When my mom retired in her late fifties from teaching, she got straight to work doing the creative things she had been longing to do for several decades. She’s a poet and a singer and a songwriter–three things I relate to intimately–and was always so amazingly supportive of my career, in part because she had put hers aside to pursue…   …read more.

I am so happy to report that we are in the final stages of the new album for 2016! It’s a full album with three themes: Songs For Adults / Songs For Kids / Songs For Adults w/ Kids. There will be 16 songs, only 2 of which are re-makes of older material that I couldn’t resist re-recording to capture…   …read more.

After six months of taking my daughter to the bus stop in the morning to go to kindergarten, the days when she cried and didn’t want to go are long over. Those first couple of week mommy cried too, sad to see her baby upset and conflicted as to whether sending a three-and-a-half year old alone on a bus to…   …read more.

From September of 2015 until June of 2016, I wrote weekly blogs for Beijing Kids Magazine’s online presence. These were separate from monthly column that I write for this magazine, links to some of which you can find here. Those articles are published in the physical magazine monthly whereas these blogs only appeared online. While I no longer blog of…   …read more.

  I was asked to participate in this project called “9 Tips for 9 Months” by The American Recall Center. They’re compiling tips for a healthy pregnancy from bloggers around the world. I figured it would be fun to participate. Enjoy!   These tips are primarily for mothers pregnant for the first time. I’ve found that most mothers on their…   …read more.

As I watch the spring buds form on the trees in Beijing, I can’t help but think it’s a lot like what has happened to our family in the past three years—a sudden growth of two little ones followed by their constant flourishing, expansion, and blooming. Our daughter has now turned three and we plan to place her in a…   …read more.

She asked me how things were going with Guo Jian and her eyes glinted with worry and concern (and maybe a bit of pity, but only the kind that comes from a big heart, not the patronizing kind.) She is my friend here in Beijing, but she is not from here. Like me, she is from the West—a Western wife…   …read more.

It’s been awhile since I wrote for this blog. There’s reasons for that, but the primary one is this: I’ve spent the past eight months or so fantasizing about changing the blog name to: “Queer Girl Gets Divorced.” Seriously. It’s not that I don’t love the guy–in fact, that’s part of the problem. If I didn’t love him, divorce would…   …read more.

“You are as pretty as Nicole Kidman,” said the choreographer with a huff. It took me a moment to realize she was talking to me. “But you have no idea how to move your body. You could look so pretty if you just relaxed. Be more sexy! Flirt with the camera! Get into it!” I love the criticism-couched-in-a-compliment technique. Crafty….   …read more.

When I left the first round of Mama Mia, I thought it was over and done with. I mean, a television shows is a vacuum of self-centered focus. All the employees involved have been sucked in for so long they don’t even realize they’re living in a vacuum bag anymore. Any doubt of your complete devotion to their televised reality…   …read more.