I am on my way to Nashville right now. Tonight I will be speaking at a benefit concert for Houses of Hope, featuring Jill and Kate and Kelly Clarkson. I had the pleasure of meeting these lovely ladies a couple years ago, and we bonded over some pizza and a mutual desire to do orphan-care right. In addition to being gorgeous and uber-talented (which you probably already know), these three gals have incredible passion for caring for orphans, and figuring out how to do that in a smart and . . .

A couple weeks ago, I saw footage of people camping out in front of movie theaters to see the new Twilight movie. This week, people are doing the same to see The Hobbit. This led Mark and I to talk about what movie or concert we would be willing to wait in line for. (Clearly, neither of the aforementioned movies are on our list). There aren’t many movies that would prompt me to camp out and wait in a line, especially because IT’S A MOVIE. You can always see it later. I will admit that . . .

Yesterday India came home and tattled on Kembe for saying a bad word at school. I asked Kembe what he had said, and he sheepishly admitted that he had repeated, “I’m sexy and I know it” during recess. This was one of those moments where I had to mask my urge to laugh, and put on my Very Serious Face as I asked him what that word meant, and if he thought it was appropriate to be using.  Which, of course, led to all of the children asking me what the word SEXY means, because none of them know . . .

Okay, I’ve got another design dilemma as we are nearing the home stretch. Like many remodels, ours has taken about double the time and double the money than the original budget.  As such, we’ve very little money to finish up the lingering projects, one of which is the double-sided fireplace in the center of the room.  I love this fireplace. We spent a lot of money opening up the house to create an “open concept” with the fireplace as a centerpiece between the living room and dining . . .