making space for creativity
It was a late night in early September, when my brother called me. Evan and I had just pulled into our parking space in our Maryland apartment. “Hi,” my brother said. Then there was a pause and some random muffled sound. He was trying to get the speaker phone to work. Evan looked at…
The first Newbery winner from 1922 came as somewhat of a surprise to me, for my review the Newbery project. I think my working definition of Newbery winners was something like: a really great novel by an American, for kids between 10 and 12, but enjoyed by older and younger audiences as well. But…
I love the idea of a fancy planner. You know the kind that has pretty floral pages, goes inside a matching binder, and fits in the pocket of a matching leather purse. And inside my planner would be this lovely to-do list written in neat handwriting, arranged by priorities (A, B, C) and the…
Sometimes on long car rides or walks, Evan will indulge me and talk about our dream house. I say it is an indulgence because Evan likes to dream slightly practically, in a way that, with not too much difficulty, could become real. I like to dream extravagantly, in a way that will never most likely,…
The Fall of my Senior year in high school my dad announced that he was going to a service at an Orthodox Church 20 minutes away. He was not entirely sure it wasn’t all going to be in Russian. He came home delighted. It was in English, and it was beautiful. It was a…
It is Holy Wednesday, right in the middle of Holy Week, right before the great burst of waiting together that marks Maundy Thursday through Easter morn. It is a state of great anticipation. I can almost taste the coffee. I can almost feel the snow melt for good. I can almost feel the…
Today’s a shorty post since I’m recovering from the stomach flu, meaning that the last three days all I’ve done is watch the first season of Veronica Mars (recommended by Anne @ Modern Mrs. Darcy) and stay within a 10 second trip to the bathroom (recommended by my stomach). Hospitality is a…
Spring in Wisconsin is shy. She peaks out for a moment, almost sixty and sunny, then she ducks back, below freezing and blankets us in a light snow. This past month has felt like that, moments of rest and beauty that allow us to catch glimpses of the vision for why we moved, then…
One of the surprises of the last month has been answering people’s polite, “and what do you do” questions. And the answer has changed, just like my official address, from, “well, I nanny, and tutor, and blog, and I’m working on a children’s novel” to simply, “I’m a writer.” Sometimes, if I’m…
Tea, like Lent, was something that I knew about before college, but was brewed a bit weak, and I was a little unimpressed. High school, around the year 2000, introduced me to fancy coffee drinks and youth group Christian subculture—often together, as my high school youth group met in my church’s coffee shop. I…
It is Lent. I want coffee. It is winter. I want spring. It is unsettled. I want routine. But here we are, at the tail-end of winter, at the very beginning of Lent, a week and half into the adventure of Wisconsin. There is sometime so very physical and embodied about Lent…
It is the last days of our intact apartment. Kind friends keep asking how the packing is going for our upcoming move in 15 days, and I smile and say we haven’t packed a thing. My husband, Evan sometimes will add that we’ve steadily over the years tried to get rid of things we…
There are big changes afoot in our household: we’re moving to Wisconsin! At the end of February, a mere 3 1/2 weeks away, Evan and I are packing up our Maryland apartment and heading 750 miles west. We are excited and sad, peaceful and nervous. We know it’s a good and right decision to…
Originally, I didn’t think that I needed to post about investing money in walking, because walking is cheap: go outside in some comfortable shoes and clothes, and walk. But now that the polar vortex is dipping down again, and Maryland is acting like Wisconsin, the clothing necessary to be “comfortable” when it’s 10 degrees…
reason one :: walking & stories For as long as I can remember, I have loved to walk and think of stories. It seemed so natural to me, that I was surprised to discover early on in marriage, that Evan did not do the same thing. He, if left with open time on a walk…