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To be honest, it’s not just during the holidays that I hear the siren call of “more, more, more!” for the counter above my kitchen sink. It doesn’t function as usable counter space and it’s always tempting to start piling stuff on the ledge–decorations because it’s the first thing you see and then the odds and ends that seem to accumulate in a kitchen. … Read More It’s beginning to look a lot like less Christmas, part 3
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As part of baby-stepping our way into a Christmas inspired more by minimalism than the holiday aisles at Costco, I decided the kitchen needed room to function as a work space more than a display space. We retired the kitchen Christmas tree with the popcorn garland, cooking-themed ornaments, and homemade gingerbread men, but I wanted the kitchen, where I spend a lot of time, … Read More It’s beginning to look a lot like less Christmas, part two
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The Ghost of Christmas Past Growing up, my family would load the RV and head to Florida over Christmas to escape the Pennsylvania winter and dash my dreams of a Norman Rockwell holiday. Ever-practical, my parents decided it was pointless to put up a big tree since no one was going to be home. They stuck a 2-foot tree on a side table and … Read More It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Less Christmas
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Not to give my mother-in-law a complex, or anything, but we often head out of town as soon as she arrives for a babysitting job, I mean family visit. Our birthdays and wedding anniversary are perfectly spaced throughout the year, so practically anytime she comes to visit, we have an excuse for a getaway celebration. Last weekend my mother-in-law flew in and we decided … Read More No Sleep till Brooklyn
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Have you heard of the hedonism treadmill? We’ve got a grocery store hedonism treadmill going on in my neighborhood. First, we only had the basic Giant food–to be fair it was clean and bright and had more variety than any grocery store our parents and grandparents had ever shopped in–but we heard tell of this amazing grocery store out of New York called Wegmans. … Read More Scoring at TJs
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You know the feeling when you fall in love with something and discover there is a whole genre of movies and documentaries just waiting for you? That’s how my husband and I felt when a friend mentioned that we would like Somm on Netflix. We watched it and became totally invested in who would pass their Master Sommelier test. It’s like watching the Olympics of … Read More How I Learned Somm-thing about wine
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Our nearly-annual trip to the beach will soon be upon us, and I can’t wait! Our visits and the cast of characters have morphed through the years, and we have started to come pretty close to what we consider the perfect beach vacation. For us, we have distilled the 7 days into sand, wine, and food. I’ve learned a lot of lessons along the … Read More To the Beach, Beach
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A is for Apothic wine that you should never, ever drink, unless you like your Swiss Miss spiked with rubbing alcohol. B is for bottles of wine that you should save to help commemorate good times. C is for corked, which you don’t want your wine to be-unless your into wet cardboard aromas D is for Del DottoWinery that I want to make fun of for their pretentious, imported … Read More The A to Z guide to the Napacalypse
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The last month has been one of those mile markers in life that kind of sneak up on you. Obviously, I had known my daughter’s college graduation was coming this past May for the last 4 years (Thank you, child, for gettin’ ‘er done in four!) and the kids’ birthday always come one after another in a dizzying six weeks’ time, but I was … Read More Life
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Book Club Formulaic comedy about 4 older women (divorced, widowed, never married, and married) trying to get their groove back after reading the “Fifty Shades” trilogy. Jane Fonda’s character Vivian, out of all the stereotypes, is the most tiresome. Vivian is a successful businesswoman who has stayed as sharp in business as her plastic surgeon’s scalpel, and feasts upon an array of one night-stands … Read More New movies and a glass
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This spring has been cold and heart-numbingly rainy in the DMV–so many spring Lacrosse and field hockey games spent huddled in blankets and/or under umbrellas–that a glorious Memorial Day weekend seemed to pop out of nowhere. Doesn’t matter, I’m still ready—I think I’m more excited about school almost being over than the kids. I do dread the multitude of texts that I’ll get for … Read More Hello, summer! Or as we call it, the start of Rose´season.
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The world is filled with books and blogs built to pay homage perfect French (or Parisian) lifestyles, homes, capsule wardrobes, and/or waistlines. I can be a curmudgeonly sort and on occasion point out that the wardrobes and waistlines are the product of a lack of closets and an abundance of ashtrays, not moral superiority. But, I too get sucked into the fantasy and have … Read More French homework
