I can’t believe I’m even posting about the little first birthday party we threw for Beatrice on this site, alongside Jen’s elaborate and exceptionally awesome affairs. You know how Jen felt inadequate posting about her Anna Maria “adventure”? Well I feel the same about parties. I tend to think small, telling myself that having just […]
Remedial date hair
February 27, 2012 by
I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been with Adam since I was 18 (and thus have never developed proper dating skills) or because I went to high school during the grunge era (and thus cultivated a lifelong aversion to fussiness), but I suck at getting dressed up to go out. Last weekend I was […]
Fun with carbon monoxide
February 15, 2012 by
I wasn’t going to write about this but then thought: what is northern life without an occasional carbon monoxide scare? So: I’d been noticing that Adam and I were feeling slightly sick every weekend. Not real sick, but tired, headache-y, lightheaded — a general malaise. And last weekend it was even worse: Saturday I just […]
Valentine’s Day dinner . . . for four
February 14, 2012 by
I can’t remember the last time my husband and I went out for Valentine’s Day. I think it was an early seating at some popular place more than 10 years ago. They’d clearly brought in extra tables and I was closer to the person next to me on the banquette than my husband across the […]
Sewing (and hoping) for babies
February 9, 2012 by
Nursery (with handsewn Boppy cover), two weeks before Beatrice arrived I love sewing for babies. You have tons of lead time (9 months!) and they are tiny, so everything sews up really quickly. Before I was pregnant with Beatrice, I was really weird and superstitious about buying anything. But I did allow myself to start […]
How to plan a family 5K
February 7, 2012 by
I love saying I’m a race director. It doesn’t matter that my race is just a family-reunion 5K, or that our course doesn’t stand a chance of certification. I’m in the race management company’s database as a “race director,” and that’s good enough for me. I always did love role playing. As a girl I […]
I’ll never buy granola again
February 1, 2012 by
Why, oh why did I wait so long to try homemade granola? I had heard it was easy, tasty, and way less expensive, but still I hadn’t tried it. And then my friend Heidi sent me a jar for Christmas (Christmas being around January 25 for her, but she has a new baby, so we’ll […]
When your house has no cookies, and you want them, fast: quick chocolate chip bars
January 30, 2012 by
Do you have 10 minutes and a hankering for something sweet? Of course you do. Then let’s make chocolate chip bars, the unfussy and quick little sis to chocolate chip cookies. When I was growing up, days at the lake were not complete without a pan of my aunt’s chocolate chip bars. She graciously shared […]