My husband and I have this inside joke that’s not at all funny. Any time we find a new product that we REALLY like and are REALLY excited about, we know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it’s only a matter of time before it’s discontinued. It’s happened so often that we’ve almost managed […]

A few years ago, I started noticing the word YETI everywhere I turned  — plastered on the back windows of newer-model SUVs, printed across the chests of present, past, and future frat boys, and boldly emblazoned on the insulated coffee mugs of Hunter boot-wearing soccer moms. As far as I could tell, the YETI logo was […]

This post was written in partnership with The Center for Parent and Teen Communication.     Then: I decided when you were very small to make sure you knew we valued kindness and compassion toward others even more than academic or athletic accomplishments. We cheered when you gave your allowance to the Humane Association. We […]

  If you spend any time at all on Nashville’s park trails and greenways, you know they come with a major drawback: A whole lot of people who use them don’t think their dog needs to be on a leash. There are so many reasons why this is a bad idea, both for the off-leash […]

I’m excited to share this particular list with you, because I’ve read some really great books lately! Where the Crawdads Sing is my favorite book OF THE YEAR so far — I really, really loved it and didn’t want it to end. So many tears cried over this one. I believe Reese Witherspoon just chose […]

  I was an 18-year-old sorority pledge on a game day date with a boy I barely knew. He brought me to a party at his frat house that night, insisted on staying until the very end of the event, and then refused to take me home. “You can just spend the night in my […]

Last weekend, I took my daughter to the mall so that she could go shopping with her friends. I hadn’t been to a mall in a while, so I figured it would be a good time to check out the latest trends for fall before I decide what to buy this season. What happened next […]

  Life has been chaotic lately and I haven’t gotten around to sharing my latest reads with you. I’m so far behind, in fact, that I’m dividing up what I’ve read lately into two posts — I’ll share the rest in a week or two. I recommitted to reading more in March of last year […]

  Yesterday, I picked up my kids from school and headed over to Books-A-Million, where we often go for frozen hot chocolate and reading time. On the way over, I talked to them about a Facebook post I had read the day before — In that same shopping center parking lot, two men had approached […]

  I still vividly remember that sizzling hot July day, even though it happened more than a decade ago. I had taken my stepdaughters and daughter to see a movie, leaving my 4-month-old son at home with my husband. The theater was in an urban neighborhood, so we parked in a nearby lot and walked […]