My husband and I allocate $10 to $20 of free money to ourselves each week. We call it “walking around money”. But I rarely see anything I need, so most weeks, mine ends up tucked away to be saved for later. I want to spend my money on something I’ll really value. But I’ve always…
The pursuit of happiness is age-old. Thinkers from Aristotle to Epicurus to Freud philosophized about it, and Thomas Jefferson considered it a right so inalienable that he included it in the Declaration of Independence right up there with life and liberty. In modern America, we seem to take pursuing happiness to an ever higher level…
I first learned of the Japanese concept of Wabi Sabi many years ago. It is a tool for contemplation, or a philosophy of life, that finds beauty in things that are impermanent, imperfect, and incomplete. In other words, it’s the notion that patina; wear and tear; chips, cracks, and fissures; assymetry; flaws; and defects actually…
The ducks are flying low, black vees swooping between the trees. “Ga ga,” Ezra calls as they pass. He’s toddling along beside me. He weaves into a neighbor’s yard, and I reach for his hand to veer him back onto the sidewalk Ezra took his first solo steps this week at seventeen months old. Most…
*I’m taking the week off for my birthday. This post was originally published back in March. I’ll be back with new posts next week, including an update to the Hen Diaries. We’ve had some dramatic ups and downs in chicken-keeping lately, which I can’t wait to share.* Every year I used to buy a pocket…
It’s National TV Turnoff Week. I participated last April and wrote about it here and here. I had a wonderful, relaxing week last time, but I decided not to participate this week for a multitude of reasons. Most of all, I feel like I’ve found a balance between screen time and all the other things…