We got a huge bag of Belly Flops for Easter this year. In case you’re unfamiliar with the term, Belly Flops are the misshapen jelly beans that didn’t pass the Jelly Belly perfection test. Some of them look a bit like runts, but seem fairly normal, others, how shall we put this nicely, resemble obscene amoeba. I’ve been stressing this past week. (Oh and I’m totally…
Eating cooked vegetables at three years old. Me: It looks gross! I hate the smell. Mom: Just try it. Me: WAAAH! Mom: One bite. You only have to try one bite. Elise takes a bite and, years later, learns that she likes vegetables. Learning to dive backwards in high school. Me: Oh my gosh. I'm so scared I think I'm going to be sick. Instructor:…
A friend of mine posted on Twitter that some people are so excited to pursue creativity that they forget to also make sure they have the skills and training to support it. Hmmm. While I think it foolish to chase a notion that you have no idea what you’ll do with once you catch it, I also think that the biggest challenge is often just valuing…
I found a funny, silly, but also serious article about romantic words in other languages. You can check it out here. It made me do my own pondering about “romantic language” and how there is so much more to love with words that goes beyond expressions of love and affection. I don’t mean this in purely the romantic sense. This can apply to close friendships and…
Some conversations change our lives. Interactions with others make us take our path in a different directions. Some also encourage us to stay on our paths, but to walk with more confidence and courage. I have been so discouraged whenever I catch wind of the implication I must let my dreams fall aside to make way for what my little baby needs me to be to…
I recently heard a lecture on interior design and how it links to our personalities as well as our mental health. Hrmmm, I can't say my gut reaction was particularly positive. “I’m in a group of new moms, listening to someone tell me that I need to make my house a lovely, aesthetic piece of art so that I can feel more at peace when I'm…
I love to make everyone happy. Now I reread that sentence and mentally insert “which is impossible” to the end of it. That’s the only way the sentence can be consistently true. I strive for the impossible. I love my family and friends passionately. I am an active member of my communities. And yet it’s delusional to tell myself that I can satisfy every social expectation…
Safety. Somewhere to fall back on if everything else is blown to pieces. The bunker where we re-charge our life force, restock ammunition, and recalibrate strategy. Checkpoints. Video games place these at intervals throughout each level. As long as we can drag our butts to a checkpoint, we can save our progress. That way, if the alien invaders or the radioactive zombies attack, maim, and murder…
I had a nice long list of things I was looking for in my perfect man. I wanted my husband to love travel, to dance, to be taller than me, to be intelligent, etc etc etc. This on the other "perfect" person made me forget that I'm actually an imperfect person who he's going to marry, and that I might make his life a ton of…
It’s a good day to live in Seattle. This is not breaking news, but the Seattle Seahawks have made their mark as Super Bowl champions and my hometown has erupted in frenzied ecstatic cheering. A few weeks ago, the news of a victory parade downtown made me shudder—large crowds=stampede, death and mayhem in my mind. Perhaps I was raised by protective parents (okay, fine, I was…