I don't remember how I heard of I Know How She Does It by Laura Vanderkam but as soon as I started reading it I loved it. A few chapters in and I started texting my working mom friends telling them they should read it. This book has a message that resonates with my own experience of being a working mom and being able to spend significant time with my kids and family, finding time for myself and finding success in my career. It takes a lot of planning with a healthy dose of flexibility but doesn't all parenting? Doesn't... Read more →

So many things are happening and the boys are changing so fast! Currently Dashiell is two and a half years old and Cedric is just about to turn ten months old and this is what I want to remember: + The baby-soft feel of Cedric's skin and the way it feels springy and new even as it slides around over his little body when I pick him up and rub his back. I don't know when babies lose this but I'm trying to appreciate it every time I hold him. + Dashiell's language: adding -eeyah to words like Daddeeyah, Deeyah... Read more →

Even though I'm practicing appreciating our house as it is I still enjoy thinking of minor and more significant projects I'd love to do around the house. Improving and cozifying the house is a hobby of mine that makes me really happy. So as long as I don't let not being able to do a project or renovation get me down then I'm OK with keeping a running wish list of house projects. Plus, sometimes the act of writing something down lets me let go of it. I don't have to dwell on wanting something because it's captured on a... Read more →

Right now I'm... recovering from last week which was too busy. looking forward to a normal week this week with the bonus of a visit from a friend and her baby! hoping my week might include a coffee date with Chris. watching in amazement as Cedric WALKS. loving our new gallery wall configuration. (Thanks, Mom!) feeling a bit stretched at work. listening to Reply All, Mom and Dad Are Fighting, Fresh Air and TBASH when I'm by myself in the car. listening to "animal stories" again (and again and again and again) when Dash is in the car. marveling at... Read more →

I am a fierce believer in packing a lunch and lately I've been toting giant salads to work. Mornings go infinitely more smoothly when we prep the night before so this weekday salad is made ahead of time and patiently waits until lunchtime the next day. I used to find that I enjoyed eating hearty salads when I went out to eat but could never recreate such enticing salads at home. And then I figured out the magic salad formula! There are several components but flexibility within each to use what you love or have on hand. It's a choose... Read more →

I distinctly remember discovering Elise's blog (through one of Tracy's Friday lists!) and was immediately drawn in my her go-get-em attitude, photo-heavy posts and willingness to share her process. This girl gets stuff done and she is one of my productivity and creativity role models (I'm mourning the end of her daily posts!). Earlier this year, Elise launched her biggest project, a day planner that she designed from scratch with goal-setting in mind. I've been using GET TO WORK BOOK since August (I bought the 2015 - 2016 academic year version, which is sold out) and I'm so pleased with... Read more →

(It's true. I love organizing so much that I'm writing about organizing my Pinterest boards.) Have I told you that I envisioned the existence of Pinterest years before it was created? I'm not talking about an Al Gore situation here where I'm claiming to have invented it; just that for a long long time I was hoping for a way to save and organize ideas online (I'm sure this is a surprise to exactly no one). In high school and college I had notebooks full of magazine images for recipes, home styling and my future wedding that I had cut... Read more →

Home stretch! Amazing weather is almost here!! This summer has been so much easier than last summer (and as I mentioned last month, I consider October to be part of "extended summer"). Not being pregnant and carrying all that extra weight on swollen ankles has made it so much easier to endure the heat, imagine that. Lots of fun things happening this month to kick off fall and the holiday season. (Pumpkin bread is from this recipe, which was very good.) Big things happening this month: + My mom visits! Yay! + Falliday! Our first as a family of four.... Read more →