Category Archives: Lifestyle

The Back To School Shuffle

If your house is anything like mine,  you are dancing the back to school shuffle (and probably doing it backwards and in high heels!) No matter how much advance planning we do, these first weeks of new routines are always C-R-A-Z-Y.

As in:

  • I’ve forgotten to pack a snack for my first grader. TWICE. Seriously. I blog about this stuff and yet I have not managed to remember to shove so much as a granola bar in that backpack pocket on two of the four days we’ve had school. I remembered today, though, so don’t worry Mom, because we’re back on track around here!
  • I am filling up calendar pages left and right with soccer practices, games, tournaments, Girl Scouts, Cub Scouts, Dance Lessons, and Tumbling and whatever comes next. On Friday my 4th grader was fired up about the trombone. Um…..not right now, sweetie.
  • I have made old-school brown paper book covers (because the stretchy ones don’t stretch quiiiiiiiite far enough and believe me, I tried).
  • I have started a password log for the countless URL’s, Logins, and Passwords I am going to be required to keep track of this year because no one has yet built one site that will fit the needs of every teacher and every subject.
  • I still cannot get onto our school’s Volunteer Signup website even though I swear I DID pass my background check and have been fingerprinted! (Note: this may be a blessing in disguise.)

Honestly, I’m still smiling, and so are my kids, but it feels like we stepped on the gas and haven’t quite caught our breath. I ask myself every day if I’m somehow adding to the degree of difficulty – if there is a way to do this more simply. Perhaps there is. Or perhaps this is just how transitions work. They’re tricky because we’re finding our footing and establishing new routines.

Soon enough, we’ll have it figured out again, and the most important companions on our journey from here to there just may be a sense of humor and a healthy dose of perspective.

Here’s a little bit of each that crossed my path;  I thought I’d share both with you today…

First, check out this hilarious essay (and make sure you get to the points about 2014 in the second half)!

And then, listen to the awesome Kid President, who has a few words we need to hear, mamas.

PS – I want to see you dancing in the supermarket aisles!

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Introducing The Nourish Weekender

This Memorial Day weekend as we honor the men and women who died in service to our country, we’ll also mark the unofficial kickoff to summer.

My team and I invested some time this spring thinking about how we could better support you through the upcoming season of summer entertaining, and today I’m pleased to introduce The Nourish Weekender!

The Weekender is a package that includes 3-4 meals (breakfast, lunch or dinner) that we’ll prepare before your guests arrive so you can pull them out during the weekend to serve at your leisure. It’s home cooked food with no fuss, and we think it’s the perfect solution whether you are hosting your in- laws, your brother and his family, or your college roommate and hers.

I hope this new option will make easier for you to relax and enjoy your weekend guests; after all, visiting with you is the whole reason they are there!

Beyond any food related worries, sometimes getting the house ready can also be daunting. Yet when you arrive as a guest at the home of someone who’s taken extra care to prepare for your arrival, it’s such a delight!

I still remember spending the night at my Aunt Linda’s home as a child and finding a basket of hotel-sized amenities waiting for me in the guest bathroom. I was literally like a kid in candy store sampling each lotion and treat. If you look in my guest bath today you’ll find a similar basket ready for guests and I hope it brings them a similar moment of delight.

I remember staying at my dear friend Rhonda’s and noticing special touches like a hotel-style folding rack to hold my suitcase, an extra hair dryer in the drawer, and a stack of magazines she knew I’d love waiting on the nightstand.

My friend Angie set up a coffee station for me in her kitchen with a pretty mug and spoon, so with the push of a button I could start my day on my own timing.

And my mother is the grande-dame of hospitality, sparing no effort or expense to make sure her guests have all their favorites at their fingertips during a stay with her and my dad. Absolutely everyone I know loves spending a weekend with them in the country retreat they call home.

If you’re hosting guests this summer, I’ve compiled a few articles for you that will help you add some special touches to your home that are sure to be noticed and appreciated.

 

Happy hosting!

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Joy…and Pain

Yesterday marked the one year anniversary of the Boston Marathon bombings. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year already. As a runner, I was shaken to my core when I saw the finish line of that race transformed into a triage site. I wrote about it in this post last year. And now, while a year has passed and we’re healing, we haven’t forgotten. We’re all #BostonStrong today.

I’m always amazed and inspired by the process of healing after a tragedy or loss. I lost my dear Aunt Jean just over a year ago and I’ve only recently been able to speak her name without crying. It’s not that I’ve been distraught day in and day out, but the emotional weight of the loss would break through with each memory of her and the tears would flow. As the year passed, I could more often remember her with a smile instead of through tears, but it took time. I think we try to rush through our grieving…and it simply won’t be rushed.

Less than three weeks ago, my dear friend and colleague, Stefanie Stevenson, lost her husband in a tragic skiing accident during a family vacation. Paul Cohen was a 45-year-old husband, father and neurosurgeon in the prime of his life. By all accounts, and there have been many, he was an incredible human being. He left a nine-year-old son, twin eleven-year-old daughters, and an amazing wife. Their lives are upside down and they will stay that way for a long while as they heal and adapt and find their way forward. We’re all holding space for them, and loving them, and praying for them, but we’re not going to rush them.

Because grief takes time.

Yet the irrefutable truth is this. Even after the coldest of winters and darkest of nights, warmth and light return.  On the other side of tragedy, joy emerges…gloriously, beautifully, radiantly. Flitting amid the grief and the pain, joy shows itself. It breaks through with increasing frequency, shining its light into our darkest places, lifting our hearts out of hiding, reconnecting us with life.

If you’re hurting today, or grieving, or wondering when the light will return, please look for those glimpses of joy that peek through the darkness beckoning you forward. They’re your glimmering guide into to the life that awaits you. Take just one tiny step toward tomorrow, and let the light in.

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