Working Mama: One Year In

Four months ago (!!! Edit: more like six at this point), I promised an entry on working full-time as a new mom. Well, the baby turns one next month and I’ve just gotten around to updating the blog again, so that should tell you what my life’s been like. In a word: chaos. In two words: loving chaos.

On Raising a Future Woman

Parenthood, and to a somewhat lesser extent, getting older, has been one long exercise in recognizing the universality (and un-special-ness) of my most important experiences. Put another way: the older I get and the more time I spend as a mom, the more I realize that the things I go through are things just about everybody else in my position also experiences.

Here I should note that this is definitely not the post I meant to write after almost 5 months away from the blog. In fact, I have 15/16s of a post about being a working mom drafted and ready to go. But as has happened before, I’ve become completely consumed by some seriously messed up current events.

How NOT to make a frittata

Disclaimer: I do realize this is my first post in over four months. I just don't have time at this particular moment to explain and apologize, and I'm feeling inspired by events that transpired in my kitchen approximately five minutes ago. Suffice it to say that working full-time with a new baby is as hard as everyone says, and this blog is not abandoned.

This is not my usual type of recipe. This, dear reader, is a brief recipe for confusion, slight embarrassment, and snatching victory from the jaws of defeat. Read on for my guide to making dinner when you're living in the point where laziness, tiredness, and incompetence intersect.

How not to make a frittata:

So Long, 2017, and Thanks for Exactly One Thing

It's become almost de rigueur to hate on 2017, and as much as I hate following fads, I can't deny that this year was rough. The never-ending parade of celebrity deaths that everyone bemoaned in 2016 gave way to a cascade of sexual-assault revelations that showed the world just how ugly male privilege can be, and Tr*mp's incompetence as President has overshot even my most pessimistic 2016 expectations.

Christmas Eve

It's hard to believe that Christmas is just a few short hours away! The past three months or so have completely flown by. It's as if we've been living in our own personal Groundhog Day since the baby was born, and yet it simultaneously feels like she's always been a part of our little family. She's already the gravitational center of my entire universe and a part of my brain is always thinking of her. Is this what parenting is?

Deerly Beloved

PEOPLE. I am so excited right now! As I type this, my parents are up in the air, on their way to Chicago for an indefinite period of time. By the time you read this, they'll be here! And Jeff and I couldn't be happier! It was such a blessing to have them with us when we brought the baby home from the hospital, and since they left, she's grown and changed so dramatically that she hardly seems like the same person.

Festive Tiki

Today, I'm delighted to answer the age-old question nobody's been asking: Emily, how do I Christmas-ify a tiki print?

Grace Under Pressure

It’s hard to believe that I’m already on the home stretch of my maternity leave, but somehow, in the whirlwind that my life has become, almost eight weeks have gone by since the baby was born. I’ll be going back to work on a very part-time basis this month, transitioning back to full-time starting in January, and I’m having a lot of feelings about it.

Review: Midnight in Paris Streetcar

By now, I bet most of you know that I might be a Trashy Diva fanatic. I've fallen wildly in love with just about everything they've put out in the past two years, particularly the Wildflowers collection and my very favorite, Venice Nights. Given how much I absolutely loved Venice Nights, and how often I've worn it since it came out last year, I had high hopes for this year's travel print. And my goodness, Midnight in Paris did not disappoint!

Life Update: She's Here!

For those of you who've seen any of my recent Insta posts, this post will be old news. But in case anyone was wondering what happened to my lovely, predictable three-times-per-week update schedule, here's your answer: it's gone the way of every other schedule and routine in my life, because our baby is here!

My first postpartum blog shoot took three minutes flat.