Dana Burland

It doesn’t actually feel like I left the house in 2021. Surely I did… to get the mail, milk and bread. I wore a mask this year. I wore pajamas. I drank a lot of coffee and never felt more energized. I got a new fancy stove-top coffee gizmo for Christmas. It reminds me to be slow and steady. My garden absolutely boomed. In late August we ate cucumbers with every meal. I also grew one peony. We found the best big and small (Myers Lake Park in Rockford) lake spots this year. I bought myself beautiful cut peonies. We traveled twice (legit, out of state traveling). Saw friends maybe three times. Saw family more. I started a new job. It was a big, wildly uncomfortable, completely brilliant, wonderfully-life-altering-for-my-family leap which, at only 3 months in, has resulted in more professional happiness than I’ve felt in years. I bought a lot of stuff off Amazon. Washable markers. The next size up in little boy shoes, and the next, and the next. Drill bits. A portable mini campfi...

Feliz Navidad Police Navidad Police Navidad Próspero año y policidad Police Navidad Firetruck Navidad Police Navidad Próspero año o muchos vehiculos I wanna wish you a merry Christmas I wanna wish you a (teddy) beary Christmas I wanna wish you race car Christmas From the bottom of my heart I wanna wish you a transformers Christmas I wanna wish you a Lego Christmas I wanna wish you a Spiderman Christmas From the bottom of my heart Police Navidad Ambulance Navidad Firetruck Navidad And every service vehicle you can dream of

Today, sweet little A, you’re two-years-old. The last two years have really felt like 20 with what they’ve brought in terms of stress, change and uncertainty. But you, little A, you’ve been a roll-with-the-punches, sweet little glowing light in our lives. We’ve watched you completely and flawlessly adapt to any and all situations–be that outgrowing stomach troubles and jaundice as a newborn, a global health pandemic, or the occasional pandemic-like intensity of your older brother. Lately we’ve been marveling every day when you wake up bigger, bolder and coming into your own. You’ll firmly tell me “I DO IT!” as you insist on using your whole body to climb into the car and onto your car seat at daycare pick up. I try to give you the space, standing in the cold as you take your time, just so I can hear the sweet sentiment of pride when you get there: “I did it!” You express such strong opinions at times, like when we snort to mimic the sound of a pig and you correct us by saying...

Boy did our boys have a great Hanukkah this year. Every night we lit the candles and said the prayers together. By the 6th night C had the prayers nearly memorized. After the candles were lit we opened one of 8 paper chain links–each one with something special for that night. This year’s paper chain items included things like: movie night, present night, dance party, cookie baking and pick toys to donate night. The big present for both boys were new Legos and a Lego table semi-built by Mom. It’s special to see the boys both “get it” more, and also wide-eyed learning. Personally I love Hanukkah. There’s so much excitement and fun, plus I can’t ever get over how calm and beautiful the candles look when they’re glowing bright. I know the boys felt that this year, too.

There's a direct correlation between how I'm doing and how my occasional Mr. Toast Faces turn out. I'd say right now I'm doing pretty good. 

Right now we’re happy and tired and hopeful. After a year and a half COVID isn’t as scary as it once was. We’ve learned to navigate around it, also our fear tank has run dry. We grit our teeth behind our masks and do the best we can. We’re not quite there yet. Our boys are too young to be vaccine eligible. There is no deep, or semi deep breath, for us as parents. I’m still sad for what the boys are missing out on because of our comfortability/safety. I’m still nervous about the things we are doing, navigating a big gray void of caution and wondering where a landmine might be if I overstep. I’m still annoyed every time I’m juggling two kids, a diaper bag, water bottles, snacks, The Special Blankie, putting shoes on, to get out the door and have to remember the damn masks. I’m more annoyed when I’m juggling all those things and physically sweating as I have to keep my face covered--and even worse when we’re somewhere like the doctor’s office where A is SO nervous, clinging to me l...

The weather was great, the company was great and the costumes were great. We had such an epic Halloween this year. C was old enough to get it, and had the stamina to back it up. With a friend the two boys ran non-stop up to 50+ houses, trick-or-treating for 1.5 hours total before coming home to eat a second dinner and pass out. He was Spiderman this year, as were 3 other boys in his class. What a big year for Spideys everywhere. My littlest, A, was a puppy dog, who only sort of understood the entire concept. He did like going up to houses for candy, even if it was a little scary, and was very sad his sucker was taken away from him at bedtime.  I loved hosting our family friends again for the holiday. This year's big food hits were "goblin juice" (colored lemonade), breadstick snakes and Meijer spinach dip spooned into a bell pepper to look fancy. Which by the way very much makes it "my recipe". 

We’re back from an extra long weekend in Charleston with good friends of ours. Any little parenting break is a good break, but Charleston was exceptionally fun to breathe in. We spent the first two days at Folly Beach, an eclectic little Atlantic beach town where we could walk across the street to the ocean or down to the main tourist-filled drag. I’m a lake girl through and through but the expansive rolling waves, tide pools, crunchy shells and stellar sunrises were so relaxing. Folly Beach reminded me of so many little Michigan beach towns—with more of a tiny-bathing-suits-and-cheap-plastic-trinkets lean. Taco Boy, Bert's Market (do not sleep on their chocolate cake!), Lost Dog Cafe and Center Street Coffee Shop were my favorite stops in town. Rita’s makes the best margaritas (we collectively decided) and Blue (restaurant in the Tides hotel) had the best ocean-side dining. We did a low-country kayak trip and saw dolphins about 30 yards away! (That definitely made up for an aw...

It’s always bittersweet to shut the garden down for the year. On one hand I always feel very done with it. Produced out. Overwhelmed by the overwhelming plants. Ready to put it (and myself) to rest. But it also ends the fun of seeing what will grow, how much produce there will be. What this year’s challenges, wins and flops are. The garden fence, caging my tomatoes and growing cucumbers were the headlining wins from this year’s garden. I did a decent job of planting so nothing was growing on top of each other, and crops that could be removed early (snap peas, green beans) left more room for the later expanders (tomatoes). I definitely messed up planting two of the same variety of tomato plants. Next year I should get one larger heirloom tomato plant and one cherry tomato plant. I might not mess around with planting watermelon next year--these were massively full of seeds and just not a big win for my fam. I’d like to give broccoli a better try, but will leave carrots to the profess...

561 days ago I got word I should work from home. Since then staying home has and hasn’t been constant. Over the top of my computer I’ve seen the front yard pile up with snow, I’ve seen it melt, dry out and dew on the morning grass freeze over again. I’ve spent months with a 15 second commute to my computer. I’ve been into a physical office so infrequently in the last 1.5 years that I’ve had to retrain myself in a morning routine–what time do I need to wake up again? Do I even fuss with eyeliner anymore? The answer is no. I absolutely do not fuss with eyeliner anymore. For months I worked in our finished basement, at a lovely built-in office area that we oooh'ed and ahh'ed at when we first bought the house. But when I was the last standing WFH employee of this household I moved to the kitchen table so I could enjoy some natural light. Since then I’ve parked my big comfy Steelcase office desk chair in the corner of the playroom during off hours. I’ve worked at a foldin...

This month I closed a big career chapter and started a new one. After eight years at Steelcase, I’m switching gears to work at Bissell. First, can I get a standing ovation for Steelcase? Those were eight really great and professionally impactful years. When I joined full time in 2013 I had a hunch there was more to our web experiences than what vendors, limited analytic data and our gut feel were telling us. I was the first to employ user feedback (surveys, mining customer service themes and running user testing interviews) to insightfully point us in a direction that matched user’s expectations. User testing specifically became a fast passion of mine. With Steelcase’s support, I got certified in user testing through an outside industry expert (Nielsen Norman Group). I brought back a robust tool box of methods for listening intently to our users. I sharpened my ability to make recommendations internally to meet our business goals and better our experiences. I worked under a manag...

Ok, let’s look on the bright side of our annual family-of-four weekend away first: A rainy forecast which let up and brought us to a hands-on kids museum which truly rocked The little boys bunked up in the same room marvelously New playgrounds and shops; plus introducing someone to Oreos at a bonfire But to be honest our Labor Day weekend away in Manistee was riddled with chaos. Accidental spilled drinks and shattered little maple leaf jars of farmer’s market maple syrup. Winds so strong we couldn’t play at the sandy beach. A first splinter. A family bout of food poisoning. Still I know the boys had fun. And in the midst of it all, including a fall on the playground, the little one waddled over to give the big one a hug; which warmed the big one’s heart so much he ran over and hugged the little one again. I’d go through the whole weekend again for that sweet moment. I suppose you can’t win them all. It feels good to be home.

It’s fall as far as I’m concerned. Temps have dropped, it’s dark out when I wake up and my husband is talking about football again. If you were a fly on my wall (perhaps like the actual one that got in from the garage, ack!) you’d see my happily scampering over to a new season. I’ve plugged in my two inside self timer lamps again. Now the house has some light in the morning and again at night when it gets dark. It’s a little something to combat the oncoming darkness. Also can I tell you about Crockpot chicken enchiladas? I made these once and they’ll definitely be in rotation for a while. Here’s how I made them: In a Crockpot put about a pound of chicken breasts and enough jarred salsa to let them bathe but not submerge in. Cook on low for 7.5 hours. Once chicken is cooked, it should shred like a breeze. That, plus shredded cheese is a fast filling for chicken enchiladas. Roll ‘em up in tortillas, snuggle them in a baking pan, top with canned enchilada sauce and more cheese an...

This past weekend we unlocked a level of parenting: taking two kids to The Big Beach. Lake Michigan is a tad under a 1-hour drive from our house. In total the drive, the stuff, the nap schedules, feeding schedules, the direct sun, the big waves and the haul of crap through the sand from the parking lot to the water put this excursion in an off-limits category for us for awhile. More recently, it felt do-able. We tried it with my fam a few weekends ago, and explored Kirk Park . The trek to the beach was on a mostly paved trail through the woods, and the beach itself was good, but quite steep and narrow. Reports from those who trekked said the scenic overlook 9 million stairs above was beautiful, but there was a mild black fly problem. This past weekend we went to Tunnel Park . I think this place is the ticket. The beach was wider, water shallower with lots of curves breaking up the waves. There was more room for a breeze so no black flies. Tunnel trek from parking lot to beach was s...

My sweet, first friend from Pennsylvania, running partner, bridesmaid, career advice swapper, and all around life cheerleader, Jill got married to equally fantastic Dave this past weekend. I can't talk about it or I'll cry. I'm a wedding cryer now, did you know that about me? And not an eyes-welling-up-gently, but sobbing when it's not even really appropriate. I simply cannot be within a mile of someone who I love having the happiest day and looking so beautiful and being showered by amazing life-committing vows from someone else who loves them, as their vows stated: in every lifetime . You're crying a little now too, aren't you? Anyway. I only avoided needing Ben to hold a beach towel under my eyes because my dear, sweet, lovely, wonderful friend Jill asked me to read a passage during the ceremony. I'm simultaneously forever honored, grateful it kept me emotionally in check and still in a state of panic for needing to speak publicly while emotional.  The re...

C, You’re 4 today. 4 whole years of growth and change and new daycare rooms and survival during a global health pandemic. But when I wake you up each morning, you still stretch the way you did when you were 4 weeks old. Lips pursed, shoulders scrunched, arms flexed up near your ears like you might burst. And then you do. Bursting awake and ready to take the day on with demands, ideas, dreams, requests for chocolate chips and “short videos” and stories of all the cars you’d like to own and how each of them always have enough room for the “wholllllle family”. We’ve seen so much of your personality and light, but you’re still so little and have so much more to grow. I love being your ambassador through this wild world, but love even more everything you show me.

At bedtime me and C sneak into the garden and pick snap peas off the vine to crunch. We’ve almost picked the last ones for the season. Maybe next we’ll hit up my bucket of carrots or parse through the big leaves for green beans. Typically in mid-July my garden goes off the rails. It’s too hot to manage and every big rain multiplies everything by 9. Things go unruly and untamed. Fruit ripens and rots on the vine. It becomes a project for tear out in September. But this year, I’ve got a handle on it. It’s probably because of the unseasonably cool temps. It’s certainly because I caged my tomatoes and strategically zone planted. It definitely is because my mom went wild weeding when she was visiting last weekend. The majority of plants aren’t ready yet: watermelon, cucumber, heirloom tomatoes, bell peppers, sweet peppers, carrots. We’ve only harvested herbs, snap peas, some green beans and one cherry tomato so far. I think we’re gonna hit a boom and need to open a roadside stand soon....

Well that was just overall a really great 4th of July weekend. It felt extra special to be with family, without concern, with the ability to wander around town mask-less and content.  My favorite parts both included water--pool and beach.  This was the first time we took our crew to the Big Beach for a day trip. We picked Kirk Park for our venture out, and it was excellent. It was a pretty, under-an-hour, drive out to a small-ish county park. Right off the parking lot were picnic tables, grills, a covered pavilion and nice bathrooms.  The beach was down a short, paved walkway through the trees. Along the route we passed the foot washing station, a permanent corn hole playing spot and even a station with kid's life jackets you could borrow.  Right before the beach there were a few spots where you could walk/hike, including a scenic overlook 50+ steps up. The beach itself is a pretty steep (but short) walk down a sand dune. There's not a ton of space--maybe 30ft or so-...

Big news for your Tuesday afternoon: I've just launched a new section of my blog called " Local Favorites ". It's a list of places we like to explore as a family. I have a feeling my blog traffic is going to go up like wildfire from my own reference on a Friday night when B and I look at each other and say "what do you want to do this weekend?" I'll keep this list updated as we venture to new places!

Me again coming in hot with advice no one asked for. Do you have a new-mom friend in your life? Here are my tips for supporting this special lady: Ask--and make “yes” easy Can I bring Panera over this week? Would you like me to take Older Sibling out for donuts sometime to free you up? I’m headed to Target before our visit tomorrow--what can I pick up for you guys? Do you want your Tim Horton’s bread bowl filled with potato soup, Wendy’s chocolate milkshake and Chick-fil-A sandwich at 9am or 9:30am? Come as you are Company. Is. A. Huge. Gift. Do not undervalue sitting and talking. Talk over the crying baby if mom’s calm and talking over the crying baby. If you’re willing to hear about her birth experience, let her know you’re cool if she wants to share it. Starbucks & Amazon gift cards She needs and deserves fancy coffee. Baby needs a slew of last-minute things which will arrive next day. On food So many people bring over food. See if they need it, or when might be a go...

I love when people have babies--especially when those people are not me. The newborn days are hard, and more and more of my friends are experiencing that. While no one particularly asked for this, I feel compelled to jot down my tips for surviving the first few weeks. Here’s what I’d tell any new mom: All babies are born with a thing or things A crooked second toe, lumpy head, jaundice, goopy eye, weird belly button. All babies are born with a something that we now have the medicine/science we didn’t have when we were kids to scrutinize. Do not be alarmed. There will be a something, and it will be no big deal. You come out of childbirth with a thing or things You owe it to yourself to get some pelvic floor PT. Things will downshift into easier gears At first it’s all a lot, but at some point you’ll notice things get just a little easier, then easier again. Reprieve exists and you’ll get there in time. You don’t have to love it. Nor does your partner The exhausting newborn day...

This year’s strawberry season is my very favorite season. My little boys, like the berries, are just so ripe. Bursting with sweetness, power, personality. The boys match the berries in ruby redness from wild after-work outdoor play sessions. Fresh, not store bought, berries are not too big, just right to pop in your mouth one after another. And these boys right now, they fit perfectly in my embrace as I squeeze them until they pop over and over again. A’s cheeks are round and perfect like a prized strawberry. He’s 1.5 now, an age that’s so bold and so fleeting like berry season. We’re big into the sweet “bye-bye”s as he crinkles his chubby hand open and closed. There’s a lot of head, shoulder, knee and toe mimicking and plenty of exploring brother’s toys as he inches closer to them being able to actually play together. Cam is a complete little man. “Hey, these peas aren’t too bad, Mama!”, he’ll tell me. The other day when I told him I had to eat something before I could play with...

We’re back from a weekend away celebrating my little brother’s 30th birthday! I rented an AirBnB in East Tawas, a sweet little up north town none of us had wild familiarity with. It was great! Fun mini-golf, good shopping, beautiful beach weather and a nice big place to stay. There were so many really good parts to the weekend, but my favorite 4 were: Playing the Jeopardy game I made for my brother with trivia about him and surprise video clues from family and friends Family walks down the marina and pier and enjoying Lake Huron A chill beach afternoon chatting with my mom while the boys played beach games An all-in, all-weekend family debate over if my dad has ever used an electric toothbrush or not It’s the silly little things that are the best after all, aren’t they?

After 522 days away* I'm back to working in the office again. And honestly, it’s kind of nice! My little 15 minute commute gives me breathing room between Morning Mom™ to UX Professional. I’m actually now wondering how many 8:30am Teams calls I’ve joined over quarantine with my Mom Voice still in full effect. Oof. Being back in the office has been surprisingly nice. I’ve never had an assigned desk, but since returning I’ve had no trouble finding individual tucked away stations to work at. There still aren't a lot of people back, or at least not back at the same time, so I have the distance and distraction-less set up I want right now too. And I have the flexibility and respect I need to return comfortably. I’m in the office most days but finish up my work day back at home. I hope some mix of working from both locations stays my norm. In the last 522 days I’ve felt the most ease and happiness I’ve ever felt in balancing all my roles--mom, wife, homeowner, employee, team ...

    And they're off! Garden 2021 has officially begun.  Snap peas : only 1 of these grew. I tried re-sowing. They just didn't want to take. Carrots: growing these in the orange Home Depot bucket on the left. So far so good! Basil, parsley, rosemary & chives: All in the ground (bottom of the photo). And my perennial chives are up and flowering! Green beans : these are sowed in the brown open dirt line toward the middle left of the photo. I think I'm late in getting these in the ground, but we'll see how they do. Tomatoes: In the middle, in two cages, are my tomatoes. I have a cherry tomato and heirloom tomato variety. This is the first year I have my tomatoes in cages! (That's so embarrassing to type...). Eager to see how they do more tamed. Peppers: To the right of my tomatoes are two pepper plants. One is a bell pepper, one is a smaller sweet pepper which is new to me. Cucumbers: At the back, in *hopefully* enough space for them to sprawl, is a cucumber plant! ...

It’s not quite garden season in West Michigan yet, but things are really starting to pop up over here! You know about the garden fence , which so far seems to be doing its job in keeping any curious critters out. Inside the garden I have a singular snap pea shoot that’s sprouted. What happened to the rest of the row I planted at the same time? They’re nowhere to be found, but I suspect they didn’t get enough water. I think I’ll have luck with my late correction resowing the rest of the row as we’ve had very, very cool weather snap peas like. My chives are up and strong, and the carrots I planted in a 5 gallon bucket have sprouted! I tried these in the ground last year and they did nothing… I suspect because my soil was too dense. Inside I’ve started from seed: Cherry tomatoes Heirloom tomatoes Bell peppers Cucumber Broccoli Watermelon Everyone’s doing great! I just transferred a few seedlings to bigger pots, and the plants seem to be shocked. We’ll see how they grow within the ne...

Heyyyy, big news! I’ve got a garden fence! My fam visited this past weekend and went right to work helping me build a bomb garden fence. Honestly, we’re amateur builders at best; and honestly, this fence is pro level. And it’s needed because a week after I cleared the garden out I found a bunny den. UGH. Anyway. I went with wood 4x4s (which we concreted into place) and chicken wire. We also chicken wired the edge of the deck that serves as a garden wall. And we made a gate! A perfect gate! There was only one casualty in the form of a severed internet wire, but clearly as I post this we’re back in business with that. Man am I impressed with our efforts. Inside these chicken wire walls you’ll find my snap peas planted, chives in full force and a “raised bed” bucket where I’m giving carrots another go after last year’s failed attempt. All the way inside (the house) I have cherry tomatoes and heirloom tomatoes from seed sprouting nicely and newly planted watermelon, broccoli and ...

This is something I want to remember: going downtown, for the first time in over a year, to get my COVID vaccinations. I got both my shots at the DeVos Place Convention Center. I’ve been there with the masses (packed like sardines, can you believe?!) for ArtPrize; been in various huge convention rooms for things like the Food, Beer and Wine Festival and the West Michigan Home and Garden Show and have seen performances there, seated shoulder to shoulder with others. And now I can add I’ve been in this 162K square foot building, snaked in a long line, remaining 6ft away from anyone, with thousands, for my vaccinations. It felt weird to be downtown and weirder to be flocking in the same doors with the exact people I’ve been actively avoiding. Right when you come in you get a temperature check and shepherded into a line. I was pleasantly surprised at both my appointments that the line is nicely spaced out and never stops moving. There are plenty of volunteers to greet you and point y...

Did I put way too much effort into a simple 2-household Easter egg hunt gathering? Yeah, of course I did. We had our old neighbors over for a family Easter egg hunt and brunch. I made this spinach egg breakfast casserole that gets a bunch of thumbs up any time I make it, this new-to-me lemon blueberry bread (cough, cake) and this homemade ranch dip . I’m not even an insane ranch person, but I’d smear that dip on like night cream. I filled up a bunch of eggs with candy and my neighbor filled up a bunch more with stickers and little toys. I also bought 4 JUMBO eggs (one for each kid) with some dollar store type trinkets. The boys got a real hoot out of wandering the yard and hunting for eggs. The big boys were so kind, alerting each other when they found eggs to even out each others’ baskets. The little boys weren’t entirely sure what was going on, but seemed to understand pick up/clean up. When I was growing up our neighbors did an Easter egg hunt throughout 3-4 neighbor’s back...

Yellow tulips Bright, cheery, bold Stand tall and bend to the light in an optimistic search for brightness Yellow tulips Sat on my table 1 year ago, when we didn’t know, when we weren’t sure, when we hunkered down. Low, contained, closed When each day felt too heavy to start again Our home base constantly quaked We kept the kids home and worked around them while my working hours were slashed in half and uncertainty was all we knew Yellow tulips Remained constant on the center table of our home for weeks Making me smile through my clenched jaw, eyes heavy and bagged, mind racing and constantly bracing Yellow tulips Stand tall Bend toward the light Search for brightness I survived and am learning now. I’m taller. I’m bending. I’m searching. Nearly cherry Like you Yellow tulips

Guys, it's 2021–we’re not out of the darkness yet but there’s a lot of hope ahead.  Let’s get bangs. Let’s blow up our gardens and start from scratch. Let’s get crazy making homemade bread again. In my defense with the bangs thing, this seems to have been predetermined for me due to weird postpartum hair regrowth. I finally had a if-you-can’t-beat-em-join-em moment at the salon a few weeks ago. It’s working out so far. Now the garden… I'd call last year's garden a flop . The biggest drama was a gang of neighborhood animals getting to my produce before I could. This year I’m building a damn fence. Before the fence I needed to clear out what was there so I can start with a blank slate, which includes expanding from last year‘s footprint.  If we're going big enough to build a fence, we're going big enough to expand the garden footprint too. Here's a look at the cleared out space, brought to you by an insanely wonderful Spring like day at the end of March. I...

A few Saturdays ago I found myself sitting at the kitchen table with Ben drinking coffee and talking. Did you read that? Two adults. Who are the parents of two young children. Sitting down. In a room separate from the young children. Drinking drinks that were meant to be warm while they were warm. Talking to each other (which implies it wasn’t too loud to hear one another). And enjoying it. Truly this moment could have been sponsored by Brio trains. And it was worth about as much as a Brio train set too, my god the price on those things! At 3.5+ years of moming getting more of these little moments is an indication the levers have shifted. There’s an ease in the minute-by-minute work: everyone in this house can walk and play and eat on their own. Which comes with a bump in daily work: prepping more than one mealtime option due to variations in teeth and food acceptance; teaching personal and household responsibility expectations; bigger learning lessons in general. T...

What’s a brownie cobbler you ask? Brownie over fruit. Inspired by Nadiya Bakes on Netflix, I made a few simplifications that turned this into simple and yummy winter dessert. Brownie Cobbler Inspired by Nadiya Bakes Ingredients 1 16oz pkg of frozen peaches (skinned, pitted and sliced) 1 pint fresh blueberries 1 lemon ¼ cup sugar 1-2 T flour ¾ cup (1.5 sticks) soft butter ¾ cup sugar 3 eggs Just shy of 1c flour + 2t baking powder Heaping ¼ cup cocoa powder ½ cup chocolate chips (I used a mix of milk chocolate and semi sweet) Directions 1. Pre-heat oven to 350º. 2. Defrost peaches. This would be an amazing recipe with fresh peaches, by the way. 3. Melt a little bit of butter in a pie pan to grease it all over. 4. Add in the peaches and blueberries. Coat with sugar and flour. Toss. 5. Sprinkle the zest of 1 lemon throughout. 6. In a separate bowl, combine the soft butter, sugar and eggs. Whisk until smooth. 7. Add flour, baking powder and cocoa. Stir until fully c...

My fellow blog readers. Tonight I can declare that we’ve done it. The people spoke their minds, spoke what was on their hearts, and they did it with their vote. They did not let Linda’s angry Facebook comment silence them . They did not let 3ft of snow stop them from driving by to deliver ballots into my mailbox even though they could have also voted using the Google form I set up. They stood up and said YES. We want new neighborhood entry signs! This election was won with honesty. Well, I tallied it with honesty. I collected all the votes into a centralized system and cleaned up the data ensuring each household voted once and ensuring each vote was in fact from a neighbor (sorry, Nunya Business ). In the end 63.2% of the respondents in the neighborhood voted for new signs. And so we have an even greater responsibility ahead of us now. A responsibility to lead this effort forward in the best interest of the entire neighborhood. A duty to create something even better than...

My fellow blog visitors, You know it’s February 22, the deadline for voting in our election . You’ve been watching the results come in. I understand your feelings of tenseness. There’s so much at stake. I wish I could announce a clear winner today. I wish we had unanimous clarity on replacing the neighborhood entrance signs. But we’re a divided neighborhood, and we’re not ready yet to make a call. Rest assured we’re tallying the votes. We’re considering all angles. This election will be fair. I’ll make sure of that with the help of an internal ethics committee made up of neighbors who indicated they wanted to help with the project in some way. I appreciate your support, your interest and your patience. I’m confident we’ll have more to report this week.

On Saturday we took our first felt-safe-to-us kiddo swim lesson in a year. (The instructor was on the deck. Parent/kid were in the water separated into our own lanes. Class size: 4 parent/kids.) On Sunday had an epic time sledding on the hill at the back of our neighborhood and found an even faster track down. I took no pictures. But it should be documented. This weekend was GREAT! (And I say that even though we’ve passed 1 month with a broken dishwasher and a broken hinge caused a kitchen cabinet door to fall on me while I was cooking breakfast this morning.)

A very weary greetings from campaign headquarters . Votes are so slowly trickling in now. Much like any time I exit my house with all this snow, it's going to be a slow sludge to the finish line. At this point I'm not sure we'll have enough votes, or enough of a majority win, to call the race. We'll see where we end up at my Feb. 22 deadline. I did feel it important, however, to note we heard from a neighbor we've been waiting on for days now: Nunya Business.  I promise I'm laughing.

Happy sunny Friday from election headquarters. We remain gathered watching votes trickle in. Currently the vote to change the neighborhood entry signs leans 65.9% yes, 34.1% no. We’ve nearly doubled our response from the last update with 46 responses* (26% of the neighborhood), though still have a ways to go to hear from the majority. Here’s the latest: Apology count: 2 I’ve received two private messages on Facebook from neighbors apologizing on behalf of other neighbors for getting riled up on the neighborhood Facebook group page. Goodness prevails. Forgiveness count: 1 When I initially posted to the neighborhood group Facebook page a few weeks ago checking on interest, Carl** was not only not a fan of new signs, but was the first person who told me about the former neighbor’s high school son making the signs in shop class. I wrote Carl a little note when I dropped his ballot off--I didn’t want him to feel disrespected with my continued effort to replace the signs, but reall...

I’m reporting today from campaign headquarters. We’re entering a very big two weeks as we wait to see which way votes will go. Ballots went out last night, and we’re established at headquarters watching initial results roll in. Above me is a string net of balloons, waiting to be released if the vote goes in our favor. All around are my campaign staff members–a cold cup of coffee, a pink sparkly pen and my husband rolling his eyes. There’s waiting, pacing and watching… to see if my neighborhood wants new entry signs or not. Despite all logical thinking, recent examples of our divided country and because I can’t sit still and leave anything alone ever, I decided to poll the neighborhood for a consensus on replacing our existing neighborhood entry signs. Our existing signs are very simple wood signs with the neighborhood name. Last summer there was a spur of conversation on the neighborhood Facebook page about new signs. I re-open that conversation yesterday and dropped a survey of...

Right before Christmas I get this Tweet sent to me. Hey, I’m a Wall Street Journal reporter and would love to connect with you. Would you follow me back so we can message each other? I mean, I regularly wire the Prince of Albania $100 when he emails me asking for it, so why not connect with the WSJ reporter? (In actuality I did my research on her, and yeah, she’s in fact a WSJ staffer, and published author, and c’mon like you wouldn’t be very curious to know what in the world she wanted to talk to you about if you were in my shoes.) Turns out, this older Tweet of mine had gotten her attention: Nov 18, 2020 Happy holidays from all the wives who accidentally open their holiday present (which came via Amazon) from their husbands (who doesn’t use Twitter). She was writing a light-hearted story on how the pandemic has increased online gifting this year, and how that has made gift-giving tricky. She wanted to chat with me more about my experience for the article. So, on my first ...

You know that feeling when it’s just been A. Day. and you don’t feel like making dinner? There’s always Qdoba (again) but it’s not carry-out night, and why am I strict on one specific night for carry-out? Well, because I now hold on white-knuckle to simple routines in my life to feel like I have a degree of control as I combat a seemingly daily feeling the world is spinning off its axis. Wee! My friend Karen, who is living in a particularly unfortunate time to answer to that name, sent me a HelloHomeFreshChefWeCookYourDinnerBoxWhatever recipe that she received and especially loved. And if you want to know what life looks like in early January 2021, it’s me standing in my slippers in my lovely warm kitchen reviewing this recipe and thinking, Oh wow! I never thought you could cook ground turkey like that, Karen! mere moments before the US Capitol building is violently raided. Anyway. This Teriyaki Turkey Rice Bowl was easy, mindless and good. Remind me to make it again in a few y...

Step 1 : Find yourself in a global health pandemic where going out to a salon concerns you. Add a desire/interest you’ve always had, for some reason, to cut hair. Take a moment to congratulate yourself for not going wild with that always-had desire. It’s amazing how many Barbies, My Little Pony's, friend’s and sibling’s heads survived around me in my youth. Also one time I did trim my own hair, and at my next haircut appointment when the woman who had cut everyone in my family’s hair for 15+ years questioned me about it, I lied and said I didn’t cut it. Just wondering why I did that. I’m really sorry, Nikki. Step 2. Consider all the ways in which your perspective has shifted due to said global health pandemic. Does it really matter if this haircut turns out poorly in The Grand Scheme of Things? We’re all healthy, we figured out how to keep at it with big shifts to our finances , and we never ran out of toilet paper–I think we could work our way out of a bad hairdo. Step...