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Money Talk

November 2, 2018

Whee, responsibility!

I hired a financial planner, and it is already changing my life, and so I am going to take a minute to explain why I think you should maybe do the same.

OK, so I have a very emotional relationship with money. A lot of people do, I imagine, but the extent to which my financial situation in any given moment has an immediate and profound effect on my mental state in that moment is kind of overwhelming. Literally, it goes like this: Book job --> happy. Do not book job --> utterly panicked, fully devastated, and completely incapable of taking a step back to realize that I've gone ahead and made the hustling lifestyle work for a solid fifteen years now, and will almost certainly continue to make it work going forward, because that's just common sense.

Decor

Current Obsession: Nipomo Hand-Woven Blankets

October 19, 2018

Hi I love you

I discovered Nipomo's blankets at the MTHR retreat in Sonoma last weekend...and now I want to fill my house (and my Christmas gift lists) with them. They're gorgeous. And hand-woven. And come with (also hand-made) leather carrying straps, in case you love yours so much you feel the need to take it with you everywhere.

The woman who designs the patterns and color ways, Liz Clark, was one of the vendors during the Makers Pop-Up Shop on Sunday, and...you've heard the term "flying off the racks"? These blankets flew. (Liz's mom is the one who makes the leather straps, which is obviously wonderful.) I bought one as a gift for a friend, but am kiiiiind of wishing I'd picked up a couple more, because not only are they spectacularly pretty and unique, they're also crazy-versatile - you can pop them on top of a rug pad and layer them on your floor, use them as beach blankets or picnic blankets, toss them over your bed or the back of a couch...whatever.

Entertaining

Everything You Need For A Truly Epic Halloween

October 16, 2018

Here is why I feel okay about the fact that I will be putting in something akin to "zero" effort re: my son's birthday party this year:

Because this was what I did last year, and he deemed it "okay. Not very spooky though."

So I think it safe to say we're dealing with a tough customer. And my feeling is, you know: y'all got a trampoline a week ago. You're welcome. (I will be making a spooky cake, of course, but the rest of the festivities will involve takeout Chinese and plastic eyeballs stuck on top of supermarket cupcakes, and it will be great, because I will be sane and he will be on a trampoline, and there you have it.)

Decor

The Problem With Perfection

October 11, 2018

The problems with getting to check out this year’s Sunset Magazine Silicon Valley Idea House are the following:

a) It is actually, literally perfect, and the ideal blend of design and function.

b) It makes you want to pack up your current house and move into this one immediately.

Eat

Oh Dear. It’s Sugar Month.

October 1, 2018

It’s the most wonderful time of the year, according to my children: Sugar Month. Yes yes, Halloween is technically one day, but that little detail appears to have escaped my two sugar monsters, who are under the impression that the second those first leaves fall, it’s all-chocolate, all-the-time. (I blame grocery stores; can we PLEASE put those ten-pound snack-size assortment bags on shelves beyond the reach of a four-year-old? …Please?)

Herein lies the problem: When children know that candy is (allegedly) on the menu, they’re not super interested in anything else, and especially not in coming inside because dinner is ready. No, they’re very, very busy hiding on the front porch with the trick-or-treat buckets that they pulled out of storage sometime in August and filled with pilfered munchies, thinking that Mom doesn’t know what they’re up to. (Spoiler: Mom knows everything.)

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