"How's the campaign going?"
It's the question I get most often. It's also the question I'm never quite sure how to answer.
Good? ... Great! ... Your guess is as good as mine. ... We'll see May 17th!
The truth - I suppose - all depends on what you're measuring.
This weekend we hosted a Winter ONE-derland party in honor of Felix's first birthday. Considering this child was born during a snow, it seemed like an appropriate theme. Well, the weather had other plans and it was 70 and sunny! I could have hosted the dang party outside!
For my 30th birthday, I created a list of 30 things I wanted to do. One was to write a historical fiction short story. This is the story and as Ruby keeps calling to me here lately. I thought I'd share it here.
One of Nicholas's New Year's resolutions was to try freezer meals. He'd prepped meals for the week on and off through 2015 and wanted to see how it would work to prepare an entire month's worth. Then, we could just pull a meal from the deep freeze, throw it in the crockpot, and on a busy day dinner would be waiting for us.
Most mornings my boys play together in their room for an hour and a half to two hours. After we have breakfast, I send them back to play and I have one to two blissful hours to get things done.
Now, Griffin and Amos are only four and two. I still get the occasional question or request BUT, for the most part, I can depend on that time to get work done or projects completed around the house.
How do I do it?
The answer is so simple it’s going to shock you.
As a parent, you learn quickly that there are certain topics that are universal. Whether you've known the mommy next to you for five minutes or five years, there are subjects we all use to relate to one another: how long ago we saw a movie in an actual movie theater, the latest and most disgusting experience with bodily fluids, and - perhaps the most popular of all - sleep deprivation.
I learned early on that I don't always have the response my fellow parents want to hear.
"Really? Griffin sleeps about 13 hours a night."
(Insert the sound of crickets.)
Tomorrow my husband and I will celebrate our ten year anniversary. Surrounded by our nearest and dearest, we plan to renew our vows in the front yard and then party late into the night in our back yard.
When I look back now, I realize marriage really intimidated me. I was a child of divorce. Even though my mother had remarried and her and my stepfather had (and still have) a great relationship, I was worried. I knew I loved Nicholas. I knew I was ready to be in a committed relationship but, in a way marriage seemed like a roll of the dice.
How could I stack the odds in my favor?
In the lat 1960's, psychologist Walter Mischel led several experiments on delayed gratification involving four year olds and a bunch of marshmallows. The premise is simple and I explain at the beginning of the video.
The characteristic these experiments test - basically self-control - has been to be a fundamental predictor of success in life.
I'm over on Salt & Nectar today sharing the details of Amos's second birthday. I chose a county fair theme complete with pie, games, and a petting zoo!
If you just can't get enough of these babies eating pie and having fun, I've included some more pictures below.
As someone who works in social media, this is the question I get the most often.
“I don’t really understand Twitter. How does it work?”
I’ve slowly come to understand that people aren’t really asking me how Twitter works. Explanations involving character limits and hashtags rarely get me anywhere. What people are really asking me is how do I make twitter work for me?
Welcome to Flashback Friday, where I delve deep into the hoards piles of my childhood memorabilia so that we can reminisce, laugh at the bad perms, and finally prove that merely throwing away your NKOTB door hanging does not diminish your love for Jordan Knight.
I’m a keeper. I keep things. I keep photos and souvenirs and clothing and every single issue of my high school newspaper (and college...and middle school...and elementary...don't you dare judge me).
There are a million reasons I keep. I’m an only child and always had my own room to pile high with mementos. I come from a long line of keepers. I’m a historian at heart.
The reason doesn’t really matter - what matters is that we exploit this stuff to maximum entertainment capacity!
Let’s begin at the beginning. I’ve been journaling for as long as I can remember. Recently, whilst sorting through the piles, I found my very. first. diary.
