Hello! I’ve writing news to share, including a new website name. First, though: happy spring. One of my tricks to getting through winter is keeping out my two favorite Christmas decorations until spring arrives. Because aside from my daughter’s birthday, I’m not a huge fan of that last season. If promise was a color it would be yellow: […]
You are contemplating Marie Kondo’s best selling book, The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: the Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing, because it promises to change your life. But you are crazy busy and also you may have misplaced the copy that called to you from the bargain book aisle at Costco. (Pro tip: Good chance it’s shoved […]
Tis the season for both heartbreaking news and stories of beautiful people and organizations. I’m putting aside all the harried, busy stuff for a bit and sharing news about some of my favorites: Glennon Doyle’s Together Rising, Humans of New York, A Wider Circle, and my friend Sue Leather. Because in a tough world, goodness deserves attention. […]
Many of us look forward to the start of the school year, and not just for the obvious reasons, like A LOT of summer together time. There is a crispness to this season; it’s in the air and the pages of our kids’ new notebooks, in their freshly laundered uniforms and first day of school […]
Ah, the beach. Taking in a tan, body surfing, reading, napping… That was my vision. Then we had kids. The beach with little ones requires constant vigilance, not to mention digging, pail filling, pail dumping, more pail filling, sobbing, snacking, building, burying, losing, searching, and more snacking. Admonitions that you may not throw sand in your […]
Remember Oh, the Places You’ll Go!? It was the book everyone got for graduation as we prepared for the next big thing. Dr. Seuss told us we’d soar… and fall. He warned that we’d be swimming in fun and excitement one moment, then find ourselves very much alone the next. He was right, of course; it’s a book full […]
This one’s for all of us who look at a minor crisis and respond with active imaginations, complete panic and (wait for it) a google search. Sharing my family’s story in the The Washington Post this week. It’s aptly titled: “Do you try the University of Google when there’s no time to get to the doctor? Maybe don’t.” […]
Did anyone else watch the National Spelling Bee finals last night? My guys put on ESPN and were mesmerized. I laughed, drifted in, was hooked. Same with our teen. Spoiler alert: it ended in a tie. Co-champs Vanya Shivashankar and Gokul Venkatachalem made it through multiple rounds. They correctly spelled words like pipsissewa and zimocca and […]
Dear Readers, So a wise friend recently asked: “Do you have a website?” Why yes, I do have a Dreadfully Busy website, which is a minor miracle in itself. It turns out you can teach an English major (class of ’90) new tricks–as long as she has a technical support person on call. And get […]
Dear Guy Making a Right Turn from the Left Lane: Not going to sugarcoat it: at first, your move greatly annoyed me. It seemed—how do I say this now without blushing the shade of my favorite skating skirt—dangerous, fool-hearty, even mean-spirited. If only I’d know your true motive: replicating your favorite pairs skating move on […]