Ashlee Spear
Ashlee grew up in Newbury Park, and returned to the area after studying journalism at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, and teaching English in Santiago, Chile for two years. She spent three years as a working mom, before leaving the corporate world to become a full-time, at-home parent. Her daughters are 5 and 6 years old, and she relishes getting to experience her old childhood stomping grounds through their eyes. An Enneagram 4, Ashlee enjoys reading, running, music, collecting vintage fashion magazines, and sharing a fun cocktail with her husband after work while their kids sit/jump beside them on the couch and watch "Pinkalicious." She is a whole-hearted believer that “it takes a village” not only to raise a child, but also to raise a mother. She is grateful for a supportive family, friends, and community, and is passionate about the power of writing to connect us and let us know we’re not alone.
Fall Beauty Round-Up: Busy, Budget Mom Edition
Like many girls who came of age in the 1990s, my earliest beauty tips came from the pages of Seventeen and YM. These magazines often ran features in which a young starlet was photographed...
What to Read to Your Kids This Fall
A California Fall
Here in Southern California, we’re not known for our seasons. Fall, especially, is not our forte. The autumn in my dreams is filled with piles of crunchy scarlet leaves, cozy turtleneck sweaters,...
Diversify Your Bookshelves in Honor of Black Lives
I wasn’t planning to tell my 5 and 7 year olds about what happened recently in Buffalo. But a couple days after the shooting, I couldn’t mask the rage I felt. My kids noticed...
School Years in Masks, What Will Kids Remember?
One day, our grandkids and great-grandkids will ask our children, “What was it like wearing a mask to school every day?”
What I Will Remember
After nearly two years of mask mandates, in March, most California...
Ready to Potty-Train? Ditch The Diapers With These Books
To convince your child to go diaper-free, you’ll need the right supplies: A potty chair she’s willing to sit on, a stool to reach the bathroom sink, and a couple packs of big-kid underpants...
9 Ways to Sneak More Books Into Your Kids’ Lives
I’m always looking for new ways to get books into my kids’ hands. I look for ways to sneak more books into their day.
Research shows the benefits for children who are read to— from...
The Importance of Hand Cream – A Poem for New Moms
One thing I had no idea about early motherhood, is how you will constantly be washing your hands. You’ll begin to structure the day’s activities to minimize trips to the sink. You will marvel...
Why You Need MOPs & MOPs Needs You
I don’t like the word tribe.
It’s a trendy, overused word that needs to be retired in 2022 (along with adulting, the use of littles as a noun, and the phrase level up). However, the...
How to Enjoy Christmas More
The holidays are an exhausting time to be a mother. This will be my seventh Christmas as a mom, and inevitably, it’ll be the seventh year in a row that I find myself saying...
The Kids—Back to School in Masks—are Alright
Our kids have returned to school (hooray!)...to full-day, full-class, real-deal, in-person learning. As the mom of a first grader and a child in TK, the start of this school year has felt miraculous, joyous,...