After waking up on Monday morning to a winter wonderland of snow, it’s hard to believe that spring is upon us. I’m looking forward to sharing with you all that spring and summer have in store for us at the farm. In the meantime, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
Read moreA Discussion Between Friends
A couple weeks ago, I attended Alt Summit, a blog conference held in Palm Springs, California. Last night, I wrote an excellent recap of our week in the desert, with highlights from speakers and links to some of the very inspiring people I met. Then, at 1:30 a.m., when I went to hit ‘publish’, the unthinkable happened. My computer died.
Read moreProcrastination Links 04.08.19
Spring has sprung and I am so excited to share the news of my new adventure in farm living at Monches Farm. My family and I do not yet know what the farm will become, but we are looking forward to the fun and hard work that awaits us. I will of course share our adventures along the way on the blog. In the meantime, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
Read moreWe Bought a Farm: Part Two
Shortly after moving to Wisconsin over twenty years ago, my husband and I took a Saturday drive with our friend Stacey out to a very special farm and garden center called Monches Farm. We climbed out of the car and fell instantly in love with the overwhelming beauty of the place: deep rolling furrows of field-grown perennials, stone and timber outbuildings, a big red barn with antiques and gifts, pergolas and statuary, a glass house with teetering stacks of pottery, a vast inventory of day lilies, and dozens of exotic chickens freely pecking hither and non.
Read moreProcrastination Links 03.25.19
I’m off to Alt Summit, a blog conference in Palm Springs, this week. I’ll be back on the blog in a couple of weeks to share some tidbits and tales from the conference. In the meantime, check out my favorite procrastination links from around the web…
Read moreComing On a Little Too Strong?
I have a friend who always asks me, "Did you get the Halloween invite from blah blah blah?" or "Are you going to blah blah blah's 40th birthday party?" The first few times it happened and I responded that no, actually, I did not get that invite, she was always shocked. Which made it so much worse. "Huh!" she would say, like this was a puzzle. Like maybe I’d been on the original invite list but somehow something changed.
After this happened a number of times, my friend learned to be more discrete. Now she simply asks, "Did you get an invite in the mail yesterday?" This question is much less specific but not necessarily less stressful.
Read moreWhat Exactly Is Behind Helicopter Parenting?
My husband is an ethics officer of a large Fortune 500 company. He regularly conducts investigations of ethical misconduct, and while he isn’t shocked by the college admissions scandal, he finds it fascinating.
Most of my husband’s cases involve smart people doing stupid things for a little extra edge or a little extra money. They risk their career, their personal relationships, their reputation for a few thousand bucks, or a roll in the hay with a subordinate. Why?
Read moreProcrastination Links 03.18.19
I took a little time away in Florida this past week. Nothing beats a little sunshine and warm weather! If you need a break this week, check out my favorite links from around the web…
Read moreProcrastination Links 03.11.19
Spring is around the corner, but I honestly haven’t minded this winter one bit. I believe April can be much uglier than winter! If you need a little break this week as the snow melts, check out my favorite links from around the web…
Read moreA Little Breathing Space
When I was six, I ran away from home. I packed my favorite doll, Betsy, into my red vinyl purse and hit the road.
Soon after the screen door slammed behind me, I encountered a problem I hadn’t anticipated. My parents forbade me crossing the street alone. What to do?
I asked Betsy. Maybe now is the time to mention that Betsy was a “Flatsy,” one of those popular dolls of the 1960s with the disconcerting combination of luscious, shiny, three-dimensional hair attached to a flattened head and body. Betsy looked like she’d been run over by a steam roller. She did not encourage me to cross the street.
Read moreProcrastination Links 03.04.19
As the cold air settles in once again and icicles hang from our roofs, I’ve been checking in on the chickens at our farm and dreaming of spring. We have much to learn about tending to chickens, gardening, and farm life, but I am looking forward to the adventures ahead of us. If you need a little break from this bitter cold spell, check out my favorite procrastination links from around the web…
Read moreTackling a Gallery Wall
Today’s post features the home belonging to my friend Amy Afsari. Amy hired me to help her with art and accessories, including a gallery wall. Before we get to the nitty-gritty on that, let’s talk about Amy’s style, which is very different from mine. She embraces exuberant color and wildly fun patterns and then tames them with English-style tables and chinoiserie. It’s an irresistible juxtaposition, especially here in Wisconsin where the piles of snow at the airport don’t melt until July. I walk into Amy’s sunshiny family room and can practically smell freshly cut grass, that’s how verdant the room feels.
Read moreProcrastination Links 02.25.19
I have twice now written this weekly note to readers accompanied by a coyote howling outside. Or a fox. I’ve concluded that he wants to tell you something. I wonder what? If I hear him again this week, I am going outside to investigate. To see if it’s my brother, pranking me.
If you feel like howling at the moon, do it. If you prefer to stay inside, check out this week’s procrastination links:
Read moreProcrastination Links 02.18.19
We’ve gotten another wallop of snow in Wisconsin, and it’s a winter wonderland outside. So hard to believe spring is only a month away! If you need a little break from playing in the snow, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
Read moreThe Wet Engine: A Heartfelt Book Review
I finished the book and because I was sad that there were no pages, I read the acknowledgments. There, in the fourth paragraph, a name: the boy who broke my heart in my youth, who sent me crying to my pillow countless nights, whose love I couldn’t hold. This boy who made me realize that life before him was all Barbies on the floor, that love was real but not forever, and when it ended, it hurt. I could see him in a Powderhorn Mountaineering ski vest and painter’s pants. Broad-shouldered, golden-haired, laughing with crinkly eyes. That boy. He had grown up to become an anatomy professor in Eugene, Oregon, and there was his name, in the back of this heartbreaking book.
Read moreWhen young, we think there will come one person who will savor and sustain us always; when we are older we know this is the dream of a child, that all hearts finally are bruised and scarred, scored and torn, repaired by time and will, patched by force of character, yet fragile and rickety forevermore, no matter how ferocious the defense and how many bricks you bring to the wall.
Procrastination Links 02.11.19
I am out of town this week, but I am looking forward to the next blog post on a book you’ll definitely want to read. Keep sharing those book and website recs with me! In the meantime, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
Read moreRiding Shotgun at an Estate Sale
Have you ever attended an estate sale? Recently, my assistant, Alicia, joined me for her first ever estate sale. Expect the unexpected is what I told her. And never let the outside of a house lead you to make presumptions about the inside of a house. You can’t judge a book by its cover.
Read moreProcrastination Links 02.04.19
How did you spend your days during our recent snowstorm and cold snap? The long days at home had me thinking about all of the ways we filled time when we were children just playing games, conducting experiments, and doing arts and crafts. Is this what kids still do on snow days? If you’re looking to fill a little time this week, check out my favorite links from around the web…
Read moreA Bathroom for ManBearPigs Plus Jane
Technically, this post is about the rehab of our hall bathroom. In actuality, I’m excited to delve into some of the grittier aspects of bathrooms and boys. You have been warned.
For twenty years, our four sons, aka our ManBearPigs, shared a small bathroom that measured 8 x 8. Thinking back on those days, it was quite manageable. When they were little, they loved communal bath time so much that the promise of bubbles in the tub was strong incentive for good behavior. And while I was forever straining to clean that weird spot on the base of the toilet with my stubby T-Rex arms, I don’t recall things getting rough until the middle school years.
Read moreProcrastination Links 01.28.19
I hope you are staying warm and safe if you are in the midst of our most recent Wisconsin snowstorm. If you need a way to pass the time while snowbound, check out my favorite links from around the web this week…
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