Dana Burland

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...