Learning How to Self-Parent

For a couple years in my mid thirties, I thought I had it all – everything that I understood to mean success, accomplishment, and external happiness. Lots of things looked good on the outside: I was a junior partner at a growing engineering firm and we had a nice house in a great neighborhood. I…

Q&A: Moving to Freiburg, Germany

What a chapter of life! A few weeks ago, we shared on Instagram that we were selling our family home (the same one that inspired the beginning of this blog!) and moving to Freiburg, Germany. We’ve had so many questions about our move, and it’s been unfolding more and more ever since we put the…

The Best Ethnic Grocery Stores in Dallas

My family tree’s roots go deep through Irish and Welsh bloodlines, and the dinner tables of my childhood often reflected it with delicious nightly meals of meat, potatoes, bread and butter. It’s soul food to me, and so good that I have rarely branched out into other flavors in food and, with that, ethnic grocery…

Our Family Chore Chart Template and How to Encourage Family Chores

A few years ago, I was facing burn out and took a much-needed sabbatical, leaving full-time work for a more rewarding part-time job and, with that, more open time to consider my legacy and the type of work I felt called to do.  Quickly, the concept of open time became a fantasy. Like Cinderella being…

How I Found My Spirit Guides and Signs

True story: the number one thing I’m direct messaged on Instagram are photos of the Wienermobile. And I LOVE it! It always makes me day to hear that someone felt a greater sense of connection in the world by seeing the Oscar Meyer Wienermobile. And there’s always something meaningful about receiving the message at the…

Expect the Unexpected: Releasing Expectations for Authentic Joy

Post written by Lilly I sat in a fluorescent lit conference room, posture erect and J. Crew pencil skirt freshly ironed. I was 25 years old. The executive director of the nonprofit I was interviewing with asked me the dreaded question.  “So, what’s your five year plan?” My five minute plan was to say anything…

The Practice I Need to Be Creative (And Four Ways I Nurture It)

How many times did the worst-case scenario happen to you before you decided to believe that’s what happens? Looking back on the data objectively, for me it wasn’t many.  The summer before my sophomore year of high school, my grandfather was in the hospital with infection complications from a routine back surgery. Him and I…