20 Things to Do When School Is Cancelled
Well, so. No school tomorrow. Last week was frightfully busy and my family is still recovering from the craziness of my fall travel, so this weekend I told myself, Don't work! Play with Jon and the girls! Work can wait until Monday! We enjoyed a lovely, lazy weekend and now here we are, with Monday (and possibly Tuesday) off. Part of me is a bit freaked out about all of the work I need to tend to, and part of me realizes I just need to embrace the adventure. So I thought I'd garner some inspiration from my own archives and also share them with you. Many of the ideas are fun to do with the kids while also being somewhat productive! Here's to hoping we've got power...and stay safe everyone!
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Our final site visit in Ethiopia represented the awesome and the ironic. 
Come this Saturday, three of my sisters will have married within seven months (!), and each celebration has served as a lovely way to reconnect with extended family. Which has prompted me to revisit my 
Today, 
Today, 
Good morning friends -- I hope you had a great weekend! For the first time in what seems to be a long time, we found the perfect blend of relaxed family time, focused grownup conversation time, new adventures (roller skating!), reconnecting with old friends, taking care of household chores, and even some work time for me. It sounds like a lot but weirdly, it all came together in a very easy way and didn't ever feel as if we were pushing too hard. I need to bottle up whatever it was we did to make that happen! Meanwhile, I hope you're gearing up for a great week -- here are some handy/fun ideas to consider in this week's 
Hello everyone -- I hope you have fantastically relaxing plans for the Memorial Day long weekend! We're going to be staying local and keeping it low key since June will be a bit crazy, but at the very least, yummy food and fun and games with Laurel and Violet are on the docket. (Admittedly, hopefully we'll also chip away a bit at some household to do's.) Meanwhile, I thought I'd share 12 bits of web awesomeness to entertain you over the long weekend. Enjoy! 
I had a fantastic time chatting with Paige Lewin of 
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One thing I have procrastinated on for over two years is hanging pictures in our home. But thanks to inspiration from a recent Life.Style episode (re: 
I'm not sure whether it's due to our full docket of holiday entertaining over the next couple of weeks or pure maternal nesting mode, but I've been tackling a lot of home projects lately. And last weekend, I became obsessed with the need to repaint a console table that, ironically, I last painted when I was pregnant with Laurel. And given that I'm 
Wow, I learned so much via my amazing guests on 
Last week I had the pleasure of being in on a joint blogger interview with the talented (and adorable) 
If you didn't have a chance to watch 
I'm not sure what my problem is, but I'm having the hardest time wrapping my brain around the fact that Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday!) is next week. If you also need help getting in the holiday spirit, and/or want to pick up some awesome tips and inspiration, tune in to 
Today, parent educator 
Here are some links that caught my eye this week, and that I curated over at 
Even though we've been in our home for two years, we're still not completely settled, and one area of the house that troubled me for a long time was our dining room. We have one big wall and I had no idea what to do with it. A single sideboard seemed pricey while not filling the space and what I really needed was a lot of storage to accommodate the contents of Laurel's open bookcase (that was exploding with art supplies), and other platters and vases and things. I recently hit on the perfect storage solution and several visitors have since asked me for the specifics about our setup so I thought I would share it here.
Oh the irony of sleep: parents love it and long for more and kids resist it. Either way, pretty bedding helps create a welcoming environment (and yes, I've used cool bedding to make Laurel's bed more enticing for sleep). Whether you're looking for bedding sets, or need a top to bottom room makeover (furniture, décor, etc.), check out 
I recently started helping my web savvy friend 
Next month will mark the second year of living in our not so new, new house, and we are just getting around to hanging things on the wall. Seriously. Part of the delay is attributable to uncertainty (and repeated testing) about where furniture should finally land, and part because some wall hangings required crafting. A couple of weeks ago I finally got around to assembling inspiration boards for my office and my workspace is now approaching a cosmic level of awesome. Read on for the how-to; these boards would be great in other areas of the home as well.
Jon and I are all about everyday teaching moments with Laurel, apparently even when it comes to assembling a 
Now that December is here I’m ready to embrace the holidays, and over the years I’ve found that Christmas décor is actually really easy. Once the tree is up, a pretty tree skirt and some festive stockings go a long way in creating the mood. And if you love having these elements (and more) coordinated just so, consider 
Today, 
When first tasked to buy baby gear, it can be challenging to navigate the options; in particular the tradeoff between investing in more expensive long term solutions vs. inexpensive short term solutions. I tend to gravitate towards the former, and am particularly drawn to items (e.g., our 
No matter the size of one's home, I believe in maintaining a minimalist, small space mentality given that the less you have, the less overwhelmed you'll be by your stuff. (I chant the mantra "one thing in, one thing out.") In my latest 
Oh, 
There’s something to be said for paying for an experience; say, first class airline tickets, a meal at a chic restaurant that will stow luggage while you shop (as did 
My passion for color truly blossomed during my postdoctoral fellowship (where I felt rather confined within grey cinderblock walls), and whether I'm perusing clothing, paper, décor, or textiles, I gravitate towards bold, modern, and pretty patterns. So it’s no wonder I adore Boston-based 
I’m thrilled to introduce new contributor 
As someone who likes things to be just so (yet periodically frets about permanence), I can’t help but love 
Today, 
And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:
Despite the fact that Laurel wakes up in time to her internal clock, she’s recently become interested in learning to tell time and asked for an alarm clock bedside. I wasn’t about to deter her interest in routine, and thus was thrilled to learn about the 
If you’re looking to transform a room instantly without breaking a sweat (or your pristine walls), consider wall decals, one of the most brilliant décor inventions ever. 
As an avid list maker, I start each day by jotting down 1-2 major and several minor (read: easy) to do items for the day. But I used to do this on envelope backs or scrap paper; basically, on sheets that quickly got buried under other things on my desk. That is, until I discovered the perfect solution in 
Babies respond best to black and white, and kids love animals, so why not outfit the nursery - or any room in your home really - with a super cool safari print from 
And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:
You can never have enough clutter taming tools in the toy room, and today, locally based 
Life is meant to be lived joyfully every day, and for parents looking for ways to translate this basic – but sometimes lost – principle to their children, there’s 
I have this thing about wall fixings. If I’m going to commit with nail and hammer, the item must be cool, meaningful, and/or relatively timeless; or even better, it’s multifunctional. And for parents looking for wall décor off the beaten path, 
And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners: 
As the mama of a round-the-clock little artist, I’m always looking for interesting ways to post or preserve Laurel’s work. And the 
And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:
Whether it’s due to laziness, a desire to not rush the process, or not having a 2nd child waiting for the crib (one of my girlfriends needed to transition her older daughter early to a big girl bed when #2 was on the way, and the older child responded by climbing into the crib, removing her diaper, and leaving an unpleasant surprise…), it occurs to me that we’ve had a tendency to let Laurel’s growth - or, let’s face it, claustrophobia – determine her nest transitions. 
And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:
And now for our weekly dose of web highlights from some of our stylish blog partners:
Whether you share my status as an apartment dweller with walls made challenging to adorn by aged plaster or attic-level angling, or simply want a blissfully easy kid’s décor solution, check out 
As someone now professionally obsessed with color and fabric, one of my aesthetic regrets from Laurel’s babyhood is that I didn’t properly outfit her crib. All the individual bedding component options (and their price tags) quickly overwhelmed me; so Laurel didn't have much else other than a lonely little crib sheet and blanket. 
by Jessica Seinfeld, a cookbook to help get veggies into your kids (check back for our review in the coming weeks!). 
and 
, the Doodle Desk features a pine veneer which is remarkably easy to clean: most child-friendly markers and paints wash right off."
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