Take Care

Having the second baby has made me slow down. A lot. My new normal has squeezed me toward ultra-focused sessions of writing and drafting in the afternoon and a running list of priorities that I update daily. My household chores have been broken down into a monthly and weekly rotation. I prep my dinners on one particular afternoon a week, and I plan-plan-plan so that the important…

4 Comments

Stand Up: (A mental health reminder for introvert parents)

I’ll rush to defend a friend, but cringe and sometimes fall silent when it comes to defending myself. I once loved to argue. I am still easily riled up. When it comes to protecting time to myself, to write, to sleep, to speak to no one, I am apologetic yet fiercely determined. I explain to my husband that my attitude of distant exhaustion is not so…

0 Comments

The Art of the Do-Over

What would you do over, if you could? My husband and I were recently talking about things we truly wished we could do over again. He’d wished he’d attended high school prom with the girl who’d asked him. I wished I’d actually dated a particular boy in my senior year of high school, despite my parents’ objections—because, looking back, I’m pretty sure he was my first…

0 Comments

Home

Home. I've wrestled with this word over the years. I've defined "home" as the haven where I felt safest, the circle in which my siblings and I received our first years of schooling, the nest I made with my husband after our wedding, the sacred cradle that my babies entered a few days post-birth...and on it goes. Living in Seattle and yearning for a larger home…

2 Comments

What’s So Funny? (Part 2)

Welcome back to my exploration of humor and what makes things funny! Ha! My current head-scratching surrounds the what, why, and how of making a scene that causes the audience or reader to laugh. My last post explored humorous elements found in The Wise Man's Fear. You can read Part 1 of this series here. This time, I'm investigating some humorous parts of the Disney-Pixar Film,…

0 Comments

What’s So Funny? (Part 1)

Humor. A thing worth officially studying, per a recent decision of mine. And I'm going to share my notes with you. Warning: This is a somewhat nerdy post. In my attempt at efficient observational study, I've selected the novel I'm currently reading, The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss. This isn't a particularly comedic book, but the three friends Wil, Sim, and the main character Kvothe…

0 Comments

You, Me, Oui

A beautiful Japanese maple preens its Autumn plumage in my parents' front garden. A larger version of this tree, but with bright green leaves, had filled the broad multi-paned window of the Shoreline house where my parents first brought me home as a baby. And, to continue tradition, in the small triangle of soil that borders the edge of my townhome's communal courtyard grows a little Japanese maple…

2 Comments

Real Life Drama

It’s a blast from the past today. Drama school lessons ranging from social studies to sexual attraction. (Photos of Elise from acting projects at the end of this post!) A large part of my personality formation came through my involvement in the drama department at my university. I took the year-long acting series offered there and gained an enormous depth of understanding for: 1. What makes…

0 Comments

She’s Got Everything Figured Out (NOT)

“I was really intimidated by you.” A friend once told me this. Actually, a lot of people have said it. I guess I make a killer first impression that says: “I’ve figured out how to do life. I’ve got my act together. I’m beautiful and powerful and intelligent.” Heh. On my good days, maybe. Let’s not forget that I also studied acting in college (full confession…

4 Comments

Becoming Real

  The rabbit sighed. He thought it would be a long time before this magic called Real happened to him. He long to become Real, to know what it felt like: and yet the idea of growing shabby and losing his eyes and whiskers was rather sad. He wished that he could become it without these uncomfortable things happening to him. -The Velveteen Rabbit *** My…

14 Comments

End of content

No more pages to load

Close Menu