by Monica Wiant | Dec 16, 2015 | Personal
This post was originally published on Anastasia Vitsky’s blog.I’ve always had a complicated relationship with Poland. It was the country my parents fled, the place whose oppressive regime and limited options drove them to immigrate to the United States before I...
by Monica Wiant | Oct 8, 2015 | Personal
Have you ever been in a relationship that makes you miserable, in which you consistently make terrible choices, but you’re unable to detach because I love him! or She’s my best friend! – and then you finally take some time apart, see the...
by Monica Wiant | Sep 16, 2015 | Personal
A week ago, I began a month-long odyssey known as Whole30. No sugar, grain, dairy, legumes, or alcohol. No artificial sweeteners, chemicals, or heavily processed food.If you’re the sort of person who’s interested in other people’s eating habits,...
by Monica Wiant | Sep 2, 2015 | Personal
I won’t get the empty house.Stay-at-home mothers talk about the silence, the stillness, the freedom, the joy, and the little bit of longing they feel when the school bus drives off and they find themselves alone at home for the first time.I’m a working mother. Evie...
by Monica Wiant | Aug 1, 2015 | Personal
26 years ago, my parents and their friends hosted a Bastille Day dinner party in our neighbors’ backyard. The inspiration and recipes came from the July 1989 issue of Gourmet Magazine.No detail was overlooked, from the handwritten menus to the French...
by Monica Wiant | Jul 28, 2015 | Personal
1. There is so much warmth in recognition. I often found myself breaking into a huge smile at the sight of someone I had forgotten about until that very moment, only to see the same smile reflected back at me. 2. The things I worried about were not the...
by Monica Wiant | Jul 24, 2015 | Personal
This weekend, I’m attending my 20-year high school reunion. I want to have a good time, I want to enjoy the company of my friends and classmates and their politely obliging spouses. I want to drink wine and hear mid-90s grunge rock and reminisce about our big-haired...
by Monica Wiant | Jun 22, 2015 | Personal
Dear Evie & Felix,This is one of those personal trivia questions that might come up in small talk or in a team-building exercise at work. Your answer says something about you, your childhood, and your family. Mine was Guns N Roses at the Fargodome; I was...
by Monica Wiant | Jun 11, 2015 | Business, Personal
Dear Evie & Felix, You get asked this question a lot. You’ll hear it many more times in your life, and people will expect you to answer with the name of a job. Before you do that, I want you to stop and think about the question. It’s actually...
by Monica Wiant | May 8, 2015 | Personal
I was 23. Sam, my fiancé at the time, and I were visiting my parents. By the door were a pair of men’s dress shoes: faded, worn out. Duct tape may have been involved in holding them together. My mom pointed to the shoes and asked me, “Why haven’t you done anything...
