A few weeks ago Chris sent me a text message: Apparently a ballpoint pen and a bag of slime took a spin through the washing machine and then the dryer. Mercifully, the bag of slime remained intact, but the blue pen didn’t survive the dryer. It exploded! Ugh. How was I supposed to clean up […]

May is skin cancer awareness month, so this seems like a good opportunity to encourage everyone to reduce exposure to the sun and GET YOUR SKIN CHECKED EVERY FREAKIN’ YEAR. Trust me on this. Please. Late last fall I noticed a few little bumps on the back of my neck. I hadn’t felt them before, […]

Even though I live in a big city with my big family, often I feel lonely. With so much to do, I don’t have enough time or opportunities to meaningfully connect with people. I know am lucky to surround myself with (a lot of) little humans who adore me, but sometimes I just want a […]

We recently took delivery of our first box of imperfect organic produce from a company appropriately called…Imperfect Produce. This new delivery service brings fruits and vegetables not “pretty” enough for grocery store shelves into the homes of eco- and open-minded families like mine. We don’t care if the apples have a spot or the carrots […]

Winter in our household can be a challenge. With so many people comes SO MUCH winter gear. Hats, mittens, coats, snowpants, boots…multiply all those things by 8 people (plus an extra back up set for the inevitable lost items) and we have a LOT of stuff. Fortunately, we are really good about using hand-me-downs. As […]

November in Chicago. The month starts and the clouds roll in and the temperatures drop. We’re still early enough in the season where I find the weather to be somewhat delightful and oddly charming: cozy socks, cuddly blankets, hot tea. Hygge to the max!! Last month the kids and I carved pumpkins in the courtyard […]

When I was growing up, my dad put on an annual Easter egg hunt for my four siblings and me. He numbered the eggs we dyed with our mom, and then he numbered king size candy bars so every egg matched with a candy bar. After the hunt, we traded in our collected eggs for […]

The kids went back to school today after two weeks of winter break. This year’s break felt extra long (not necessarily a bad thing) for a few reasons: 1. Christmas fell on a Monday, so we just had one day between school and the holiday festivities, giving us 14 days to fill with activities and […]

When we were in Europe this summer, I was struck by two things: 1. Geez, Europeans use a lot of disposable plastic water bottles. 2. Wow, they do a ton of recycling and composting, too! I think about these two opposing realities often. It was so nice to see people genuinely care about the simple […]

Ever since I broke my ankle four weeks ago most of my mental energy has been spent on healing as quickly as possible. Many times throughout every day I relax and direct positivity (and blood flow) to the injury. Heal, I say to myself. Let the bone grow stronger every moment. Let my bone knit […]