Photo by Spindle Photography It began, as so many wedding stories do, with Pinterest. We’d decided to get married at our friend’s German biergarten, so I looked for German-themed weddings to see which ideas we could use: Lederhosen was a clear no, but those decorate-your-own-pretzel bars — well, that was […]
All photos by Spindle Photography The most important thing about my wedding, to me, was to invite our community into our lives … and the second most important thing was to not spend too much money doing it. (Okay, that wasn’t really the second most important thing, but it was […]
Photos by Spindle Photography For someone who’s not that into weddings, I have a lot of work experience in the wedding industry. I’ve always liked a good side hustle, and I have lots of friends who work weddings, so these opportunities come up every now and again, and I enjoy […]
Photo by Spindle Photography I think a marriage is a commitment between two people, and a wedding is a sort of commitment of its own, between that couple and their broader community. At a wedding, you bring all your people together to witness your promise, to celebrate your plans for […]
It hasn’t been a great time to be related to Carrie Rollwagen. In the past few weeks, I’ve had family members (and friends as close as family) die, get terrible medical diagnoses and survive brutally violent attacks. They say tragedies come in threes, but at this point, we’re heading toward […]
Every year, my dad sends my sister and I Valentine cards. Inside is a message about how Valentine’s Day is a manufactured holiday created by card companies and we shouldn’t place any importance on how we actually feel on that day because it’s a capitalist trick, not an authentic holiday. […]
My friend Kelly keeps telling me a story about a house. It’s petal pink, with wide stone steps leading up to a front porch set off by three archways overgrown with vines. Set in the middle of a quiet suburban neighborhood, it’s almost hidden, set back from the sidewalk and […]
I’m not a natural athlete. I don’t usually like exercise, and I’m not usually good at it. I’m very self-conscious, have bad spatial awareness, and dislike any competition that I don’t stand a chance at winning. However, there are lots of things we hated as children that we embrace as […]
Earlier this week, I wrote about losing 40 pounds with Weight Watchers (which is now called WW), and I hadn’t planned on writing about any specifics. But that was a little bit stupid, because it turns out lots of people have questions about the program. I don’t want to become […]
This month, I’m writing about successful resolutions, and my 2014 resolution was definitely a classic: Lose Weight. I’d made the resolution before, but five years ago, I actually kept it — I joined Weight Watchers, lost 40 pounds and have kept it off (more or less), ever since. There’s no […]
There are lots of reasons to give up sugar — to name a few, it’s a health disaster, it creates cravings that are arguably as strong as those to illegal drugs, and it can cause anxiety and insomnia. There are also a lot of reasons not to give up sugar […]