Tea for Valentine’s Day

A ritual I love and post on Instagram frequently is enjoying a cup of tea in the afternoon while my daughter has her after-school snack. This has been such a soothing practice and, let’s face it, a jolt of just enough caffeine to get me through the rest of our day. Sometimes, I could do …

A Vintage Recipe: Raisin Scones

I’m fortunate to have inherited a number of recipes from my great-great aunt, who was a remarkable cook. Of course, a lot of these recipes have needed some updating or tweaking. Tastes have changed since the 1950s. She was also handwriting these recipes for herself, perhaps hastily scribbling down something from a cooking show before …

Outfit Post: Back to Black

I was at a work conference earlier this week, and one of the events was an awards dinner. Immediately, I assumed it was black tie because my mind is always primed for black tie. It was actually business attire. Settle down, brain. I’ve written before about largely phasing black out of my wardrobe. Of course, …

A Valentine’s Day table

Do you celebrate Valentine’s Day? It was never a favorite of mine and is also less than a week after my birthday. Over the years, it’s grown on me, and we’ve done a bit more to celebrate rather than ignoring it entirely. We always keep it small with no gifts, but it’s nice to enjoy …

Buying stopgap items

One of the reasons I have some unfinished-looking home spaces and a scanty wardrobe is that I really don’t like to buy a stopgap piece of clothing or furniture or really anything. Humans in general already put so many discarded items into landfills and secondhand shops. It just seems more environmentally and budget friendly to …