My daughter Shanti is a freshman in high school. Shanti goes to an all-girl Catholic high school about 15 minutes from our house and because students at the high school came from many different middle schools, she has made several new friends since the school year began in late August.  A little while back Shanti and one of her new friends, Amanda, (which is not her real name — if I use her real name and her mother finds out about this post she’ll kill me), were hanging out in Shanti’s bedroom, as teenage girls like to do. I walked past Shanti’s bedroom into Lissette’s and my bedroom and ..read more

This lesson learned is for younger guys who are engaged or newlyweds. I’m pretty sure your close guy friends don’t give a shit what you wear, if you’re “mindful,” if you share your food with them, if you listen to them, if your place is a mess or if you’re acting selfish. Going from bachelorhood to marriage can be quite a daunting adjustment, and If you haven’t realized it yet, your wife (or soon-to-be wife) is the polar opposite of your friends and she cares very deeply about those things and more — much, much more! Marriage can be a steep learning curve (it was for me) but keep the faith — y ..read more

Family movie night. It’s a ritual that occurs in households across the U.S. of A., and my home is no different. Early on during the pandemic, when we were stuck at home practically 24/7, weekly family movie night took on new meaning and became family movie nights — what typically had been reserved for weekend nights expanded into weekday evenings. Here’s the drill for family movie night in our home: After my wife Lissette settles in with her wine, the girls settle in with their snack of choice — they usually choose ice cream — and I grab a beer, we scan the seemingly never-ending selection of ..read more

Pay attention rookie husbands. Your wife’s intuition and “sixth” sense are like Steph Curry’s 3-point shooting ability — they are dead-on and most of the time bafflingly accurate. When your wife tells you she has a “funny feeling” or “gut feeling” about someone or something, ignore it at your own risk. Early on in our marriage there were times I doubted and dismissed my wife’s intuition. Stupid mistake ..read more

Ask any girl dad and he will tell you that nothing in this world can come remotely close to matching the unbridled joy he feels when his little girl runs up to him — such as when he picks her up from preschool — with a sparkle in her eyes and a cheek-to-cheek smile yelling, “Daddy! Daddy! Daddy!” and jumps into his outstretched arms. Those moments, when our little girls express their unconditional love to us in the purest of pure forms, make us girl dads realize that yes, there are angels on earth. There’s a very good reason the tagline to my blog is “You Had Me at Daddy.” Hearing “daddy” from ..read more

A lesson I learned many years ago is that shopping with your wife is like an endurance sport — you’re in for a long and tiring day. After 45 to 60 minutes of shopping with our wives, we husbands get bored and tired. Here’s advice for owners of ladies’ boutique stores: If you want to keep the wives in your store you need to cater to their husbands. Think about it. Have some comfortable Lazy Boy recliners off to the side. Install a big-screen high definition TV that’s tuned to whatever sporting event is on, and if possible and have a mini fridge stocked with cold beer. Also make some snacks like ..read more

In July of 2016 Lissette, the girls and I went on vacation in Spain. After visiting Lissette’s relatives in the northwest corner of Spain, we took off for the sunny Mediterranean coast and three beach towns north and south of Barcelona. In July of 2018 we packed our bags for Greece and after two scorching days in Athens we jumped on the first of several ferries and spent 15 days on the idyllic islands of Paros, Naxos and Mykonos. I love Spain and Greece — both have great food, beautiful beaches, amazing historical ruins and a laid-back vibe in the summer. And here’s another thing I love: the S ..read more

Look up the meaning of feng shui and it says “Feng shui is a practice of arranging the pieces in living space in order to create balance with the natural world.” For married guys, feng shui really means “Throw all your husband’s shit into the garage ..read more

I think I’ve made it crystal clear that being a dad to my daughters Katy and Shanti is by far my greatest accomplishment, as nothing comes close to the joy I feel being their father. Are there days when I–like most parents–want to pull my hair out (if I had any to pull)? Hell, yes. They’re kids and kids are put on this planet to both 1) be a source of tremendous joy and pride, and 2) drive their parents batshit crazy and deprive us of sleep — that always has been, and always will be, the duality of parenting. I enjoy spending time with my girls and over the years we’ve had many fun dad-daughte ..read more

Boys generally wear pants, shirts, sweaters and shorts. Girls, on the other hand, have a veritable smorgasbord of clothing options including dresses (long, medium and short), skirts, skorts, pants, sweaters, leggings, shorts and other things such as jumpers and rompers (which to this day, I’m still not sure what the hell they are ..read more