by Emily One of the things I've forced myself to do as fall approaches is go through my summer stuff and purge everything I didn't wear over the last three months. This is a different tactic from years past - I used to just put everything away and save the purge for the BEGINNING of summer, but it turns out that I forget what I liked wearing and what I didn't, so it makes way more sense to get rid of things now while the memory of not wearing them is fresh in my mind. Part of that purge included... Continue reading

by Emily People, this thing is a GAME CHANGER. We've always been a body wash kind of family, but I kind of hate schlepping bottles of body wash along on long trips. You have to bring a big enough bottle to last the entire time (we're currently in the middle of an 11-day beach vacation, so travel sizes won't cut it), it always seems to leak, and I know it sounds picky, but my kids can't manage to open a big, slippery bottle by themselves in the shower and it leads to a lot of frustration for both of us.... Continue reading

by Emily Something happened this summer. I don't know WHAT, exactly, but somehow I cannot do one load of laundry anymore without having had to pre-treat SOMETHING beforehand. This wasn't how it USED to be! Even after my kids stopped wearing bibs, they never ate anything so terrible/greasy/RED that it didn't come out in the regular wash, but lately that no longer holds true. My kids are getting food all over themselves. They're rolling in the grass and the dirt. My husband is grilling a lot more, and leaning against oily grates with his favorite t-shirts. I've been splattering stuff... Continue reading

by Emily My five-year-old is heading to kindergarten in September. (I don't want to talk about it yet.) We received a list of school supplies back in April at kindergarten orientation, so last week I headed out to procure them. I admit it, my first stop was Pottery Barn Kids. I AM A SUCKER FOR CUTE BACKPACKS. We already HAVE a PBK backpack, but it's a size small, and our school supply list specified that my son was to come to school with an ADULT-sized backpack. I was mystified by this, but after speaking with the associate at PBK, I... Continue reading

by Emily I'd read two of Barbara Kingsolver's books before stumbling on this one. I'd inhaled Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, as well as The Poisonwood Bible, and so when I was at the library a couple of weeks ago, I walked over to the fiction section and browsed through her other works on a whim, which is where I picked up The Bean Trees. The Bean Trees was Kingsolvers very first novel, a fact that blew me away after I'd finished it. I absolutely LOVED this book. I loved the characters, I loved the setting. I loved the way Kingsolver can... Continue reading

by Emily I saw this circulating on Pinterest a few days ago and something about it totally resonated with me. I am the kind of person who makes lengthy lists - ESPECIALLY of activities and things I want to do with my kids. But I also tend to get shellshocked by the options at times... for example, although right now we love doing a week at the beach every year for our family vacation, I know there will come a time when we want to start introducing our children to the REST of the country, and yet, the idea of... Continue reading

by Emily I love love love my little suburb. Located about 15 miles from Washington, DC (and only seven from Dulles International Airport), Reston, Virginia is a planned community that has so many attractive extras - 15 community pools, a nature center with acres of untouched foliage and classes for the kids, streams and lakes and open fields, and 55 miles of paved trails to walk, jog or bike on (that are sometimes cleared well before our roads are when a snowstorm hits). I love the feeling of being surrounded by nature even though we're in one of the busiest,... Continue reading

by Emily Honestly, the number one reason I skip body lotion most often is because I just don't want to take the time to do it. I try to take a nice long shower; I usually don't have any extra time when I get out to do much else other than throw on some deodorant and face moisturizer. In the summer, however, I simply moisturize WHILE I'M STILL IN THE SHOWER. This is a genius move, in my own personal opinion. I love this product - I usually put it on right after I've turned off the shower but before... Continue reading

by Emily A couple of months ago (I cannot begin to tell you how relieved I am to be able to say "a couple of MONTHS ago"), I had the World's Worst Dye Job, remember? Oh, wait, correction: I had TWO OF THEM. Well, things are way better these days - my hair is just a shade darker than the roots now growing in, and I've sworn off hair dyes pretty much for the rest of my life, such was the traumatic nature of that experience. I did a lot of Internet research during that dark (HA HA HA, GET... Continue reading

by Emily I don't have a normal three-year-old girl, if you go by what society believes is today's normal three-year-old girl - meaning, we don't have a house exploding with princess crap. Nothing against princesses, I swear! My kid just isn't into it (yet?); she prefers animals of all shapes and sizes. She plays with stuffed animals constantly and consistently, she colors roughly 85,000 animal pictures every day, and she refuses to wear anything but clothes with animals on them when she gets dressed. She is also pretty much obsessed with Disney characters like Bambi, Lady and the Tramp, and... Continue reading

by Emily I am not kidding when I tell you this: when my kids get bored and I suggest we get out the dried beans to play with? THEY JUMP UP AND DOWN AND SCREAM. In excitement. Now granted, dried beans can seem... daunting to clean up. But really, I promise you, whether you have carpet or hardwood or tile, it isn't horrible. Yes, it takes longer than cleaning up a box of crayons or a dress up bin, but remember that part where my kids jump up and down and scream? It means that A) it keeps them occupied... Continue reading

by Emily Every year at the start of summer, I join a perpetual hunt for the perfect cotton summer dress. In years past I have picked up multiple colors of dresses from Old Navy, Gap, and LOFT, and they've all served me well. This year, though, I'm entering my first summer at the age of 34. I'm THIRTY-FOUR; in my MID-THIRTIES. I don't know what HAPPENED, exactly, between last summer and this summer, but I suddenly feel... less than comfortable in my few-years-old dresses with super thin shoulder straps. My BODY hasn't really changed in the last year, but my... Continue reading

by Emily You know, back before I had kids, I sometimes thought about... well, about having kids. Not too often, really (if I'm being honest), but when I DID think about having kids, I daydreamed a lot about introducing them to the books I'd loved when I was a child. Charlotte's Web, Harriet the Spy, Bridge to Terabithia, for example. But perhaps most of all, I pictured myself lovingly handing over my yellow boxed set of Little House books. Oh, I loved those books. Little House in the Big Woods! Little House on the Prairie! THE LONG WINTER! They were... Continue reading

by Emily Last month I spotted a little girl at my church wearing THE CUTEST FLIP FLOPS. I asked her where she got them and she told me someone made them for her, and - this is not a joke - I actually made a pair myself WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING IT UP ON PINTEREST FIRST. I know! (If you ARE looking for a link on Pinterest, you'd eventually end up here, just FYI.) They're just cheap, rubber flip flops with strips of fabric tied to the rubber thong so that they appear fluffy and fancy, like this: I usually get... Continue reading

by Emily I've been reading a lot lately. I found this thing? You may have heard of? Called THE LIBRARY? Dude, at the library, they just HAND YOU BOOKS FOR FREE. I know, it sounds insane, but it's TRUE. But while I've been reading a lot (probably 20 books in the last three months), I haven't come across too many books that I really loved. I've returned two without finishing them, and I've plodded through others just to see what happens at the end. Of course, I've enjoyed a lot of them, too. But I loved this book, more than... Continue reading

by Emily I am a firm believer in Exercising Ugly. By that I simply mean that I don't own a lot of cute workout clothes - they aren't particularly motivating for me, since I'd much rather spend that cash on something I don't have to sweat through. My exercise of choice is running, and I mostly stick to some old mesh shorts or a worn pair of Target yoga pants along with whatever hand-me-down blood donation or old race t-shirt I can dig out of the bin under my bed. But when the weather turns hotter, I do like to... Continue reading

by Emily For years - YEARS, I SAY - I have ventured into Old Navy in the midst of spring and purchased four, five, sometimes six pairs of cheap rubber flip flops in a satisfying number of colors and that was pretty much my whole summer wardrobe, shoe-wise. There are many reasons why this is the year I am no longer participating in my own self-made tradition, but it's mostly because A) as I age, I feel less comfortable being ULTRA casual all the time (which is how flip flops make me feel) and because B) THEY KILL MY (old... Continue reading

by Emily Fifteen years ago, as a sophomore in college (a really STUPID sophomore in college, I should add), I dyed my hair with a permanent at-home hair dye kit labeled Dark Brown and ended up with hair the same color (roughly) as a Halloween witch wig. (Mine was probably darker.) I AM NOT KIDDING. Now, fifteen years ago, the only options were to pay out the nose for a stylist to fix it (which I was not going to do, what with the fact that I was a totally broke college student, along with the OTHER fact that I... Continue reading

by Emily My children - like yours, I'm sure - have a ridiculous knack for outgrowing seasonal clothes about six weeks before the next season begins. You know, because even though we're still in the thick of winter, somehow sweaters have disappeared altogether from stores. GRRRRR. As such, I have a three-year-old girl who cannot fit into her jeans any longer, despite the fact that in six-ish more weeks, we'll be looking into buying shorts and skirts and dresses and all various types of spring fashion for warmer weather. IT FIGURES. The good news is that everything I really need... Continue reading

by Emily This is one of my favorite crafts to do with the kids. It is easy, it doesn't get too messy (and even if it does, the elements are pretty easy to clean up), it doesn't have to look perfect, AND it's cheap. The only things you need are: Pinecones (we gather ours around the neighborhood) Peanut butter (I buy the cheap Target brand specifically for this project) Birdseed (any kind will do, and you only need a small bag) Butter knives String A surface to work on (we prefer a towel spread on the floor if we're working... Continue reading

by Emily So I am late to the Nate Berkus party, but once I started watching, I got HOOKED. I love everything about the man, and I love the show too. Nothing against Martha Stewart, because I LOVE YOU, Martha Stewart, but there's something about Martha and her show that always felt... too hard. Too difficult. Too... GEARED TOWARD EXPERTS. I do not feel like this about Nate Berkus, although his show is very similar to how Martha did hers - recipes, decorating, crafts, tips on making your life easier and better. Anyway, I was watching a repeat last week... Continue reading

by Emily I have been looking for a good excuse to gift someone with this for months now, and although I've come up with many Big Reasons to gift it (bringing a new baby home, celebrating a ten-year anniversary, moving to a new home), I find that the real reason I've been looking is because I ACTUALLY WANT THIS MYSELF. Very VERY badly. Of course, this home I currently live in is the ONLY home I've ever shared with my husband (we moved in together the night we came home from our honeymoon). We brought both of our babies here,... Continue reading

by Emily I have been looking for a good excuse to gift someone with this for months now, and although I've come up with many Big Reasons to gift it (bringing a new baby home, celebrating a ten-year anniversary, moving to a new home), I find that the real reason I've been looking is because I ACTUALLY WANT THIS MYSELF. Very VERY badly. Of course, this home I currently live in is the ONLY home I've ever shared with my husband (we moved in together the night we came home from our honeymoon). We brought both of our babies here,... Continue reading

by Emily According to my husband, we spent in the neighborhood of SEVEN THOUSAND DOLLARS at Target in 2011. It isn't so horrifying when I think about it: I buy most of our dry grocery staples there (macaroni and cheese, granola bars, condiments, kid snacks) and of course, our cleaning supplies and diapers. Then there's the clothes I buy for the kids and the toys we buy for Christmas and the birthday presents and the vacation supplies and the toilet paper and the occasional knick knack or pair of shoes I treat myself to... Yeah, so. Seven thousand dollars. I... Continue reading

by Emily How would you like to absolutely BLOW YOUR CHILD'S MIND this Christmas? We've all heard of the time-honored tradition of trains going around the base of a Christmas tree, but no one I know actually DOES this when they have kids, because HELLO, that's where the presents go, and also KIDS BREAK STUFF LIKE TRAINS. So how about a train that goes around your tree... except that it goes right in the branches? Last year we stumbled across this little beauty at the after-Christmas sale at Home Depot; I think we scored it for $3 or something and... Continue reading