The Well-Oiled Nest

My theme this season is Order. The kind that runs the ordinary so I have room for everything I cannot plan for. Here is the one tool that made it stick.

The Winning Hand

Some fall into the role of the dependable one without ever choosing it. It’s a blessing, and it has a cost nobody sees.

Saving Face

There is a particular kind of overwhelm that hits you standing in the skincare aisle, feeling behind on your own face. I bought my way into a crowded shelf before I learned the thing that actually works.

Feathers, Football and Forbidden Favorites

Every year, right about now, the same quiet panic sets in. Football is about to take my co-viewer for six months, and the shows we love are piling up. So I do what any reasonable woman would do. I run a campaign.

Exactly As Complicated As We Are

It is an election year, and I am worn out by all the labels. Not just red and blue, but every box we sort ourselves into. Here is what I keep coming back to.

Light Lives On

I met his family for the first time at the gathering after his service. His father stopped me before I could finish saying who I was. Years later, I’m still thinking about what he told me, and about what we leave the people we lead.

Occasionally Gourmet, Reliably Proud

I brag about my cooking, and to some people that is probably absurd. But they don’t know what it took me to get here, or how long I waited to have someone to cook for.

The Bravery of Hope

There is a small moment in Steel Magnolias I have never forgotten. Truvy lights up and says, “I’m a chain!” I understand what Dolly showed all of us.

A Taste Can Hold a Decade

My mom offered me a salmon croquette she had just made, my first in years. One bite, and I was a girl again in her kitchen. Some of the most beautiful moments look like nothing much at all.

The Fine Print of Saying No

All I wanted to do was decline an invitation. Instead I was asked for my phone number, a verification code, and my agreement to fine print. That was my limit.