Hello from my Tortured Poets Department listening party! I'm still untangling the songs from one another to determine my favorites, but so far, I just like listening to all 31(!) on repeat while I go about my day. Recovery update: I feel 100%. I know that I'm not really, because when I do things like take a slow 2.5 mile walk (my watch is so confused; I'm getting messages like: "your pace has changed" "who are you? blink twice if you need help") and make one trip outside the house I then sleep like a rock for 11 straight hours that night, but I really do feel good. My biggest struggle is reme ..read more

Reporting in post-surgery, down one uterus and a cervix, up a few more holes in my abdomen, and post-good IV drugs and a million hours of sleep. It's Day 3. My pain is very low and managed with the extra-strength ibuprofen. My middle is a little swollen and generally just feels weird/off. I've taken two short walks, one yesterday and one today, and slept for 2-3 hours after each. I've taken two showers, one yesterday and one today, and slept for at least an hour after those too. Sleeping is kind of my thing right now. Sleeping, healing, and not tracking the few email conversations I read eno ..read more

You guys. My week of travel was great and terrible and so fucking long. (Picture from Landon on Easter morning, giving up on ever finding his Easter basket. Also me, last week.) I flew to DC Monday morning. Flight was fine. I was on calls up until boarding, answered emails through the flight, and had a Zoom as I was in the Uber. I did get to have dinner with a good friend and client in DC. The friend label meant I could exercise the friend-exception to my "no drinking mid-week or at work events" rule, but only with one glass (a lovely rose) because I had a few more hours of work to do at the ..read more

I have another post I'll get to publish later, but yesterday I woke up in Houston, worked a few hours out of our Houston office, flew to Dallas, worked more hours at my desk here, drove home, took Claire to an admitted students night for a new school she might go to only for that to be something of an anxiety-filled disaster, drove back home, unpacked my suitcase, and sat back down to work until 11 pm only to crawl into bed at 11:30 pm, open up my little Kindle app on its dark screen setting so James doesn't wake up and tell me to go to sleep and I had... nothing to read.   Nothing ..read more

While I'm settling back in at my desk very much not at the beach, let's take a quick jump way back to when my mom and I did my traditional shopping trip in February and then Bonnie came over to do my Spring styling a week later. I've written about this many times before, but particularly now that my life is so busy and when I do have free time all I want to do is sit at home, I really don't shop at all unless it's the random online purchase Bonnie has recommended or when my mom comes to visit. My annual birthday trip is one of my very favorites and it's the only time we set aside several hours ..read more

We spent the last six days on the beach in Mexico. We LOVE a beach. We also love a mountain, city, lake, and a pile of rocks, but this Spring Break, it was beach, and it was beautiful and relaxing and fun and just so, so easy. On Thursday, James and Landon drove to their Sectionals swim meet, promising to meet us at the airport on time on Saturday straight from their meet. The kids have long packed their own suitcases, but this was the first time I'd be meeting 2/5 of the family at the airport before heading out for a 6 day international vacation. At least I knew they'd have their swim suit ..read more

Hello from the month of March! My last post was written in Austin waiting for Landon to swim at the high school state meet. My parents drove over to watch with us and we were an enthusiastic cheer squad for our school's sole male qualifier. And he did great! No new best times (he really blew it out at Regionals) but he did well in both his events (100 fly and 100 back), made finals in the 100 back, finishing 10th overall, and gave a strong showing as a sophomore. We're so proud of him. Since my parents were with us, we celebrated my birthday a day early at Hula Hut, one of my fave classic A ..read more

The last week was a long one. It's always longer when I start the week in another city, then you add a silly beloved holiday right in the middle, and a lot of work, some angst, and honestly just missing having a local friend who could have met for a margarita after work on Friday. But this morning James took Cora to her swim meet at 6 a.m. (I went yesterday) and I woke up at the indulgent hour of 7:30 and am currently downstairs on my fluffy couch with an even fluffier cat curled up beside me, Love is Blind Season 6 (episode 5; I don't like Jimmy, Trevor deserves the world) on TV, the big kids ..read more

Maggie says hi. Today is her 5-year adoptiversary! She spend her first few years of life in horrific conditions as a breeder mom for a bulldog breeder and she encourages you all to adopt and support your local animal rescues. They do hard, life changing work. Lonestar Bulldog Club and Rescue saved our sweet Mags when she was a starving and broken and we're all so thankful for them. She now lives a life of strollers, fluffy blankets and winter sweaters (and allergy shots and opthamologist visits) and she deserves every bit of it. (Yes, the cats have taught Maggie to loaf. They are her alphas ..read more

2024 just took OFF this past week and I was still hoping to catch up on the rest of 2023, so we'll dive right in. This has been a super busy work week, which is great- I feel like so many of the threads I've been weaving over the last nearly two years are coming together, but my jam-packed calendar threw a big wrench in my previous five-months-long committment to daily exercise. And I was doing SO well! But life is life and I've decided it's okay to pick a glass of wine and an extra hour of sleep over a workout every now and then. On Monday the kids were STILL off school, so I was the only pe ..read more