Even before we moved to New York City, John and I had a lot of conversations about how long we’d like to live here. It was not a foregone conclusion that we’d be lifelong New Yorkers. Now that we’re here, it’s both maddeningly expensive and difficult to imagine leaving. We recently visited our home state, Michigan, which renewed intense discussions…
We’ve just passed the halfway point of 2014 — how is the year going for you? Are you following through on your ambitions for the year?
For our new year’s card this year, we provided a range of verbs we felt showed actions of improving your life, including several pairs of actions: start and quit, commit and release, host and visit, save and give.
They say no one knows what goes on behind closed doors. But social media gives us more of a view of what’s happening in our friends’ lives, and sadly, I’ve gotten good at reading the signs of unraveling relationships. Facebook gives users a wide range of relationship status choices, including “separated” and “divorced,” but I’ve never seen a friend be that…
My fabulous British journalist friend Jane Mulkerrins travels the globe interviewing celebrities (Kevin Kline, Liv Tyler, Billy Bob Thornton, Tilda Swinton, Victoria’s Secret models … it goes on and on) but that’s not all she does. She recently interviewed Esther Perel, a couples therapist in New York. The headline on Jane’s article in the Telegraph tells you this is going to be good reading:…
What do you think is the meaning of life? Recent research shows that people who have a sense of purpose live longer — so if you figure out why you’re here, you might even have longer to pursue that purpose. A Huffington Post piece with the headline, Sense Of Purpose Adds Years To Your Life, Study Finds, says in part: Researchers…
This isn’t the blog post I expected to write today — I have a few topics I’ve been meaning to get to, including taking better care of my health and another take on doing what you love. But I couldn’t look away from the powerful #YesAllWomen conversation on Twitter this weekend. Yet another act of mass violence in California, this time…
My husband, John, and I celebrated our 14-year wedding anniversary this week, which had us reflecting on our gratitude for our happy marriage and what we think we’ve learned since we first said, “I do.” Just a few days before our anniversary, Leo Babauta included the following tips in his email newsletter, Zen Habits. I thought it was perfect timing, better…
Happiness is a subject I frequently blog about — specifically, that it’s not just a virus you catch or something that happens to you, but like love or fulfillment, it’s something you consciously cultivate. So of course I loved this column by Jacob Sokol on Huffington Post headlined 12 Things Happy People Do Differently — And Why I Started Doing Them.…
My husband and I have thrown dinner parties for years, but I always thought of them as big social occasions — a reason to haul out John’s mom’s silver, to set a proper table with fresh flowers and present a multi-course sit-down meal. We started hosting weekday spaghetti suppers late last year, inspired by our friend Pableaux’s weekly red beans…
I love birthdays — I think of them as my own personal New Year’s Day, reflecting on where I’ve been in my last year and how I can make my next year better. And my birthday always falls during Lent, which is a Christian season of reflection leading up to Easter. Though many people simplify Lent to giving something up,…
In the blocks around our Brooklyn apartment, there are several check-cashing places, which seem foreign to me. Why would you pay to cash a check when there are dozens of banks in the neighborhood? But many poor families don’t use banks, whether that’s because they can’t afford the fees or don’t trust them or live a cash-based life. That leads to…
We’re a little more than a week in — have you already abandoned your optimistic New Year’s resolutions? One of my favorite blogs, Zen Habits, recently had a post that spoke to the reasons we struggle to make change, even changes we might really want or need. The Child That Holds Us Back By Leo Babauta It took me a…
Christmas can be stressful for a lot of people. Maybe your mother nags you, your sibling gets on your last nerve, the kids are hopped up on sugar and new toys … maybe all of the above? But for this one day, can you step away from email, social media and Candy Crush to just be in the moment? If…
I don’t remember much about the commencement address at my college graduation. We were all crowded into a loud fieldhouse, which as I recall had lousy acoustics, and mainly we were waiting for those few seconds when we’d get to walk across the stage to prove we were graduates. I hope the graduates who heard Chris Sacca‘s commencement speech were able to…
How do you plan your life? Not just the to-do list activities — pay bills, go to the grocery store, order Thanksgiving turkey — but the big stuff you value most? I’ve been in a variety of conversations lately about project management. For example: My husband, John, just finished a multi-month sprint to get about a dozen new pieces of…
Death has been close to me recently. Our neighbor died, my dad’s brother died, a business school classmate died. I am aware of our mortality but these various losses have brought that difficult truth front and center. In this already vulnerable state, I read Laurie Anderson’s farewell to Lou Reed in Rolling Stone. It seems every journalist and musician had…
This week we booked our next visit to New Orleans. We haven’t missed a Jazz Fest since Katrina, we’ve been for Halloween and Voodoo Fest and Fourth of July, but we’ve never experienced the one thing most people probably picture when they hear “New Orleans.” Since 2011, we’ve done three long stays in New Orleans and spent a month in…
My artist husband, John Tebeau, shows up as a guest star on my blog fairly often. But today, he’s the focus — specifically, an art show he has opening Thursday on a subject that’s near and dear to my heart. “You Want It, You Got It” focuses on the way your attitude and approach to life affects the quality of…
You know that saying about how when you assume, you make an ass out of “u” and me? I recently read an excellent blog post that drove that idea home — in language that’s pretty close to the cliché. (It’s also language more delicate readers might not enjoy. If that’s you, maybe skip this one? Perhaps you could look at some…
