The Artist’s Way
I made it to page 18 before I decided there was no way the magic this book promised could work for me. I’d heard person after person rave about it: a must-read for any creative! Incredible! Life changing! I’d read another book by Julia Cameron, The Right to Write, a few months earlier and I thought I was ready to embark on The Artist’s Way.
Laura, not Lauren
The year I was born, my name landed at 20 on the girls “Top Baby Names” list. For the decade overall, it came in at 23. It’s no surprise I’ve always known a lot of other Laura’s–they’ve been scattered throughout my life, some of my very best friends throughout the years.
2022: The Year Of Small
I love choosing a word of the year; it helps me be intentional about a focus for the year and is a simple way to keep myself on track. I started brainstorming ideas for a 2022 word in December and made a list to consider, but nothing seemed quite right.
I Love: Christmas Edition
I love real Christmas trees–the fresh, piney scent, walking through rows of them, lined up at the Christmas tree farm, waiting to be picked. I love asking my kids “What do you think about this one?” and seeing their little faces light up at the prospect of tying it on top of our minivan and bringing it home.
Alone, In The Woods
A flash of light blinks through the window and you freeze. No one should be here. No cars should be coming down the long gravel driveway on a Tuesday night in October. You feel your heart beat faster. Your eyes dart to the door. It’s locked. Your heart skips a beat.
Summer 2021 In Photos
The bookbags are packed. The first day of school chalkboards are ready. The alarms are set. Tomorrow morning, it's back to school. But first, I'm reliving summer (my favorite season!), by taking a little walk down memory lane with some of my favorite summer photos.
Sunflowers + Sunrises
I settle into my hot pink desk chair, a mug of hot coffee in my hands, and gaze out the window. Below me, tracing the sidewalk in front of our house, sunflowers sway wildly in the early morning breeze.
Pandemic Wind Down: Game Instructions
Obsessively track vaccine information. Sign up for all “leftover dose” opportunities to get vaccinated as soon as possible. Abandon cooking dinner when you get a phone call with an open slot. Cry in the parking lot afterwards. Move forward five spaces.
A Space To Call My Own
We are limping to the end of this crazy school year, where I have done all the things from our kitchen: supervised virtual first grade, homeschooled preschool, tossed out snacks during work phone calls to keep kids quiet enough that I can concentrate, been a human jungle gym during Zoom calls, sorted mail and paid bills. And of course, the normal kitchen things too—putting away groceries, making meal plans and cooking dinner.
Social Distancing: One Year
Most of the last year has faded into an indistinguishable blur—day after day, we do the same things. One virtual school day blends into another, our weekends are slow and unhurried. There have been a few highlights, a handful of events that stand out, but for the most part, I couldn’t tell you if something happened last week or six months ago.
All She Can
She hears footsteps above and pauses, trying to tell which of her children are awake. Throwing the blanket off her lap and pushing her glasses back up her nose, she sets her stack of books on the table, prepares herself for the early morning quiet to give way to incessant chatter.
Book Review: The Girl from Berlin
The Girl from Berlin is a World War II perspective you don’t come across often in historical fiction. The book is told in popular style of alternating timelines, which I normally enjoy, but didn’t love in this book. The two timelines are only 10 years apart, the first beginning in 1936 and the second in 1946.
It All Started In a Parking Lot
“Do you have a boyfriend?” he asked.
“No,” she answered.
The football game ended and as the parking lot emptied, they danced.
The Top Ten Parking Lots You’ll Find Me In During A Pandemic
I don’t leave the house much these days. And when I do, it seems like I always find myself sitting in one parking lot or another. So if you happen to be looking for me and I’m not at home (again, I must emphasize that this is a rare occasion these days), here are the top ten parking lots you can find me in during a pandemic.
Hope Rolling Down The Highway
I tend to be fairly predictable, an enneagram 9 who typically stays calm and is good at thinking on my feet. I take in all the information, scrolling and reading, tucking bits and pieces away for later.
Book Review: When the World Stood Still
“When the World Stood Still” by Kate Eastham is a riveting story of the 1918 flu pandemic in London, and timely as we battle our own pandemic.
The Things I Took For Granted
In person school.
Hospitals with available beds.
The peaceful transfer of power at the end of a presidential term.
Three things I took so for granted at the beginning of 2020, I didn’t even realize I took them for granted.
2021: Persevere
We made it! 2020 is over and 2021 is here.
2020 was a lot. It not the year we expected. It was full of surprises and cancelled plans and difficult news and hard days. The calendar flipping to a new year doesn’t make everything better overnight, but it’s a sign that we are moving forward, a needed reminder in a year that has often felt like time froze in March, when everything shut down.
Favorite Reads of 2020
I was the kid hiding a book under my desk at school, trying to read instead of listening to the math lesson. I used my daily piano “practice” as extra reading time, absently plunking the keys with one hand while turning the pages of my book with the other…
The Thrill of Hope
The thrill of hope
The weary world rejoices
I see the lyrics in devotional emails and on social media and blog posts. I write them on two chalkboards over my desk. The words have been stuck in my head for weeks; it seems like the official Christmas carol of 2020.