Memorial Day Weekend. The official start of summer. Parades, John Phillips Sousa music marching past. The time of year when fashionistas allow those who care, to wear white pants once again. For our family this holiday weekend launches us into time spent at the lake home my parents own in Wisconsin. It is the three …

“So what are you up to this summer?” seems to be the question du jour. With the calendar about to flip into June everyone seems antsy for a summer plan. Even if that plan is to find a great book, good flip flops and call it a day. Every morning my kindergardener asks me “mom, …

Our local Farmer’s Market opens up in just over a week. For five glorious months I will spend every Wednesday morning grabbing everything from fresh produce to pickles to flowers from local growers who take time to plop their goodies in the center of our community. The old Greek guy who sells stuffed olives from …

I was digging through closets last week to find all the sunscreen bottles from last summer. Time to start lathering up the kids as the summer sunshine is poking through with those nasty UVA/UVB rays. I am always overly nostalgic when I find sunscreen bottles or the pool bag from last year abandoned on the …

It is dreary and rainy where I live today. Cold too, a ripe 47 degrees. This should mean shear misery for my little soul that has been longing for spring. It should make me mopey and jealous of the calendar days that play out as they should this time of year, high 60′s and sunny. …

You would think that surviving middle school and high school would serve as sufficient penance for our stupidity and errors in life. Navigating socially awkward moments, bad hair days, PE class, first kisses and the eternal fear of being judged by one’s peers should do the trick and turn us all into fully competent and …

I played softball as a young girl. Slow pitch, girls softball on a local community league. My poor parents, left out in the sun to watch kids swing and miss. I recall running bases and working on my pitches at the wise old age of 10. Our team was quite lousy. Actually, for two years …