I was a cliche, a caricature, a tale as old as time. I was that perspiring cartoon cat chewing down her nails like a wood chipper watching the second hand stutter around the clock like a sledgehammer–boom, boom, BOOM–waiting for time to run out. You see, this was the summer of the “Off to College” […]
So you have a teenager or two? Welcome to Planet Teen! No time to gripe about the rough landing here on Planet Teen, focus now on what’s coming before you get blindsided by the natives. We’ve been here about 25 minutes longer than you have, but due to the constant turnover that is Planet Teen, we’re qualified to […]
On the list of things we love, books are definitely near the top. With this in mind, we are always either making booklists like this one or this one or finding great booklists. After writing a bunch of booklists, we notice that there are some authors we can count on to bring great writing, killer story-telling, […]
We all are looking for a village to help us raise our kids. For some of us lucky ones, we have a built in safety net of extended family that fill this role nicely. Unfortunately, they don’t always live around the corner like they did in generation’s past. But nurturing these relationships and unique family bonds […]
We have reached the point of summer where we are ready to fly a white flag and surrender. Visions of summer fun are fermenting under a stack of musty pool towels, those dreams of beautiful family memories are fading, and the natives are more than restless. Hang in there, though. There is still much to love about the season. So […]
First and foremost: THEY CAN DO THEIR OWN EVER-LOVING LAUNDRY! Ellen: In a very few short weeks my daughter is traveling 1,147 miles away to college. In related news, I may personally make headlines if one more person asks me: “Wow, that’s far. Are you going to miss her?” While that makes me want to […]
This time last year, my family was altogether for a pretty big moment: my brother Jonathan asked his girlfriend Kelly to marry him. Almost immediately after all the hugs, high-fives, and champagne toasts, Steve pulled out his calculator and started crunching numbers. With my brother and Kelly living in San Diego, a cool 3,000 miles […]
A little over two weeks ago, while taking my daily walk to try and get in my 10,000 steps, I had a “wince and curse” kind of fall. All apologies to baby Jesus and any other soul who was in earshot but I was at least a mile and a half from home with no cellphone and a […]
What’s that, friends? You feel that gorgeous sunshine on your back and hear those birds chirping? Yup, it’s officially SUMMER! And to all the readers of the world, that means one very, very important thing: it’s time to dig into that summer reading list. These must-read books will brighten your summer as surely as ours! Been […]