In the next week, you’ll likely ponder, and then make, New Year’s resolutions. Yes, you’ll break them eventually, and that is what I’d like to mention. The root word for “resolution” is the word “resolve.” This is a beautiful word. As a verb, it means “to solve a problem or a dispute.” This could be something personal and internal (the classic…
Category: Is Less More?
Questions of the earth and environment meet questions of the universe. And such.
A Splash of ‘Small Kindness’
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On Tuesday the 27th of November I’m joining the international Small Kindnesses Blogsplash. Along with more than 150 other bloggers, I’ll be writing about a special small kindness someone paid me in the past. My blog post will be found here, as usual, but you can follow this link to read many many other posts about…
Food We Eat (or Don’t)
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I stopped by Nick and Heather’s house yesterday to drop off a tablespoon of bourbon for a truffle recipe Nick was making. I asked Nick what he made for his family Thanksgiving. “I made this delicious farro recipe. Want to try it?” It wasn’t until a depressing day in 1994 sitting on the steps of…
What Are You Looking At?
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This weekend — at Art in Paradise Alley — you get the chance to stop staring at your screen. Walk outside. Talk to artists. To look inside yourself and ask: “What am I looking at?” Art takes us into the minds of the artist, true. But it’s best used for getting to know ourselves Art works…
How to Be Amazing
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One of my favorite things to write about is PEOPLE. I often get the chance to interview people and just ask them: How did you end up here? By “here” I mean right where they are in their lives… doing exactly what they are doing. Cutting hair, owning a bar, running a business + being…
Love for Homemade Deodorant (and Why oh Why, Kathie Lee?)
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I am a convert to homemade deodorant! Back in June my friend Alma Schneider (that’s her–> isn’t she adorable?) whipped up this little tub of her recipe for me. She said: “Just try it! I SWEAR it works!” Eh. I wasn’t convinced. However, I ate ACTUAL raw red onions in her curried lentil salad (and…
On Changing My View of Cooking
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Today, I have a guest post over on “Take Back the Kitchen,” a great blog hosted by Alma Schneider. My post is a RECIPE (don’t faint) I created for Iced Green Tea that actually tastes good. Yes, I realize that I won’t win any foodie awards for this recipe. (ie. What? “Boil water. Put tea…
The Facebook Thing
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At the end of Lent, I was over on Facebook, and my friend, Tammy, popped up on my Timeline and said in her status something like: Well, I’m back! Didja miss me?? I did it! A whole 40 days without Facebook! Then she posted a really great list of all the things she “got done”…
A Patriot in the Garden
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You know all that flag-waving, “true-American” rhetoric we hear from the Rush Limbaugh conservatives? I was thinking about that today, as I was pondering getting our organic garden ready to spring planting. It’s Ok. I know I am preaching to the choir generally. But a good argument is worth saying, just in case it’s seeps…
Will Eat for Numb
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I’ve been on an emotional roller coaster lately. Like many people (read: everyone) I know, I eat to feel “better.” Lately, the go-to food of choice for easing emotional bumps is the Cinnamon Crunch Bagel from Panera. — I accidentally remembered that Panera existed recently when I started going to the gym the next town…
My Friend, with Existential Chickens
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I have a super great old friend from college, Jen. She’s a writer (here’s her book) and a journalist. And a mom. She lives in Des Moines and recently she acquired chickens. She and her husband and her kids have chickens in their backyard. Do you ever look at your friends, when they do something…
How We Make Big
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It is still a coming realization for me that I am my own person. Even when I was a little kid in a big family and I was deciding what I wanted to “be,” it was hard to imagine I could be just exactly who I wanted to be. Part of life is the never-ending search…
Why the Details Matter
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I set the table with Clean, cut glasses, Christmas crackers Flatware. Before breakfast All the flat edges glimmer In anticipation. Do you ever wonder: What the hell is the point of Elizabeth’s blog? It’s this: details. It’s a place to read In The Details, as a way to understand ourselves, each other, the world. “Letters from…
Paying for Santa
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Number four child was TRYING to whisper in Jolly Old St. Nick’s ear at the Santa Village when she was interrupted. Elf: “WHICH PHOTO PACKAGE DID YOU BUY?!” the elf barked at us. Me: “We haven’t chosen one yet,” I said. “We wanted to get in line before it got too long.” Elf: “WHAT?! Well,…
Gone the Mailbox
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At the post office, the hated post office, where lines greet me and awful racks of greeting cards Line walls, ignored. The post office and its Perfume of desperation. The place where scales and stamps sit in dusty corners Like aristocrats awaiting their bloody fate. The post office, doomed, because It is about PLACE and…
