One Monday night a few months ago, I lay curled on top of my bed, still dressed, at 9 o’clock in the evening. I was done, done, done with the world for the day. A copy of Mansfield Park lay beside me where I’d tossed it onto the bed, more like a favorite teddy bear in function rather than something I really planned to pick up and

When we bought our first house, the owners were a nice young family with four children. The father was an engineer, and the mother stayed home and homeschooled the kids. The interior walls were covered with fingerprints and crayon scribbles. There were plenty of dents and dings and holes in the walls. When we finally got the keys to the house, we were appalled at

Did you know that I used to ride horses? (Check out this sweet and really old post I wrote). Growing up, I competed in hunter jumper, cross country, Pony Club, and eventually dressage. I haven’t ridden in years, but I still love horses, and I really treasure my memories of my days as a horse-crazy teen mucking out stalls, taking care of my horse, and training for