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Straight Up Advice to My Teenage Daughters
Recently, we’ve have had a string of wicked hot summer days. High humidity and all that goes with it. Doesn’t bother me a bit. My favourite seasons are summer and winter for the outdoor sports and the travel opportunities. I live for shorts weather and I hate sacrificing comfort for trends. Bring on the heat and the lighter clothing too. In summer months I’d be happy to wear a swimsuit and occasionally a coverup and work by the pool all season. But I settle for shorts and nice T-shirts. This season as the temperatures soared I have started noticing a weird phenomenon again and it is disturbing to me as…
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Secrets to a Successful Philadelphia Mother Daughter Trip
Our Mother Daughter trip to Philadelphia was sponsored by Visit Philly. Accommodations, flights, meals and attractions were covered. My opinion is truthful and all my own. Recently, we returned from a wonderful Philadelphia Mother Daughter Trip. My youngest daughter Ainsley and I went together. It was our first time seeing the city and we loved it. Philadelphia is a city full of stories and this is one is ours. Consider it a guide to how to do a successful Mother Daughter Philadelphia Trip, especially relevant if your daughter is a teen. My younger daughter has missed out on a few trips because of her active sports and theatre schedule. And to…
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Playing Sports – Leveling the Field for Girls #PlayOnCA #Giveaways $60 ARV
My kids are both athletic young women. Staying physically active, playing sports and striving to do your best – well, that’s something we take to heart as a family. Whether it’s swimming, martial arts or track and field, sports matter to the health of both boys and girls. When kids get out on the field or the court, they learn teamwork, develop a better work ethic, get into better shape, and boost their self confidence. Unfortunately, girls are at a serious disadvantage when it comes to playing sports. With less opportunities and less variety, girls often have to take what they can get. Playtex Sport wants to change that and…
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Growing Pains and Grace Notes – Raising A Daughter
Look away if you aren’t the kind of person who likes sentiment. It’s been a long time since I posted one of these stories about my life, my kids, snapshots of us, the Growing Pains and grace notes inside the nutty every day chaos of parenting, and growing youth, not kids, not toddlers, young adolescents. My girls amaze me more than they know most days. Their strength is apparent to me, their Mom, and yet they very often don’t see it themselves. Some strange warped tween and teen girl mirror only lets them see first the tiny little mistakes, then the itty bitty fleeting things that are but a milli-second in the course of…
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Hugs from Dad #WordlessWednesday #Travel #Tremblant
I rarely share shots of my spouse here. Why? Because he hates having his picture taken. Sad but true. Husband of blogger hates having picture taken. Honestly. So capturing a nice shot of him on film is a big deal for me. I often point my iPhone at him when we travel and he turns or moves ruining the shot. Early in March we were all invited to Mont Tremblant to visit as a family unit. While we were there, the entire family learned how to ski in two days!! I am super proud of that, in case you couldn’t tell. We went dog sledding and we hiked and walked…
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Serious – Or Mom Got a New Camera #WordlessWednesday #LINKY
This is my Mom got a new camera look. I think it’s serious. What do you think? I am trying to improve my photography as a goal this year. This is a Wordless Wednesday post. Link up if you wish. Share a comment.
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Losing a Parent: Every Day is a Gift, Just Not Tomorrow
Every day is a gift. But today I would gladly trade tomorrow in if I could. June 5th marks a month since my Mom passed away. I can barely type that without crying. One month of sadness and anger and frustration and forgetting and movement and tears and heaviness and guilt and devastation, and heart-stopping pain. One month ago I had no idea grief felt like a stone in your chest weighing you down with sad. This weekend, I attended TBEX, travel blogging conference, and it was the first time I really felt like I had smiled and kicked back since my mother passed away and for a few moments…
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But I Am Not Done with You Yet
In the end, you think about the many times she danced through the living room holding the cat, with those tiny cat antlers it used to hate. The times she dressed at the vanity in her room draping jewelry on and your eight-year-old eyes thought it was magic. You dreamed she was beautiful and then wished years away so you could grow fast forward. You asked her to twirl. She did and spun you around. She held your hand and said I love you and then she gave you a kiss before heading off to the dance with a friend. The grief fills you with an overwhelming sad stone in…