Writings

This Is Still Not a Mommy Blog (Even Though That’s All I Do All Day)
July 9, 2014

This Is Still Not a Mommy Blog (Even Though That’s All I Do All Day)

Before I spawned my urchin, I was adamant about keeping the metalepsical church and state firmly separated. I read all of those books about the importance of  keeping your grown up self intact and building a life where the baby mostly fits into your rhythms and …

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A Totally Impractical Guide to Camping in England With a 4 Month Old Baby
July 3, 2014

A Totally Impractical Guide to Camping in England With a 4 Month Old Baby

Last weekend, we borrowed a car from our crunchy granola car-share group in Leicester and drove to somewhere in Derbyshire (pronounced, approximately, Darbəshr, in case you aren’t intuitively British*) in the cold, grey rain, for a fine weekend of family camping, frantic trail cycling (which we …

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The Happiness Project Revisited: Are We Happy Yet?
June 30, 2014

The Happiness Project Revisited: Are We Happy Yet?

 Yes, I’m still plugging away at the Happiness Project.   I’m now more than half way toward the end goal of 100 days of consciously making note of happy moments. I missed one or two days along the way, unable to find anything overtly happy …

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I’m Learning Vietnamese, Y’all: What You Really Need To Know When Learning a New Language
June 18, 2014

I’m Learning Vietnamese, Y’all: What You Really Need To Know When Learning a New Language

I’m Learning Vietnamese. I Think I’m Learning Vietnamese. I really think so.     So I’m learning another language. I’m adding Vietnamese, slowly and poorly intoned, to my slapdash mental collection of half remembered words and phrases from a dozen countries. I may have mentioned this once or …

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Feed Me, Leicester: Sichuan Brothers Hotpot (Woohoo!)
June 12, 2014

Feed Me, Leicester: Sichuan Brothers Hotpot (Woohoo!)

Remember last week when those guys at Momondo took us out for lunch at Kayal down on Granby Street and we stuffed ourselves on spicy seafoody things and massive dosas stuffed with lovely fragrant smashed spud and whatnot? Well, this week they took us out …

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The Next Ten Days: The Happiness Project Turns 51
June 11, 2014

The Next Ten Days: The Happiness Project Turns 51

Actually, we’re up somewhere near day 53, but I’m not very good at getting my blogging act together. Some days, I really regret having that ridiculous inner drive to actually finish what I’ve started- even if that something is to find something legitimately happy for …

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Stock Taking (Again): Notes on Preparing to Leave (Again)
June 7, 2014

Stock Taking (Again): Notes on Preparing to Leave (Again)

How many Ikea POÄNG chairs have I bought (and then sold or left behind) in my decades of careless geographic instability? How many sets of kitchen odds and ends, how many cups and bowls and sets of cutlery? How many bookshelves (and their contents), kitchen tables, …

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Feed Me, Leicester: Eating Everything Before We Go, the Kayal Edition
June 2, 2014

Feed Me, Leicester: Eating Everything Before We Go, the Kayal Edition

One of the lesser-known perks of having an overtly personal blog that occasionally masquerades as something useful is that you sometimes get some rather unexpected offers out of left field. Like last week, after I finished up my rather haphazard month of attempting happiness, I …

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Notes on a Thwackless Day and Moving to Vietnam
May 31, 2014

Notes on a Thwackless Day and Moving to Vietnam

I am, today, sans Thwack. Just me. For the whole day. For, like, the first time ever. Or rather, for the first time since he rather impatiently forced his way out of me three months ago and proceeded to take over our household and our time …

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And Now For Something Completely Different: The Happiness Project Roundup
May 30, 2014

And Now For Something Completely Different: The Happiness Project Roundup

It’s been about ten days since I last told you all about the small, daily details that made me happy. The Happiness Project is still going strong, albeit significantly less long-windedly. It’s all happening on Instagram so feel free to stalk me there, should the suspense …

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Day 30: The Happiness Project
May 20, 2014

Day 30: The Happiness Project

  Holy crap, we’ve made it to Day 30 somehow. Since the past month has essentially been a blur, I will assume I didn’t space out and skip whole days and/or weeks entirely. A lot has changed in this time, internally if not externally. It …

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Day 29: The Happiness Project
May 19, 2014

Day 29: The Happiness Project

Yesterday (that would be Day 29, as noted above) we drove en famille to Newark, about an hour away. We belong to a granola crunchy car share group in Leicester and so every so often happen to have a car at hand. This weekend, we …

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