family activities

I had always wanted to try a cooking class at Sur La Table. Then we took one to make croissants. Here's my review.

A DIY Christmas Ornament? Made By ME? I love making crafts. I've always loved to walk the aisles at Michael's, imagining the amazing wreath I would make, or painted birdhouse. Or perfectly iced cake. The problem is crafts don't really love me. And by that, I mean, have you ever perused the #pinterestfail hashtag? Or [...]

Ah, Black Friday. The one day a year that sales are almost overwhelming in number. Well, except now there's Cyber Monday right after. Whatever - Black Friday and Cyber Monday (or BFCM, as some call the combined holidays - yes. I'm serious.) crowd my inbox every year. And ever year there's some sale that I [...]

Do you have someone in your life who is obsessed with their pets? Or maybe the pet lover is, ahem, you? (okay, I may have some experience in being pet-obsessed! I love nothing better than finding the perfect present, and I know we all love our little furry friends like family. So naturally, I have [...]

Did you know Savannah, Georgia is known for its shopping? I didn't either! But on a recent long weekend there, which you can read about here, I got to know this charming southern city. And took a first-hand look at the amazing Savannah boutique scene. Unlike many other cute cities (including my home in Old [...]

I start looking forward to Halloween decorating in about August. If you follow me on social media, y'all know by now that I love getting ready for the holidays. But there are definitely years when procrastination rules and I'm scrambling to throw together some last-minute pumpkins or ghosts. Or years where I put everything up only [...]

Have you ever considered spending a long weekend in Savannah, Georgia? If you haven't, you should. Having grown up just a couple of hours to the south, I've spent time in Savannah over the years. But most of that time was for weddings, parties, or holiday weekends like St. Patrick's Day, which is not exactly [...]

Halloween kicks off our holiday season. But coming up with family Halloween activities can be hard. Ours is a blended family with complicated dynamics - but what's uncomplicated is that we are always looking for fun things to do with the kids. Whether it's for Christmas, Halloween, Thanksgiving, or Valentine's Day, holidays are a great [...]

I've been to San Diego a number of times over the years, but my husband Craig never had. So when we found ourselves with a spare couple of days while we were recently in Los Angeles, we decided to drive down. We had a blast exploring the city and surrounding areas. If you're looking to [...]

Until last year, most of my experience with Richmond involved trying to slog through its traffic on I-95 as I drove south from the Washington, DC area to visit friends and family in Florida. I had been to a wedding there a few years ago but wasn't there long enough to get a flavor for [...]

Recently I took my teenage stepdaughter to New York to celebrate her birthday. I love to travel with my stepkids and knew this would be a weekend trip she would remember forever. I've been there many times over the years, but this was her first trip to New York. It made me smile to watch [...]

The first two days of our recent trip to Paris unintentionally took us on a death tour of the city. And after having been there countless times, it showed me an entirely new way to view the City of Light.