Guest Post: Traveling with Kids by Alison King

Guest Post: Traveling with Kids by Alison King

We have always been a bi-coastal family. I’m from Southern California; my husband is from New England. We now live in the Bay Area, which means that at least once a year we pack up our kids and several metric tons of luggage and take a cross-country flight to visit relatives. When we’re not doing …Continue reading »

No Fair: Teacher Gifts & Free Rider Parents

No Fair: Teacher Gifts & Free Rider Parents

Anonymous pooled gift funds for teacher gifts… sure does simplify things. Except for the free riders — those folks who, for whatever reason, choose not to participate in the class gift fund. Yet they are recognized anyway because all families’ names are signed to the card, regardless of who has actually donated hard earned cash to the cause. One school’s brewhaha…
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Protected: Coffee Break: Blog of the Day

Protected: Coffee Break: Blog of the Day

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How To: Turn Your List into a Visual Grid

How To: Turn Your List into a Visual Grid

We’re so excited to announce a new option for blog post widgets – a visual grid display: Body Cleanses That Aren’t Crazy   While some lists lend themselves to longer, more verbal formats, we know that other lists look great with larger images and less text. We love using a grid to share our favorite …Continue reading »

Fact or Fiction: Living People Outnumber the Dead

Fact or Fiction: Living People Outnumber the Dead

The number of humans living on this earth has ballooned to the point that people alive today outnumber all those who have ever lived, according to a friend of mine who read it on the internet. Scary!! Could that really be possible? I run some mental calculations, but raising young children has taken a serious toll on my quick math skills. Instead, I turn to…Continue reading »

2012 Voting Badges

Congratulations – you’ve successfully entered your blog into SkinnyScoop contest! Share your entry with your readers by placing a voting badge on your site or have your fans support you by spreading word about your blog through e-mail, Twitter or Facebook. Good Luck! Top 25 Wedding Blogs of 2012 Want to share? Simply copy/paste to …Continue reading »

Why you should never EVER order lemon in your water (and 9 other things restaurants don’t want you to know)

Why you should never EVER order lemon in your water (and 9 other things restaurants don’t want you to know)

Hurried chefs with bare hands, servers handling your clean plate after clearing dirty ones, kitchen staff grabbing someone else’s used silverware to push food into your to-go box, lemons with… feces on them??? Yikes. It’s amazing we can survive a trip to Round Table. Here are some ideas to avoid your own demise from restaurant fare…Continue reading »

Jesus v. Easter Bunny: Quién es Mas Macho?

Jesus v. Easter Bunny: Quién es Mas Macho?

Glancing at the dollar bins filled with bunny-imprinted yo-yos got me wondering: what is Easter really about these days? In fact, how many people can, in one sentence (and without using Google), describe with complete certainty exactly what Easter is. I think for many, this is a stumper. Just to cut to the chase…Continue reading »

Dangerous Toddler Booted Off Flight: Amen or No Way

Dangerous Toddler Booted Off Flight: Amen or No Way

Having been there myself, I’m curious as to how, exactly, the two-year-old on the JetBlue flight endangered the crew and passengers. Endangered their ears? Or their easily annoyed sensibilities? Secretly, this is something I would like to have seen. I mean really, how bad was it to warrant getting booted from the aircraft? Does she…Continue reading »

Family Vacations that Live Up to Expectations (Or Not)

Family Vacations that Live Up to Expectations (Or Not)

They picked up the girls and had an early (but elegant) dinner. They then walked a few blocks to the ballet and took their seats. The lights dimmed. This was a great date, the boys felt, certainly worthy of capturing the hearts of their respective dates. As the ballet began, my brother noticed his friend becoming fidgety. About 10 minutes into the performance, the friend leans over and asks, with a more than a little disappointment…Continue reading »

Erin Go Bragh: One Simple Story of Ties that Bind

Erin Go Bragh: One Simple Story of Ties that Bind

“It was St. Patrick’s Day. Brooklyn, NY. 1950.” My dad begins his story as the kids listen with rapt attention, “My Aunt Dorothy stopped me cold and handed me a green tie to wear. ‘This would be the perfect way to show some pride in your Irish heritage.’” But green tie was definitely not the uniform tie…Continue reading »