The only reason I learned I had skin cancer is because of small talk. I pointed out a long, healed scar on my coworker's arm during a three-hour train ride and asking her how she got it. We had so much time to kill and it seemed like such a simple question, but her response ...read more
One of my best friends once told me that life seems to turn a new page every ten years or so. At the time, I was in my late-twenties and remember thinking: Well, I guess something should happen in my early 30s since getting married at the ripe old age of 23 was pretty pivotal. I ...read more
A few months back, I made a change that had an enormous effect on my self esteem. It may sound overly simplistic, but I stopped saying negative things about myself out loud. I've always been hard on myself. It was something that teachers, coaches, and friends' parents commented ...read more
I'd love to be the kind of girl who can brush things off, but that's simply not who I am. When I'm criticized, even by strangers, my first reaction is to be sad, which is compounded by the public nature of my job. I love what I do, but making myself vulnerable to negative ...read more
A few weeks ago, I had back-to-back calls all day-long with a seemingly endless pile-up of emails to respond to when a friend texted me, "Lunch later?" I'd felt overwhelmed since I'd hopped on the computer at eight that morning, but for some reason I agreed (I assumed it simply ...read more
It's hard to believe that it's been almost exactly a month since Sloan started preschool, but I guess it's official now! For the past month, she's been attending school five days a week for full days—and, to my enormous relief, loving it. In the months leading up to it, I was a ...read more
Everything was going fine until I woke up Sunday morning and realized I was completely alone. The "independent woman" vibes that had powered me through my first solo night of the long weekend had been replaced by the unnerving reality that I was completely disconnected. A ...read more
There are some questions—Is it pronounced car-uh-mel or care-uh-mel?—that seem benign at the surface, but elicit strong enough opinions that they've waged internet wars and ended friendships. Below we answered some of our favorite "controversial" questions—let us know if you ...read more
There are those gifts that are so thoughtful and touching—so you—that it completely floors you. Since this is the season of giving, we're looking back on some of the best gifts we've ever received: Emily: The most meaningful gift I've received (besides my engagement ring, since ...read more
Every Thanksgiving, a new crop of videos pops up in our news feeds—the family dog eating a turkey straight off the table, epic explosions, burnt birds. While nothing quite so dramatic—or dangerous—as a fried turkey fire ball has ever occurred during our own Thanksgiving dinners, ...read more
For our latest installment of Coffee Talk, we're celebrating Emily's favorite holiday by sharing our most memorable costumes of all time, that go beyond the obvious. Emily: As someone who's certifiably obsessed with all things Halloween, this was pretty hard for me to narrow ...read more
For this installment of Coffee Talk, we're sharing the unexpected jobs that helped our careers. You know the ones—the unglamorous, early-career stints that somehow managed to teach us some key lessons along the way (don't forget to share your own at the end!). Emily: When I was ...read more
Pet peeves are so random, hilarious, and personal that we thought we'd share ours in this week's Coffee Talk. Long-time blog readers likely know Emily's by heart, but here are the team's in all their glory. Emily: I've shared some of my pet peeves over the years, but the older ...read more
For this installment of coffee talk, we're revisiting the most important lesson(s) we learned in college, outside of the classroom—which is fresher for one of us, but has remained with all of us despite the time that's passed (even after our knowledge of 18th-century American ...read more
Remember that time you spilled coffee on yourself mid-meeting, locked braces kissing, and, like, totally committed social suicide in front of the coolest guy at school? So do we. Here are the embarrassing moments that made us blush at the time and still make us squirm: Emily: ...read more
Our team is made up of a medley of Los Angeles residents—from Geoffrey who's lived here his entire life to Leslie and Alina who are both recent East Coast transplants, and Emily who moved here nearly a decade ago. We all live in different parts of town (with the exception of ...read more
For this installment of Coffee Talk we're sharing our worst first dates. Of course it's been years since Emily and Geoffrey's last first date (they recently celebrated their fourth wedding anniversary), but we thought it would be fun to tell some of our dating mishaps along the ...read more
For this installment of Coffee Talk we decided to turn our attention to friendships. It's a transitional time of year with graduations and weddings, and a popular time of year for people to move to new cities and start new jobs. Big life changes can affect friendships and the ...read more
There was a big shift that happened when Sloan turned one in which my baby turned into a little girl. Sure, she still flails around and most of what she says is gibberish, but she's just different. Here's a glimpse at what she's up to at fourteen months old. Most heartwarming ...read more
They say a child is a reflection of their parents, developing a personality and habits through a combination of nature and nurture. While Sloan is not a carbon copy of either one of us, over the past year, distinctive traits have begun to emerge that G and I both share, which ...read more
I’ve always found that the stretch from March to Memorial Day drags onward a bit unrelentingly. It comes after a six month period during which there’s at least one small respite to look forward to every month. And then March hits, and all of a sudden there’s not much relief ...read more
I have vivid memories of being a little girl, watching my mom meticulously paint her nails on our deck. It was such a nice ritual that I'd quietly observe, studying her technique. When I was old enough to wield a brush with some degree of coordination (albeit some questionable ...read more
Balancing motherhood and working full time means I'm constantly looking for ways to be more efficient with my time. Whether by multitasking or streamlining steps in my daily routine, I'm able to save precious minutes here and there to make room for more moments that matter (time ...read more
Similar to my monthly pregnancy series, I've decided to start documenting what's new with Sloan on a monthly basis. She's changing so rapidly that I want to remember these little details forever. Motherhood Update: Sloan at 11 months oldSaying: I love you (albeit in a very ...read more