Honesty is one of those things that we all know is so important and we preach about it to our children more than just about anything else. But, I think it’s a tough one to really be able to claim that you are fully committed to on a daily basis. How many times have you gone to the dentist, flossed your teeth that morning because you know “the question” is coming up, and then…
I know I’m not the only one out there that thinks pretty often about the dream of being able to “do it all”. I want to be a great room parent in Bode’s class. I want to build a really strong community among the parents where they feel like they are truly friends with one another, and care about each other’s families as if they were related, and are excited for the next opportunity to…
I think feeling supported by your “tribe” is one of the most powerful feelings in the world. And, I think what’s more powerful than any act of support is feeling supported when it’s not “expected”. Because I think there’s a difference between showing up when you’re supposed to show up, and showing up when someone doesn’t think they’re in a situation that’s deserving of support. In one case, you’re gonna’ take hell if…
I love the store Paper Source. I always have. It’s just one of those places that when you walk in the door, you can’t help but be inspired to go home and make something like your own cards, with cool stamps, and hole punches in the shape of stars, and papers that have fibers woven into them, and funky ribbons, and really nice pens and markers. I even made every one of our wedding…
I often find myself trying to remember to have patience and compassion with people around me that test my levels of patience and compassion. This is going to sound awful, but it’s so easy to write someone off as whiney or annoying or weird, right? I hear it all of the time and will fully admit that I’m guilty of having categorized people like this without taking the time to dig in and learn their…
In my seemingly never-ending quest to get better at being punctual, I’ve identified yet another area under that particular umbrella that I need to improve upon: not imposing the stress and anxiety that is a by-product of my lateness onto those around me. Because here’s what’s happening: in an effort to get out of the house on time, I caught myself turning into a little bit of a…
One thing I have been intentionally working on developing over the course of the last 3 or 4 years is the underrated skill of social awareness. It’s one of those things that I think most of us think and assume we’re totally fine at, but then something happens to you, someone says something to you in a way that makes it clear that they are not also working on their social awareness skills, and you…
Growing up and through most of college, Jana was one of the best, closest friends I had. We were inseparable. We ate onion bagels with cream cheese every weekend morning together after we had sleepovers in her water bed. We got our nails done together. We air sprayed our jeans, wore wrestling sneakers, and spiral permed our hair constantly. We tried to style our hair with an actual iron. Like, a clothing iron. After we…
My mother is going to kill me. I mean, she has never understood why I, a woman of Filipino descent, would ever put blonde highlights in my hair. So, when she sees how I went from above shoulder length hair to below nipple line length hair, my phone’s gonna’ blow up with her on the other end drilling me for questions on why I would ever do something like putting extensions in my…
From Joshua Medcalf’s book, Chop Wood Carry Water: “Many people love bamboo. They love the bamboo trees, and they love the bamboo wood, but very few people understand the process of growing bamboo. You dig up the soil and make sure it is good soil, and then you plant the bamboo seed. You then must faithfully water it every day. After three months, guess what starts to happen? Nothing! You see absolutely nothing happening. You…