Personal Blog

Our foreign exchange student and Spanish son, Pau, loves basketball. Like, a lot. He plays on a team back in Spain, and he made the local high school team here as well. …

Alright, fellow travelers, let me tell you about our recent long weekend adventure! My husband and I, along with our closest friends, embarked on a trip down the legendary Bourbon Trail. (It’s …

I’ve always been a less-than-adventurous eater; I ate PB&J sandwiches or peanut butter & crackers every day for lunch from Kindergarten through 5th grade. (Not kidding. Not even a little bit.) As …

We recently returned from another trip to visit family in South Dakota and Iowa! Now, if you know our family, you know I’ve visited this area many, many times. It’s where my …

For fall break 2024, we opted for a staycation. There were a few reasons we chose to vacation at home instead of jetting off somewhere new for the week: The first half …

Two nights ago, we went with friends to see the 20th anniversary tour of one of my favorite musicals of all time: Rent. Rent is an imperfect play. Its creator died before …

What strange phenomena we find in a great city, all we need do is stroll about with our eyes open.  Charles Beaudelaire Back in 2018, when Justin and I were first planning …

8 years ago I married this stud, formalizing our love and partnership, and so far we’ve enjoyed a beautiful, exciting and sometimes challenging beginning to this lifelong adventure called marriage! We don’t …

We had to recently say goodbye to a dear friend: my ceramic hula man. This hula man was gifted to me for my 16th birthday by my little brother to put in …

Yep. I’m that mom who took a not-quite-3-year-old to see a stage musical. And ya know what? It was a great experience! Those who know me well have heard me sing along …

The stack of postcards has been growing for close to 15 years. I’ve managed to keep them all in a box in one of the plastic drawer sets that have followed me …

I posted this on Facebook yesterday but decided to post it here as well: I don’t even know where to begin. Today was one of the weirdest days, and I am so …

This past weekend, we set up our Christmas tree. Yes, it’s a little early — we’re still days away from gorging ourselves for Thanksgiving, after all – but we bought our first …

One of the ways that the pandemic has affected the way we think about travel is that we’re currently looking for ways to experience a place while actively avoiding people, which sucks… …

For the first time in 511 days, I went to an airport, boarded a plane, and flew to another city. I can’t think of a time in my adult life when I’ve …

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 …

Traveling can force you into compromising your food habits, especially the bad ones. Sometimes you have no choice but to choke down cold pea gazpacho so you don’t appear rude to your …

Happy Earth Day! Part of how I’m dealing with #QuarantineLife is by doing daily gratitudes, and today I wanted to express my gratefulness for this beautiful, amazing, complicated planet that we live …

I meant to post this on Skyler’s birthday last month, but I just never got around to it. You know how it goes. So, a month later, I’m reflecting on the very …

Last month I turned 35…. And I quit my job.*  Tomorrow is my last day at the company that I helped build with my parents and the only job I’ve known for …