Lifestyle

The description is not prominent by default; however, some themes may show it.

Summer is a-Comin’ In!

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, Happy May, one week(+) late! I think I’ve finally recovered from April, but just barely. It was a month filled with teaching and travel, and it’s taken a minute to get back into my groove. As the weather gets warmer, I’ve got a few things I’d like to accomplish, starting with attending to…

read more

5 Things We’re Loving Right Now: Spring Edition

150 150 Kristin

Dear Kristin, Spring is springing, and I am sneezing. It’s the pine pollen, same as always. April in North Carolina is a beautiful, terrible thing. Still, there’s lots to love about this time of year. Some of the things I’m loving right now include … The Spencer Street Garden Collective. A bunch of us on…

read more

March goals

150 150 Kristin

Dear Frances, How is it March 1 already? That really snuck up on me! One of my favorite bloggers, Tonia Peckover, brought up a really good point recently. Why do we start a bunch of new resolutions on January 1? It’s the dead of winter, the end of the holidays, and maybe not the perfect…

read more

Two months left (of 2023)

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin– I’m writing this on October 25th, a date that’s significant for two reasons. First, it’s the anniversary of the day I met Clifton in 1991. He’s now been my boyfriend for 32 years! Second, October 25th means we have two months before Christmas. Eight weeks. 56 days.  Once upon a time, the idea…

read more

Tempus fugit

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, I’m always shocked when autumn finally arrives–I mean, really arrives. When the chirps of the crickets and the cicadas grow few and far between, when it’s cold in the morning no matter how high the temperatures get later in the day, when I look outside at 7PM and realize it’s already dark. I…

read more

[Re] Feathering the Nest

150 150 Kristin

Dear Frances, One of the things that I didn’t spend much time thinking about before the kids moved out was how we were going to use those empty rooms. To be sure, there have been lots of suggestions—sewing room, home office, and exercise room, to name a few. And I went all in on the…

read more

[Old] Puppy love

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, I’m writing this on the couch in the front room, Travis snuggled by my side, his hind feet resting against my leg. This has been our habit for nearly sixteen years, me writing, Travis napping, the two of us always attached. Travis is an old guy now and it shows. He’s still eager…

read more

Libraries

150 150 Kristin

Dear Frances, I went to the library this week to pick up a couple of books I had put on hold (one of them, Weekday Vegetarians, which you recommended last week). Because I read mostly e-books these days, I don’t get to the library as often as I used to. The library is one of…

read more

September

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, I’ve never been a foodie, but sometimes I taste something that makes me so happy I want to change my life. Take the Caesar dressing I just made. It was the simplest recipe in the world, from The Weekday Vegetarians by Jenny Rosenstrach, made with mayo instead of eggs, and perfectly balanced in…

read more

What Are You Working On?

150 150 Kristin

Dear Frances, Sometimes I feel like I don’t use my time as well as I should–especially in the evening. My mornings are pretty set: coffee, workout, tidy up, and work. But I’ve got about three hours after dinner before I go to bed and sometimes I just…waste it. I’ve been aware lately of how easy…

read more