Starting this post from San Juan Capistrano, where we visited for the second year in a row for a Home Exchange swap. Finishing this post back in the comfortable familiarity of our home. One reason I love travel is the renewed appreciation I have for our home and everyday routines when we get back. Appreciating the unique opportunity of Home Exchange, and connecting with generous people who open their homes to us. It's so interesting to get a glimpse into how someone else lives. Plus, getting ready for people to stay in our home motivates us to take care of... Read more →

Hi, friends! I drafted this on this very cold (for Arizona) morning while sipping a Starbucks pistachio latte which was a delightful post-school drop off treat with Chris. I hope you're enjoying a moment to yourself; let's get caught up! Settling back into routine and feeling good. We're even managing each of the boys playing a sport and Maeve going to swim lessons twice per week and nothing conflicts. Cheering for the boys' basketball, soccer, and school flag football teams. Wow watching sports is different now that the boys are almost 12 and 10 versus when they first started. I... Read more →

It's one of my favorite mornings of the year: coffee + pie for breakfast day! Chris even gifted me a quiet house by taking the kids out to a mall to shop for each other. (! have they ever even been to a mall??) On Black Friday! What a hero. November was a month with highs and lows. Since we last met for coffee, the big things in my life have been: + Getting a follow-up all clear ultrasound and mammogram (my first one) for which I'm very thankful. + Living through and processing a lot of feelings around the... Read more →

Hi, friends! I said "hello" to you in September and then was immediately subsumed by the very full season we've been living in. For the most part it's all been good things! For that I am thankful and keep reminding myself of that. But I'm also ready to catch my breath a bit, which I think I'm getting a chance to do. Just in time for Halloween and then the holiday gauntlet, right? In September and the first two weeks of October I dedicated a lot of time to my first Everyday Habits, Routines, and Rituals workshop -- and it... Read more →

A "welcome home from camp" chocolate pie which has become tradition Hi, friends! I'm sipping a cold, cold black cherry sparkling water because at this time of year I'm constantly just a little bit warm, even when I'm inside in the a/c. And happy Fourth of July to my fellow Americans! We're flying the stars and stripes today, and also thinking a lot about what we hope for the future of our country and our upcoming election in particular. An early morning hike with a view that paid off We're in the depths of summer weather here with temps above... Read more →

Hi, friends! I'm sipping a mid-morning iced coffee and marveling that it's the last full day of school for my kids. By the time you read this our summer will have begun! It's getting really warm (in the 90ºs and next week we'll break into the 100ºs) but I'm still enjoying a short mid-day walk and staying positive in the heat. A few notes from May... May goals review + Have a summer summit with Chris. We've had good conversations about summer, have put some additional activities on the calendar, and are feeling as ready as we can be. We've... Read more →

Hi, friends! This is an early morning coffee date for me, written in an unusually quiet house because I had the house all to myself on Saturday night through Sunday morning. I'm sipping my usual home brewed hot half-caf coffee with a combo of cinnamon churro Nutpods (I found this locally at Sprouts) and 2% Fairlife milk. With my coffee I'm having a homemade chocolate chip cookie made the proper way which is with pecans. One of my favorite things in life is eating a leftover dessert with my morning coffee so together with a quiet house, Sunday morning was... Read more →

Hi, friends! How was your February? Lately I'm sipping coffee that's half-caf (which I mix up myself) although I always make my coffee strong, decaf or not. I use one very full tablespoon of coffee per carafe cup of water to make my coffee. I'm curious, what ratio of coffee to water do you brew? My personal opinion is that there's no excuse for weak coffee. ;) February was wonderfully rainy, our rainiest month in my recent memory, and I reveled in the coziness. I leaned all the way into the coziness with a weekend trip to the mountains with... Read more →

I'm sipping iced coffee from a small mason jar and thinking about how tired I am of being hot. Earlier this week, as I wrote in my line-a-day journal, I looked ahead to what was happening this time last year and the year before that, and then looked ahead a few weeks, as I always do. By the end of September I start to remark on the cool-ish mornings so that gives me hope. One more month of terrible heat, plus humidity this time of year, and then we should be past the worst of it. But in better news,... Read more →

Hi friends! How are you? I'm drinking a lot of ice water these days but am reminded that I said I wanted to make vanilla mint iced coffee this summer. I need to check that off the list! In the past week I noted the closing and opening of momentous chapters. Like the last time we dropped Maeve off and then picked her up from the daycare where we first dropped Dash off exactly 10 years ago. In the weeks and then days leading up to the end, as I counted down the number of times we would make that... Read more →