Author: Bekah McNeel

Wanderlists: Bookstores

December 7, 2014 No Comments

One of the great joys of watching Moira grow has been her fascination with books. She loves them as objects, and she loves them as stories. She could have gotten that from either parent, really. The chief design challenge in our little house has been how to incorporate bookshelves. Every single room in the house (except the bathrooms, because Seinfeld) has a book shelf.

I’m not an anti-ebook essentialist at all. But for me, the tactile experience is part of the transportation. I don’t just love the content of what I am reading, I love the experience of reading it. So a good bookshop, for me, is like confectionary or a spa. If I liked amusement parks, I may draw that parallel. But I don’t, so I won’t.

A visit to the Twig, our local indie, is part of our weekly routine. And nothing is more exciting in a new city than visiting their proudest indie bookshop. Being surrounded by ink and ideas, fabulous graphic design, and that satisfying heft of pages is so peaceful to me. And a good indie book store is overflowing with possibilities, and like the books themselves, the experience of being there is just as fulfilling as the items you take home.

Lewis and Moira at El Ateneo in Buenos Aires

While I can’t say that I’ve been to all the best book stores in the world (notably missing is Powell’s of Oregon), I do have a list of favorites. (but all the photos below are from our most recent bookshop experience, as I don’t usually take many photos in bookshops…) …

Wanderlists: BookstoresRead More »

Florence’s So-Called Life, Season 2, ep 2

October 31, 2014 No Comments

In which Florence recounts a stormy night in the McNeel House.

So, last night we had a storm. A big storm. The kind that sounds like the roof is cracking open, you know? I’m not going to lie, I probably would not have known this, or any of the household events, if it weren’t for Wiley’s non-stop panting and pacing and panicking.

Wiley is…um, terrified…like really terrified… of thunder.

So at some point in the night I heard him get up, panting and grunting. He muttered something under his breath about the Little Hairless Pup.

I was pretty groggy, but he either said, “Someone’s got to protect the pup.”

“At least we know that they’ll protect the pup.”

So what he did next was either, like, the bravest thing anyone has ever done, or Wiley was in survival mode. I don’t know. I’ve known the man most of my life. It could have been either.

…

Florence’s So-Called Life, Season 2, ep 2Read More »

Wanderlists: night lights

October 18, 2014 No Comments

I have a thing for lights at night. Maybe because I’m afraid of the dark, and I’m so thankful for any light that alleviates that. Maybe it’s because light seems more precious in the dark. More specific and intentional.

Best I can tell, I’m not alone in that. The world seems to have a love affair with all that twinkles, sparkles, and glows. All things that light does in the dark.

These are my top five encounters with light at night. (Note: I don’t have pictures for most of my favorites, and I’ve always been terrible at night time photography…so I have substituted in other pictures of light at night, which are not favorites, and not particularly good, but the post needs pictures…so….)

These famous lights at night are also nice.

1) Chiang Rai Night Bazaar– coming from my conservative Christian college, on my first travel abroad, I stumbled into the Chiang Rai Night Bazaar in northern Thailand. A fine mist hung in the air and caught the yellow light from the merchant tents lining the walkways and the string lights over picnic tables where people were eating, among other things, fried grub worms.

…

Wanderlists: night lightsRead More »

Wanderlists: detours

October 11, 2014 No Comments

Whenever I travel (or sometimes just in life), it’s fun to have a bizarre goal. A life non-sequitur. Something that I’ve found online, through a friend, or in a novel that makes no sense with the rest of the itinerary (or my life).

Nine times out of ten, they are my favorite part of the trip (and life). Like flying to New York City to see the New York Ballet dance to Sufjan Stevens’s The Year of the Rabbit.

And yes, that one time out of ten, they fail spectacularly. I’m looking at you, Tombstone AZ and Antarctica Exhibit at the Natural History Museum of London.

These are my five greatest hits in Itinerary Detours

…

Wanderlists: detoursRead More »

Wanderlists: My Top 10

July 19, 2014 No Comments

Sometimes I wonder why I didn’t just make my blog a travel blog. I love to travel, I work in travel…

But my travel writing has always been pretty mundane. I’m not good at reflecting on places I’ve only been to once for a brief moment. On the other hand, keeping a diary of where we went and what we ate has just never appealed to me. Not to knock all the travel blogs out there (I consult them frequently for packing tips and restaurant suggestions), but I never get from writing the salty expansion of the soul I get from traveling. For me the world was meant to be seen.

That said, I love lists. Especially lists that inspire wanderlust.

So I’ve decided to list about travel, instead of writing about it. These are my wanderlists.

Wanderlist #1: The 10 Places I Love Most (besides home, of course)

It’s only fair to start out any series of list with the broadest, most general list. So here are my 10 favorite travel destinations. Anything goes: cities, states, parks, countries. There’s no real criteria; those lists will follow. This is just my love list.

1) London – I loved London even before grad school, though that’s definitely when I tucked it deep into my soul, never to be removed. And it’s a place I found I can go back to, with others. London definitely benefits from the good company I had while I was there on visits, but more so, it benefits from its own cosmopolitanism and love of order. London is orderly without forsaking charm, whimsy, and the element of surprise.

…

Wanderlists: My Top 10Read More »

Mom Suit

July 14, 2014 2 Comments

Recently the internet has been all abuzz with post-baby mom bodies and how we need to celebrate them. I’m not that cool. I don’t have the moxie to flaunt it in my skivvies these days.

In fact, last weekend marked the first truly public debut of me wearing a mom swimsuit.

I’ve never had that rockin’ bikini hard-body that reeks of hours in the gym,or the effortless concave torso that reeks of good genes. But I have always been pretty comfortable in your standard tankini with traditional bottoms. Or a plunging halter.

So, while shopping (what was I thinking going swim suit shopping less than 3 months after giving birth???) I grabbed some styles that have always worked for me in the past. I knew my stomach was still a little mushy, and my nursing breasts, well, they are ridiculously ginormous. So I told myself I wasn’t going to worry about the size.

But I was not prepared to see my thighs.

If I had known what that experience was going to be like I would have gone to one of those department stores where they will bring you alcoholic beverages in the dressing room.

Long story short, I walked out of there with a mom-suit. One of those tankinis with the ruffly bellies, and I found a basic black skirt bottom. I also got a more basic pink top with a built in bra, for times when I was willing to suck in my belly for the sake of fashion.

…

Mom SuitRead More »

Let’s Not Make this Any Harder than it Needs to Be

July 10, 2014 No Comments

I am convinced that if rearing children were easy, the internet would crumble for lack of wholesome content.

And thank goodness, because at the first whimper from Moira “World’s Easiest Baby” McNeel, and I am sprinting to my laptop, or whatever screen I can get to, to figure out what’s wrong, how to fix it, and how to keep it from EVER happening again.

So, expert first time mom that I am, I think the world needs to benefit from my profound wisdom, gleaned mostly from the internet and hearsay.

Moira - May 4 085

Here’s the table of contents for my new book on parenting in the age of celebrity pediatricians, Web MD, media obsessions with obesity, internet mom-forums dedicated to gas and sleeping habits, and Amazon consumer reviews:

Title: Let’s Not Make this Harder than it Needs to Be

Chapter One: You are either pregnant, miscarrying, or you have cancer- why you should avoid the internet in your first trimester. …

Let’s Not Make this Any Harder than it Needs to BeRead More »

Florence’s So-Called Life, Season 2, Ep 1

June 22, 2014 No Comments

In which Florence regales what happened during the break

(read in the voice of Florence, which sounds uncannily like a 14-year-old Claire Danes)

Wow. Having this Little Hairless Pup around has changed…well, not much really.

I’m still not allowed to sleep on the furniture.

I’m still not allowed to eat off the table.

Wiley’s still scared of storms.

And Bekah still makes me “sit” before I get to do an-y-thing.

flo & moi 2

…

Florence’s So-Called Life, Season 2, Ep 1Read More »

Moira Brings the News: Veterans Affairs

June 3, 2014 No Comments

Anyone who watches Jon Stewart knows that the Veterans Affairs department is deeply mired in a beurocratic malaise that is only getting deeper.

Now they’ve fired Eric Shinseki, but analysts and law makers seem to agree that the long wait times covered up by lying and cheating is likely to continue. Our veterans are no closer to getting the kind of timely and thorough health care they deserve.

For astute analysis of this complex issue, we turn to Moira Sage, who brings a fresh set of eyes to the matter.

Moira, tell us what legislation and policy you would put in place to ensure that our veterans are taken care of when they return from defending our country overseas?

Mommy’s Little Helper

May 23, 2014 No Comments

God gave us a laid back kid. I take no credit for the fact that my baby will patiently endure community meetings, board planning retreats, grocery shopping, baby yoga, dining out, and watching me work while she has tummy time. She’s just a good kid that way.

…

Mommy’s Little HelperRead More »