2024-02-05 15:25
I left social media three years ago, and when I say I left social media, what I mean is that I abandoned the preposterous idea that keeping up with Internet Culture at large was within my re… Read More
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2023-10-10 14:50
Months ago, I am stuck in San Luis Obispo. The plane needs this one part, says the attendant. We had to order it. Might be here Thursday? It is Sunday. The airport is small, and a sud… Read More
2023-04-12 00:54
Tonight, I hit 70,000 words on my latest manuscript. It still has a ways to go – two chapters and a conclusion, then it’s off to the publisher for edits – but, for whatever… Read More
2022-12-06 03:26
Ah, December. My daughter’s Advent book says that this month’s name is derived from the Latin word decem, meaning ten, because it was originally the tenth month of the year in th… Read More
2022-09-01 08:42
A noiseless patient spider, I mark’d where on a little promontory it stood isolated, Mark’d how to explore the vacant vast surrounding, It launch’d forth filament, filament… Read More
2022-03-22 19:16
My daughter tells me over breakfast that certain butterflies die once they give birth. She points to a crayon drawing she’s made: a dead monarch falling down from the sky, little Xs wh… Read More
2021-09-16 22:46
There’s a reason there are tea rings on my dining room table, tie-dye stains on my deck. There’s a reason Ken built a ramp to slide down the basements stairs and a rock climbing… Read More
2021-04-09 16:13
Want to hear something crazy? I say, sliding into the corner booth. I’m pregnant! I haven’t seen my friend Shannan in months, so we meet on a sunny afternoon for Pan-Asian in a s… Read More
2020-11-23 11:13
They said it would happen like this: The baby will come and you’ll never be able to imagine anything otherwise. She’ll just fit, they said. You’ll see. (They were right.) … Read More
2020-09-08 15:31
Here’s what we have: me, 8 months pregnant, balancing a laptop on a burgeoning belly with two snoring dogs under a pair of propped-up feet. The clock reads 3am. It is quiet, cozy, warm… Read More
2020-07-28 17:03
Months ago, when COVID-19 was still a whisper, I was interviewed by a local San Francisco news station about my homeschooling plan for kids ages 2-7. The segment was long, the questions many… Read More
2020-05-20 11:06
A day in the life of a homeschooling parent can look much like a day in the life of any parent. You rise, navigating a dark hallway lined with mismatched socks and cardboard swords. You trip… Read More
2020-02-24 20:26
I’ve seen the book covers, the IGTVs, the keynotes – women in eyelash extensions imploring you to stop playing small. Commandment after commandment, we’re offered the vague… Read More
2020-01-21 11:14
I am being interviewed, and the voice on the phone asks me why I’m not very social on social. It takes me a second to decode his words, or even his intent. Social on social? What? Is i… Read More
2019-11-01 21:55
1. During courtship, a male Adelie penguin presents his chosen female with a pebble as a gift. If the female accepts, they mate for life. 2. In a Connecticut jail, more than 600 inmates are… Read More
2019-10-07 09:00
Two years ago, on a brightly lit stage in West L.A., Maria Shriver asks me this: But how? How do you do it? What would you tell someone who wants to slow their life, but can’t? Who fee… Read More
2019-09-18 16:25
Image Credits: Iron & Lace for Camp Climb Summer camp for the young me was this: wet socks drying on hickory branches. Cold Dr. Pepper from the canteen. Legs dangling from the top balcon… Read More
2019-08-05 19:10
First, something: I’m wary of assigning sanctimonious yarns to everyday behaviors. In truth, what makes for a good habit today doesn’t always carry the years. Related – For… Read More
2019-07-04 15:26
Well, this one simply didn’t turn out is what I’ll say first. It could have been a number of things: the slapdash sub of frozen berries upon realization that the toddler had eate… Read More
2019-06-24 14:39
If your home is carried by the spine of a book, if you find yourself up past midnight to devour just one last chapter, if you’ve ever left the party early because there’s a rivet… Read More
2019-06-11 16:05
You make this cake when it’s been overcast for four days and you’ve pulled another sweater out of storage for the week ahead. When it’s unseasonably gray, and you’re… Read More
2019-05-27 14:16
On a walk in the woods, it’s not uncommon to transform. Who do you want to be today? I ask. A hungry lion on the hunt! she’d roar on a Monday. An abandoned snow puppy, she’… Read More
2019-05-16 17:41
This is the cake you bake for your kids’ uncle. The one who’s not technically blood, but definitely brother. The one who never skips the occasion to send a handwritten letter fro… Read More
2019-05-07 14:05
I’m no stranger to the immense personality crisis Mother Nature endures throughout an Indiana spring. This year in particular, our entryway has danced between parasols and parkas more… Read More
2019-04-26 15:28
As it stands, I’m not much for honey. But you know what I am one for? Honey-whipped cream, in a cold metal bowl fresh for the whisking. Taking turns getting elbow cramps with a daughte… Read More
2019-04-18 18:34
This is the story of a girl who was hungry. For what, I am oft unsure. But after decades of turning down dessert, of declaring a war against sugar, of craving salty over sweet at first glanc… Read More
2019-03-22 10:00
A husband travels for work. He swaps car seats under the moon, leaves a love note on the coffee beans. Kisses sleeping eyelids. Makes his side of the bed. Tosses a duffel bag over his should… Read More
2019-02-07 12:14
Our home hasn’t found sleep in the past few nights, for reasons we don’t yet know. We’ve been tossing bedspreads to the floor, flipping pillows to the cool side. This morni… Read More
2019-01-24 17:00
It began last summer, the itch. — I’m no stranger to the itch, have had many in a lifetime. Every creative project I’ve ever endeavored to explore has been a direct result… Read More
2018-12-17 21:17
The hustle, the bustle. I can accurately claim neither, having just emerged from a fireside nap on the hard floor. In our home, we keep a tradition of letting the kids open a shared gift on… Read More
2018-12-07 10:00
I used to white-knuckle my way through the holiday season. The calendar sometimes felt too thick to navigate, barely enough white space to catch a breath between out-of-town guests, Christma… Read More
2018-12-04 10:28
Head’s up; this essay is sponsored by Zenni. In second grade, wearing pigtails and saddle shoes, I tried to fail my vision test. My cousin Katie had just scored her first pair of glass… Read More
2018-11-26 05:24
To be fair, I’m not a present purist. When it comes to Christmas, there are few philosophies I stand by universally, except this: the best gifts for the ones you love are the ones they… Read More
2018-11-07 17:23
Finally: puzzle season. Candied pecans on the stove, Bing Crosby on the speakers. This is the time of year in which we all share excitement over something. For some, it’s sterile snow… Read More
2018-10-22 07:52
When welcoming any new season, I tend to get a bit squirrely with my wardrobe. There’s never a shortage of voices announcing the latest must-have ankle boot or toting this fall’s… Read More
2018-10-15 06:27
Vacation came, vacation went. I’ve spent the past few days in the post-getaway rhythm of folding whites, restocking pantries, shaking sand from the car mats. This morning I unpacked my… Read More
2018-09-13 10:00
Your dogs are of the age, is what the vet had said. 13 and 14, is what she’d meant. Old, also. — Bernie arrived first, a contraband puppy we’d snuck into our L.A. studio ap… Read More
2018-09-10 10:00
There are few things I consider myself an expert in, but truth be told: if recharging one’s energy with littles underfoot were an Olympic sport (missed opportunity, Greece), I like to… Read More
2018-09-06 20:22
Few will be surprised to hear I take baby proofing as simply as they come. Our solution to a baby’s growing admiration for ceramic serving platters? A few rubber bands around the cabin… Read More
2018-08-30 17:51
I use the word becoming because it’s important. Because, as in anything at all, there is no being a better writer. No arriving as a better writer, certainly no tricks to staying a bett… Read More
2018-08-09 09:10
When I lived in L.A., pre-HGTV.com days, I worked as a fashion stylist and production assistant for a series of high-end sample sales. We’d phone our carefully-culled list of independe… Read More
2018-07-31 11:00
You can tell I’m in a cooking rut if you visit my kitchen at 5pm on any given weekday and find us all dining on salami and apples, a handful of walnuts straight from the bag. It’… Read More
2018-07-23 07:19
If we’re paying attention long enough, and if our ears are bent low enough, it’s easy to find the magic in summer. The smallest caterpillar gliding effortlessly on the shivering… Read More
2018-07-17 09:16
The dog days are here. Yesterday, I passed a trio of towheads sitting cross-legged on a grassy front lawn, electric blue popsicles dripping down their chin, elbows, knees. Bikes piled haphaz… Read More
2018-07-12 07:39
My 10-year-old self loved many a summer days – air slick with freedom, elbows slick from cherry popsicles. An entire universe whirling by from the banana seat of my lustrous purple Huf… Read More
2018-07-09 11:11
We’re a snackin’ family, is all. Pre-parenthood, my visions of mealtime were saccharine at best. Small heads gathered around a table, small hands folded in prayer. Three courses… Read More
2018-06-29 09:25
Early this week, Bee fell ill with inexplicable fevers, midnight shrieking she couldn’t shake. Doctor’s visits, a 911 call. Night terrors, it was diagnosed. Common for her age, i… Read More
2018-06-19 08:03
Of all the raised eyebrows we garnered from our former HGTV.com show, the DIY sauna brought forth the most questions, hands down. Where’d you put it? How big is it? How does it work? A… Read More
2018-06-14 10:09
Well yes, the 6pm thing. Your questions: How do you manage to get to bed by 6pm on weekdays? How does it work? What does it look like with kids? When do they go to bed? When do you see your… Read More
2018-06-05 10:43
Of all the questions I am asked on the regular, my daily routine is (hands down) the most frequent. And oh, how I get it. Daily routines are the structure for everything we do, every habit w… Read More
2018-06-01 09:50
The seasons that run smoothly for me are, unsurprisingly, the ones that involve focus and order. The routines, the boundaries, the guidelines – I’m wired for it all. Once, on a h… Read More
2018-05-21 07:25
It happens over pistachios, my new friend sitting at the kitchen counter, splitting shells wide open while rehashing the same conversation as everyone, always, but with different pronouns. G… Read More
2018-05-18 08:09
I’m rarely one for how-to or self-improvement books, opting instead for advice unearthed in the twists and tangles of any given life. I find that I learn more when I have to work for i… Read More
2018-05-14 10:34
We hadn’t meant to talk about the ethics of consumerism, but alas, the curiosity of a 5-year-old is rarely capable of stifling. I told her much of it. That humans are predisposed to gr… Read More
2018-05-10 01:58
Well, no, I can’t exactly claim the same perspectives (nor groundbreaking insights) of Virginia Woolf. But truthfully, I’d never deny the beauty of a room of one’s own. A s… Read More
2018-05-07 07:56
Head’s Up: Sponsored by Nest This is how it would go: the doorbell rings and the dogs bark and I shush the kids, army-crawl over to the corner of my kitchen where I sneak onto my tipto… Read More
2018-05-02 10:21
An excerpt from my latest piece for Fathom Mag: “In this Google-able age, where the very names of our most popular technological resources are rooted in mythology—Siri, Alexa, Am… Read More
2018-04-26 08:24
Head’s up: Sponsored by Walmart.com. I know we’re due for an adventure when I begin researching tickets to Dubrovnik on a whim. For the past five springs, we’ve hit the ski… Read More
2018-04-25 08:18
It happens like they say it will: you blink and she’s nearly 6. Long limbs, tangled hair, tiny bruises polka dotting her shins from rope-climbing, tree-jumping. I cut her pants into sh… Read More
2018-04-17 08:59
I’ve reached the age in which my nieces and nephews are graduating from high school, where gift-giving calls for a waffle-maker or a mini fridge rather than a Matchbox car, a stuffed t… Read More
2018-04-13 08:58
It’s a running joke in our friend circle that I’m impossible to speed up (surprise, surprise) and Ken is impossible to slow down. A single glance at an empty calendar square and… Read More
2018-04-06 07:59
Head’s up: Sponsored by Walmart.com. Lately, I have found myself feeling more Mary Poppins than Marine. Jolly holiday in lieu of boot camp, more singing of reminders (admittedly off-tu… Read More
2018-03-20 09:11
Ask me how I know a woman is fully capable of leadership and I will tell you of a 3am morning, in a darkened nursery, rocking a baby with croup. His airways are swelled, he must sit upright… Read More
2018-03-14 07:12
Head’s up: Sponsored by Walmart.com. And so it goes: another season whirring by, another set of feet having outgrown his footed pajamas. I take the kitchen scissors and snip off the to… Read More
2018-03-06 10:02
In the grocery store, my second year of college. I’m standing in the checkout lane, a cart full of “necessities” – a new shower curtain liner, shaving cream, Special… Read More
2018-03-01 12:27
On the night of a bad day, I wonder if people truly change. If we’re all just out here screwing each other up or if there is, as I’ve been taught, a capacity for a better way. Ca… Read More
2018-02-27 11:34
I don’t profess much expertise in the homekeeping department, which is precisely why I so chiefly excel in my role as Ruthless Curator. The less there is to dust, the less there is to… Read More
2018-02-21 09:00
An italicized passage in Bee’s science book. She and I are weighted under a shared blanket, two dogs snoring at our feet when we read it. Dolania americana has the shortest lifespan of… Read More
2018-02-19 08:45
There are no shortage of things to work on in this grand life, no limits to areas in need of refinement. Of late, for me? Communication. In specific? Tongue-holding. It came as a surprise to… Read More
2018-02-14 10:30
I used to get dressed in the winter, used to rally against the cold and put together a somewhat-presentable uniform for my weekly grocery run or a library return. Once, lifetimes ago and cer… Read More
2018-02-09 13:49
I am often losing myself in things, in seasons, quicker than a phase of the moon. I am able to be swallowed entirely by a single turn of events, or a string of such. Sometimes, all it takes… Read More
2018-02-06 09:39
Kids think of the best ideas. It all started with this book, launching a whole foray into Bee’s fervent mastery of the paper pocket, her small hands folding in and out of frustration o… Read More
2018-02-01 12:18
I used to be worried about black holes, Bee says as she slices a hard-boiled egg on the kitchen counter, adds pepper. Well, she smiles… I still kind of am. — And there it is, th… Read More
2018-01-19 11:34
While we have yet to instate a family game night (yesterday, Scout tried to dump of box of playing cards through the heater vents, so we’ve got a ways to go over here), I’ll fore… Read More
2018-01-16 11:37
For the record, I’m not of the school of thought that life is in need of hacking. It is what it is – some days more bonkers than others – moment after moment knocking aroun… Read More
2018-01-12 16:21
It happened when Ken was out of town. 3am, to be exact, when the toddler was in one of his weird sleep patterns, the kind where he wakes hungry and vibrant in the middle of the night, runnin… Read More
2018-01-10 10:49
Head’s Up: Sponsored By Nature’s Way I have heard it stated this way, simplified: Work. Relationships. Wellness. Pick two. But I prefer David Sedaris’ version of four burne… Read More
2017-12-30 19:34
We greeted Christmas by trudging through the icy medical clinic parking lot under a black sky, the gloved hands of two feverish kids holding our own. Dual breathing treatments, Nebulizers, t… Read More
2017-12-20 11:02
Hey you. I know you’re out there, bustling with everyday stuff on top of non-everyday stuff. Maybe you’ve just shut down your computer and you’re heading out the lobby for… Read More
2017-12-12 10:34
It occurs to me that there are many voices whispering into the ears of new(ish) parents, particularly around Christmastime. For one, there is the reality that we are not getting any younger… Read More
2017-12-06 08:42
I haven’t given much thought to birds in the past. Once, when visiting India, I remember noticing that when a flock of pigeons would fly all around you it was like breath, like molecul… Read More
2017-12-05 08:55
The temps have dropped and there’s a pie in the oven, and Harold the Backyard Squirrel has been in hiding all week long. So yes, I suppose it’s time. And while I’m not pron… Read More
2017-11-29 09:57
Listen. I don’t claim to know a thing or two about cooking or baking or sauteeing, about chiffonade techniques or a parboil. If you point me in the direction of a culinary kitchen, I w… Read More
2017-11-21 11:57
Holiday excitement hit early in these parts. We started our annual Christmas puzzle in October (I know, I know) and have gone through no less than three sacks of flour since. The garden rose… Read More
2017-11-14 09:58
“Sometimes I have loved the peacefulness of an ordinary Sunday. It is like standing in a newly planted garden after a warm rain. You can feel the silent and invisible life. All it need… Read More
2017-11-10 12:33
I don’t know what came over me exactly. I just know that, somewhere in the nostalgic depths of my mind, there is an image of an aproned mother in pearls and lipstick pulling a loaf of… Read More
2017-11-08 14:33
If you visit my home for more than a minute, you’ll know kids live here. There are very often random items strewn about the entryway and living spaces — plastic balls, wooden spa… Read More
2017-11-04 20:13
Moon? he says. It’s his favorite question each morning, and soon begins the raising of the eyebrows, a gesturing toward the front door. Moon? Moon? Moon? He wants to see it high in the… Read More
2017-11-02 08:35
Boone Pickens perhaps said it best: When you are hunting elephants, don’t get distracted chasing rabbits. This week’s rabbit: Stranger Things. I’m not a TV watcher by natur… Read More
2017-10-31 09:37
Bang trims, watercolors, mango slices. Musical reenactments in the sunroom, her stage. She wants to know how to spell Gaston, needs to borrow a tote as a prop, asks me to put ‘Kill the… Read More
2017-10-27 20:00
Head’s up: Sponsored by Samsung We’ve been painting lately. Headboards and posters and cardboard forts, as if our bodies are aware the weather’s turning, as if it’s t… Read More
2017-10-25 09:49
The baby will wake, often, up and down, eyes popping wide and fading shut, and it will be a running joke in your family that you, the mother, will be physically unable to lull him to sleep… Read More
2017-10-20 09:13
“So there you have it: two things & I can’t bring them together & they are wrenching me apart. These two feelings, this knowledge of a world so awful, this sense of a lif… Read More
2017-10-18 07:45
One of my most frequently asked questions in a podcast interview or Q&A session is always some measured form of this: OK, yes. I get it. I see the importance here. But how do I get my sp… Read More
2017-10-13 07:14
I fell into a bit of an impromptu travel season this month – three back-to-back trips with a weekend between. Just enough time to empty the suitcase into the laundry cycle, to re-roll… Read More
2017-10-10 10:33
It is possible, and it is essential. Listen: we are doing ourselves no favors when we treat our news cycle as a Pez dispenser — when we pop onto our feed(s) and ingest, ingest, ingest… Read More
2017-10-06 02:45
I grew up as far away from the kitchen as possible, knowing full well there was likely to be a mother stirring a skillet of Tuna Helper in need of someone to set the table (kids are the wors… Read More
2017-10-02 15:50
This summer wasn’t a summer of reading for me. It was a summer of shooing away a toddler from outlets, of teaching a 5-year-old the differences between a redwood and a willow. It was a… Read More
2017-09-26 07:56
Head’s Up: Sponsored by Zappos The cucumbers are rotten and the news is all bad and it’s just that we really, really need each other. — This summer was a hard one over here… Read More
2017-09-19 12:13
You know me; I’m not a shop-for-sport gal. It takes only a few, simple items to get the job done – whether “the job” is slicing onions or commuting to work. In the gr… Read More
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