September 29, 2016

After my walk/run this morning, I dripped with sweat. Seriously saturated. Wet clothes. Wet hair. Sweat lines poured from every pore. 

It’s not a good look for me, but it’s so so good anyway. When I look in the mirror and see that mess,...

September 28, 2016

Whenever I feel lost and out of place and ready to throw in the towel (how will this place ever feel

like home?), all I have to do is look at Abby.

Last night was Abby’s Back-to-School-Night. Though less crazy than Open House, we still...

September 26, 2017

There’s nothing like a wedding bookended by two seven-hour drives to turn things around. We closed out September with a trip for a family wedding - Joe’s brother

Jesse was saying I-do to his sweetheart Liz. We stayed in the ritzy Bavar...

September 8, 2016

Everything hit me at once. Everything. And September was a mysterious blur with me being rolled over and over again by one wave after another. 

I love the waves. I’m a beach girl or at least, trying to be. I could watch them, play in the...

There's no better resource for learning about your town and for providing inspiration for your writing than your local newspaper. Ever since our big move to awesome and amazing Wilmington, NC, our local news outlets have been like new BFFs. As a mystery...

When I was 18 and living in an apartment with my brother, my Mazda RX-7 that cost me $1,200 and had chipped paint and a window that never went all the way up, was burglarized. I never locked my car. First, I didn’t think there was anything in it worth s...

September 6, 2016

Today, I salvaged my plants. Finally. 

My houseplants travelled with us during the move in laundry

baskets. They stayed with us in the hot car, the hotel, the disgusting rental, and finally the house, where I stuck them on the deck. Thou...

September 4, 2016

On the way home from somewhere, driving through our neighborhood, a woman walking with two children yelled at us, “Slow down!” She had her fist raised and everything.

Joe yelled back, “I’m going 20!”

The speed limit is 25.

Her anger was tr...

September 3, 2016

After weathering the storm of the first week of school, we prepared for our next - an actual storm. Storms are always mysterious because no one really knows what they'll do, not really.

Tropical Storm Hermine was due

to make landfall on...

September 2, 2016

Yesterday was spent in prayer for Abby. She was so on-my-mind that I started writing a story about her. It came to me during my morning walk, and just spilled out on actual paper when I got home. Could she be happy at her new school? Wo...