A truly modern family.

Benjamin has two Dads.

There’s his “real Dad” and his “Dad”– Seth.

He calls them both “Dad” or “Daddy”, and sometimes I have to ask for clarification, “Do you mean your real dad or Seth?” But 99.9% of the time we know which Dad he is referring to based on the context of the sentence. One is here and one just isn’t.

What does real mean? To Benjamin it means, he is technically his father, his “real” father. That much he understands. And his real father has no protest to him calling Seth “Dad”, which is think is huge of him.

Then there are Benjamin’s “Uncles”. Not sure what label to give to my Mom’s two manpersons, Larry and Bill, I started calling them Uncles way back when Benjamin was a toddler. Read More…

Farewell, Big Tom

The world of live music lost one of its biggest, most dedicated advocates last week. You’ve probably never heard of him. Even people that went to the hundreds of live shows he put together probably had no idea who he was. But I did, and I’m happy to have gotten to know Thomas McAleer– Big Tom.

I met Tom at Cheatham St Warehouse in mid 2010. A couple months earlier, I’d finally realized

Read More…

Weekend soundtrack #3

Beauty and the Biker’s Weekend Soundtrack #3!

“Spent Time” - Wheeler Brothers
These guys have a new album coming out on April 2, 2013. It’s called “Gold Boots Glitter” and I’m looking forward to it. In the meantime, here’s a song from their current album. I’m a sucker for a good storytellin’ song. Wheeler Brothers are on tour all over this great country, so make sure you go see a live show. I’m gonna. Music snob stuff: driving backbeat, horns (without sounding kitschy), tempo changes, great harmonies.

Entire set from Neslonville Music Festival - Shovels and Rope
I had a hell of a time picking one Read More…

Raising Grateful Children

Ensuring our children evolve into adults who are altruistic, caring, compassionate and grateful for what they have is on our short list of parenting musts. But it is one of the more challenging and trying. Seth and I both worry our children are growing up with “too much stuff” because they have “way more toys than we did.” But it’s more than that. Raising grateful children doesn’t boil down to stripping their toy bins bare. I try to think of how my parents did it, to put my finger on their parenting I experienced and am likely repeating.

I remember my parents always saying at dinner, “You know, there are some children who don’t even get dinners. They are starving to death!” I tried this the other night and received blank stares from Lily, Cohen and Benjamin. Then they went back to talking about their days at school or their latest iPod games. Read More…

Maker Mondays #3 – Little Alouette

Maker Mondays is where I’ll show you some incredible people making even more incredible things, try to explain what makes their stuff so rad, and why you should care.

This week’s Maker Mondays features another incredible company from Columbus, Ohio: Little Alouette.

Little Alouette is a husband & wife team– she’s a writer, he’s a master carpenter– who started making exquisite wooden toys for their two tots

handmade wooden baby rattle Read More…

Weekend Soundtrack #2

Beauty and the Biker’s Weekend Soundtrack #2!

There & Back Again – River City Extension
Starts out sparse, tired, and fucking depressing. “I live by the ocean, but I don’t feel free.” Then it builds, little by little to a sonic cliff. A hipster headbanging, fuckitall I’ma dance catharsis. Queue it up on your iPhone music player of choice so that at exactly 1:33 into the song you’re busting the door open to the parking lot and heading home for the weekend.

“Feeding Line” – Boy & Bear
Now that you’re in your Read More…

When things fall apart

Saturday morning, 7:05 AM

“Seth! The toilet’s overflowing!” Alaina yelled from the bathroom. One of the boys used a little lot too much toilet paper.

I ran downstairs while pulling on my pants. “Shut the water off!”

“How?!!?”

“Turn the valve behind the toilet!”

Nastywater is slowly covering the bathroom floor. I know, I know. Two poo posts in a week. But, hey. When you have kids, poop becomes a big part of your life.

Back to Saturday morning: reach over and turn off the water while plopping towels down to soak up the overflow. Plunge the toilet like Arthur trying to pull the Sword out of the Stone. Finally, slurpwhooosh. Success!

Meanwhile, still in her robe Read More…

On telling the kids

My single mama friend called me last night.

“Hey lady, I really need your advice on something,” she sounded fearful and scared. I thought the worst. Maybe she and her new man were breaking up.

“Charles and I are definitely going to get engaged,” they just know – as Seth and I did- that they are meant to be. And it’s lovely.

“That’s so exciting! I’m so happy for you. So, what’s the problem?”

“He will be moving in with us in December. So, it’s a long ways away, but I’m scared about how to tell Sarah. It’s always just been the two of us. What will it be like? Will she be upset? How did you tell Benjamin?”

She sounded so worried and concerned. Just this fact alone, told me her heart and head were in the right place. If a mother cares that much about her child’s transition into a new relationship, all will definitely be fine. I have met too many mothers over the years who put their relationships over their children. Welcoming, with open arms, ex-boyfriends who abused them or men who cheated on them back into their lives and their child’s lives. It’s upsetting, to say the least.

My friend’s daughter, Sarah, is in Kindergarten. A sweet, quiet, little girl who has never seen her mother with any boyfriend, not even her father. Here was my advice to her: Read More…

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