Make RealSimple.com My Homepage|Simply Stated|Newsletters|Real Simple Rewards|Photo Galleries
Featured: Adventures in Chaos| Nearly Wed| No-Obligation Book Club
Categories: Food & Recipes| Home & Organizing| Beauty & Fashion| Holidays & Entertaining| Health| Work & Life| Technology


Observations
Dispatches From Vacation, Episode 3: The New v. The Tried and True
Posted on Aug 28, 2008 2:58:39 PM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

When I turned 40 I decided that I was old enough to deserve a two-week summer vacation; it took me that long to figure out what many people already seemed to know, which is that it takes five and a half days away from work to even feel like you're on vacation, and then the next morning it's time to go home. Since I had a schedule that allowed me to pull it off, I've never looked back. This year we did something different and split our vacation in two. The first week we spent at a family camp that...

Comments (15)|Continue Reading »



Family
Dispatches from vacation, episode two: do I need to get a tattoo?
Posted on Aug 25, 2008 9:13:00 AM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

For part one of our vacation, my little family went to a camp in New Hampshire with about a thousand van Ogtrops. (Actually, more like 43, which is still quite a few.) The camp is a place I have been many times and I was surrounded by many people I've known all of my life, so there were few surprises there. For the second part of my vacation my little family piled into the car and headed south to Colonial Williamsburg, Busch Gardens, and Water Country USA. We sandwiched Williamsburg in between Water Country USA and Busch Gardens, sort of...

Comments (55)|Continue Reading »



Observations
Dispatches From Vacation
Posted on Aug 20, 2008 11:14:32 AM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

Episode one: rest stops really do come in handy and other eternal truths from 19 hours in the car with my little family When your husband says he just wants to go to the gym "for a little while" before you leave for vacation but that "it shouldn't be a problem" to leave by 9, it means you will leave at 11:15. Even the greatest kids' CD loses its charm after the fourth go-round. And just because your toddler inexplicably loves "Johnny Be Good" does not mean that he wants to hear it six times in a row. Children who...

Comments (7)|Continue Reading »



Miscellaneous
A Random, Unalphabetized, Incomplete List of the Books My Book Group Has Read Since 2003
Posted on Aug 18, 2008 10:53:56 AM  |  By SimplyStatedAdmin

I Don't Know How She Does It, Allison Pearson Three Junes, Julia Glass Life of Pi, Yann Martel The Number One Ladies Detective Agency, Alexander McCall Smith Ahab's Wife, Sena Jeter Naslund The Little Women, Katharine Weber Name All the Animals: A Memoir Alison Smith The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald The Botox Diaries, Janice Kaplan and Lynn Schnurnberger Revolutionary Road, Richard Yates Little Children, Tom Perrotta The Other Boleyn Girl, Philippa Gregory The Great Fire, Shirley Hazzard I am Charlotte Simmons, Tom Wolfe The Devil in the White City, Erik Larson The Glass Castle, Jeanette Walls Fingersmith, Sarah Waters...

Comments (15)|Continue Reading »



Observations
Things That Mysteriously Always Seem to Be Missing in My House
Posted on Aug 7, 2008 11:11:15 AM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

Tape measure Cordless phone Whatever book Eldest is reading Baby's sandals Elementary school phone directory iPod ear buds The pin for the pump that blows up soccer balls My hairbrush Tennis shorts Soccer cleats Any instruction manual, for any appliance, whenever it's actually needed Eldest's cell phone Food storage tops

Comments (48)|Continue Reading »



Observations
If I Ran the Olympics...or Things That Should Be Events but Aren't
Posted on Aug 5, 2008 3:59:02 PM  |  By KristinVanOgtrop

As excited as I am about the upcoming Beijing games, there are several "sports" on the lineup that just confound me. With no disrespect to the athletes, who undoubtedly are tip-top competitors and all-around superstars, but: trampoline gymnastics? Slalom kayaking? Badminton? Herewith, "events" that definitely should be in the Olympics next time around: diapering a baby in the back of a car convincing a 13-year-old that he needs a shower making a nutritious breakfast in 3 minutes training a husband to put his shoes in the closet instead of the middle of the doorway making your father believe that you...

Comments (16)|Continue Reading »






Subscribe

Enter your email address to get updates:

Get the RSS feed
Subscribe by Category


Previously on Simply Stated


Advertisement




Search Simply Stated




Contributors

Archives

Advertisement

Sites We Like


Featured in Alltop