If you begin with the brutal, you can find the beautiful.  That’s what journalism taught me. When I took a course in journalism at Michigan State University in 1997, I heard one phrase almost every week.  “If it bleeds, it leads.”  It’s a common phrase, one that most Americans have likely heard before, and it…

“There are no rules in summer, right, Mommy?”  This question came from my 6-year-old, The Professor, as we munched on our Subway sandwiches after school. The question gave me pause.  Now, we are not necessarily a household overflowing with rules.  If anything, I may need to step up the regulations around this place – things…

Who is your celebrity crush?  Do you have a list of famous people you are dying to meet?  Or even more fun – do you and your partner have a list of celebrity “freebies” that you are allowed to date, like they had on the sit-com Friends? Lancelot and I chatted just last Friday about…

We often hear people to tell us to “think outside the box,” but what if you find yourself in a box that other people are comfortable with?  What if they want to keep you there? If life is anything at all, it’s a giant adventure.  Each of us is learning and growing every day. Sometimes…

Let’s face it – life is hard.  We have bills to pay and mouths to feed, places to go and people to see.  Most of us feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day to do all the things that are expected of us.  Many of us feel enormous pressure to succeed, to nurture…

“Get your head out of the clouds!”  “You live in a dream world.”  “You need to get your feet back on the ground and start facing reality.”  “Life is hard, Carrie.  You need to learn to deal with that.” These comments, and phrases like these, have haunted me for much of my life.  It seems…

Have you ever started a sentence with the word, “Someday…?” If so, what has come after that word? “Someday, I want to visit Japan.” “Someday, I’ll catch up on all my work and be able to relax.” “Someday, I will write that novel/climb that mountain/run that marathon/get that dream job.” “Someday, I’ll have enough money…

What if we could feel happier and more connected to the world simply by controlling our environment? The new discoveries of quantum physics seem to indicate that experiencing life through qualia (sensations, images, feelings and thoughts) unites our individual selves with the universe as a whole.  At least that’s my twist on one of the…