Katie M
Katie is a towboater’s wife and devoted mother to son, Olie (2015). She's lived across the Southeast and has been a proud, Mardi Gras-loving resident of New Orleans since 2008. Though she recently transitioned to the Communications Director role at her school, she is and will always be an educator at heart and a fierce advocate for gifted learners. Football season is her favorite time of year; she bleeds red and black for the Georgia Bulldogs and can be found cheering loudly with her fellow Who Dats in the Superdome. She enjoys making to-do lists, drinking too much iced coffee, and beating the guys in fantasy football.
Teacher Appreciation Is For More Than Just Teachers
Teacher Appreciation Week is here, and there are so many ways to celebrate our kids’ creative, dedicated, kind, intelligent and extraordinarily patient teachers.
And, boy, do they deserve it! Parents across the country (the world,...
Let’s Give Middle Schoolers a Break
Do you remember middle school?
I remember everything but seventh grade. It’s gone. It’s lost forever in a void dominated by glasses, braces, pre-algebra, colorful Gelly Roll pens, and emotions (so many emotions).
Bits and pieces...
Parade Playlist :: One Mom’s Mardi Gras Soundtrack
The soundtrack of every parade is a harmony of drumlines, metal barricades grating against each other, piercing sirens, screams for beads and the tapping of marching band boots on pavement. It sounds like Popeye’s...
Giving a Gift of Board Games and Grace to a Young Child
I am a competitive person. I played sports throughout my school years and continued coaching and playing volleyball multiple times a week as a young professional. I only stopped when I became too pregnant...
What Makes Someone Southern, Y’all?
I was born in Birmingham, Alabama, and I have lived there, or in North Carolina, Georgia, or Louisiana for my entire life. I love grits, the movie Steel Magnolias, and SEC football just like...
6 Baby Shower Gift Ideas For AFTER The Newborn Stage
Author's Note :: ALL parents expanding their families, either by natural birth, adoption, surrogacy, etc., deserve to be celebrated. My hope is that this post provides ideas for baby gifts that will be helpful...
Please Color Outside of the Lines
A few weeks ago, my son picked up a Crayola marker and carefully filled in a green leaf on his coloring page. Without looking up, he said to me, “My friends told me I...
RIP, My Trusty Flat Iron
My reliable, sturdy Chi flat iron, purchased in 2004, died last week.
You may think that I’m silly, overly dramatic, and sentimental. You’d be right, of course, but this loss--and it IS a loss-- is...
I Am Not a Single Mom
For six months of every year, I am on my own with my son.
But I am not a single mom.
I handle holidays, school breaks, and sick days on my own.
But I am not a...
We Were Victims of a Home Break-in
We love our small house in Mid-City. We love our neighbors, we love the shops and restaurants nearby, and we love that we have a driveway-- what a rare commodity in this city! We’d...
Momfession :: We Gave Our Son a “Weird” Name
Years ago, in true judgy-childless-woman form, I read and heard children’s names and promised, “I will never give my child a weird name." I determined then and there that I would never choose a...
In Defense of Homemade Costumes
Deep in a box of keepsakes, sandwiched between gilded macaroni frames and first-day-of-school photos, some of my earliest Halloween costumes can be found. I don’t remember wearing them, but the fabric feels familiar, and...
The Five Roads You’ll Drive in New Orleans
I’ll never forget the summer when I drove my Volvo from Louisiana to Connecticut. A crunching sound had been coming from the driver’s side front wheel since before I left New Orleans, and I...