Bryanne believes she has the potential to be her generation’s Chuck Norris, in lipstick. She is the proud mother of two very sarcastic teenage sons, the wife of an active duty United States Marine, and a full-time student in Virginia working towards an English degree that is focused on creative writing. In her free time, besides long walks on the beach and watching the sunset, she enjoys seeking out and experiencing new and unusual cuisines from all over the world, food blogging, sharing unsolicited restaurant reviews, freelance writing and competing in national cooking contests. Bryanne has yet to actually win a contest, but she values the consistency rejection has brought to her life. Her dream is to publish articles in the New York Times and Saveur Magazine, for her children to become successful and finance her wildly expensive and excessive would-be lifestyle, and to make a hamburger with Michael Pollan. Her husband appears to be okay with her slightly obsessive food-writer crush on Anthony Bourdain. She is currently working on her first book, a nonfiction murder mystery that unfortunately doesn’t have any good recipes.
A male friend recently told me I sound like I hate men. As the wife of a Marine and mother to two teenage sons, I am far from a man-hater. When I pressed this friend for details, he said, “You always post things on Facebook about female empowerment; or how men in other countries are victimizing women. I mean, come on already.”
What I took away from that discussion was two-fold. Read More
A male friend recently told me I sound like I hate men. As the wife of a Marine and mother to two teenage sons, I am far from a man-hater. When I pressed this friend for details, he said, “You always post things on Facebook about female empowerment; or how men in other countries are victimizing women. I mean, come on already.”
What I took away from that discussion was two-fold. Read More
It’s already November isn’t it? My family is already staring at me with their tongues extended to the floor expecting a marvelous Thanksgiving feast and I haven’t saved nearly enough for Christmas sales, or presents for that matter. Everywhere I go some well-meaning doofus asks me if I’m ready for Thanksgiving. They say it with extra emphasis in the middle and a cheerleader’s gleam in their eyes. I guess I take a slight guilty pleasure in Read More
Today (November 13th) is World Kindness Day. It started in 1998 as a movement to increase understanding and compassion between people across the world. To celebrate the day – I would like to share a story with you that changed my life. For me, the healing and transformative power of kindness begins with a cold day in February, many years ago… Read More
Just so you know, I was not prepared when the time came to have this talk. My sons, now thirteen and almost fifteen, were eleven and thirteen when the moment fell, scratch that, slammed into our laps.
It all started with a girl named Dread. Okay, that wasn’t really her name, but that’s how I saw her. Read More
Let me preface this story by saying that I believe it is absolutely unfair for attractive men to be in the gynecological field.
My yearly exam came around, and because I deal with endometriosis and a host of other female-reproductive issues, I had to see a specialist at the Army hospital an hour north. Fine. No problem. The doctor’s name was difficult to pronounce, and somehow that led me to believe it would be an old Asian man. I didn’t bother to landscape, if you know what I mean.
After checking in for my appointment, I waited in the exam room, refusing to sit on the paper-lined reclining chair that faced a ceiling featuring a bright pictured-tile of blooming branches to comfort the weary to patient. Instead I sat on the side chair intended for guests and played solitaire on my iPhone.
There was a knock at the door, and then Idris Elba walked in wearing Read More
