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So Close, and Yet So Close

8/29/2016

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How do you survive a cross-country trip in a Mini Cooper with loved ones? Especially if you're an introvert, and the loved ones are affectionate, open, devoted extroverts? Here are my tips.


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Solar Roast Coffee

8/25/2016

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You know what I love? I love people who have a great idea and work really hard to make it happen. I love it when people dream big. I love cities that welcome unique, even radical ideas. I also love coffee.

All those things came together in Pueblo, a city I love because it’s been good to my sister, whom I love.

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36 Hours in Aspen

8/23/2016

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If you have only thirty-six hours to spend in Aspen, you can have a great time and scope out the place for future visits. Here are my recommendations. By the way, we visited in the summer, so things might be different for a winter trip.

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Zion and Me: Happy at Last

8/23/2016

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I first visited Zion National Park in 1992. My husband and I went there for our first married vacation. Because we had no money, we camped. We were terrible campers. We borrowed all the equipment, packed it up in Sam’s ancient Mercedes diesel sedan, and drove from our home in Southern California to Utah. We had trouble setting up the tent (thanks for rescuing us, kind neighbors) and ate disgusting freeze-dried food. I got in over my head hiking and cried all the way up the chain path to Angel’s Landing. In short, we had a great time! Why? Because we were young enough to endure discomfort and embarrassment, and to enjoy seeing more of God’s green earth and having fun together.

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Toilet Gallery: SFMOMA

8/15/2016

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It starts innocently enough. You decide, like you do many times a day, to go to the bathroom. At the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, you walk innocently down the dimly-lit white hallway, past the coat check. You pull the bathroom door open and BAM you are shocked and amazed by a flood of red. Red ceiling, red floor, red walls. It’s like being inside an artery.

Go to SFMOMA. Just go. And don’t forget to go to the bathroom.

​PREVIOUS: SFMOMA Cafe: Restaurant Review
NEXT: Zion and Me: Happy at Last
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SFMOMA Cafe: Restaurant Review

8/12/2016

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I took Kid 3 to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art last week. We checked out the cafe.

I learned something that day: take it easy, and go slow. Here's why.

When Sam and I were first married, we had no money for vacations. He hadn’t been raised having vacations (Hong Kong is one city--no matter how far away you go, you might as well go home to sleep) so he always felt like we had to see as much as possible every trip. We usually came home exhausted and broke.
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Mental Health and Your Adult Child

8/4/2016

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During the last few years, one of our children went through a mental health crisis. We were at a loss, not knowing what our options were and being thwarted at every turn by our insurance company and conflicting medical advice. Eventually, with love, hard work, prayer, medications, doctors, and flexibility, things came right again, albeit at a new normal. Here are some things I learned, and I hope that if you find yourself in this situation this gives you some direction.

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Send My Bag: My Review

8/1/2016

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We’re going to spend eight months in Hong Kong, using it as a base for part of our round the world trip before we move to Paris. (If you think reading that sentence was confusing, you should try living that sentence.) Anyway, we’ll be staying in a furnished apartment, so we only need to take clothing and personal items. Because of our weird travel route (driving across the USA in a Mini, then spending a week in Spain, then going to Hong Kong) we only want to take carry-ons on the journey. How to get our winter clothes and toys and our son’s homeschool stuff to Hong Kong? We decided to try the baggage transport service Send My Bag.

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