yesterday, i found myself stitching by hand, sipping fruit punch and talking about having a good game of bingo with the ladies and i felt 72, not 27. of course, the other night i ate ice cream for dinner and thin mints for dessert and this morning i had cherry vanilla cake for breakfast, so […]

in honor of lent, knot magazine presents you, dear friends, with a tale of two catholics. it's so nice to read something intelligent, forward-thinking, and just pretty darned funny about being catholic.

polite boys, boys who say “thank you” and “bless you” and “here, stand over here. you’ll be able to see better,” at rock shows (like the boy at iron & wine last night), boys who are nice for no reason except to be nice–oh, they have no idea how sexy they are.

what i gained this weekend was perspective. i go to these retreats in hopes that i will teach them a lesson or two about life but they always end up teaching me so much more. i am in awe at what trials some go through in lives half as long as mine. i am inspired […]

now more than ever we have to be brave and live out loud. we have to tell the people in our lives we care. we have to make time for laughter. we have to create beautiful things. teach others. volunteer. give. sacrifice. pray. believe. it’s so easy to say and it’s even easier to forget, […]

the words stop sounding like my own when i know you’re there, so i am going to pretend there’s no one here but me. i’m waiting for my laundry to dry so that i can go to bed. it’s not even 9pm, but i want to slide under my covers and sip tea simmering from […]

with my new fiskars paper timmer slicing a sheet of cardstock feels like running a knife through a stick of butter. it's that easy.

i don’t know how to describe it but maybe you know how it is i feel. the clearest picture i can paint is a mother’s empty arms as she mourns her only child. then, i multiply it times 250,000 and that is only a fraction of the fear, grief and panic that fills my heart. […]

oh my goodness! reprodepot is a ribbon and rick-rack dream come true. this online shop sells vintage fabrics and finds, both of which i'd have no practical use for since i don't actively sew–but i still like gazing at the patterns and prints. i do, however, always have a use for cute t-shirts, pajamas and […]

haku’s green eyes and gentle voice would have been enough, but no. he also is brave, compassionate, sharp. he has a big heart. so what if it’s a cartoon heart? and a cartoon voice and cartoon eyes and cartoon emotions? i still love him. i still want to fly hand in hand with him in […]

wandering up and down the toy aisle, i felt so lost. i was shopping for birthday gifts for my 3-year-old niece, but nothing looked just right. no barbies, no bratz, no thank you. but then i spotted dora. i was immediately drawn to her darker skin and choppy hair-do (much like mine when i was […]

when i went to the bathroom this morning, there was someone in my favorite stall. there’s never anybody in my favorite stall. in fact, there’s usually nobody in the bathroom at all since i’m the only girl in this building. but this morning, it looked like someone was camped out in the bathroom: a cable-knit […]

sometimes, i get so caught up in discovering new favorites that i forget old ones. yesterday, i went to amoeba for the first time in weeks. it's always a feat if i get out of there with two or less CDs in my hand but last night i found myself unable to remember even one […]

his name is don, don francisco, and he makes the meanest (read: yummiest) cup of coffee ever. i discovered his butterscotch toffee blend at my friend francesca's house last week. her house smelled like a candy factory. the cup of coffee tasted like heaven. the next morning, i ran to albertson's to pick up a […]

they’re gone. the neighbors out back disappeared. one day, i saw their silver rocket peel into the alley. the next day, rima told me they were gone. the black curtain that had cloaked the living room was sitting in the trash can. the only trace left was two identical plants on the porch steps, one […]

i was starting to worry that i had forgotten my dreams, but maybe i’ve just outgrown them. maybe this is what david meant by making the late-20’s transition. “you thought you knew what you wanted but now you want something completely different.” i’m learning that i can’t control everything, that some things are beyond even […]