Since November I've started and stopped many drafts about how I feel about the current state of American politics.   I'm mad. I'm angry. I'm pissed off. And I've been mad, angry, and pissed off since I was 7 and told God had made a mistake giving such a brain to a girl as it would be wasted.   And as the weeks have gone by, I've gotten madder. Angrier. More pissed off than I have ever been before.     I've battled against conventions whispering then screaming in my head: Never discuss Money, Politics, or Religion in public or polite conversation.   And I'm tired. Tired of being quiet. Tired of waiting politely for my turn. Tired of being frustrated that a world where all humans have the same rights to life (health, food, and shelter), liberty, and the pursuit of happiness is nothing more than a pipe dream or a hope.   So I'm going to stop skirting around the subject--the elephant in the room.   I'm going to talk politics. Today and in the...

Later this month new literature, The Art of Having It All: A Woman's Guide to Unlimited Abundance, will be adding to the Having It All debate. And from its dust jacket, I'm realistic that this will be just one more source exhorting women of the evils of choosing parenthood over a path to an executive office.     How do you manage to "have it all"?   Why is Having It All so enticing? Because no one wants to have to chose. We all want to believe everything and anything is possible. What follows are my thoughts on whether Having It All is a myth or an obtainable reality.  

My relationship with fashion has been one filled with tension and contradiction. I'd watch old movies with Katherine Hepburn, Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly, Marlene Dietrich, Elizabeth Taylor, and I want to be like them. Unabashed. In control of whatever room they walked into. Unafraid. Confident.     At the time, I formed an opinion of who they were as women from the clothes their characters wore. Later as I studied the women, reading biography after biography, I learned that they were trailblazers and actively shaped the clothing their characters wore. Attire mirrored and magnified their personalities. And even more than ever I wanted to be like them.   How do you define your style?  

Recently I've started thinking about the media I take in based on the revelation by Karen of Chookooloonks that she follows a " curated media diet ." At the same time, to be original and to maintain an authentic voice, I strive to consume media different from other lifestyle bloggers. Yet I'm finding I don't like the amount of filtering and censoring I'm having to do with some magazines. Do you filter what your family reads?     One magazine that I decided to give a chance after being offered a Klout Perk was The Red Bulletin Magazine . I was initially skeptical, thinking it would be a magazine solely of interest to "bros." Each month I decided to keep an open mind and for the most part have been pleasantly surprised and found inspiration to pursue one's passions and to carve new paths. However, the consistent objectification of females has me deciding not to renew my subscription.   Review: The Red Bulletin Magazine The Good: I discovere...

Farmer's markets present a plethora of amazing produce to choose from. As a visual person, I'm often drawn to colors and shapes before I even know what something is or how to cook with it. If you're like me and find yourself with a bag full of farm fresh produce and no idea what to cook, you'll want to have a few references on hand to help you out. I've found the easiest way to learn how to do something is to just dive in. Sure you'll make a few mistakes here and there, but once you've got some basics mastered, you'll be just fine. The same goes with whipping up recipes on the fly--a must have skill if you're looking to eat more local, in season ingredients.   A pile of ingredients fresh from your CSA box or the farmer's market is like a blank page. If you're a writer, you get past your writer's block by just starting to type. For me, when I'm overwhelmed by a pile of ingredients, I start by focusing on one and picking up a cookboo...

One summer time (actually all year round) activity anyone can participate in regardless of Internet access or mobile devices is reading. And, most cities have at least one public library where you can check out books for free. As parents we need to turn our families onto reading. Growing up books were never further than an arm's reach away. Every room had at least one floor-to-ceiling bookcase, if not more. My favorites were anything from the Time-Life Foods of the World series, especially those countries that my grandfather traveled to regularly for work. I firmly believe this unlimited access coupled with my dad reading out loud to the family a chapter or two from a book is why I'm still an avid reader to this day.   We began reading to Gates when she was in the womb, probably like most parents these days, and we have continued this practice. (Nurturing a love of reading in Gates is so important to us that we even included it in last year's Summer Bucket List Challeng...

Gates loves to read; rather she loves to be read to. On a given day, she'll have us read to her over thirty stories. Lately the stories that she's having us read "again" are those where the starring character is a mouse. So it's no surprise that for her upcoming birthday party, she wants it to include mice. In two days, Gates turns two. And in six days, friends and family will join Gates as she celebrates her birthday. When asked what she wanted for her birthday, she replied Mice, Alphabet, and pink cake. Lest you think this is another Disney-inspired birthday party, let me introduce you to the mice Gates hangs out with. These critters are far from their animated Disney cousins.   Gates' "Mickey Mouse" is a wooden pink-eared mouse that came with a pull-along train manufactured by Goula. When Gates first got the train last year, she was more interested in dumping the passengers from the train. In fact, every time she saw the mouse, the cat, and th...

My earliest childhood memories are of weekend mornings. Me in the kitchen "helping" my mom with pancakes or waffles. Measuring. Stirring. Beating egg whites. Folding egg whites into the water.   So, it's only natural that I've had Gates already in the kitchen baking and helping "prepare" some of her meals. When I stumbled across Rise & Shine: A Challah-Day Tale ( *affiliate link ) I knew I had an opportunity for three generations of women to make a special memory.     Have you started a regular baking tradition with your little one?  

At any given moment, I have a pile of partially read and unread books and magazines sitting on my bedside nightstand. I typically choose a book or two around a theme that I want to explore more fully and eventually write about and to distill into a pithy 140 character or less soundbite for posting on my wall as motivational art. These quotes end up displayed on our kitchen counter for a week.     When cubes was in the hospital, I began posting weekly maxims for me to ponder with magnetic letters on a silver-platted serving tray in our kitchen. (An evolution of 2012's Sunday Scrambles for Gates Flickr series.) It started out as a way to express creatively how I was feeling: just add coffee and shaken not stirred to infuse a serious situation with a little humor.     cubes spent many a waking hour connecting to the world outside the hospital via social media; he began commenting on the maxims I was sharing on Instagram. Looking for subjects other than health or wo...

Holidays nowadays seem to be little more than an excuse for a shopping spree. And many mall stores now even feature decorations and gifts for Chanukah along side Christmas. (Something that wasn't true when I was a kid.) With this external focus on consumption, it's even more important to balance children's experiences.     When choosing Gates' gifts for Chanukah it was important that some be about the holiday and Jewish culture. Because Gates especially loves Shabbat and is now at the age where she wants to be involved, I also wanted a few Chanukah-related items that were interactive. A 31-piece wooden Chanukah Set by KidKraft ( *affiliate link ) and My First Menorah Book by Salina Yoon ( *affiliate link ) fit these requirements nicely.   An interactive Chanukah set was important as we didn't want Gates touching the lit candles of our family menorah. Before we gave this set to Gates (as we do with all toys and books since the Fisher-Price toy incident ) we open...

Finding children's books that keep Gates' attention and present values we approve of can be challenging. I've found it's not enough just to review the text. You also have to look at the images and what they might be conveying.     One book that Gates received for her birthday, My Friends by Taro Gomi, looks harmless at first glance. A strong female learning from the environment and those around her. In fact, this book is recommended in many pre-school and first grade curriculums to teach what it means to be a friend. One image has me less than thrilled that this book is used in school.   Now, Gates loved the book and had me read it multiple times in a row from cover to cover. As you read a book again and again in quick succession, you pay more attention to what you're reading and to what you're seeing. The image that really gave me pause has the text "I learned to play from my friends at school" and shows a boy pulling the girl's hair.     Now...

Ever just stood in your kitchen wondering what to cook? Staring into a stocked fridge and not seeing a recipe flash before your eyes? Opening and closing cabinets and not finding a solid jumping off point?   Stocking your pantry with some basics will help reduce this paralysis. (Last summer I talked about how I combined Farmer's Market picks with pantry items to restart our tradition of cooking together in the kitchen.) To get you started, here are some tips from James A. Beard as well as my basic pantry inventory.     When it comes to food the only way to save money is to plan ahead. Planning doesn't have to mean boring. In How To Eat Better For Less Money , James A. Beard states " [m]y underlying purpose in this book is to help you develop imagination and interest in your cooking without straining your budget. There is a flavorful, rewarding approach to inexpensive eating, but you have to work at it. ... [This book] presents an approach to food and cooking that wil...

Determining how to mindfully consume food is more challenging than you might think. When you've never looked at food as a budget item, how do you where to place your upper bound once you've eliminated (or reduced) delivery and eating out? Too low a number leaves you unsatisfied and hungry. Too high a number doesn't challenge you to really think about what you're putting on your plate and how it gets there.     If you're taking the HaveNotWant challenge for Lent , we're halfway through. Congratulations! Have you found it harder or easier than you thought?   Originally mindful consumption didn't cover food, as everyone needs to eat. After looking at our monthly food bills, mostly made up of delivery charges, I realized this was shortsighted and expanded my personal HaveNotWant challenge. And, discovered it's harder than it seems. I'm pretty sure everyone would agree that the convenience of delivery is a want not a need. But, is organic a want, not a...

Blogging is at the same time incredibly personal and in-your-face public. When I hit publish I never know whether or not someone will comment. I don't know whether people who read it think I'm crazy. So, when Holly Becker suggested giving our favorite bloggers a virtual hug , I was in.     Here are five bloggers who make my days brighter: Nicole of Making It Lovely : The first homework assignment of Blogging Your Way had us identify five blogs we read that we couldn't be like. I loved Nicole's blog for how open she was about her life. In my journal, I noted I couldn't be like her because I didn't have children and I wasn't likely to own a home in this lifetime. Since then, I've taken two Blogging Your Way classes that Nicole co-taught. I've learned so much from her; where this blog is today is due to her help and guidance. (At Alt, I got incredibly tongue tied and barely managed to say thank you.) Kathleen of Jeremy and Kathleen : I knew Kathlee...

I traveled extensively throughout the world when I was six. I was an armchair traveler and my vehicle was Time-Life's Foods of The World cookbook series . Today's indoor adventure? Armchair traveling!     Now for this indoor adventure, armchair traveling, you don't have to own regional cookbooks or travel guides, you just need access to your local library or the Internet. The San Francisco Public Library system actually has most of Time-Life's series in its stacks. If you'd rather have your own copy, visit a local used bookstore or head to eBay or Etsy where you can find a volume or two for under $10.     This adventure is good for all ages, and the best part? If you don't know how to cook you can still participate.   These first few steps apply to both adventures: Pick your country. Choose a movie either about your country or set in your country. For Europe, you have A Room with A View (Netflix Streaming), In Search of History: The Knights Templar (Netf...