Category: home and family


Blogversation 2012: What do you want from your hometown?

Blogversation 2012: What do you want from your hometown?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. Today’s question is from your host — I’m @cnewvine on Twitter: At first, I was offended when I heard…

Blogversation 2012: What's your best relationship advice?

Blogversation 2012: What's your best relationship advice?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. We’re rotating through the Blogversation participants a second time, with each blogger posing a question to the others and…

Blogversation 2012: How do you set up your workspace?

Blogversation 2012: How do you set up your workspace?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. Today’s question comes from Lesley Ware,  www.thecreativecookie.net. On Twitter, Lesley is @creativecookie. For as long as I can remember…

Coming to terms with an unusual name

Coming to terms with an unusual name

My mom liked to tell a story that made it sound like I was named on a bet. Or more accurately, as a permanent “I told you so.” If you’d met my mom, you’d buy this as totally plausible. My mother was pregnant before ultrasounds became routine and our family doctor told her I’d be a boy born around March…

Blogversation 2012: How do you define community and how do you nurture it?

Blogversation 2012: How do you define community and how do you nurture it?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. Today’s question — like last week’s installment, actually a series of related questions — comes from Amy Throndsen, on Twitter…

Blogversation 2012: What's your experience with ending friendships?

Blogversation 2012: What's your experience with ending friendships?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. Since it’s a commonly accepted goal in our culture to find a mate for a monogamous marriage, most people…

Blogversation 2012: What's your favorite blog post?

Blogversation 2012: What's your favorite blog post?

Throughout this year, several bloggers will engage in a conversation here and on their blogs — asking questions of each other and responding. Others are absolutely welcome to join the conversation, as well. Learn more about the ladies of Blogversation 2012. We kicked off this online salon a few weeks back, so the Blogversationists are still getting to know each…

What makes a marriage meaningful?

What makes a marriage meaningful?

The New York Times recently ran an interesting article headlined The Happy Marriage Is the ‘Me’ Marriage. Tara Parker-Pope wrote about not what makes a marriage last but what makes it meaningful, including the ways your partner makes your life better: Dr. Aron and Gary W. Lewandowski Jr., a professor at Monmouth University in New Jersey, have studied how individuals…

Kicking off Blogversation 2012 — join the conversation

Kicking off Blogversation 2012 — join the conversation

In the three years I’ve been blogging here, I’ve been grateful for the opportunity to write regularly and to get to know topics and people that inspire me. Even more so, I’ve loved the chance to engage in conversations about those topics and people. Ages ago, when I was a young newspaper reporter, writing was mostly a one-way process. Occasionally…

Child sexual abuse is a secret not worth keeping

Child sexual abuse is a secret not worth keeping

Editor’s note: this post contains graphic sexual content and may be offensive to some readers. In fact, it should be offensive to all readers. When I saw students taking to the streets to protest the firing of Penn State football coach Joe Paterno, I felt a wave of outrage. Actually, just rage. How could those football fans conjure that much…

Chris Brogan's story of a builder and a shaky foundation

Chris Brogan's story of a builder and a shaky foundation

If you’re a social media geek like I am, you might know Chris Brogan as the intensely prolific oracle on all things new media. [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sVVdAB41Zg&feature=player_embedded] But his wide-ranging blog also tackles issues about living life, and recently, my friend Scott Daris pointed out one of Brogan’s posts — the story of a builder. Brogan tells the tale of a builder…

Measure your success by more than your title and pay

Measure your success by more than your title and pay

You might not go to Harvard Business Review expecting a long, personal tale of faith, morals and values — but I love HBR for knowing success means so much more than increasing profits. Clayton M. Christensen wrote a powerful essay called, “How Will You Measure Your Life?” Not to spoil it for you, but one of the more moving parts…

Money can buy happiness, says MP Dunleavy

Money can buy happiness, says MP Dunleavy

Money can’t buy love. Money can’t buy happiness. We hear these clichés frequently, but I loved this article from investment firm Vanguard that suggests you can, in fact, buy happiness — if you spend your money on the right things. A snippet from a Q&A with MP Dunleavy, author of “Money Can Buy Happiness: How to Spend to Get the…