This season of living without my normal routines has reminded me how much structure supports me. It’s also made me think differently about the people I coach who are navigating circumstances they didn’t choose and can’t simply fix. Sometimes moving forward means finding a few small things you can control and letting those create a little steadiness, helping you stay grounded while everything else feels out of sorts.

One of my favorite ways to get movement in has nothing to do with a gym. We call it “urban hiking.” Whenever we’re in New York City, we walk. A lot. On a recent day, I logged more than 11,000 steps just walking the streets with Ruby, exploring neighborhoods, walking to wherever we were going and stopping along the way. I could walk around New York for hours and never really think about the fact that I’m exercising. And now, having a dog has added another layer to it. Ruby nee

The older I get, the more I appreciate people who make room. I was thinking about this recently after walking into a social situation where I didn’t know a lot of the people very well. Some I was just getting to know. Some had known each other for years. And I just felt welcomed. Not in some big, obvious way, it just felt easy. I was genuinely grateful to be included, and I found myself talking to people, getting to know them and really enjoying being there. It got me thinkin

I’ve had my Eagle Creek packing cubes for so long that they don’t even make my exact ones anymore. Mine are the old Pack-It Specter cubes, white with fluorescent yellow-green trim, and they have been on more trips than I could possibly count. But on this last trip, they were an absolute lifesaver. We were moving from place to place, usually staying somewhere for only a night or two. There was really no point in unpacking, so my suitcase basically became my dresser. I sorted e

Dana and I have known each other practically our entire lives. We were one and two years old when our families moved into the same development and became friends, which is how we became friends too. That doesn’t mean we were always close. There were years when life took us in different directions and we weren’t nearly as connected. Thankfully, Facebook brought us back into each other’s lives, and over the last seven or eight years, we’ve become very close again. Yes, we work

If you find yourself at the Delaware beaches, put The Station on Kings in Lewes on your list. This place is such a hidden gem. Everything feels incredibly fresh and thoughtfully made. I had an omelet that was delicious, Scott had a sandwich that was equally good, and the bakery case is filled with fresh-made breads and pastries that make it very hard to walk by without ordering something. But it’s so much more than a place to eat. There’s a beautiful garden center outside and

Anyone who knows me knows I thrive with structure. That’s definitely not something I just figured out about myself. But the last few weeks have been a pretty good reminder of just how much that structure supports me. Between our kitchen renovation, not having a functioning kitchen, traveling for almost two weeks and staying in a bunch of different places, pretty much every part of my normal routine has been thrown off. And I want to keep that in perspective because I’ve been

Our kitchen renovation left us without a working kitchen at the same time we had a few different events up north. Rather than fly back and forth to Florida over and over again, we decided to figure out how to fill the time in between. And somehow that turned into a stretch of living one or two nights at a time in a whole bunch of different places: hotels, friends’ homes, family, different cities and different beds, with lots of packing up and moving on again. The unexpected b

I love this quote because it reminds me that confidence doesn’t come from waiting until everything is figured out. It comes from taking the next step. We all make mistakes. We all have moments when we question ourselves. The people who continue to grow are usually the ones who keep showing up, keep learning, and keep moving forward anyway. Sometimes the greatest act of personal growth is simply refusing to quit.

If you ask enough people where to eat lobster near Bar Harbor, one name comes up over and over again. Thurston's. Everyone told us it was worth the 30-minute drive from Bar Harbor. They weren't exaggerating. Sitting on the water in Bass Harbor, Thurston's has been family owned for five generations. The lobster comes straight from the working harbor you're looking out over while you eat. It doesn't get much fresher than that. Of course, ordering the lobster was the easy part.

I spend a lot of time writing and thinking about this stage of life. I'm not quite double nickel, not quite a full empty nester, not quite settled into the space I want to be in. Not quite a lot of things. And one thing I keep coming back to, especially when it comes to health, is how much structure matters. A routine, Your own kitchen, your normal food, your own bed, your regular schedule: when those things are in place, you don't notice them. When they're not, you do.

Like a lot of people, I shopped the Nordstrom Anniversary Sale online this year. We found quite a few things for the boys, but when the boxes arrived, there was one purchase I was most excited about. My bright fuchsia UGG Cozetta slippers. They were my one fun purchase for myself, and they've turned out to be my favorite. When we lived in Maryland, my slippers were thick, heavy, and made for cold winter mornings. Living in South Florida is a completely different story. I stil

One of the things I've learned as my boys have gotten older is that getting everyone together isn't as easy as it used to be. There was a time when family vacations were planned around school calendars, sports schedules, and sleepaway camp dates. These days, getting all of our boys together for a few days feels like a win. This trip was especially fun because our youngest, Jake, planned most of it. He found an Airbnb in Bar Harbor, Maine, and somehow coordinated family coming

There was a time when I thought growth meant having the right answers. I thought I needed to feel more confident before I raised my hand, shared my ideas, tried something new, or put myself out there. I've learned that's almost never how it works. Growth isn't waiting until you feel ready. It's showing up anyway. For the workout when you don't feel like it, for your family when life feels busy, for your team, your clients, your co-workers and your friends because they know th

I found myself sitting in a salt room recently, and my first thought was not exactly spiritual or profound. It was more like: is anything actually happening in here? I had pressed the on button. I was sitting there waiting. There was no dramatic mist, no big spa moment, nothing I could obviously feel. So I decided to meditate to pass the time. Afterward, I looked it up because I wanted to understand what I had just experienced. A salt room, also called halotherapy, is designe

There was a time when keeping up with my kids meant chasing them around a playground. These days, it means trying to keep up with 3 grown men in their 20s. Recently while we were in Bar Harbor, Maine, we decided to spend a day biking through Acadia National Park. I reserved bikes for the family ahead of time, but I had one more important decision to make. What about our puppy Ruby? For just $25, the bike shop rented little trailers for small dogs, so I reserved one and figure

One of the companies I came home from Dave Asprey’s biohacking conference most excited about is Evvy. Evvy is an at-home vaginal microbiome test and care platform. The idea is that instead of guessing what is going on “down there,” you can actually get more information about your own vaginal microbiome. I know this isn't typical brunch conversation, but maybe it should be. So many women deal with itching, dryness, recurring infections, odor, discomfort, UTIs, fertility questi

At the Dave Asprey Biohacking Conference, even lunch felt like part of the lesson. They served us grass-fed steak with Brussels sprouts and a big pat of butter on top. Very Dave Asprey. Very biohacking conference. From the stage, he talked more than once about how much high-quality protein he had to order to feed everyone at the conference. He was clearly proud of it. He even mentioned taking discounted pre-orders for next year so he could plan ahead and make sure he had th

Amy Poehler said it better than most of us ever could. We have been handed a story about midlife that was never ours to begin with, and letting go of it is where the breakthrough starts. The narrative goes something like this... you hit 40 or 50, things start declining, and you spend the next decade managing the loss. No wonder so many women feel like they are already behind. But what if you flipped the whole script? What if this time of life is not the beginning of somet

People who know me well know I cannot stand the word "try." My clients know it. My team knows it. My kids know it. My friends know it. The word try gives you an automatic out. It lets your brain start navigating and distracting before you even get going. It is a built-in escape hatch disguised as effort. Yesterday I was deep in Dave Asprey's book Game Changers and came across his concept of Weasel Words. I felt like he was reading my mind. Dave identifies four words he