BLOOM

Before my husband and I bought our first house, we were clueless. True “property virgins” as HGTV would say. Throughout our twenties, we relished the transient lifestyle of renters. Unhappy after a year? Up we went, and into something better. We were perpetual tenants with real commitment issues. But something happened the moment a ring was slipped on my finger and a wedding was no longer a concept, but an eminent request. We started getting the urge to settle down, settle in

Every now and again, a girl gets the urge to give her soul a good scrubbing. The kind of scrub meant to blast away all the caked on layers of karmic goop she’s acquired through years. And when it comes time for the ultimate deep cleaning, nothing seems to power through the mess quite like meditation. I found myself in this situation about three years ago. Desperate to get rid of the grime, I plopped myself down on the floor, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. Truth be tol

Words have power. What you say, write, or even read can change the way you perceive yourself, and the way others perceive you. That’s why for 2015, I’m ditching my usual post-holiday, fat-busting detoxes and opting for a new one: a detox of my vocab. Here’s a list of 5 phrases that I’m swearing off this year to live a more spiritually sound life, and achieve a few goals in the process: 1. "I hope." Full of promise and ambition, "hope" is certainly enticing on the surface. But

Did you know that there are entire books dedicated to first lines of books? From "Call me Ishmael" to "It was a dark and stormy night," and, "It was the best of times, It was the worst of times," first lines are famous for setting the tone of any story and foreshadowing what’s to come. They're arguably the most important excerpts of any published work. The irony, though, is that they're often finalized last. This might seem counter-intuitive, especially if you don’t fashion y