A Birthday Wish

After the horrific news yesterday, I needed some nature therapy to lift my spirits and remind me that there is still beauty in this world so I spent some time in my garden, picked grapefruit from our tree, and went on a nature walk. Today is also my birthday and I will be spending it celebrating with friends and family with a heavy heart, as my thoughts are  with the victims in Orlando and their loved ones. My birthday wish is that we finally learn to listen to one another with love and treat each other with compassion, instead of hurting each other. Hug your loved ones and smile at a stranger today. Life is fleeting and we need all the love and joy we can create together.

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5 Fun Date Night Alternatives to Beat the Blahs & Reconnect with Your Spouse

Life is busy, and when you’re a parent it can be difficult to find time alone with your spouse to reconnect. It’s so easy to fall into the rut of a daily routine filled with work, school, packing lunches, laundry, doctor’s appointments, soccer practice, grocery shopping, ballet lessons, more laundry…well, you know what I’m talking about. Last week I was feeling a little down about all this monotonous drudgery, and confessed to my husband how much I missed the days when he and I were less fettered by obligations and able to enjoy each other’s company, like when we were dating. With two kids and very limited babysitting options, it is rare that we are able to have a date night.

Later that evening Tropical Storm Colin rolled onto the shores of Florida, bringing buckets of rain, downed trees, and flood waters to our town. The next morning my husband surprised me at breakfast by asking if I wanted to ride around and look at the storm fallout while the kids were in school.

Food Phases: How to Deal When Your Teen Goes “Raw”

Last month I was enjoying a rare date night out with my hubby. In the middle of dinner I received this text message from my teenager:

She’d apparently watched a documentary called Fed Up about the food industry and informed me via text that she will no longer be eating any processed foods. No more meat, dairy, eggs, bread, cooked foods, or typical teen snack foods (i.e. candy and chips) for her. Being a professional mom, I played it cool, like it was no big deal. I kept a poker face when my husband inquired if she was OK, and I didn’t let on that her text was anything out of the ordinary. Unbeknownst to the outside world,

Why the Woman Crossed the Road

The news this week has been filled with headlines about Brock Turner and rape culture.  As a woman and a mother of two girls, it has been a stark reminder of what it is like to live in this world dominated by violence, sexism, and “good ‘ol boy” attitudes.  Growing up in the South, I’ve been groomed to accept that I should always take a man with me when negotiating car sales, arranging house repairs, or hiring lawn maintenance crews.  I automatically park in well-lit parking spaces as close to the store as possible if  grocery shopping at night and I lock my doors as soon as I get in my vehicle to leave.    I’m not surprised when my husband calls to check on us when the girls and I walk home from the park at dusk.   As a teenager and young adult, I was never surprised to hear the catcalls of men driving by while I was jogging near the road – it was just expected that if you were female, men would holler at you.  

One Can Never Wear Too Many Headbands

Happy Friday!

“I’ve got my purse, mama!”  Photo credit: Vikki Earley

Loch Ness Monster Spotted in North Florida

Old Nessie spotted splashing around in the lilly pads in a lake near the Gulf coast.           Photo credit: Vikki Earley

Click here to read about other documented sightings of the Loch Ness monster.  Who knows where she’ll turn up next?

8 Ways to Give Your Child a Positive Body Image

Feature photo credit: Lisa Wixed

As parents, we’ve often heard how our approach to health, food, and our body image can indirectly impact our children’s views of themselves.  Children emulate what they see and hear around them and strive to be like the adults they admire.  So how can we, as parents, give our children a healthy body image?  I’ll address this further in a moment, but first, let’s take a peek into what can happen when we don’t consider how our approach to diet and exercise affects our kids.

Natural Healing: Rediscovering My Inner-hippie

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Being a stay-at-home mom of a homeschooled teenage daughter and a three year old girl can be overwhelming and physically exhausting at times, but since I began taking better care of myself six months ago (click here to read my article on how I lost 35 pounds), I am rarely ill anymore. However, during the past two weeks, the spring pollen caught up with me and I found myself suffering from an upper respiratory infection that I just couldn’t seem to shake.  The first week I took all of the typical over-the-counter (OTC) medications: Tylenol, Motrin, Theraflu, Claritin-D12, Benadryl (not at the same time, of course),  saline nasal spray  and menthol cough drops.  I drank a ton of water and mixed in my favorite go-to: Emergen-C powder powder. Nothing was working.  In fact, I seemed to be getting worse.  On the eighth day I was desperate for relief from the fatigue, the hacking cough, sore throat and stuffy nose.  That’s when  I remembered that I used to be a “hippie.”

Cats & Dogs: A Commentary on Marriage

Illustration credit: Trinity Moss

I must admit, it’s been a rough weekend.  Albeit the Facebook album of our kids, standing on the sidewalk smiling and cheering at a parade in the sunshine of a beautiful spring morning, may portray a different image.  Trust me on this though – it was two days filled with constant irritation, frustration, nasty looks, and sarcastic comments between my hubby and me.  As he put it (during one of the many arguments we had in 48 hours), “We are like two gears that should be rotating together to help each other, but instead we are grinding against one another.”  Going to the grocery store, attending the parade, what to feed the children, how to manage the behavior of our firecracker preschooler we call “the baby,” – we just couldn’t agree on anything, no matter how small.