As you may have guessed (or maybe not), I have been a francophile (love all things French) since I was a child. My best friend’s mom was French, so I naturally gravitated towards learning French as a second language in middle school. The rest is history (I’ll save it for another blog post, lol). ‘Tis the season for the gift guide, so I bring to you my suggestions for gifts for the francophile–beyond the usual Eiffel tower motif! Je vous… Read more »
Are you a cooler temps, pumpkin spice kinda gal, or do you prefer sipping cool drinks by the pool or beach in the heat of summer? Personally, I wish I could have the best of both worlds–sunshine AND crisper, longer days. Alas, ’tis the season to ‘fall’ into autumn in Happy Valley (central Pennsylvania) and with that come shorter, darker days. How can you conquer the sluggishness you may feel this time of year? My solution is to listen my… Read more »
Does the thought of going gluten-free for Halloween spook you? I recently jumped back on the gluten-free wagon as part of a holistic approach to taming my Hashimoto’s and healing my gut. With Halloween just around the corner, a certain level of fright crept up on me. Our department always hosts a Halloween potluck party nicknamed ‘Spooky Boucke.’ Desperate for some creative gluten-free Halloween treats, I posed a question to the universe, umm, kindred spirit bloggers, and was overwhelmed by… Read more »
I’ve been busy digesting the past few weeks. I sent my firstborne off into the world of college. Of course, it didn’t quite go as planned. I was expecting a normal ‘meet the roommates’ and their parents and then take my son out for lunch or go on one last Target run, but nooooo! I showed up anxious and frustrated, thanks to car troubles. About 15 minutes before arriving at our destination (Erie, PA), my trusty red 2007 Saturn Vue… Read more »
Pssst. Yes, dear friend, this post on showing grace is meant for you! Is your 9-5 existence punctuated by frequent sanity checks, uh, checking your 401(k) balance to temporarily sooth your anxieties in a high stress workplace? Feeling frustrated, annoyed, and irritated? Tired of dealing with difficult people in a dysfunctional work environment? I can relate. Been there, survived that. The corporate, nonprofit, government (domestic and foreign), and academic worlds have their fair share of aggravations. When the aggravation is… Read more »
Last year, I decided to do a pre-emptive purge, or an early spring cleaning, to streamline the clutter in my life. Pouring over about a decade’s worth of random documents, pictures, and other belongings, I discovered a red journal where I had had every good intention of recording what would prove to be a memorable vacation in Australia. The journal continues just one short entry: Sydney Dec. 25th 2004 Xmas Left Japan 12/23 – had a long stopover in Taipei,… Read more »
My childhood memories of summer revolve around beaches and summer reading. Having grown up in ‘the Hamptons,’ (Southampton, to be precise), I spent most of my childhood sitting on the beach. Reveling in the luxurious sounds of waves crashing against the shore and seagulls singing, I would lie down on my towel not to sunbathe, but to settle in and read a good book. Back then we didn’t have Amazon.com. No, my mom would take us to Rodger’s Memorial Library… Read more »
I’m sorry. So sorry. My apologies. Mea culpa. Such short phrases that should just roll off of your tongue, right? But what if you are expected to apologize when you strongly believe you did nothing wrong? Expected to apologize when the person you are told to apologize to is at ‘fault,’ from your perspective? Last week, a colleague endured a tirade from an ‘internal customer.’ It lasted close to an hour. I kept my distance because 1) I didn’t want… Read more »
This week has been particularly hectic–boy, am I frazzled and in dire need of relaxing music. So far this week, it’s been jury duty (and getting selected for a high profile case), field trips, candidate interviews (for my boss’s replacement), and flying to Mars (ok, just kidding on the last one). Need I say more? Oh, wait, being short-staffed at work the past two weeks! After a stressful day, no, make that week, I need to reclaim my zen with… Read more »
My family recently learned how pizza, more specifically, pizza boxes, can be a fire hazard. Two weeks ago, I headed off for several days without my family and almost without a care in the world to my first blogging conference. I attended Focused Blogging in Richmond, Virginia. In another life, this would have been a 90-minute drive (without traffic), but now Richmond is over 4 hours away from home. The first night, during dinner, I received a frantic phone call… Read more »
