This is my dog. His name is Murray and he's 8. Cute huh? I can still remember that cold winter morning when we drove out to the Chicago suburbs to meet him for the first time. There were actually two Maltese puppies to choose from. Both adorable. One was mellow and...

Eight weeks ago, in anticipation of my Tuscan vacation, I decided to learn Italian. I wanted to be able to carry on a simple conversation in Italian, so I took a few lessons, made flashcards, practiced with native speakers, and prepared cheat sheets. Then, I got on a plane. I am home now, and can...

Italian is not going well. That's my challenge for the month - learning Italian before my trip to Tuscany. I'm practicing every day and I'm even taking lessons, but I'm struggling. Yes, language learning is difficult (very difficult), but the bigger problem is that I'm not giving it the...

6 months ago, I picked up a copy of The Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and decided to declutter my home. I spent two full months in full-on KonMari mode: discarding, recycling, donating, folding and organizing. It was hard work, but I was ecstatic with the end result. I loved...

I'm going to Italy next month. Wahoo! I'm planning on eating lots of pasta, drinking lots of wine, and speaking nothing but Italian. The only problem is I don't speak a lick of Italian, which is why I've decided to dedicate the next six weeks to learning it. I've already...

Here in the United States, debt is a big problem. The cost of living is outpacing the rise in income levels, and as a result, we're spending too much and saving too little. The average balance-carrying American owes $15,000 in credit cards, $48,000 in student loans, $27,000 in auto loans and...

One of my favorite things about writing this blog is getting to choose topics that interest me. It's fun to be a beginner, to go from novice to basic competence in a variety of areas, and I get a kick out of how random it all is. This month I'm taking a...