Lifestyle

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Yarnstorm!

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin,I was overjoyed last week when you shared the good news that Jane Brocket of Yarnstorm fame is back! These days she’s on Substack, but I first met her in the heyday of the domestic blog, circa 2005. In the early days of the early aughts, Jane’s focus was knitting (hence the blog’s name), but…

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Under the Weather

150 150 Kristin

Dear Frances, Do you remember when you sent your firstborn off to pre-school and all of a sudden they brought home a never-ending stream of colds and flu? And then when you added more kids to the mix, every time one of them brought a bug home, it proceeded to make its way through the…

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A Little Break in the Action

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, I took this photo fifteen years ago. I recognize those tee shirts as though I’d hung them out on the line yesterday. Much to my shame, I haven’t hung out any laundry this year. Why not? Because it hasn’t even occurred to me! Fifteen years ago, I was in love with homemade living–hanging…

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Mid-Year Goal Check

150 150 Kristin

Dear Kristin, Can you believe that we’re halfway through 2023? The way time is flying, I expect to wake up next week to find that I’m 74. The question is, will I wake up with a perfectly organized attic? That’s my goal for 2023, or at least the main one: to open the attic door…

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Let’s do a 100 Day Project

150 150 Kristin

Dear Frances, You were asking me the other day about what I wanted from this summer. I was intrigued by your idea of creating a theme for the season or creating a 100 Day Project to give this summer a bit of structure. As much as I love the idea, I can’t think of a…

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The Difference Between Me & You

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, As I write this, you’re attending a trade show in Massachusetts. It’s always a little strange when you’re on my side of the country. First of all our daily Vox routine gets disrupted. Early bird that you are, you’re up at least an hour before I am, jet lag be damned, and that…

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Deconstructing/Reassembling

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, As you know, I love order and routine, but lately I’ve felt a need to disrupt my life a little, and to that end I’ve just blown up half of my house. Last week, I pulled everything out of what I often refer to as the Living Room/Dining Room L (from hereon referred…

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Emerging

150 150 Kristin

Dear Frances, Does life feel a little different to you right now? As spring emerges, I feel a sort of emergence too. From a lot of things, really. We just had the coldest, rainiest winter in memory here in California. Even in (mostly) sunny CA, I tend to hunker down a bit in the winter.…

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Stretching

150 150 Kristin

Dear Kristin, I’ve been thinking a lot about the third-third lately, which is to say, the next thirty years. Now, I know that there’s no way to predict how long I’ll live; a truck could be barreling down upon me at this moment (if this letter ends abruptly, you’ll know why). But barring accidents and…

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Springtime Menus

150 150 Frances

Dear Kristin, As you know, I’ve been in a bit of a rut lately. I’m trying different strategies to get out of it–waking up earlier in the morning to have more time to read, writing letters, walking twice a day. Now that spring is springing, I’m thinking about changing up the dinner menu. Of course,…

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