No blue tape. No hesitation. Painters have a proper tool, yes. But more importantly, they have a proper attitude.

If Oreo could talk I do believe he would have some things to teach me about getting through this transition, and this life.

Rather than being a set of good principles, what if that was the law of the land? In Hawaii, it is.

We are currently going through the process of packing up our things.

Give it your all. Give it all of you. I get the meaning. And, you know I have a story for it. This is a long one. Get your coffee, people.

Life was normal. And then suddenly - it wasn’t. Everything was shut down. At no point last March did I believe that I would still be here.

Follow your heart. It was mocking me. It almost felt as if I was being warned. The message was strangely troubling.

It is not so much the stuff that is bothering me now as it is the amount of stress and angst and money required to get that stuff.

This is what I really should be asking for this year. For all of the Rachels out there who see that this holiday is about so much more:

Your super powers are the skills and the tools you use to make your way through this world.

If you have never seen improv, watch an episode of “Whose Line Is It Anyway?” and you’ll understand the appeal.

And what better way to deal with this more isolated time than to dive into a book and allow yourself to be taken away? Here are a few ideas:

What has following the rules actually done for me?

This is not a list from an expert on anything other than my own ways to handle life when life is completely trying to manhandle me.

Our interactions with the outside world currently consist of taking a 25 minute drive to see the coast from afar, bike rides through the...

When I was a resident assistant for my college dormitory, I had a bulletin board next to my room that I decorated with quotes and images...

When I was growing up, my Aunt Joyce lived in Connecticut. She visited the DC area regularly to see her family and we knew with each...

"I HATE abundance!" declares Ebenezer Scrooge after seeing and smelling the spices and foods of Christmas. He quickly dismisses them as...

I love that line from The Night Before Christmas that reads "the stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas...

My life is pretty simple these days. Wake up, make lunch, send kids to school, clean up self and house, run errands, make dinner, pack...