northern life
I didn’t realize the depth of my unmet need for outdoor adventure until I hastily concocted a winter tent camping trip over lunch one day with a co-worker. While I love exploring with my family, I read Pacific Crest Trail and Appalachian Trail thru-hiking memoirs all winter, and I am consumed by a longing to hike to […]
When Beatrice was little, people said to us all of the time, “She’ll sleep well tonight!” And we always laughed, but inside we thought, “Nope, she’s going to sleep the same as she does every night, because she’s always this active.” Since then I love to ask other parents what comment they hear most […]
Like we often do, because great minds think alike, Jen and I decided independently to get standing desks this year. If you’ve read any of the research, they are calling sitting the new smoking, and saying that even if you exercise regularly you cannot overcome the adverse affects of sitting at your work all day. I’ve […]
Forget filling your car with hand warmers and signal flares, true winter survival is about keeping your spirits up and your eyes on the prize (i.e. spring). Here’s a foolproof recipe to help you survive winter a.k.a. enjoy our fourth season. First, get comfortable. Head to your favorite pharmacy/co-op/Amazon and fill your cart with Vitamin D, a […]
My youngest is about to start kindergarten. My oldest is in his last year of elementary school. A lot has changed since I brought Owen to his first day of pre-kindergarten in 2005. This time, I’m no longer the new kid in school. Everyone knows what being the new kid in a new school or […]
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Hi friends, I know I’ve been a little quiet around here the last few months. But I hope you’ll forgive me when you hear why: I’m pregnant! As in, 20 weeks pregnant, due in late January! I’m kind of a late-teller about pregnancy. I like to get a good thorough look at the baby during […]
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My husband and I were married 10 years ago this week! If you’re counting, that means we got married pretty young. Not reality-TV-show young, but a year-after-college young. We were one of those couples who found each other in early college and that was that. Us! Finding your husband at 18 is weird. It definitely […]
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If you spend any time at all on Pinterest, it won’t be long before you are seized with the desire to paint constellations on your fingernails or spray paint half your furniture high-gloss lime green or, in the case of my springtime Pinterest obsession, make homemade cleaning supplies. But it wasn’t just Pinterest that led […]
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Minneapolis is Mill City, dontcha know? For fifty years, Minneapolis was the largest producer of flour in the world, and the Washburn A mill along the Mississippi river was the world’s biggest mill. It closed in 1965 and nearly burned down in 1991. The Minnesota Historical Society’s Mill City Museum is built into its ruins. […]
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Remember in April when I started getting excited about summer and made a list of the things I wanted to do? (I’ve checked them all off, by the way). Well I’m over summer, and ready to think about fall. It’s not that I’m wishing August away. We’ll swim some more in the lakes and wading […]
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How many times did you read the Little House on the Prairie series? Ten, twenty? I don’t remember my total times through the nine books, but so many scenes are perfectly vivid in my head: Ma making cheese, Jack turning around three times in his bed and then dying, finding baby pickles and saltines in […]
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Scenic State Park, near Big Fork, Minnesota We finally fulfilled our much-talked about promise to take Beatrice camping. Like when we backpacked her in to a winter cabin, I was sort of half hoping that having really low expectations would mean that it would end up being easier and more fun than I thought. But […]
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