Today I led a meditation at a health & wellness fair at my children’s school! This happened because last year, after I attended the first National Kids Yoga Conference, I suggested to the principal that mindfulness activities at school be considered, in general and in particular using the wetlands learning lab we built three years ago….
D.C. Metro
Writing To-Do List: Making it Public for #NaBloPoMo
Since the start of November means the start of NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) and NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month), I feel the need to make my Writing – and my writing support – To-Do list public: for accountability and to show the whole picture. I have come to understand that I can’t just say I will write every…
Bring it, Fall!
In the past two days, I’ve actually done two things I really wanted to do and done them with joy. I spent the day at the Natural Products Expo East where I talked with some truly inspirational people about amazing products. And I talked with moms and other local leaders in the holistic parenting community…
Take Back Your Health Conference returns
I’ve attended every Take Back Your Health conference since it launched in 2011 and am so pleased that it is back again this year in Arlington, October 3-4, 2015. I wanted to be sure to share that ticket prices go up tonight, Tuesday, September 1. Buy your ticket here through our affiliate link and support…
End of summer, with grief and relief
As summer 2015 draws to a close, I am filled alternately with grief and with relief. Now, it’s pretty typical for me to flip-flop from one extreme to another in my emotions in the space of about two minutes. I remember one fall day I took my children to Ticonderoga Farms by myself and thought…
Spring Break at The Crayola Experience
The Crayola Experience in Easton, Pennsylvania is a wonderfully fun and creative spot to spend the day, or more! We’ve been for the past two years during Spring Break, and when a friend asked for recommendations for a her toddler, I realized I’d never put together a post about our trip. So here goes! I…
My BlogU
It was after Mother’s Day passed with nary an acknowledgement — other than my daughter adding me to her dad’s birthday card and saying, “We should do something for you for Mother’s Day” — that I decided to register for the BlogU Conference in Baltimore in early June. My husband, who’d been playing in Ultimate Frisbee tournaments…
Circling back, or life as Spirograph
As the BlogU conference drew nearer, I began to feel more and more excited but less and less prepared. There was a huge attendee Facebook group I failed to figure out until about a week before. What rock had I been living under? It was filled with so much activity! So many people to follow!…
Identifying the good
It seems a little surprising that I’m feeling so calm on such a full day. It sure feels different to be trying to figure out why instead of figuring out why I don’t feel well, which is a lot more common! I woke this morning with a sore throat and tight chest thinking, “Oh, maybe…
5 Things I wished I’d know before my c-section (and VBAC)
Today is the last day of Cesarean Awareness Month, something I would not have expected would apply to me when I first got pregnant a little more than 10 years ago. But it does. After my 2006 c-section, I went on to have a homebirth with my second child, thanks in no small part to…
Why clean air matters to my family
After I’d attended the summer Moms Clean Air Force play-ins and had learned more about the organization‘s important work, I was honored to be invited me to speak at the Virginia Mama Summit at the Virginia General Assembly building. At first, I thought that since my children don’t have full-on asthma and I don’t work as a…
Grounding in fall
This fall I have noticed the leaves without trying so hard and have immersed myself in a lot of interesting activities that seemed to land in my lap. I have been so many great talks and events, and I’ve wanted to write thoughtful and helpful recaps of all of them for my website, Mindful Healthy…
Author Dav Pilkey shares history of learning challenges
A few hours ago, my eight-year-old son and I popped back on the Metro from the Library of Congress National Book Festival at the DC Convention Center after sampling just a fraction of what the event had to offer in this, its first year taking place inside. The key attraction that got us there by 11…
Activist, educator, mother: spin the dial
What words would you use to describe yourself? How do those words change when you become a parent? What do your choices look like with the glasses of parenthood on? This week I felt like some of my many identities came together outside the Federal Triangle Metro station at the Moms Clean Air Force-organized rally…
Conviction and compromise on the road
Welcome to the July 2014 Carnival of Natural Parenting: Family Vacation This post was written for inclusion in the monthly Carnival of Natural Parenting hosted by Hobo Mama and Code Name: Mama. This month our participants have shared their family-travel tips, challenges, and delights. Please read to the end to find a list of links…
Anatomy of a spring “break”
When I was a teacher, I considered spring break a reprieve from grading and early morning wake-ups and dealing with adolescent angst in 120 flavors. But now that I am a mom with school-aged children, spring “break” is a misnomer. It is a week when I feel the weight of responsibility of keeping to a…
Traffic choked the cherry tree
After my last post whined about the tough time I’ve been having, I really intended to write something more uplifting the following day when I was feeling better. My friend who has been teaching herself energy medicine did a phone consult with me that really turned things around Thursday night. The biggest issue she identified…
Getting my children – and myself – outside
With a background in environmental education and an avowed interest in connecting to nature, you’d think my children would be outside all the time. Well, at least I’d like to think that I could have little adventure explorers who would never ask to watch anything on a screen. Not so. I blame it partly on…
Happier at home … by staying at home?
The more I channeled Happier at Home author Gretchen Rubin this morning, straightening up and dealing with clutter, the more I started thinking about ditching the chance to see her speak tonight. Talk about shooting the messenger. She didn’t exactly say the words “don’t do anything that doesn’t make you feel joyful” in what I read…
Under a January sky: Welcoming 2014
It didn’t look like it was going to go well, this New Year’s Day. I had been eating pancakes all morning (sugar-free and GF but not GAPS-legal) and was wearing the world’s frumpiest sweatpant/pajama combo. My daughter was reaching up to the counter to help herself to the sausage she didn’t eat at breakfast while…