On Life

Encanto touches on a topic I never expected in a Disney movie set in my homeland of Colombia: forced displacement. Everybody who's dancing to the soundtrack & watching the movie for the 100th time needs to understand this reality.
If you are reading this, chances are you (or your kids) are obsessed with Encanto, and one of your most-listened-to songs has been "We don't talk about Bruno, no, no, no." Or maybe it's, "Pressure like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop, whoa" — such a triggering song for many of us who grew up feeling like we...
Matching pajamas + Dressing up + My Girls....We drank champagne, danced, ate lots of food & laughed until we cried. All. Weekend. Long. It was literally the best birthday I've ever had.
My friends and I have tried to get together for a girls' weekend at least once a year for the past twenty-something years. (Wait, twenty-something?? How is that possible? I still feel like I'm 25...most of the time.) Of course, the pandemic threw a wrench into those plans for a while, so when we were finally able to get...
Our recommendations for supporting social justice, helping community organizers & standing in solidarity w/ organizations promoting equal economic, educational + workplace opportunities.
As a kid, I used to watch the news every single night with my mom around dinner time. We'd tune into the local channels and then switch over to the World News just as we were setting the table. Now, at the ages of 5 through 8, I didn't really understand what I was listening to -- just that...
I've always been fascinated with the story of my great-grandfather's escape, but I didn't start incorporating Jewish traditions into my household until a few years ago.
I just want to be clear -- right off the bat -- I'm not a practicing Jew. Like any child with a secular-raised father and a Catholic mother...we were raised Presbyterian. Sure, why not. I've never been bat mitzvahed, but the first curse words I learned were in Yiddish (thanks Grandma and Grandpa!). I didn't grow up...
Nancy is a bilingual, Spanish-speaking Ecuadorian-American raising her bilingual son in New York. She's a childhood educator, meditation guide + children's book author.
Nancy is a child of Ecuador. Her parents migrated to the U.S. when she was a little girl. I had the fortune of meeting her through IG a few years ago and quickly connected over a lunch date. We had the same last name, we both had lived in Queens, NY and were now in the suburbs missing all...
Getting divorced is a HUGE financial turning point. SO, a bit of a financial planning checklist for women in the process of a divorce. Budget, assets, credit & more.
I'm so happy to have Megan Miller from Harbor Wealth Management here to share her expertise! Megan (and, initially, her mom) have been our financial planners (saviors?) for years, and have helped us navigate from our broke 20s, through the financial-rock-bottom years of having babies, and now into our 40s where we're starting to discuss those long-term plans that...
I’m officially two weeks out from surgery & I’m feeling a little better each day. My face is still paralyzed, but there’s more movement, little by little.
Gratitude. I'm feeling a deep, overwhelming sense of gratitude for my family, my friends, my community—for you guys. For your words, your messages, your prayers…they helped me more than I’ll ever be able to express properly. Thank you barely scratches the surface. Despite the circumstances surrounding it, feeling that kind of outpouring of love is nothing short of life-changing. It will always...
I scoured the internet & library for kids' books featuring AAPI characters. This is just a sampling & certainly doesn't cover the breadth + diversity of the AAPI experience.
One of the ways I find most helpful to start meaningful discussions with my children about topics such as ethnicities, cultures, religions, equity, etc., is through literature. Often books find the words that my normally verbose self lacks. I try to be intentional about what I'm reading with my children and how characters are portrayed. The podcast Teaching Hard...
Traveling w/ kids during the pandemic? Risky, but we did it. Our tips, lessons & packing essentials for flying (airport, plane + rental car) that made it (feel) a bit safer.
As someone who loves to travel, this year-long quarantine has given me (among other things) a mad case of wanderlust. The good news is that the more people who get vaccinated and COVID rates go down, the more travel opportunities will start to pop up. We had a chance to fly from Philly to Colorado recently with the...
Jill is a momma of 6 grown kids who has a penchant for style, fashion and maybe just a little too much love for shopping (what a big mood).
Long time listener, first time caller, Jill, hit us with a Power Move of an introduction email: If we were ever looking, she said, for someone who could write about "how to layer for hot flashes" or "what to wear to your colonoscopy" we should let her know. Power. Move. For now we're doing a little "getting to know...