We Are the Sum of Our Choices

I could feel it. Even from 20 feet away, with my back turned, as I was cleaning up the front yard. The beady little eyes staring at me....

I've been wearing some form of corrective lenses since the fourth grade. Glasses, contacts, and now reading glasses on top of those...

It was cold and rainy in downtown Chicago. We were warm and cozy in our hotel room, 36 stories high. And I had a craving. For a Diet...

I'm a sucker for silver jewelry. I love the way it sparkles and contrasts with my skin. I generally don't wear much though - mostly just...

She scrambled across the dining room table. Frantically trying to get it unstuck. I caught this picture just before she fell back into...

I opened up the little fridge in my hotel room. Pulled out food for my lunch and stacked it on the table. Looked over at my suitcase on...

It smelled like pizza. Like garlic and pepperoni and breadsticks. Not a bad smell. A pretty good one, in fact. I shook my head as I...

Sometimes, if I plug too many things in at once on the same circuit, I end up blowing a fuse. The power goes out and everything on that...

I was at the UPS Store the other day. Dropping off a package for shipment. It was crowded in the store, bursting with the hustle and...

The roads were wet, shimmering in the streetlights. Deceptively pretty. I was coming up to a stoplight on a bridge, heading home from...

Another Thanksgiving in the books. It was a good one this year. Smooth and calm and drama-free. Although Thanksgiving day was calm, the...

I love my leaf blower. It's so much fun to clear the sidewalks and the driveway. To watch the leaves and grass clippings scatter in my...

I love the fall. It's my favorite season. The smell of autumn in the air, the colors changing in the trees. The leaves covering the...

On our last girl's trip, the clock in our hotel suite wasn't working. Perpetually stuck at two minutes to six. As if time had stopped....

Soft. Warm. Cozy. Three of my favorite words. And feelings. This is the best time of year. A time for sweaters, jeans and boots. And...

There's a giant Ferris wheel on the waterfront in Seattle. I snapped a picture of it last time I was there. At night it lights up the...

I got a new refrigerator this week. My ice maker works again! No more trips to Kwik Trip to pick up bags of ice to fill it. And I don't...

I love moving walkways. The fact that I can stand still and move forward at the same time. Or I can choose to walk on them, moving at...

I recently discovered that I could ask my phone to read me my new text messages. I knew I could ask it to send them, but not that it...

Life is deceiving. From far away, things can look perfect. Perfect smiles, perfectly posed pictures, perfect stories of perfect...