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How to Host a Virtual Thanksgiving

According to the CDC, the safest way to celebrate the holidays this year is with the people in your household. Event planner Troy Williams shares tips on how to host a fun, memorable virtual Thanksgiving.

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family

Our Americana Road Trip Itinerary

This summer, we took a two-month road trip from Texas to New Mexico to Colorado to Utah to Idaho to Montana and back. Here’s an in-depth look at our itinerary, including what we did, where we stayed, where we ate, and more.

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wellness

How We Traveled Safely

After three months in quarantine, we made the calculated risk to drive from Austin to New Mexico to Utah to Idaho to Montana and back. Keep reading for a look at how we traveled safely.

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wellness

What It’s Like to be a Doctor on the COVID Frontline

I’m eternally grateful to all the brave doctors, nurses, and frontline workers who are facing COVID-19 head-on every day. One of them is my husband’s cousin Jeremy Padalecki, who is an ER physician. He works in freestanding emergency rooms throughout Texas, including in Corpus Christi, Austin, Round Rock, and Bryan.  Personally, watching Jeremy graduate from medical school and witnessing him become the doctor he is today, I can attest to

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family shop style

Father’s Day Gift Guide

After spending three-plus months in isolation, when every day has felt largely the same, we are taking every opportunity to celebrate. Father’s Day is this weekend (!), so I put together this Father’s Day gift guide because I’ve been looking for special ways to honor the men in my life, from my own husband to friends, uncles and grandpas. Since Jared hasn’t been filming, we’ve gotten to spend a ton of time

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family wellness

10 Postpartum Essentials

Since we just celebrated Mother’s Day, I want to highlight the importance of taking care of new moms and some postpartum essentials that can help ease the transition into motherhood. Sometimes, it feels like we worry so much about the baby that we forget about the person who just went through a grueling delivery.  Giving birth is a life-changing event that should be openly discussed. It’s one of the most

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recipes wellness

What We’ve Been Cooking in Quarantine

We’ve always cooked a lot in the Padalecki household, but man—I’ve never cooked so much (or done so many dishes!) in my entire life as I have these last two months. And I know I’m not alone. With restaurants closed and takeout much harder to get these days, I’m pretty sure everyone is spending a lot more time in the kitchen cooking in quarantine. To battle the food boredom and

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family wellness

Parenting Through a Pandemic

When I first started this blog, I wrote about how I wished we’d all stop the mom shaming. (And yes, for some reason it’s always mom shaming, not dad shaming!) So I was thrilled when I heard that Lindsay Powers, who was editor in chief of Yahoo Parenting when they created the #NoShameParenting movement, wrote a book. Called You Can’t F*ck Up Your Kids, the book is a research-based, judgment-free

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