Happy New Year! How have you been enjoying 2016? Are you working hard on your resolutions or have you already given up on working out, eating healthfully and organizing your home? You can tell me; I won’t judge!
One of my New Year resolutions is to take better care of myself. That includes… READ MORE!
I hope you’ve had the opportunity this past month to check out the festive craft and DIY projects over at The Holiday Collective. The quality of original content over at the holiday pop-up blog has been amazing so far, and I’ll be contributing my version of a holiday DIY in just a few weeks. Any guesses what I’ll be making?
But first, I’m excited to participate in The Holiday Collective giveaways, which have been going strong since Black Friday. Today I’m partnering with BRIKA, one of my favorite places to shop for beautiful handmade gifts, to make the holidays brighter for one lucky reader!… READ MORE!
When I was little, my family would drive down to Washington, DC, from New Jersey every year or so to visit friends and sightsee. We’d “ooh” and “ahh” over the pandas at the zoo, wander through Smithsonian museums, and pose for pictures in front of the monuments on the National Mall. Once we even saw President Reagan speak at a ceremony at Arlington National Ceremony.
After college I lived near Georgetown for years, affording me even more opportunities to explore DC’s historic sites. I might’ve made it down to the National Mall a couple of times, but, at the time, my friends and I were more interested in checking out the bars on M Street than DC’s oldest building on the same block.
Now that we’re back, I’m determined to make the most of living so close to our nation’s capital. My list of things to do in DC is growing and includes… READ MORE!
Hanukkah begins Sunday evening, and we’ll be lighting the menorah and eating latkes with some cousins who live nearby. Since it’s not a Hanukkah party if you don’t play dreidel, I’ll be bringing along my new hand-painted dreidels from The Land of Nod — and, hopefully, a little bit of extra luck.
After all, dreidel is a game of chance. Or a gambling game, depending on how you look at it.
If you’re curious about how to play dreidel… READ MORE!
It’s Black Friday! How many of you will be kicking off the holiday shopping season with a trip to the mall?
I’ll be doing my holiday shopping online since the idea of squaring off against rabid shoppers to save an extra 25% makes my skin tingle. In case you’re curious… READ MORE!
It’s that time of year again when family members begin asking what my boys would like for the holidays. I have such a hard time compiling a wish list on their behalf, partly because we don’t have a lot of space for more toys and partly because… READ MORE!
Thanksgiving has always been a pretty low-key holiday for my family. The dress code is only slightly more formal than elastic-waist pants, and a tablecloth is usually the extent of our decor.
As for family activities, we used to attend the high school football game before eating our traditional Thanksgiving lunch. Now that we’re grown up, we still eat turkey, sweet potatoes with marshmallows, and cranberry sauce in the early afternoon, but we’ve replaced morning football with an afternoon viewing of The National Dog Show before dessert. (Team Bichon Frise!)
Since there’ll be three kids under four at my parents’ house this year, we probably need to plan some family activities other than being lazy in our comfy clothes. Like downloading a bunch of Thanksgiving printables to keep the little ones entertained (and out of the kitchen).
For my latest Cool Mom Picks column, I’ve rounded up my favorite Thanksgiving printables, including coloring pages, craft projects, and decorations. Check all of them out here and then come back to let me know which you’d print for your Thanksgiving gathering.
PS – Last-minute Thanksgiving decorations that’ll add a festive touch.
If you read this blog, you probably have an interest in happiness or good habits or self-care.
And if those topics interest you, you’ve probably read something by the author Gretchen Rubin, who writes about building a happier life. Maybe you’ve listened to her podcast, Happier with Gretchen Rubin, which she co-hosts with her sister, Elizabeth Craft.
I’ve been meaning to read Gretchen’s breakout book, The Happiness Project, since it hit the New York Times Bestseller List. A good friend gave it to me for my birthday a couple of years ago, and it’s been sitting untouched on my bookshelf since I unwrapped it. For whatever reason, the timing never felt right to crack it open.
I started listening to Gretchen’s podcast this summer, and while the content was informative, the banter between the sisters just wasn’t entertaining enough for me to continue past a few episodes. There was something about their conversations, or maybe their voices, that just didn’t excite me.
Also, it kind of bugged me that the show isn’t called “Happier with Gretchen and Elizabeth”.
Since I haven’t been able to psyched myself up about Gretchen’s work in the past, I didn’t give much thought to her latest book, Better than Before, when it was published earlier this year.
Until this week.
In the most recent newsletter from the girls at The Hello Sessions, Joy and Melissa discuss Gretchen Rubin’s Four Tendencies, a framework the author developed while researching Better Than Before. Simply put, it describes how people respond to all expectations:
Joy and Melissa included a link to a Four Tendencies quiz in their newsletter, and, curious about my own Tendency, I took it.
Turns out, I’m an Obliger, although I can’t say I’m terribly surprised. I work hard to fulfill my promises to others (meeting deadlines, showing up on time), but I almost never follow through on promises I make to myself (going to bed early, eating less candy).
Another example: I’m hardly ever motivated to go to the gym unless I’m working out with a trainer.
Now, of course, I want to download Better Than Before on my Kindle so I can learn how, as an Obliger, I can successfully change my habits.
Although… If reading Gretchen Rubin’s newest book is an expectation I impose on myself, what are the chances I’ll actually follow through?
Take the Four Tendencies quiz and then leave a comment below. Are you an Upholder, a Questioner, an Obliger, or a Rebel?
(photos taken by Laicie Heeley in Baltimore this past weekend)
When I was in high school, my friends and I would sometimes take the train into New York City on a Saturday and wander around Greenwich Village. We’d pop into vintage stores looking for the perfect broken-in Levis, try on Dr. Martens at overstocked shoe stores, and smell fancy candles and hand lotions we couldn’t afford to buy.
It was the mid-90s, the era of grunge and overpowering bath products. It was also the era of the supermodel: Naomi, Cindy, Claudia, Linda. And my favorite, Christy.
It just so happens that on one of these Village excursions, our group had a huge celebrity sighting: Christy Turlington. We were walking in the opposite direction, and I immediately turned and trailed her for a block or two. I needed to see if she was just as beautiful in person as she was in my magazines.
The verdict? Absolutely.
While I wouldn’t go so far as to call myself a fangirl, I’ve always admired Christy for her beauty and her brains. In the midst of a wildly successful modeling career, she went to NYU to earn her bachelor’s degree. She also made the smart choice of marrying Edward Burns, who, ahem, isn’t too bad looking himself.
And among her many humanitarian activities, Christy is the founder of Every Mother Counts, a non-profit dedicated to making pregnancy and childbirth safe for every mother.
Every two minutes a woman dies from complications related to pregnancy or childbirth. That’s 800 women a day.
– Christy Turlington Burns
The more I learn about EMC’s efforts to improve maternal health, the more inspired I am to get involved. And one fun way I found to support EMC is the just-released “Oh Baby” kit, a collaboration between Every Mother Counts and Wool and the Gang.
If you want to learn how to crochet, the “Oh Baby” set is available as a crochet kit with all of the supplies you need to craft your own hat, bib, and booties. Plus, like all of Wool and the Gang’s products, it can be purchased as a ready-made set if handling a crochet hook isn’t your thing.
Either way, Wool and the Gang will donate 25% of the proceeds to Every Mother Counts to support programs addressing education, transportation, and supplies.
Get all the details at Wool and the Gang — and stay tuned for a EMC x WATG giveaway on my Instagram account!
Are you a knitter or a crocheter? If not, would you be interested in learning how to knit or crochet?
(This is not a sponsored post.)
