Last week my family and I had the opportunity to escape to the beach in North Carolina, close to where I grew up … pretty lucky timing on our part considering hurricane Isaias’s path!  As any parent knows, vacations with small children aren’t exactly relaxing, but the making of lifetime memories is all worth

This past weekend, my family and I headed into Shenandoah National Park for a camping weekend. It was very nice to get away to nature and have no choice but to be out of cell range. I think it was healthy for all of us to take a break from the plethora of devices we […]

My dad engrained many things in me from a young age…value of hard work, honesty, family values, etc.  But also his love of the Three Stooges, the Marx Brothers movies, Johnny Cash, the Beatles, Neil Diamond, Looney Tunes, Ray Stevens, lots of old movies, and Paul Harvey… I don’t remember how we started

What Is the FIRE Movement? In the financial world, there has been a lot of recent attention on a movement among the younger generation which magnifies the advice of save early and save often. The FIRE movement – which stands for Financial Independence Retire Early – is built on the principles of high savings rates

We just returned home from an epic road trip across Montana—we started in Glacier National Park in the north and worked our way to Yellowstone in the south.  The trip was a feast for the eyes—and many times, it was hard to take it all in.  The perspectives were so grand that it was hard […]

If you know me and my husband, you know that we are serial renovators and DIYers. Yes, we are sick sick people. We are currently in the home stretch of our last … and I mean LAST… home renovation. While I’d like to think I am contributing as much as possible during the renovation, I […]

At my house, waking up early has become somewhat of a rarity. That’s not something I thought I would ever say with three young children, but it has in fact happened (rejoice!). Dear parents of very young children, sleep depravity eventually ends, but you might think it never will! Both because of school being out

Today, the Meridian team is attending a virtual JP Morgan Investment Forum. We usually head to Tysons to a nice hotel conference center and hear from the top economists at JP Morgan in person…but this year, we are all sitting at our desks, listening in.  While virtual events are always a challenge, we also miss

Summer certainly feels like it is here!  Every pool with the exception of baby pools is sold out in Virginia (if you find one, let me know!), the local ice cream shop has re-opened, and high school and college graduations have come and gone. And while this year’s graduation scene looked very different from anything