bring joy

mama burnout

Eat chocolate? Get a massage? Nap?

(Personally, all three sound pretty good to me.)

(That last one is silly. There’s no such thing.)

Rather, it’s a post about what life is REALLY, really about.

And how, when you know what it’s really about, your life will become immeasurably better for it. (I know, we’re going totally deep today.)

I hate waxing philosophical so I’ll just get to the point.

It’s about staring difficult stuff in the face & marching head on, with confidence that you have it in you to conquer that beast.

It’s about experiencing joy when you’ve done the hard stuff, knowing that you are infinitely more wise, intelligent, kind, strong, & compassionate than you (or others) give yourself credit.

That’s life in a nutshell.*

Aren’t you glad you decided to read this post? Now...

should I go sugar free? part 2

vegan/health, weight loss

Not bad, like sinful bad, just bad, like I-don’t-feel-my-best-when-I-do-this bad.

I was eating too many sweets & my sweet tooth got out of hand. My skin freaked out (not the first time–I get this weird oozy rash on my chin), I got a yeast infection (my first one in about a decade–the last one occurred after a round of antibiotics).

With some help from my friend Ricki Heller, who has wealth of knowledge on all things anti-candida on her blog (including lots of delicious whole foods based recipes), I decided to do a strict version of the ACD (anti-candida diet). In essence, I cut out grains (though NOT all carbs!), fruit, & all forms of sugar (including dates, agave, etc.).

(More on this, in part 1 of this discussion, should I go sugar free?)

It was rough going the first three days or...

why is morning sickness so awful? {guest post by Jenny Ramsey}

guest post, pregnancy

Before we get to answering the pressing question at hand, can I tell you something?

I really miss blogging regularly.

I wish I could blog every week day, like I did in the good old days. Because as much as I hope you enjoy what I write & find it useful in some way, I *need* to write. I’m a writer, & as any writer knows, you don’t really have a choice. You to write. It’s like food, breath, & sleep. It’s essential.

But life the past several months (more like half a year) have been chock full of pressing life obligations–like keeping my children alive & well, while also undertaking a huge life transforming project, otherwise known as project downsize.

I keep thinking this time sucking project will end soon, but it just keeps going.

I really do think I’m in the final stages of...