Gia Ilole
Ojai Day Trip – Stop to Smell the Orange Blossoms
It is an absolute perfect time for a day trip to Ojai. The temperature is perfect and the entire valley smells like orange blossoms. This is not an exaggeration! A spring break trip to...
My Caprese Garden
I've never been much of a gardener. It could have been the lack of time, the lack of space, the lack of knowledge, or the combination of all of the above. But I have...
Creating Community Through Vulnerability
Recently I was volunteering at our youth-soccer info booth (as I do every Saturday morning), but this particular morning was different because another mom had volunteered too! We don't get as many volunteers as...
Be the One Who Takes the Photo
So Many Photos
The days of "real cameras", disposable cameras, or polaroids have changed! We now have hundreds, even thousands of photos on our phones of everyday events. Photos of special events, duplicates, ones to...
Resilience for Mother’s Day
This year, I’m celebrating Mother’s Day and the ten year anniversary of my ten year old son’s open heart surgery. I spent my first official Mother’s Day at Rady’s Children’s Hospital while my new...
Didn’t She Almost Have It All?
You Can Have it All
Empowering women over the years we've all heard the messages that we can have it all. We can have the family AND the career. We can be beautiful AND brilliant....
My Life is (Legit) Alarming
Life is so busy sometimes. We have so much to do, such limited time. Sometimes, while commuting or showering, I let my brain relax only to have things pop up that I forgot, one...
A New Year’s Look Forward
I am not opposed to winning or losing at a New Year’s Resolution. Everyone loves a chance for a refresh. However, I also totally understand that there are a lot of feelings around the...
Be an Imposter Assassin
Imposter syndrome is a real thing, especially for women.
Even when we earn a role (be it at work, at home, in the community – I’m talking manager, mother, organization board member..) we feel like...
What Kind of Holiday Entertainer are You?
Remember those quizzes we used to take in Teen Magazine or YM? The ones that it became really apparent "what kind of flirt" you are or "which Babysitter's Club member" you are... when you started...