In honor of Dashiell's eighth birthday today I'm re-sharing the story of his birth here and as an episode of my RISING*SHINING audioblog. I had not revisited the full story of Dash's birth in some time and I love being reminded of when we first met. Happy, happy eighth birthday to my radiant boy. I'm so excited to celebrate him today. The morning of April 9th was crisp and grey and the air felt fresh; a perfect spring morning. When Chris and I took a walk that morning with Drew I said, “This would be a great day to have... Read more →

Planning and organization are dear to my heart. I like talking about my own systems and I like hearing about other people's. If you feel the same then I have two fun things for you: this post, which is all about my current calendaring system, and this week's episode of the planning podcast Best Laid Plans featuring yours truly. I've followed Best Laid Plans host Sarah Hart-Unger for years on her Best of Both Worlds podcast with Laura Vanderkam and on her blog, The SHU Box. She launched Best Laid Plans in July of 2020. In the episode this week,... Read more →

Happy FIRST birthday to our Maeve! We met her one year ago today. After waiting and waiting ten days past her due date, Maeve arrived in a speedy but peaceful birth. Outside the birth center a global pandemic was gripping the world but I felt cocooned in love and calm that morning. The first thing I said when Maeve was in my arms was, "It's really a girl!" After she was born Maeve was quiet and alert and she started up at me for a long time. Born at 9 a.m., we were home with her by 1 p.m. Now... Read more →

Along with the return of perfect spring weather, I have felt my happiness and optimism bubble back lately. I haven't felt unhappy these past many months but I often did not feel like my best self. And it's no wonder! There was the general anxiety of living in a pandemic plus interrupted sleep, little time to myself, and parenting through being at home and online school. I'm happy to say that significant progress has been made on all fronts! I'm hopeful that we are emerging from the pandemic, Maeve is sleeping so much better, I've been energized to make time... Read more →

I'm excited to share the launch of a month-long creative project, the RISING*SHINING audioblog! During the month of April I will be releasing all blog posts in two formats: written and in podcast form in which they will be read aloud by me. In addition to new content I'm also going to experiment with releasing older blog posts as new episodes as a way to refresh older content and to give listeners more episodes. To hear the audioblog you'll be able to listen in two ways: use the embedded player at the top of the post or subscribe to the... Read more →