Living With Kids: Ana Bianchi
Once upon a time Ana Bianchi shared her home tour when she lived in New York. Since then, she and her family (her husband, her daughter, and her pug) have moved to Walnut Creek, California and live in a beautiful house with an even more beautiful garden. It seems like the perfect place to spend quarantine, and Ana is grateful for all the work she and her family have put into the space to make it what it is now. You’ll love poking around and seeing all the lovely art on the walls, and the way Ana makes you feel totally at home. Welcome, Ana!
…A Few Things
Hello Friends. How are you? Have you settled into quarantine life yet? Found a schedule or some consistency that’s working for you?
I’m sure worried about you. I know some of you live in tiny spaces and are feeling trapped. I know some of you have very young kids and nowhere for them to get out their excess energy (and no break for you from childcare!). I know some of you are lonely. I know some of you are worried about paying for food and bills and not sure where to get help. I know some of you have essential jobs and are still heading into work everyday so that the rest of us can remain safely home. I know pretty much everyone is living with an unusual level of stress. I know this is hard.
One of the hardest parts is not being able to see the end. We don’t know how long it will be until our kids can go to school, until we can return to our work places, until we can resume errands and meetings. It makes it really difficult to manage expectations. We got an email yesterday from our school saying that the earliest we would go back is May 4th (but that’s not guaranteed at all).
How about you? How are you holding up? Have you been able to find any silver-linings? Are you remembering to take your meds? Finding new ways to cope? This week I started randomly facetiming long-time friends that I don’t get a chance to talk to very often. Not everyone picks up (and I know not everyone recognizes my +33 French number), but when they do it’s delightful. : )
Ready for some weekend links? Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share:
…Tall House: Choosing a Bathroom Style
Here’s something design-y to distract us from the news. One of the projects I’ve been tackling during our self-quarantine is designing the bathrooms for the St. Martin House. If you saw the original home tour on Instagram, you may remember there are are four floors, but only one bathroom.
It’s a traditional French bathroom, where the toilet is in its own little closet, and the neighboring room has a bathtub, sink, and bidet (pictured above). It’s on the second floor. During the renovation, we are planning to add more bathrooms.
…Living With Kids: Chris Cammock
How’s everyone holding up? I’m happy to introduce you to Chris today. Chris is a Creative Director who runs the in-house communications team for a hospital, so her family is right in the thick of all-things-coronavirus. And yes Chris’s house is amazing — full of color and joy — but you’ll also love her frankness about how her family is adjusting to life during social distancing. (I cried when I read Chris‘s daily schedule.) Welcome, Chris!
…A Few Things
Hello Friends. How are you? No but really. How are you holding up? This week feels like it’s been a full month at least, but also flew by in like five minutes? I could swear I was writing last week’s link list earlier today. My sense of time is totally out of whack.
Nothing major to report here. More baking, more wallpaper-peeling, more schoolwork, more time on Pinterest thinking about bathroom designs — and a surprising amount of work deadlines too. Maude has been practicing painting while she stays-at-home in Berkeley, and she sent me the image above. It made me happy. How about you? Anything you’re in the mood to report?
I’m going to jump right in to the link list. Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
…Feeling Anxious? Let’s Take 5 Steps to Get Our Affairs in Order
This is a post that confronts some of the realities of death. Skip this, or save it for later, if your brain isn’t able to deal with it at the moment.
Deaths from Covid-19 have topped 1000 in the U.S.. We continue to hope for the best, but the virus is not under control, and we don’t know how many people will be impacted until it is. We need to be aware that some current projections show the number of covid-related deaths could grow to well past a million.
Perhaps you will not be personally unaffected; you and your family may remain healthy. I certainly wish that for you. But the virus affects different people in different ways, and we can’t know who it will hit the hardest. If you’re feeling overwhelmed with worry, taking some concrete steps to protect your family in your possible absence may help.
In the five suggestions below I’m going to refer to “your person”. Your person might be your spouse, your adult child (or adult children), your sibling, your best friend, your lawyer — your person is whoever you plan to assign dealing with your will, and your belongings, if you were to die.
…Feeling Anxious? Let’s Take 5 Steps to Get Our Affairs in OrderRead More »
Living With Kids: Annie Preece
Today you get to meet Annie, an artist and a painter who lives with her children and her husband in a beautiful home outside Salt Lake City. When the bought the property it was an older, smaller place in need of repair. So they did some basic fix-ups to make it livable.
Then as their family grew, they needed more space but didn’t want to leave their neighborhood, so they tore down the old house and built a custom home on the lot. Their goal was to build a home they can stay in forever, and I think they succeeded. It’s livable and lovely — and it even has a climbing wall. Welcome, Annie!
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? What a hard and weird week it’s been. So many people trying to grasp that our world is fundamentally changed, that we really have no idea when calls for self-isolation will end, that we don’t know when our kids will return to school (and many experts say it likely won’t happen this school year), that we can’t quite comprehend what’s coming.
I am mostly okay. I have kids to whom I can direct my attention, and who are an essential reason to remain calm and collected. I have work to occupy my mind. It’s easy for me to find things to be grateful for — like consistent electricity and internet even in the midst of a global pandemic. But still, I find myself sometimes overcome with sadness and discouragement and have to just sit for a minute and breath through it. I’m aware I’m not alone in this.
Sometimes we go to sleep here in France and wake up to major news in the U.S. that we missed while we slept. Today was one of those days. The first headlines I read were about Senators Burr and Loeffler selling off millions of dollars of stocks just before the market crashed, while publicly assuring Americans that everything was fine. I am so angry I can hardly form words about it. (And weirdly I’m grateful for the anger because it’s a great distraction from fear?)
I don’t know if we’ll be able to make it feel like a weekend at our house, but I hope we can. Because for a week where it feels like we didn’t do much, the whole family seems exhausted. I need to figure out a way to make the next couple days restful and restorative so that we can make it through another week of this.
Here are a few things I’ve wanted to share with you. I tried hard to find a good mix of stuff so I won’t depress you. : )
…What Would You Pick For A New Last Name?
I’m needing something lighter to discuss today. Will you join me? I read this tweet last week and it made me chuckle.
At the same time I was laughing, I was also thinking: YES. This is so smart!!
I’ve said this for many, many years about married names: If the goal is equality and fairness, then choosing a new last name for the new family you are creating when you get married, is the option that makes the most sense.
…Living With Kids: Jessie Pierce
Today’s home tour feels like just what we need — a bright a beautiful home, and a mother who has a personality that feels just as bright and beautiful. Meet Jessie. She and her family live outside Washington D.C. in a petite 1000 square ft home. With two toddlers it would be easy for that space to feel crowded and messy but Jessie does a great job of keeping things minimal, open and inviting. She might just inspire you to spend some time cleaning out your closets and getting rid of things you don’t love anymore. Welcome, Jessie!
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? Was it a strange week for you? I assume so because it’s been a strange week everywhere. This is unlike anything that has happened in our life times and it’s hard to know what to expect and how to properly react.
I’m going to jump right into links. Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you. And I should tell you now, the vast majority are coronavirus related — some serious, some light-hearted, some calming, some infuriating, some very funny:
…Random Thoughts
I hope you’re in the mood for a Random Thoughts post. Here are some of the things on my mind (lots of it related to Covid-19):
– The Coronavirus-related news can be so overwhelming — I’ve found I cope better if I take it in smaller doses. I try to keep it to a few minutes of Twitter and then a couple of articles from reputable sources, like the New York Times or the BBC. It’s remarkable how fast things are changing, with new cancellations being announced every day.
Ben Blair was supposed to travel to Utah later this month for the Mormon Transhumanism conference, but they just announced it would be virtual instead. (Which of course totally makes sense.) This trip was also going to be an opportunity to spend time with his mother, and take some work-related meetings. So now he’s looking at his options and talking to the airline to find out if postponing/rescheduling makes more sense, or if an outright cancellation would be better.
…Living With Kids: A Revisit to Kimberly Garner
A while back we introduced you to Kimberly Garner who lived in a beautiful home in the San Juan Islands. In her essay, Kimberly talked a bit about how she was recently divorced. It turns out that Kimberly sold that gorgeous home and is off on a new adventure. I wanted to reach out to hear and see her new place (Kimberly’s style is effortlessly chic and inviting) and to hear how life was going, post divorce. Kimberly once again is smart and wise and really pours her heart out. Welcome back, Kimberly.
…Will MDMA Change Your Political Views?
I generally detest any activity that makes me feel out of control, so taking drugs (or drinking) has never held any interest for me. And I’ve mostly tuned out every time another news story comes out about micro-dosing, or using psychedelics therapeutically.
But I read a tweet a couple of weeks ago, about someone using MDMA and completely changing their political views, and I keep thinking about it. The tweet was originally an attempt to throw shade toward Libertarians, but it ended up being a fascinating thread with even more fascinating responses. Here’s the original tweet:
A Few Things
Hello, Friends! How are you? How was your week? Mine was so good! I’m still here in Palm Springs. This is the last official day of Alt Summit 2020 — though it’s pretty relaxed. A few meetups this morning, and a one-day session of the Huddle. Most people are traveling back home today so lots of goodbyes too.
It’s been an incredible week. For sure our best Alt Summit yet — even with some last-minute cancellations related to fear and caution around coronavirus. I got to interview Soledad O’Brien on Monday. And connect with Shannon Watts on Tuesday. And be surrounded by 2000 amazing women for lots of days. I’m feeling very lucky. I saved a bunch of Alt Summit peeks to my Story Highlights if you’re curious (and check out the #altsummit hashtag on Instagram too).
Yesterday, as I was sitting at a table of attendees working on some Alt Summit announcements, I heard the news about Elizabeth Warren ending her campaign. I started weeping. I knew it was coming after Super Tuesday, but I’m so, so sad. Not much else to say yet. I haven’t had time to even think about it. : (
I’ve got a long link list for you today. Here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share. (There’s a bit cussing in there today — reflective of my sadness and anger.)
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? Did you have a good week?
I am writing this from Charles De Gaulle airport in Paris. By the time you read the post, I’ll be in the air, headed to Palm Springs for Alt Summit. I’m always so nervous before the conference — it’s that feeling when you’re throwing a party and you hope everyone is going to have a good time. But it’s a party for 2000 people that lasts for 6 days and has hundreds of speakers and classes. Hah!
On Monday for the opening keynote, I’ll be interviewing Soledad O’Brien and Danielle Bernstein (it will be separate interviews). I love interviewing people and am especially looking forward to this. But holy moly interview prep takes so much time and research. Every time I write interview questions I come away with huge respect for journalists that do this for a living.
I’m going to head out now, but before I go, here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
…Living With Kids: Michelle Richardson
Michelle is a stay at home mom raising 4 teens/tweens and 2 dogs in a beautiful home in Lindon, Utah. After moving every few years while her husband was in the military, they’ve finally settled down in a neighborhood they love, within walking distance of the kids’ schools, and with only a 10-minute commute to work. Michelle has really made this new-build her own with bright wall colors, amazing light fixtures and some gorgeous wallpaper.
After having lived in so many places, Michelle has great advice about making your space personal and your own, without worrying too much about if you might have to change it down the road. And she’s also got some valuable insight into being a parent to older kids. I can’t wait for you to take a peek inside. Welcome, Michelle!
…Schrödinger’s Rapist
This essay from 2009 is the best thing I’ve read so far this year. It’s called Schrödinger’s Rapist: or a guy’s guide to approaching strange women without being maced. And I think it might be perfect.
The comments are now closed, but there are 1200+ of them, and they are (mostly) good reading as well.
The essay is about how there’s no way for women to know if a man who is approaching us is a good guy or a rapist. So we constantly have to observe and calculate levels of danger. It spells out five points that men can and should be aware of if they want to approach women. From the essay:
…A Few Things
Hello, Friends. How are you? We arrived home from Switzerland on Wednesday night and I can’t wait to tell you about our trip. What a gorgeous country! (I made a Switzerland highlight on Instagram if you’re curious.)
Other things happening at our house: Olive will head back to Montpelier this weekend. I head out to Palm Springs for Alt Summit next Friday, so I’ve got some intense work ahead of me for the next couple of weeks. We have a meeting with a window specialist on Tuesday — we want to hire him to repair and repaint the windows and shutters at the St. Martin house. And the youngest three get one more week off of school — which means lots of visits to the pool and the ice skating rink.
I’ve got to get back to more Alt Summit work, but before I go, here are a few things I’ve been wanting to share with you:
…Living With Kids: Theresa Pham
I am happy today to introduce you to Theresa and her family. Theresa lives outside of Houston in a beautiful home that she and her husband renovated and decorated. Her style is impeccable and you’ll love getting a look around. Theresa also talks openly about the struggles she and her husband had as they tried to build a family — from IVF treatments to lost pregnancies. Welcome, Theresa!
…