GEORGE CLOONEY IS BETTER THAN PIE - How I Got Through Thanksgiving Without Dessert

One more difficult food holiday down, with the beast yet to come. (Yes, I meant to say "beast" and yes, the "beast" is Christmas). I am thankful to get through Thanksgiving this year without overeating. It's my 2nd official holiday being abstinent from recreational sugar. Halloween was the 1st.

Pilates Completes Me-- So Why Haven't I Signed Up Yet?

One trial class and it was clear. Reformer pilates completes me. I love the way my body feels gliding up and down the track-- feeling the tension in the pulleys as I pull my arms forward and the stretch as they retract backwards. There's something about the uniform restricted movement that really appeals to me. A day or so after the class, I made the decision to sign up. That was 6 weeks ago. So, what gives?

Father-Daughter Trip to Baby Gap

I call him Dirty Ernie. Or at least that’s what my parents call him. Once upon a time he was a pristine, fluffy, white teddy bear but that’s not how I remember him. The Ernie I know is kind of yellowish. Shaggy. His bear snout squished and flat. Fur all matted and worn from being thoroughly loved and then thrown in the washing machine one too many times.

30 Day Overhaul for our Brain and Negative Self-Talk

I turned on the TV at the gym one morning and the local news had a famous female blogger doing food demonstrations and touting the latest beauty and nutrition book.  It was another ridiculously slender, glammed up, pseudo-celebrity telling American women how to eat healthy and lose weight. The subtext-- that if you are not currently thin and pretty or at least working towards being thinner and prettier then you are less of a person.
[Insert Donald Trump sexist comment about fat, ugly women here.]

I'm In the Game, Baby!

I am proud to report, I have made major strides as of late "doing the thing that scares me." I am working with a writing coach and taking a writing for publication class.

Already pitched my first article to 5 publications. I got my very first rejection, which I am psyched out of my mind about, cuz you know what that means? That's right... I am in the game, baby!

A lot has changed since I started this blog in August 2012. My boys were 2 and 5 years old. They are 9 and 12 year old pre-teens now. It's a whole new world of worries to unpack and I can't wait to do it right here.

Short Letter to My Late Father

Hi Dad. 

It’s been a little while. Two years to be exact. I wanted to take this time to thank you for being my dad. I know it wasn’t easy for you to be a father.  It’s not even clear to me that you wanted to be one. I asked mom one time when I was young, why you both adopted kids. It didn’t really seem like either of you particularly even liked kids. She said “That’s what people are supposed to do, have kids.”

I wish I knew you better, Dad...

Life with a Fat Shamer

Growing up my mom would make comments about other people’s weight all the time. She said things like “that person could stand to lose a few pounds” and “they should try skipping a meal once and a while.” She once told me that a bulimic TV actress “just needed to grow-up and lose some weight.” If a person wasn’t super skinny— to her that meant they were fat. These are the beliefs that shaped my own body image. Every time my mom made a disparaging comment about someone else’s weight, I internalized it. I grew up ashamed of my body and my extra weight.