24 April 2013

In Praise of Traffic Circles

From the first time I drove on English roads in 2007, I’ve been in love with the roundabout. Roundabouts are seldom used in the United States. There are a few around Portland (and, especially, in Lake Oswego and Bend), but mostly we favor traffic lights. But traffic lights create congestion. From what I’ve seen in [...]

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13 April 2013

Norway in a Nutshell

After a week in Paris and a week driving around Great Britain, Kim and I moved on to the third leg of our European adventure. We flew to Oslo for a four-day crash course in Norwegian culture. The real reason we were flying to Norway (and the entire impetus for this trip, actually) was to [...]

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11 April 2013

1000 Miles Across Britain

After renting a Paris flat for one week, Kim and I began the second leg of our European adventure. We boarded the Eurostar train at Gare du Nord and zipped across the French countryside, under the English Channel, and into the heart of London. There, we rented a car. Day One: London to Bath We [...]

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26 March 2013

Paris 2013: In the Land of Wine and Cheese

Greetings from Paris! For almost a week, Kim and I have been exploring the city from an apartment near the Sentier metro stop. Every day, we walk down Rue Montorgueil, a bustling pedestrian thoroughfare filled with produce stands and fish shops and boulangeries. With all the people packed into cafés, it feels very much like [...]

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12 March 2013

Meet Me in Ecuador in September

It’s no secret that I’ve made a lot of changes to my life over the past few years. I’ve made so many changes, in fact, that sometimes I feel like I’m somebody completely different. That’s not a bad thing. The challenge now is to s-l-o-w down, to enjoy the life I’ve worked so hard to [...]

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8 March 2013

Coffee Addict

Though I’ve long denied it, those who know me well tell me I’m a picky eater. It used to drive Kris crazy. When I started dating Kim, I told her I’d eat almost anything. It didn’t take her long to see that what I meant was I’d eat almost anything other than beer, coffee, mushrooms, [...]

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7 March 2013

Ask the Readers: Finding Personal Health Insurance?

Today, I’m going to do something I’ve never done before. I’m going to use this blog as a means to do research for a forthcoming article for Entrepreneur magazine. Your Money I’ve been writing the monthly “Your Money” column for Entrepreneur for 2-1/2 years now, and it’s a lot of fun. It’s a chance for [...]

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6 March 2013

The Relationship Between Gratitude, Abundance, and Acquisition

My last post on combatting clutter brought a lot of interesting comments and several great suggestions. For instance: Liz wrote: “We keep a large plastic tote in our living room and we drop items that are to be donated inside. Once the tote is full, we take the contents to Goodwill.” Great idea! DH (who [...]

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4 March 2013

Combatting Clutter

For years, I’ve been fighting a battle with stuff. To me, there are two types of stuff. On a basic level, all of the things you own make up the stuff in your life. But you need some of these things. You need bedding and toiletries and dishes and cleaning supplies. The battle I’ve been [...]

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18 February 2013

Home Sweet Home

Moving always takes more out of me than I think it will. It takes more time and more energy than I budget for the experience. Packed and ready to go… Ten days ago, I received the keys for my condo. Since then, my life has been a whirlwind of activity. The morning after I got [...]

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