Dakota Confusion My 7th grade geography teacher assigned yet ANOTHER diorama, and while I usually relished a fun, creative, easy project like that, I did not relish not getting to choose the state. I wanted to do New York (Broadway!) …
Category: Family
Where Did I Go?
I’ve been quiet — too quite for my own liking! — since our New York trip in early May. I’ve been slacking on the blogging front and I don’t have a good excuse for it. Just… life. We didn’t go …
Getting Back on Track
It’s been a while, huh? When I started this blog last year, my intent was to write weekly, but after our European home exchange, I dropped the ball and only wrote a few times between October 1 and the end …
Saying Goodbye to Surrey
Today is bittersweet: we closed the sale of our first family home, the little yellow house on Surrey Road. The first house I ever bought. The house we brought Dexter into when he was just 7 weeks old. The house …
Have Cats, Will Travel
Since August 1, 2016, our beautiful sweet furbabies Cosmo and Dexter have spent 50 nights at our home. The rest of the time they’ve been staying at Grandma and Grumpa’s house, sometimes with us but most of the time without. …
Staying Put by Moving Out
The last few weeks have been a little nuts. The presidential election took an unexpected turn; my parents were out of town leaving us in charge of their animals and house; I had to go to Dallas with a coworker …
#TBT That time we lost my brother in Venice
I’m sure there’s some writing advice out there that says not to give away the punchline in the title but alas. Rules were made to be broken, dammit! My brother and I had an incredible childhood, for which we both …
3600 Miles, 55 Hours & 3 Pets: From Florida to British Columbia
In 2005, my family spent six weeks living in Whistler, British Columbia. My dad and brother flew, but my mother and I drove an SUV full of everything we'd need including four suitcases, three computers (remote work, ftw!), three pets, …
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#tbt Ashley Wuz Here, or Why My Dad Didn’t Speak to Me for 2 Days in Paris
File this one under “Stupid Shit Kids Do.”
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Who are the Schwartaus?
“English, Irish, French, Dutch, Italian, Spanish, German.” That was the mix of ethnicities that I could rattle off at a mile-a-minute whenever someone asked my heritage. “And possibly some Cherokee and Mexican.” We added that later after learning that my …
