Carrie Saum

In an age where we are isolated but still technologically connected, this is important. It’s okay to be alone. It’s okay to be unoccupied.

Last year, Ashton Kutcher tweeted about the Teal Pumpkin Project for Halloween. The food allergy community lost its damn mind in the best way.

Something powerful shifted for me when I turned 30. I decided to stop caring about my weight as a means to measure my success, beauty and worth as a woman. I gave myself permission to care for my body, and to care for the woman inside that body first.

Insisting on capability robs us of vulnerability. It robs us of the village we so desperately need. It creates resentment and mistrust. And most of all, it sets us up to fail.

We saw Hurricane Ike coming for days before it made landfall. It was just two short years post-hurricane Katrina, and all of south Texas and Louisiana were still reeling from her trauma. My husband and I began deliberating if we should stay or go. This is my story of surviving natural disasters.

One of my favorite winter gourds is the humble acorn squash.

Tamago kake gohan is made with hot sushi rice, an egg, soy sauce, and good dash of furikake (a traditional seaweed and sesame rice seasoning). It is comforting, filling, entirely satisfying, and stays with you for several hours. This is great fuel for a school day, a sick day, or a day spent hiking — or marathoning Project Runway.

No real measuring, no special ingredients, and it makes cookies that even the snobbiest cookie connoisseur will crave? It might seem too good to be true, but it's absolutely real.

The fastest way to living without strings is to be up front about expectations and exchanges, even if it's uncomfortable. Like money. Like time. Like emotional sweat equity.

Last month, I heard my kid say "I'm sorry" to a complete stranger at Target for no reason.