Speed Bump

Marissa, I want to champion you, I really do. At 37, and one of only 19 female CEOs of a Fortune 500 company, I want you to succeed. Taking the reigns as CEO of Yahoo while 6 months pregnant, I was hoping you would blaze trails for working moms everywhere. But first came the stingy two week maternity leave, then the declaration that the whole baby thing was easy , and now this...turning back the clock on workplace flexibility by banning your employees to work from home . I hate to think what's next. The truth is, if I worked for Marissa Mayer I would most likely have to leave my job. I've said previously  that the most important reason I am still successfully advancing in my career with young children is flexibility (a supportive spouse and nearby grandparents are close seconds). I am fortunate that I can read academic journals, write grants, review papers, prepare class lectures and draft emails all from home. I also have leadership responsibilities to m...

Just a few pics from my iPhone of our sunny get away...just what we needed! Ready for flight... I had an arsenal of tools ready to get us through our long flights - ipad, leapfrog, crackers, raisins, food and more food (Charlie will zone out with the digital toys, food is the only thing that keeps Iz calm and entertained). This is the view from our balcony in sunny California. Not bad. A beautiful flat, sandy beach is just behind that line of palm trees - perfect for morning runs and building sandcastles. This awesome park (check out the views!) is also just across the street and directly in front of the beach. We would take the kids over in the morning for some play time. On Saturday morning it was packed with baby-wearing, stroller-pushing Dads. Ryan fit right in. Saturday night we went out for San Diego's best fish tacos in a dive bar in Ocean beach. We were not disappointed. I took a Pilates class with my Mom one morning - I could get used ...

The day started with such promise. A short drive to the airport and kisses to Gram and Grandaddy - saying goodbye to a fun California visit. By the time we boarded our flight, our connecting flight was cancelled out of Denver. KC is expecting a snowpocalypse. I was hoping we could get ahead of it. But no such luck. We have a hotel room and a morning flight. If we get out of here in the morning, the night will be remembered as a fun adventure in a nice, kid-friendly hotel (board games in the lobby, coloring books given to us at check in). Kids are finally sleeping - they were so excited to be in a hotel room. We secured a bottle of wine and are watching the KU game in comfy hotel beds (overtime!). If we don't get out of here tomorrow, we will remember this night (and days?!) as...I shudder to think, so I won't for now. G'night.

Happy Hearts Day! Did you know that February is American Heart Month ? The best thing we can do for our hearts is not to buy a box of chocolates - which I love as much as the next person (my Valentine gave me Christopher Elbow chocolates! He knows me well). The best thing we can do for our hearts every day is exercise. I haven't written much about exercise here lately. The sad reason is that I just have not been prioritizing exercise in my life. I have a million excuses, trust me. But they really are only excuses. I resolve to do better. I'm putting it in writing here on the internet where it will live forever. Since moving from our old house to the downtown loft, I lost a few of my best approaches to getting exercise. First, we moved away from the awesome Brookside trolley trail and great neighborhoods for running. I miss my old routes! And I miss being able to go out the door in the morning, even in the dark. I just don't feel safe doing that downtown and thus my mo...

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I am not crafty. We went to a birthday party Saturday morning for one of Charlie's classmates at a ceramic making place. I heard several of the moms talking about how often they go there, and how they have a stash of 50 some-odd pieces of prized ceramics at home made by their little ones. I had never heard of the place. Charlie was not especially thrilled with the activity - Ryan finished painting Charlie's monster figurine after he got squirmy and bored. And I know better than to attempt to paint something myself. I know my limits. But the kids are always doing fun crafty things at school, and so I try. I can't seem to help myself. I'm like a stray cat that keeps going down the same alley hoping to find food, and getting in a fight instead.  Every time. And yet I just keep going back. The grandparents had the kids Saturday night so I had some time to prepare before we picked them up. Preparation is key...

Charlie held fast to his request for a Green Lantern birthday cake this year, so I could not disappoint... Ta da! Green Lantern! The best part is that I didn't have to make it myself (not that I could). This is once again the fantastic work of a co-worker of mine, she is amazing. And at least at this age, as long as we have an awesome cake and a few presents, the birthday boy is very happy. I feel like I dropped the ball a bit on Charlie's birthday this year. It always sneaks up on me post-holiday, and I couldn't seem to find a date to get the whole family together. That, coupled with being in our small apartment, putting together a birthday shindig this year was a challenge. I've noticed a pattern developing here where I seem to gear up for birthdays every other year - compare birthdays 1 and 3 with birthday #2 . Next year, Number 5, in our new house, I will be ready. So instead of one big party this year, we had a couple smaller ones wit...

It was a busy day at Modern on Meadow yesterday. Plumbers, a sound guy (speakers in the bathroom? Yes, please.), and the crew working on adding new support pillars in the basement were all in and out of the house during our weekly tour.

Apartment living has its pros and cons. These days I'm noticing the cons much more than the pros. I'm ready to be in our new house. When we first moved in, we had a little run in with our neighbors in Apartment 1B. (Remember  this ?) I felt so defeated, and we'd only been in our loft for 1 week. I knew noise would be an issue for us in our current digs. With two small kids that cry, yell and scream on a regular basis, I knew we might not have it easy with our neighbors. I know from experience that you can hear us when you are walking through the building lobby. I only hope our noise is somewhat contained - there is no one below us and I hope, given how high our ceilings are, that those above us don't hear much. That leaves our neighbors on either side - the ones in Apartment 1D still smile at us in the hallway when we see them...a good sign, right? Our apartment door is visible just behind the wall of mailboxes... As for the hipsters in Apartment 1B, the...

It was a big day for Charlie at school - all the kids wore pajamas for his birthday. When we arrived in the classroom, they all ran up and shouted "Happy Birthday Charlie!" and showed us their special pajamas. Charlie suddenly got really quiet and shy. They all looked super cute in their PJs. Ryan got to sit through morning meeting. The teacher talked about the calendar and compared January to the month of February, pointing out Charlie's birthday, Valentine's Day and the upcoming school pancake breakfast. The teacher asked Charlie what song he would like to sing with the group, and he very fittingly requested "Happy Birthday." After morning meeting, the kids all moved towards the sink to wash their hands and then the chaos began... We brought in all the ingredients to make vanilla cupcakes (minus the eggs, because one of the kids has an allergy) and the kids all helped. The night before, Charlie and I wrote up the recipe for ever...