Very few people are capable of talking openly and honestly about crises in their lives, and even fewer are willing to explore these crises while they're in the thick of them. This has always been a particular sticking point for me: I've never been able to write about a major issue in my life until it has been resolved. It makes me feel too vulnerable.
My friend EB is braver than I am, and offered to tell the story of her divorce even as it's unfolding.
- Jordan
How great is that suit?!?! Summersalt - the swimwear company I've posted about a few times lately (they make eco-friendly styles that are all under $95) - just began offering The Pack: a service that lets you order up to four suits, try them on in your own home minus the horrifying overhead fluorescent lights, and then return whatever you don't want (you only pay for what you keep).
New sneaker obsession: Joshua Sanders. Pom-poms! (Here's a pair on sale if you get lucky with your sizing, and here's a more affordable version.)
"My husband is a good man, and a good feminist ally...He said he’d try to do more cleaning around the house to help me out. He restated that all I ever needed to do was ask him for help, but therein lies the problem. I don't want to micromanage housework. I want a partner with equal initiative." This this this this this SO MUCH THIS. If you are a woman in a partnership with a man, read this article immediately. (Women Aren't Nags - We're Just Fed Up, via Harper's Bazaar.)
Last night, I had an extremely long and involved dream about chocolate milk. I really, really wanted some, you see - like, needed some - but I was at my mom and dad's place, and they didn't have any. I was sitting with my mom at her dining room table absolutely panicking about how I was going to go about finding some chocolate milk, because it was an actual emergency, and you know what happened next?
I woke up, still upset about the chocolate milk situation, and then - in an single, glorious flash - remembered that I am an adult now, that I live in my own house, and that I always keep chocolate milk in the refrigerator. So I got out of bed, wandered through my pitch-black house, and stood in front of the refrigerator drinking chocolate milk straight out of the carton.
That was pretty great.
Goofy-gazing at Goofy's Kitchen
Disneyland, in a nutshell, is worth it. It's so expensive, and so crowded, and it's also so worth it. But there are a few things that are really worth it - things that you might not expect - and a few things that really, seriously are not.
Let's discuss.
The first thing I noticed when we walked into our room at Alisal Guest Ranch was the books: there were huge bookshelves filled with them everywhere - plus a library next door with floor-to-ceiling shelves and enormous leather couches. It reminded me of the hotels my parents and I stayed at when I was a kid, and how you could always borrow a few paperbacks from the front desk. It was only the next morning, when our kids came in to wake us up, that I realized what had felt so odd about our hotel room: there was no TV; not anywhere.
We're staying at the ranch for a couple of nights on a press trip before we head to Disneyland, and I spent the drive down to Santa Barbara figuring I'd regret having told the kids what the next stop on our trip was (imagining hearing "BUT WHEN ARE WE GOING TO DISNEYLAAAAAND?" on repeat for the duration), but we got here, dropped our stuff in our room, then ran out onto the lawn to play leapfrog. And then today we rode horses and petted zebus and gathered chicken eggs from the coops and got to sit in enormous piles of bunnies and guinea pigs (!!!!! I died) and made mosaic butterflies in the arts & crafts house, and I swear to you: I have not heard the word "Disneyland" one single time.
You know what other word I haven't heard? "TV." They haven't even noticed it's not there.
