About Me

Hi, there. I’m Leah.

In 2008, I stepped out of teaching and into the surreal world of full-time motherhood. I’d gone to school to study literature (practical, I know) and ended up in publishing, but spending my days editing other people’s work instead of creating something–anything (a story, an article, a piece of origami)–of my own made me want to poke out my eye with my red pencil. So I went to grad school (because I love me some student loans) to become a teacher, which I loved, loved. Who knew that creating these cool lessons and working with teenagers and faculty meetings (nah) could be so much fun? But then we had our first daughter, and now I spend most days conversing with two happy little girls (one’s five and the other two), quelling the occasional tantrum, and producing more milk than a dairy farm to keep up with the incredibly hungry, mind-bogglingly happy baby boy who just entered our world. To mix things up a bit, I’ve also a dog, a cat, and a husband so charming I hurried up and married him before somebody else got the same bright idea. Now I’m a small-town girl turned urban expatriate who lives in the ‘burbs about a half hour from where I grew up. And it’s with no small sense of irony that I drive a minivan, regularly drop the word “playdate” in conversation (cringing all the while), and often wonder the merits of ab exercises after three c-sections.

It’s a hectic life. I get overwhelmed. A lot. But I laugh a bunch, too, and not always just at myself: somehow I got to be surrounded by really funny people (though looks aren’t everything. Dah dum DUM). I change an inordinate amount of diapers, wash way too many dishes and wear yoga pants (black, sometimes gray) around the house, but never to the mall. Juggling all the people in my little world means that nothing is really done well, consistency is nonexistent, and I don’t blow-dry my hair nearly as often as I should. But I’m taking the chance to gulp up this time with my family before it changes, before they grow, before they’re gone…I’m also a fiction writer (you know, while the baby naps and I avoid filing bills), revising my first women’s fiction novel, All the Difference. I’m represented by Katie Shea of the Donald Maass Literary Agency.

This blog is my way of sorting through the mundane craziness of this full-time parenting world–the ups, the downs, and all the cartwheels in between.  I keep a running record of all the quirky comments that come out of our girls’ mouths, and when I remember to take pictures of my dinner, throw in recipes here and there that have become standards in this house.  I hope you like what you read. Don’t forget to swing my my Tumblr, What Princess Kate Isn’t Doing, if you want to feel like you’re not the only one living a, um, common life. Drop me a line at onevignette(at)gmail(dot)com to let me know what you think.

I’m glad you stopped by.

Leah