Andrea Costantine's Blog

Have you ever noticed that neighborhoods have a particular energy or culture about them? What creates that culture and how is it cultivated—intentional or not?

Neighborhoods are unique. Some are historical and traditional, others are modern and funky, while others are family-driven or filled with singles, some have meticulous landscapes, or go all out on holiday decorations. What’s your neighborhood culture?

When walking through the streets of my own neighborhood within the last few mo...

My family decided to do remote work and school—remotely—for a month. We sincerely hope this will be the only pandemic any of us see in our lifetimes, and we decided to find some good in the fact that the kids are schooling through Zoom and my husband hasn’t stepped foot into his office for nine months. His official office is now housed in our master bedroom closet, luckily it has windows.

We didn’t know what we’d find by packing up and heading to a warmer climates for four weeks in the midst ...

People are struggling and hurting. Someone you know is going through a divorce, grieving a loved one, the loss of a job, battling depression, or so many other things that make life so hard.

In good faith, we respond with the statement, “Let me know what I can do to help.”

But please, stop.

Remove this from your list of responses. I know you mean well. I know it’s with good intentions. I know many of you actually DO what to do something.

But when you tell someone who is already suffer...

I honestly love my time alone and the emptiness of a quiet house. I also need that time by myself to recharge my introverted roots. Yet, deep down, I’m a village person.

I grew up with big family dinners, playing with cousins, running between neighbor’s houses. People have filled my life with all the good things that I can remember. None of my fondest memories of are of myself, alone—they are always with people, in connection, in community.

I’ve known for some time that I’m a village perso...

This morning I ventured out into my garden to plant the remainder of my cold-weather seeds. The one that will be ready for harvest just as the weather turns cooler and the first frost appears.

Usually, by mid-summer I’m not thinking of what new seeds I can plant, I’m more likely to be drowning in weeds and overgrown greens that I can barely tend.

But this year is… different.

While I’ve kept a garden for the past decade, this year I started earlier and I finally listened to advice I did...

Oh it’s so tempting, I know it is.  A post comes across your screen and you think to yourself, “How in the world can someone believe that? Let me ___________________(fill in the blank) tell them what they don’t know, how I feel about that person/topic/subject, set them straight, etc. etc…”

But what good does it do—really? What change does it inspire? What unity comes from it? What understanding of one another is gained?

99.99% of the time – nothing. Not. One. Single. Thing.

Yet, people ...

Ive always been the kind of person who works best under a deadline. Give me a due date and consider it done! I get three times as many things completed before a vacation or traveling out of town than any other regular day. Deadlines and due dates are good for me. They motivate me. They keep me going.

Lately, among the pandemic, I find that Im oscillating in the exact opposite space of that pre-vacation scramble. It seems that time has no significance.

Every morning I wake up and there are so...

Something has been brewing in our culture (and perhaps the world) over these last few weeks as weve sheltered in place and practiced social distancing.

Its been hard to grasp or understand, but its happening, silently AND right in front of our eyes.

A week ago, I was out riding bikes with my three and six year old. We downloaded the Pokemon Go game for something to do, and so I could get a break from being a Pokemon Trainer in our basement. In the virtual game, you can find Pokemon throughout...

In the past, the biggest nuisance regarding toilet paper in our home was whether the roll rolled from over or under. I prefer over. In the time of the coronavirus pandemic, toilet paper has become a coveted commodity, and not everyone can get their hands on some. Our family however has been lucky.

As the virus began to spread and before it was labeled a pandemic, our daughter scoured onlineafter she, my husband, and I all went to different stores to find toilet paper. We were down to our last...

Here are several journals Ive crafted for all the different people in your life, men, women, and children.

You can access these journals through the links below. Only available on Amazon.