At first this was going to be a post about what seemed like a multi-pronged attempt by a guy at a local music shop to thwart my attempts to play music again. In a nutshell, I told the music store guy that I wanted to learn to play mandolin (same tuning as violin, I figured it . . . → Read More: Musical Rebirth. Complete With a Crack.

The most common misunderstanding I hear repeated about Twitter is that all people ever do is tweet about what they ate for lunch. Not wishing to contribute to this misnomer, instead, I will dedicate a blog post to lunch.

Why? Because in an ideal world, I like to be mindful while I’m eating my lunch — savoring . . . → Read More: A Week of Perfect Lunches

Every day I feel gratitude for Laurel and Violet; I truly do. But I have squeezed them extra tight every day since learning about Kami Bigler’s daughter Afton Jean being born at 26 weeks (12.7 ounces). If you have not yet read Kami’s posts, you should. They reflect incredible courage and grace — Kami’s positive, light-filled . . . → Read More: For Afton Jean

Last weekend at Camp Mighty, artist Lisa Congdon shared some of her guiding personal and professional principles. Among them was the concept of showing up — being there, as much as you can, for the peeps in your life. (I’m not sure whether this was planned or not, but in Maggie’s intro of Lisa, Maggie noted . . . → Read More: Showing Up

I see a lot of questionable social media practices floating around out there and normally I don’t bother chiming in, but when I saw the hoopla around some tweets by @emmaspizza I felt really, really sad.

I grew up in a large family (7 kids, 2 parents + newly immigrated relatives typically bunking with us). My parents . . . → Read More: Two Pieces of Free Advice When Dealing with Dumbasses

Clearly, there must be something in the air. Just the other week I was rambling (seemingly incoherently) to my friend Paige about how mostly I feel spectacular taking work down a notch and enjoying these early months with Violet, but sometimes have twinges wondering whether I should be doing more. And that I tend to feel . . . → Read More: Read. Engage. Repeat.

I reflect continually on gratitude, consider myself a positive spirit, and truly try to see the best in people. Subsequently, one of the things that I find most challenging in life — particularly professionally — is dealing with acts of douchebaggery. Or more specifically, the self-centeredness and complete lack of decorum that seems to take over . . . → Read More: Six Acts of Douchebaggery