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 started – check it out: I’m fascinated…

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 looking around to see clean, empty spaces….

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 attention and energy that it deserves….

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 report that my command of the…

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 laid back. The other was a…

It was an ordinary Sunday morning. I was sitting in the living room with the kids drinking coffee when to my utter shock and surprise, my husband got up and started cleaning. He rinsed dishes, took out the garbage, collapsed boxes and started a load of laundry. It’s about time, I muttered to myself. I share this story because in learning about…

“Jesus Murray why can’t you be normal!” I hissed. My neighbor had just popped by to drop something off, and Murray wouldn’t stop barking. A normal dog. What does that mean anyway? A dog that doesn’t bark incessantly when guests are in the house? Who doesn’t freak out every time I get ready to leave or…

I used to be a gym rat. A hard core, gung-ho workout fanatic. But ever since the baby, I haven’t been able to get back into a groove. Granted I’m sleep deprived, hormonal and always on the go, but the truth is, I’ve gotten lazy. Last week I drove to the gym, walked inside, looked around,…