A conversation with a friend reminded me that it's time for another round of Podcasts I'm Digging (see part 1 for the first batch of 5 recommendations). As I've mentioned, podcasts are so great for listening on the go or around the house and today's picks have accompanied me during many running miles. I hope you'll check them out and also tune into Asha and my weekly Edit Your Life podcast! Enjoy, and feel free to share your recommendations via the comments!A conversation with a friend reminded me that it's time for another round of Podcasts I'm Digging (see part 1 for the first batch of 5 recommendations). As I've mentioned, podcasts are so great for listening on the go or around the house and today's picks have accompanied me during many running miles. I hope you'll check them out and also tune into Asha and my weekly Edit Your Life podcast! Enjoy, and feel free to share your recommendations via the comments!
Tops on my birthday list were these watercolor brush pens + spiral bound watercolor journal, which I gratefully received from my in-laws. Laurel and Violet immediately pounced on them upon opening, so it wasn't until last weekend that I finally had a chance to sit down and experiment. Here's my first picture; I think I'll stave off the winter doldrums by painting pretty flowers! It was so fun to get lost in color -- I highly recommend you try it!
Reading ought to be fun, but can sometimes be a stressful topic for parents. In Episode 13 of Edit Your Life, I interview Amy Mascott, co-author of Raising a Rock-Star Reader, a nonjudgmental book loaded with quick tips for busy parents. Listen in to hear: why you need not correct your kids’ speech, a clever way to teach kids literacy using your phone (what?), how to help reluctant readers, how to balance your own reading time and reading with older kids, and whether or not to monitor content.
Ah, e-mail. I still remember the excitement around discovering e-mail in college (and printing out e-mails on the dot matrix printer...what?!). E-mail is so convenient in many ways and yet so overwhelming in others (these two things are most certainly related). In Episode 12 of Edit Your Life, Asha and I share 10 tips to get a handle on your inbox, become more efficient at managing your e-mail, and free yourself of digital and emotional clutter.
Halloween is supposed to be fun and simple but for many families it’s evolved into a source of excess stress and expense. Let’s just take it down several notches, shall we? In Episode 11 of Edit Your Life, Asha and I share 7 tips -- ranging from big picture perspective shifts to tactical strategies around costumes, decor, and dealing with candy -- to help you de-stress your Halloween. (Added bonus? You get to hear what Asha sounds like when she's punchy!)
Last week at Wayfair's Heart Home conference, I had the pleasure of hearing Maxwell Ryan (of Apartment Therapy) speak. And the experience was a good reminder of why it's so important to get out and see/meet people (I mean, I know this to be the case but clearly sometimes I forget!). I've known about Apartment Therapy forever, but it wasn't until I heard Maxwell speak that I truly became invested in the brand. Does that make sense?
Though I've known about podcasts for a long time, I didn't start listening regularly until the spring -- partially because it became a boredom busting solution for me during playground outings where Vi would just want me to endlessly push her in the swing, and partially because of my excitement about the Edit Your Life podcast. And now, well, I'm obsessed! Podcasts are so great to listen to while commuting, puttering around the house, exercising, etc.
Birthday parties ought to be fun, but for many parents, kids birthday parties have evolved into expensive, exhausting, and grump-inducing events. (I'm speaking from experience as a recovering grumped out, giant birthday party hostess!) In Episode 9 of Edit Your Life, Asha and I share 8 tips to help you get past the birthday party “shoulds,” tune into what you and your kids actually enjoy, and keep celebrations focused on the fun, not the stress.
Amy Cody (Parent Education Manager at Planned Parenthood League of Massachusetts) has been incredibly generous in sharing her educational expertise over the last few months (be sure to read her articles on how to talk to kids/teens about sex and relationships, pornography, and consensual sex) and I'm thrilled that she was receptive to sharing her wisdom about how to talk to kids about sexual orientation and gender identity.
The task of finding time for yourself can seem daunting, particularly when it can be challenging to -- well -- pee without the company of your children. One of the keys to shifting your perspective and daily experience is to find your fringe hours. In Episode 8 of Edit Your Life, I interview Jessica Turner about how to edit guilt and comparison out of your life, the elusive struggle for balance, why it’s hard to ask for help (and how to get over that!), and mindreading (or lack thereof) -- all to the effect of making room for the things in life that bring you joy.
Have you heard of the Global Goals? They are 17 global goals for sustainable development, due to be officially adopted at the UN Sustainable Development Summit this week in New York. The goals seek to achieve 3 critical things in the next 15 years: 1) end extreme poverty, 2) fight inequality and injustice, and 3) fix climate change. It's an ambitious agenda, yes, but it's worth being ambitious if you look at what's been achieved in the last 15 years.
Social calendar overwhelm is a common problem for many people, and the problem can grow as you get older and your social circle -- and family -- expands. In Episode 7 of Edit Your Life, Asha and I share 7 tips for how to juggle existing social commitments, including why it’s worth making room to explore new relationships, and why it’s perfectly OK to let old relationships drift. It's super easy to listen -- right here through this blog post or via an app on your device. Enjoy!
Laurel has for sure inherited my obsession with all things gold. Her birthday wish list only included a handful of items, and most of them were pretty gold things from Paper Source. I love Paper Source -- I worked at the Cambridge location for a short stint while I was waiting for my postdoctoral funding to come through and it was such an awesome experience! Violet and I had fun shopping there for Laurel’s birthday; the wealth of gold gift options inspired this post.
If your schedule is jam-packed to the max, there’s no room for unexpected awesome to happen. In Episode 6 of Edit Your Life, Asha and I introduce the concept of surrounding work and play with “serendipity space,” including 5 strategies for creating serendipity space in your life. And if you haven't done so yet, listen to our episodes on simplifying back to school, conquering procrastination, why it's awesome to edit your life, school lunch solutions, and how to deal with devices! We'd love to keep you company while you commute, do laundry, etc.!
I’ve always been a fan of public libraries, but this summer -- save when we were on vacation -- I took the girls every single week, and it was awesome, both for them and for me! During the summer I queried on Facebook, asking for books that were “stay up late by flashlight reading” awesome. Here are 55 resulting picks! I’ve smartened up since my 80 and 100 booklist posts, and below list the titlesalphabetically by author so it’s easy to zip through the stacks. And of course Amazon links are provided below if you’d prefer to load up your cart!