This Is Why We Can’t Have Nice Things
What possesses a group of people to leave about 10 pounds of trash on the beach? I can't remember if I was taught to leave a place better than I found it or if I was instinctively born with that trait. I can't remember if I was taught to honor and appreciate the world...
Notes From the Garden
I lived in the city growing up, in a top floor apartment above my paternal grandparents. Our yard was 2/3 concrete, but my mother made the other 1/3 look like a lush, verdant paradise. She had a square garden alongside the driveway, couldn't have been more than 4'x4',...
Frustration and Feedback Loops
My youngest daughter is frustrated…I won’t harp on these things and I will let her feel her frustration and encourage her to look within for the solutions.
On Having It All, But Not All at Once
I've got some good news and some bad news for you today. ☯️ The good news is you CAN have it all. ☯️ The bad news is you can't have it all AT ONCE (and probably not in the same day). I had this whimsical magnet that hung on my fridge for years. It read: "It's either...
Inconsistency Is Hard To Trust
I am a big fan of follow through. If someone tells me they are going to do something, be somewhere, or support me in some way, they better follow through. I am also a big fan of taking action. Do the thing! Don't just talk about doing the thing. I have little patience...
At Arm’s Length
With the start of senior year, I find myself entering uncharted territory. She is pulling away from me and holding me at arm's length for the first time ever. Free flowing communication has been largely replaced by secrecy and silence. Even though she still needs...
Well-Springs of Joy and Punches to the Solar Plexus
Even under the best of circumstances, the first few weeks of September are always intensely challenging for me. Maybe you can relate? I seem to be in constant conflict with myself until roughly the beginning of October. Everything I feel is felt viscerally, deep...
Stories From the Studio: Spectators in the Process
The current in-studio women's session I have been running at the Self Esteem Through Art studio is unlike any other I have ever taught before. One, the technique is totally different and none of the women had ever experienced using this medium prior to experimenting...
Dear Daughters: Have You Noticed?
Spring always catches me somewhat unawares. The long, dreary, gray winters have a way of inducing seasonal amnesia and I tend to forget how gorgeous each year's rebirth is. Maybe it was the length of winter this year, or maybe it was the way the frigidity lingered...
Dear Daughters: Apparently, Teenage Girls Are Awful
Yesterday, not once, but TWICE (once in front of my youngest teenage daughter) I had women come up to me and tell me how awful teenage girls are. They were almost incensed that I was actually getting along and laughing with MY daughter. Let me paint the picture for...
Entrepreneurial Rules of Thumb (That Are Also Good For Life)
This message is for every entrepreneur and small business owner: You are going to come across plenty of naysayers, doubters, and haters. There will likely be more people telling you all the ways you will fail than there will be people hoping for, praying for, and...
Stories From the Studio: The Empathetic Elephant
This week, we continued our girls' Animal Magic classes with some very robust discussions about ELEPHANTS. The girls are loving the format where we start with a series of "clues" and they get to try to guess which animal/insect/creature we are...