Imagine taking your family on a year-long trip around the world. Kathrin Spaccarelli and her husband Nathan did just that with their two boys from September 2013 to September 2014. A longtime love of traveling, plus a desire to introduce their boys to friends and familiar places in Japan (where both Kathrin & Nathan lived…
Planning
August Bucket List Life Dare: Seize the Summer Moment
It’s August. Our school district is clamoring for my attention again with registration forms in the mail and orientation reminders in my inbox. As much as I want to ignore it and pretend my mornings will forever be blissfully quiet with kids sleeping late, summer is winding down. School will be starting again. Soon. And…
New Monthly Blog Feature: The Bucket List Life Dare
It’s one thing to dream about and discuss our bucket lists. But we hit a whole new level of life experience when we take action, any action. Which is why I am introducing a new monthly feature here on my blog: the Bucket List Life Dare. This week my family celebrates two transitions: my middle…
The Date Night Passport: A Bucket List for You & Your Sweetheart
The last date night I had with my husband was the day after Thanksgiving. He won tickets to Muriel Anderson’s annual hometown concert. So the two of us went. It was an evening of fantastic harp guitar music with accompaniment by artists Paul Wertico (from the Pat Metheny Group) and Jeff Coffin of Dave Matthews…
Holiday Helps for Harried Moms
It’s the most exhausting time of year! For moms the duties of kid schlepping, meal cooking, and overall household management, are joined by holiday baking, gift buying, card sending, and party coordinating. Put it all together and you end up with many mothers who are barely surviving. I’m right there with them! Why does it end up…
A Crisis Self-Care Plan For Moms
During a recent months-long crisis in our household, I surprised myself with how much strength I had as a mom. I gave myself to caring for my family like never before. But I also stretched myself thin, emotionally and mentally. I went to bed drained more nights than not. When others reached out with offers…
Why You Need to Rethink Social Media This Spring Break
We’re a connected society. Ellen DeGeneres’s record-breaking 2014 Oscars Twitter selfie is just one proof. We text, tweet, pin and post our way through our days. We browse, troll and read too. It keeps us in touch and informed. We can be supportive and get support. But there comes a time when social media usage can…
Seasonal Bucket List… Or Activity List?
Are you working your way through a “Winter Bucket List” right now? Have you been putting ideas down for a “Spring Bucket List”? It’s time we set the record straight on seasonal lists and what we call them. Because the name really does make a difference – in what goes on the list and in…
It’s Time
One question for you as we approach the new year: what is it time for? Instead of setting yourself a list of self-improvement goals that are bound to produce more guilt than change (if the statistics are right), take an optimistic approach. Think about the different goals or outings or classes you’ve had in mind…
Meal Planning, Pet Choosing, and Other Helps for Moms
Today I’m staring down two bushels of apples waiting to be cooked and pureed. That can only mean one thing: it’s fall. Cranking out our own fresh applesauce is a favorite (if time-consuming) tradition in our household. We also love jumping in leaf piles and visiting corn mazes. There’s so much to savor about autumn….