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Meet The Best Toothbrush In The Whole Wide World

Every once in awhile, you discover a new product, and cannot understand how you lived without it before. (You also wish you had invented it yourself, because then you would get to be a gazillionaire, and that sounds fun.)

Until now, my toothbrush/toothpaste situation has - like yours, I assume - been a total disaster. Between the four of us we have something like 30 different toothbrushes, all in various stages of disrepair. All of them are neon, with fussy little rubber finger-pads or elaborate chargers or pictures of Paw Patrol dogs on them. Our toothpaste tubes - we have four at the moment, and all of them are mostly empty - are all sort of jammed into and around the toothbrush holder in a big, sticky, the-cap-won’t-go-on-anymore-because-it’s-too-gunky mess. It’s gross.

In short: If you’re anything like me, no matter how pretty your bathroom is, your toothbrush situation messes it up.

Home Projects

Oh, My Patio

This is what my patio looks like this morning. It is not, however, what it looked like yesterday. Between the whole winter/rain situation (the one that also destroyed my outdoor table and benches) and the fact that it’s served as the equipment storage area and workspace for the renovations we’ve been doing for the past six months…

It was officially trashed.

It was so gross I’m embarrassed to show you, but I’m going to. Greater good, and all that.

ENTREES

Reader Recipe: Salmon & Spinach Fettuccine

When it came to comfort foods, I was an odd kid. I'd come home from school and dump a can of French-style green beans into a bowl, microwave it, and eat the whole thing (yes, just a bowl of French-style canned green beans. Delish). I'd stop at the deli across the street and buy a whole pickle - you know, the ones that you get from the big jars behind the counter - and then settle down in front of Duck Tales with a bowl of salt, into which I would dip the pickle.

And then there was my favorite dinner: a recipe that I'm going to credit to my mother that involved...wait for it...

Microwaved salmon.

Decor

Ariane Moshayedi: California-Inspired Fine Art Photography

Three, by Ariane Moshayedi

Forever and a lifetime ago, an email landed in my inbox from a woman, Ariane Moshayedi, who said she was a reader of my site and knew I was expecting my first child. She was a photographer, she said, and she'd love to take our first family photos once the baby arrived.

The shoot did not start out especially fun. We timed it perfectly, of course: Ariane arrived at the exact moment that our son decided he needed to nap, and that if he was not going to be permitted to do so, he was going to make all the adults contributing to the non-napping situation as miserable as possible. Kendrick and I were mortified, but Ariane was patient, relaxed, and so much fun to work with that we eventually just all settled into letting the photos be whatever they were. We coaxed a couple of smiling-through-the-tears shots out of him, but most of them ended up looking slightly less peaceful-and-dreamy, and slightly more like...this.

DIY Projects

How To Make Your Trashed Outdoor Furniture Look Gorgeous Again

Winter can be rough on wood.

During the purchasing process for our home, the one thing I asked the former owners if they'd be willing to sell me was their patio table and benches (you can see the set here). It was rustic, and sturdy, and fit the space perfectly - but it was also clearly handmade, so I doubted they'd say yes. And I was right - they said no - but then we moved in a couple of months later...and there they were, waiting for us.

Yay, right?


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