It's a fact of human nature that many of us prefer to be in a state of contentment, of happiness, and stability. We like to feel safe, we want to be liked and loved, we need to feel needed at times.

In other words, we generally want…

 

I feel like I’m playing hooky today. I’m not on vacation, I’m not taking a sick day, but I’m not checking email or doing work either. I’m in between jobs.

It’s been three and a half years since I was transitioning from one job to another, and this time, it’s a…

Whether you are recognizing your birth father, stepfather, stand-in father, grandfather, adopted father, or other type of father figure, here is to all of the dads and daughters out there — Happy Father’s Day.

 

My dad came into my life when I was five years old, living with my…

As a kid, I hated running. Every time my dad would remind me that I needed to run to gain endurance for soccer or basketball, I cringed. It got to the point that it literally was forced into my schedule and I abhorred every step of the .7 mile lap around my neighborhood.

Then in middle school, I ran track...or rather, jumped hurdles. Short as I was, I needed more strides than most people, and it was more of a…

This post was supposed to be about my trip to Costa Rica. That changed when I talked to my mom yesterday morning and I learned that Harrison, my ailing 13-year-old dog, had been put to sleep while I was away.

For months I had been dreading the news. Maybe I had been dreading it ever since I received the…

After weeks of waffling between cold rains and random warm days, it seems like summer is pretty much officially here in DC. We've had a stretch of days with temperatures into the 80s, humidity first thing in the morning, and hot breezes into the late evening. Here we go!

Summers hold some of the best memories for people everywhere, whether you get them off, or slog…

Recently, I wrote about making a dedicated effort to try new things…

We all have things we like or love such as food and movies (crawfish, Tom Hanks films), hobbies (tennis, quilting), activities we're good at (writing, cooking), or random quirks (ambidextrous). And some of us excel at certain things -- maybe we always have, or maybe we've newly grown into it.

If you're like me, you're competitive, you want to be good at something, maybe a lot of things, and you like being recognized for your skills. Since I was a little girl, I've considered myself a…

There are the people that are always happy, no matter what. They never seem to get angry, frustrated, sad, or down about anything. They may be standing in the middle of a hurricane, with no clothes on, and no one offering them help, and they’d still find something positive to say. It’s this guy, which Gallup says is the happiest guy in the country.

Then there are most…

Today I had one of those come-to-insert-higher-power-of-choice moments. It started as a slight scolding from someone who is looking out for me in more than one way (which I deserved), twisted and turned into "I've been where you are" stories, and ended on a positive, action-oriented note.

"Help me help…

Sometimes I wonder if I'm the only person who seems to have weeks with recurring themes -- a phrase, issue, or conversation that comes up again and again, sending you a message (and for me, a blog post idea). But I talked about it with my friend tonight, and she has the same experiences...feeling like after we've heard something at least twice in a week, it's a sign.

This week's theme happened to be letting go. First it was one of those chain emails that gave all kinds of examples of…

I was an avid journaler as a kid. Journals, diaries, whatever you want to call it, I kept it. I started with a tiny pink one with bears on it that had a lock and key. The entries were of the “Today, I …” sort. In middle school, I moved on to bigger books with no lock, even though the words carried more emotion, drama and…