Happy Independence Day! I hope you’re going out to see fireworks later. How do social behaviors become viral? I found Strange Contagion by Lee Daniel Kravetz to be a fascinating work exploring how it is that emotions can be passed from one individual to another. Have you ever noticed that if you’re around someone who is …
Book Review: Soulmates by Jessica Grose
Everything happens for a reason – or does it? This is a question philosophers and theologians have debated about for a long time. On the one hand, it seems as though there is a divine order to the universe – things cannot be merely coincidental. On the other hand, things can be so random that …
Book Review: The Art of Fear by Kristen Ulmer
Fear can be a powerful thing. It can bring us to our knees, freeze us in our tracks, and paralyze us. It can warn us of danger – either real or imagined. Fear can also motivate us and drive us, then sabotage us right before we’re about to receive what we’ve been striving for. Fear …
Celebrating Summer: Sofilantjes’ 3rd Anniversary Mini Tour
It’s Sofilantjes’ 3rd Anniversary! The first pattern I tested for Anne was the Otium top for women. Anne has designed 7 summer dresses – enough for at least one week of dresses. Of course, each dress has multiple options, making it so that you could create several dresses to last your little gal for quite …
Book Review: It Happens in the Hamptons by Holly Peterson
Who doesn’t love a cheesy Lifetime movie? I’m a huge fan of them myself, and sometimes I give into the guilty pleasure of following along some whacked-out tale that gives me the warm fuzzies at the end. That’s kind of how It Happens in the Hamptons by Holly Peterson is. This novel is pure guilty-pleasure reading. It’s …
The Teenager Graduated and Baby 4 is Here
It’s been a crazy couple of weeks involving a high school graduation AND a birth. The upswing? There is a beautiful and healthy new baby in our lives, the teenager gets to go off to college in August, and I’ll be able to enjoy a glass of wine with Wining Husband on our anniversary in …
Review of How to Be Everything by Emilie Wapnick
I don’t know about you, but I have a lot of different interests. In fact, while I’ve always known I’ve wanted to be a writer, it hasn’t been easy eliminating other potential career paths. I also LOVE architecture. In another lifetime, I’d totally be an architect. Maybe I’ll go back to school and get an MFA …
Book Review: My Lovely Wife in the Psych Ward by Mark Lukach
No matter how great life seems, things like depression, anxiety, and nervous breakdowns can hit at any time. For Mark Lukach, and his wife, Giulia, mental illness hit after Giulia turned twenty-seven. Lukach chronicles their life with mental illness and the way that mental illness shapes a marriage. The story that Lukach tells is poignant …
Book Review: Signs and Seasons by Amy Zerner and Monte Farber
What’s your sign? I’m a Scorpio. Supposedly, that makes me intense, passionate, determined, loyal, and obsessive – among other things. While those are all qualities I possess, I’m not sure if they’re qualities I possess because I’m me or because I’m a Scorpio. Either way, it’s fun to think about the way that the stars …
Book Review: Beyond the Label by Maureen Chiquet
What labels do you wear? I’m not talking about Coach or Gucci or Channel, I’m talking about the labels others have given you. “Supermom” is one that’s been thrown around at me. “Wife,” “Mother,” “Type-A,” “Introvert,” “Neurotic,” are others. When we receive labels, it can be hard to break out of them. I know in …
