weekend reads

Yoga mats are shoved under all the furniture to prevent our dog’s balls from rolling underneath. The living room floor lamp now has a grow lightbulb in it and has moved to the end of the dining table which has been transformed into a plant nursery. The bedroom is cleaner than it has ever been…

I’d like you to meet “Self Acceptance” by Kristine Mays.  Many of you have noticed her in the back of my photos on Instagram and in my weekly outfit recaps.  I connected with the artist Kristine Mays over a decade ago, when we were both blogging about our everyday lives on Blogspot. I’ve followed as…

When I asked for your feedback on how you want the blog to look during this time, one reader asked me to share how we are socializing while remaining physically apart from anyone outside our household. My mom lives a block or so away, my sister a half-mile away.  My mom goes on daily walks…

I’m calling it now; after years of contouring, compression garments, lash extensions, hair extensions, fake tans, and fillers, after this pandemic, the pendulum will swing. We will have weeks and weeks of our roots growing out, our brows growing out, our nails growing off, our skin getting clear from being bare and cared for.  We…

I’m not writing about the coronavirus because people shouldn’t be getting health advice from blogs. All I can say on it is that you don’t need more plastic bottles of water to ward it off or survive it, and please please PLEASE wash your hands. Even if you’re home all day, wash your hands. Your…

Of all the doctor appointments I hate the most, it is the gynecologist. It’s not the pap smear, it’s not having someone manhandle my breasts while making small talk, it’s everything that happens in between. I’ve been to a dozen different gynecologists, from fancy practices with glass walls and high-tech to state college health centers…

Last April I was invited to speak at the conference Rebelle Con in Richmond, Virginia. Rebelle Con was founded by a pair of women who were sick of the “go hard or go home” messaging that was causing so many of our peers to burn out, get discouraged, or confirm their feeling that they are…

Last year was my first year buying health insurance for my family through the Maryland healthcare exchange.  When I quit my day job, I went on COBRA for the first year, finding its ridiculous cost actually cheaper than anything available through the ACA.  Last year, the ACA was cheaper thanks to more people using it,…

I wish more influencers would share their real schedules, not these stupid “aspirational” ones where it only includes making smoothies, going to the gym, having a brand meeting and a meditation session. Why don’t they share all the work it takes to prepare for that brand meeting? How they drove an hour to a pretty…