Dana Burland

  Man, I kinda forgot how much I really like skiing. This past weekend Ben and I met my dad and brother up north for a speedy one-day ski trip. I’m getting better control—perhaps not better form, but who do I need to impress?—every year. I only fell twice this year, once trying some too-fancy footwork and another time attempting to avoid running into a lil peanut doing the pizza the entire width down a blue square. My brother called me a hero for my effort. Hey, if the ski boot fits. #kidding

Hey there. Let’s have a virtual girl night while you read this—you pour the wine, I’ll bring the snacks. Actually, pour me a short class, I’m kinda wined out. I hosted two back-to-back girls nights this week, which is two more than I usually host in a given week, but still so fun. Monday night I invited a slew of coworkers over for a Bachelor viewing party. I know… The Bachelor. You can laugh and tease, but it was kind of a rockin’ party. I made ridiculous Bachelor Bingo cards with boxes like “someone gets awkwardly sweaty”, “blonde cries” and “the bachelor kisses his third girl of the night”. He actually ended up kissing at least seven, so I forecasted real low. Last night a new neighbor friend came by for a wine night. We swapped stories about work, house projects and workouts—including that time an old man sweat on me during hot yoga. This is why I don’t do hot yoga. Back to back hosting gigs made serving snacks and drinks easy—only I was keep to the fact I served the ...

“We’re going to Palm Springs (California) in February”, I told my new friend Abby. Ben and I were visiting with her, her cheeks-for-days 2 month old daughter Rosie and her husband—a friend of mine from college—Andy. Oh!—she said—some friends of mine went there and did this thing called a sound bath. Apparently you go to a hut in a remote area and lay down while you’re bathed in sound. It’s suppose to be an out of body experience. Hey, when in Rome, right? I don’t know what “sound bath” even means. Is someone going to play Enya from iPods set up all around me? Are there bath salts involved? Because this kind of sounds like the type of thing where bath salts are involved. I’m allowed to be clothed, right? A Google review says simply "About 25-30 minutes of pretty intense tones played from some type of bowls." Ok then. Me, Ben and a coworker friend of mine will find out more when we go to our sound bath “appointments” I just booked. I’ve got a lot of sound built up f...

Over the holidays I ate almost an entire tub of peanut butter. I tell you this not to brag, but to confess. It wasn't fueled by indulgence, but by my shingles diagnosis and inability to swallow pills larger than TicTacs. I ended up crushing each pill and taking it with a tablespoon of creamy PB like a finicky Pomeranian. Pill powder plus spoonful of PB. Thirty times. I’d be kidding to say I’m not joining the masses this new year with a wish to put the skinny back into my skinny jeans—but thinking about how I want to eat throughout 2016 is so much more than that. I want my food to be healthy, fun and fueling. I want to feel nourished and not like I need a nap after lunch. I want to actually enjoy how I eat kale and not let it hang out in my fridge like it's a fancy painting on display. I know all this is possible through a few really, really good recipes I've made lately. This shredded Brussels sprout salad I made when my family was in town for Christmas dinner ...

One of the many, many, many sayings my family has is to refer to a chaotic situation as a “fire drill”. My quick trip home last week was just that—literally. The night I got in to town there was a sitcom-like issue my parent’s condo involving a forgotten about pressure cooker. One neighbor left theirs on too long causing another to burst into their unit looking for a fire and then to run upstairs to inform my brother. Through conversation he was able to downgrade her panic so we could get back to eating dinner. The following day a third neighbor set out towns of vinegar in the hallway in attempt to soak up the stench. That sorta worked, but sorta made the hallway smell like hot pickles. Just curious if Jerry Seinfeld reads here… this story has real potential. The real reason I was in town was for my dad’s retirement festivities, which meant I could also see my great uncle who recently had hip surgery and could also take my grandparents out to lunch. All of that is to say ther...

Last year I totally got my book worm on . This year I read slightly less but still finished 16 books. Here were my favorites: January First: A Child’s Descent into Madness and Her Father’s Struggle to Save Her 5 out of 5 I first heard about January, a little girl from California with severe schizophrenia on a TLC special. I heard not so great reviews about this book, but I loved it. January's dad--the author--shared the process of a proper diagnosis, managing day-to-day life and the impact on their family with blunt and beautify honesty. The Age of Miracles 5 out of 5 What would happen if the Earth's rotation began to slow? This is the story of the monumental yet slow effect it that has on a seemingly ordinary Californian kid and her family. I was worried this book would be to sci-fy for me, but it's just the right amount. The Circle 5 out of 5 If you've ever wondered about working life at Google or Apple, or thought about the line between sharing vs pri...

Two weeks ago my pinky finger started to get irritated and bothered. A few days after that seven red welts popped up traveling down my hand. I took a quick trip to the dermatologist two days before my family came in for the holidays . It’s never a good sign when your doc steps on a face mask, “just for precautions,” she said, “because it could be shingles.” Shingles! Because it could be shingles, and because they wouldn’t know if it was or wasn’t until after the holidays, I had to be treated for shingles just in case. Just in case means pills. Huge pills. Three of them a day for 10 days. I know now, 9 days in to my 10 days of pill popping that my strange pinky welts are in fact shingles. I’m incredibly lucky and incredibly unusual in that my outbreak is small and came with no typical shingles pain. I’m also unlucky in the pill taking and in a scenario from last week with a visiting electrician. In our new homeowner wisdom we signed up for regular visits from a handy man serv...