You can listen right here. I love Sarah's podcast for her honest conversations with women about the way perfectionism impacts their lives and how they are pushing past it in motherhood, marriage, creative work and elsewhere. I had so much fun chatting with Sarah about blogging, having house guests even when our houses aren't perfect, and balancing motherhood, marriage and work. I hope you'll check it out! Thanks so much for having... Read more →

A year into this motherhood gig and what I've found to be the most challenging part of the job is how little uninterrupted, unplanned time to myself I have. I think back to before we had Dashiell and marvel that we had whole weekends, as in TWO! FULL! DAYS!, in which we could do what we wanted. I could curl up on the couch and devour a novel; I could leisurely run errands and browse at Target; I could get my hair cut or my nails done on a whim; I could decide to try a new recipe and spend... Read more →

In 2014, one of my goals is to appreciate our house as it is instead of focusing on what I would change or where it doesn't measure up. This is something that I'm constantly working on. I really enjoy thinking of and doing projects around the house, like hanging a gallery wall of art and photos, but I can become overwhelmed with all that I would love to change. This includes big overhauls like repainting the entire house to new floors to landscaping the front and back yards to new counter tops. Right now, as we focus on debt reduction,... Read more →

Two weeks ago, Chris received the best possible news about his career; news that we've been anticipating for six years. Chris has been promoted from assistant to associate professor and granted TENURE! It feels like we've been talking about tenure for six years, since Chris started his job as a tenure-track professor, and discussing the possible outcomes. It's an understatement to say that it is a huge relief to have the decision behind us and for it to have been the best news. We both took last Wednesday off of work to bask in the awesomeness and go on another... Read more →

Over the past year I've found my life fuller than ever before and at the same time have begun to pursue creative work more seriously and now see myself as a creative person. In this time I've developed a simple way to guide my creative energies. It goes like this: when I think of a new idea, it's worth further consideration if I can end the thought with "...because that would be awesome." Not "because that's what I should do" or "because that's what makes the most sense" or "because that might make money". My best ideas end with "because... Read more →

I'm having a serious love affair with podcasts lately, and not just because I have one. I spend about 40 minutes in the car each way to work four days a week (I work from home on Fridays) and it's become time that I can use for entertainment or to learn something new. I used to really look forward to listening to NPR news but for some reason it's been unbearably depressing to me lately. I keep trying to get back into it but, I swear, as soon as I switch on the radio if it's not a story on... Read more →

I've had a vision for a Montessori-inspired space for Dashiell in our breakfast area off the kitchen since I was pregnant. I was describing my vision to my mom, saying that Dash would have a little table where he can eat snacks and work on projects and a shelf where he can keep a plate and utensils, a little broom and dustpan and a plant that he can water. My mom, forever witty and funny, remarked on all the "little responsibilities" that he would have. In two beats we were laughing and calling it the Toddler Area of Responsibility. This... Read more →

Over the course of three blog posts I'm sharing how my podcast, The Girl Next Door Podcast, is made. So far, I've shared the equipment that we use and how we publish our show online. This week I'm sharing tips for recording that we've learned while producing the show. + For each show, make an outline and become really familiar with it. We've found that we like to write out our intro and exit text but otherwise keep the outline general to encourage natural conversation. When we were too detailed in our outline we focused too much on what we'd... Read more →