-
Now I’m married to an American?
I hurt his feelings terribly one day when I said, "Become a citizen, but you'll never BE American anyway." What I meant was that he will never have our Manifest Destiny propaganda, I mean spirit; he'll never tromp through the world with our sense of clueless, boisterous entitlement. He'll always have a sense of empathy for the underdog because his dad had to sleep on a park bench when he first arrived in England because no one would rent a hotel room to an Irishman. He'll always be comfortable with multiculturalism because, for all their ongoing struggles with race, England does seem to better embrace it than America does. He'll…
-
Digging my own hole to fall down into to rise up
But here's the thing: I know that if I did the hard work of tracing that scribble labyrinth, I would actually arrive at the straight line going forward because I never lifted the pen when I was making it. That means there is some logic and connectivity to that mess, no matter how convoluted it appears from here.
-
Bridging the brand gap
Pretend you're a famous Hollywood actor: they work with assistants, private trainers, chefs, stylists, hair and make up artists, publicists, lawyers, managers, agents and more. You didn't think they just showed up on the red carpet like that did you? Hollywood A-listers are the epitome of the phrase "it takes a village." Find your village.
-
I know my calling: Reflecting on the book Limitless
Think about the name of Ms GO's book. Limitless. Without limits. Too often, we put limits even on our free writing, brainstorming and dreaming, as if what we articulate will be seen and judged by others, seen and judged by ourselves. You are allowed to dream as big and wild as you want. In fact, I not only encourage it, I demand (in as much as I can demand you, the unknown reader) you to go all out. The only thing you will "waste" is some ink and paper.
-
In support of form and function
For anyone who wanting to support local artists, this is an excellent way to do it because you need all those things anyway. You’re going to drink out of mugs and cups and eat off of plates—why not have a great story to tell around them? Why not decorate your tables with an eclectic conversation-starting series of locally made pieces?
-
The unexpected gifts of this summer
So how are you spending this unusual summer? Assuming you and those you love are healthy and employed (all that really matters ultimately), what are you doing to honor this weird gift of a truly slowed down period of time during the best months of our calendar?
-
The perfect cup of tea
As the next Christmas season approached, I started thinking about the Christmas tea. I put out a small ask to the Universe that I see something of Grandma’s when we got there. I wanted to know that her things were being used and loved in this new way, like I had always loved them.
-
A kitchen face-lift
This article originally appeared in the September/October 2019 issue of Inspired Home magazine. Our kitchen is original to our 1950s cottage, and so it’s a fairly simple, basic space. It has a long peninsula counter that splits that kitchen from the dining room. The narrow U shape of the kitchen means that if the oven or dishwasher doors are down, you can’t get past them, and there are a lot of “excuse mes” said over and over if more than one person is in the small space. It’s a very workable but unremarkable kitchen with a relatively low-grade countertop surface and plywood cabinet doors that we have painted a number…
-
Water, water everywhere
How often do you chafe at the daily swirling combinations that include children, spouses, parents, friends, jobs, hobbies, health issues, scheduling workouts, dieting and more in your life?
-
Imagining reality
This story originally appeared in Inspired Home magazine January/February 2019. At the end of 2017, I came across a friend’s Facebook post with a video attached, so I watched it. I was quickly immersed in some kind of dream statement video about what she expected in 2018. I did a little digging and discovered that our mutual friend Dawn Trautman had made her a Mindset Movie. I was intrigued, so I contacted her. I both believe in and absolutely don’t believe in the power of sending out hopes and dreams that come back to you and, conversely, sending out fears and anxiety that can also come back to you from…
