everything’s a story

So I inherited some lamps from my grandfather’s office last week.  Or, actually, I just claimed them out of my mother’s garage.  They came from this awesome building: my grandfather’s building materials company. My mom found the lamps in a storage room there a few years back, and she gave them a home in her […]

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crazy cross-Texas love

So last week I fell into a crazy infatuated love.  With a chair.  A chair I found for 15 dollars on Craigslist.  But not Craigslist in Houston, where I live. Craigslist in Austin, which is 3 hours away.  What was I even doing looking at the Austin Craigslist?  But somehow it happened.  And you know […]

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en fuego

Dear Kelly Rae Roberts, Thank you for setting me on fire. I’ve made another collage, and now I’m walking around today with an excited kind of tickle in my body.  It’s that same feeling I get when I’m in the groove with a story–a feeling of creation, of expression, of doing something that only I […]

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before & after

The furnishings in our house have been going downhill for a while.  Kid life has been hard on my decorating skills.  We have a great time here and laugh a lot.  But let’s just say, decor-wise, my house is not even in the neighborhood of its potential. And so, one by one, I’m going to […]

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body poems: $1

I’d love to have a body poems booth.  Maybe just sit out on the front lawn on nice days with a sign like a lemonade stand that says, Body Poems: $1.  And anybody who needed to tell herself something could just stop by and get painted.  The first time I ever painted words on someone‘s […]

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how hands can make sunshine

One day, in Oregon, we made collages. It was all because of Kelly Rae, who shared both her artistic process and her giant suitcase of cool collage stuff (like vintage letters, postcards, ledgers, envelopes, stamps, sheet music) with us. When I saw the paints and canvases come out, and when I realized what we were […]

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lovebomb

Last spring, I got invited to go with a group of women artists to the Oregon coast for a retreat called Lovebomb.  And of course I said yes.  Even though Oregon is a long way from Texas.  And even though I’ve done more than enough traveling lately.  And even though I only knew four of […]

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you can make butter

Today, when my daughter saw I’d bought some heavy cream at the grocery, she asked if we could make butter. So we did! We learned how to do it when she was in pre-school, and it’s super-easy! Here’s how: Pour some room-temperature heavy whipping cream into a small glass jar (like a baby food jar). […]

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advance readers’ edition

The AREs for Get Lucky are all printed up — and just arrived in the mail at my house.  It’s still a 6-month wait for the actual book, but it’s always a thrill to see the AREs. It’s amazing how different the words look on the pages of the book.  The new layout seems to […]

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where have i been?

I try not to forget to count my blessings.  And one of them–two years in a row, now–has been getting to go out to the Texas Hill Country  to stay in the gorgeous country house of one of my mom’s dear friends.   I got to go last year when I was finishing up my […]

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