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Indecision is the Mother of…Well, I Can’t Decide
Of the many lovely traits I’ve passed on to my kids, along with the one ear that sticks out too far and my very large teeth (in a very narrow mouth), the one that I most regret is my great capacity for indecision. Or maybe it’s my lack of confidence. I’m not sure…what do you think? (I’m just joking. Mostly. Ok, just a little.) I can get totally tangled up in indecision on the smallest of things, while charging foolishly headfirst into bigger decisions (or purchases.) I’m not sure if it is fear of change, or the unknown, or in the case of changing my Twitter handle and the name of my…
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(Not Remotely) Silent Sunday: When You Give a Kid a Camera
What do you get when you give your 9-year-old not-really-a-soccer-fan daughter your banged-up Canon G-11 camera so she doesn’t torment her 11-year-old “eat-sleep-breathe soccer” brother when they are given the (hopefully not) once in a lifetime opportunity to sit on the bench at an MLS game while the teams warm up? (Other than an over-hyphenated question?) You get this. Hmmm… Can you call it a photobomb if someone walks in FRONT of your shot? Yes, lets. About half of the shots were on a weird angle. Let’s just call them “artsy”. I need to do some instruction on framing a shot. That’s better. And. What????…
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Keeping Kids Connected with Long-Distance Friends
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc., and its advertiser. All opinions are mine and mine alone. #CloudPetsForever #CollectiveBias Brightly framed photos litter the nightstand, dresser and bookshelves in Miss M’s bedroom, special memories of the sweet friends she’s left behind as life has moved us “across the pond” and back, and then across the country. Mine is a girl who collects friends like stuffed animals; lovely, gentle and each one precious to her, and she can’t let them go. At four and five, she surprised us with how close she was to her friends, and they never left each other without a hug. As children flood the sidewalk…
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Life is always an adventure at Sea World Texas
My family loves and adventure and can’t be still for long. When the opportunity to attend AdventureCon at SeaWorld in San Antonio arose, we jumped at the chance to attend. Unlike other blogging conferences, this one was a family conference. While I was attending the Saturday conference sessions at the hotel, my family would be treated to experiences of their own with trainers, and have the chance to explore more of SeaWorld and Aquatica. Aquatica was the real draw for the kids – when we visited SeaWorld over spring break earlier this year, the weather wasn’t cooperating and it was too cold for us wimps to brave the water park (we…
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Visiting the Outer Banks #OBX
If you were to look at the photographs from any given year of our vacations at the Outer Banks, you would find some version of this photo: Every year we rent chairs and umbrella from a local company. Every year, the chairs and umbrella look the same. I find comfort in this sameness, this constant in our trips. It is as dependable as the fact that, at some point in the trip, the skies will darken and the wind will churn up the surf, a signal of the rain to come, one child will get a sand rash from hurling their small bodies at the waves, the other will likely sunburn a body…
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Book Reviewer Fail (or, Coming Soon on #WIRW)
I spent last week at the Outer Banks of North Carolina with one eye deep in my Kindle (with many thanks to NetGalley) and the other on the ocean, scanning for shark fins. Thankfully, the only sightings were (erroneously) that of a porpoise (but you can’t be too safe), and “Bob”, served at Tortuga’s Lie full of blood-red Grenadine syrup to pour into my nine-year-olds glass of pink lemonade. (The drink is aptly named the “Near Miss”, by the way.) All in all, I worked my way through eight galleys in ten days, and I read some amazing novels that I can’t wait to share with you! Unfortunately, you’ll have to do just that: wait. Because in my…
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Beach Rubbish Picker
We have many traditions when we come to the beach. My daughter is a keen collector of beach shells, and her idea of “beautiful” is a lot less selective than that of yours and mine. To her, EVERY shell is beautiful. This results in an extensive shell collection at the end of the week, making it very hard to select a tiny few to bring home. As we flew in this year versus making the trip by car, space is at a premium, so narrowing the collection is a necessity. Another tradition we have is our evening walk on the beach. It’s quiet, with a few families lingering, some older ones…
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8 Reasons Summers Were Better When I Was A Kid
We’re nearly at a third of the way through summer vacation, and after a day like today, I have to wonder…how did my mom manage to READ so often in the summer when I was a kid? Seriously, the first two memories that come to mind when I look back at my mom during our summer vacations (when we weren’t reading) were of her (a) curled up with a book on the TV room* sofa, telling me to “put down my book and get outside”, and (b) vacuuming**. (*Why we called it the “tv room” when the entire wall the tiny TV sat upon was actually a bookshelf, and nearly every…
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What I’m Reading Wednesday: The Coincidence of Coconut Cake #WIRW
Are you hungry? I’m really excited about this week’s pick for What I’m Reading Wednesday – The Coincidence of Coconut Cake by Amy Reichert. It’s been frequently described as “You’ve Got Mail” meets “How to Eat a Cupcake”, and I would have to agree. The Coincidence of Coconut Cake is light, fun read about a restaurant owner brought down by a food critic’s untimely visit to her restaurant and subsequent scathing review. Set in Milwaukee, chef and restaurant owner Lou makes an awful discovery on her fiance’s birthday, resulting in a tumultuous night in the kitchen. Al is a British food writer biding his time in Milwaukee by writing scathing reviews of…
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Fourth of July Drink Roundup
Happy Independence Day! We have big plans tonight to head to Freedom Fest before the FC Dallas game, and then watch the fireworks from the stadium. Since we won’t actually be home, I ditched my plans to do a holiday drink video, also because my liquor cabinet basically contains varied flavors and brands of vodka and an unopened bottle of Welsh whiskey, and I didn’t quite get to the liquor store. (Texas doesn’t sell booze in grocery stores like they did in Illinois, and confession: I’ve been too lazy busy to go find a store.) Besides, after perusing Pinterest and my favorite vodka and blogger websites, I’ve decided that there are already plenty fun posts…
