Claire Bidwell Smith

It’s Wednesday morning and I’m humming with happiness. It’s probable that I should be exhausted and stressed out, but I’m not. Not at all. I’m happy. I feel full, and bursting with excitement about my life and about the days to come. My trip to New York was absolutely dazzling. On Sunday I stood in Read more…

We only had two names during this whole pregnancy. Juliette Marie, if it was a girl. Everett William, if it was a boy. I’m still mourning the loss of Everett a little. I really loved that name. We were going to call him Ever or Rett for short and I imagined that he would have Read more…

Yesterday an essay I wrote was the headlining piece on Huffington Post Women. It was entitled My Friend Got Pregnant! Why Couldn’t I Be Happier For Her? It wasn’t easy to publish this piece — it’s about a time in my life when I was at my worst as a friend — but it’s about Read more…

Last weekend one of my best friends got married, and I’m still welled up with joy-filled tears from the experience. (See the whole album here.) My in-laws are currently reading my book for the first time, and one of my mother-in-law’s comments after finishing it was that she felt glad that I have so many Read more…

How cool is this? I was in a wedding this summer that is now featured in a magazine! I went to two back-to-back weddings in August. The first one was Greg’s best friend Tarek and his bride Kate in Madison, WI. I’ve written a lot about them. And the second wedding I went to was Read more…

Four years ago this fall, I was easing into my new life in Chicago. It had been a rough transition, but I’d finally begun to make some friends and develop a few job leads. My first friend in Chicago was a really cool girl named Stacy McKinley. I met her through a friend of mine Read more…

Thursday afternoon in Long Beach with Amber and Liz and our kids.

It’s Tuesday morning and I’m alone in the house, about to dive into a morning of writing. I can’t even tell you how exciting this is. For the last three months, ever since we arrived in Los Angeles, I’ve been out the door with Vera by 8:30AM, going to the playground or running errands, so Read more…

A couple of months ago I wrote about my friends Ron and Ken, a couple I had the privilege of meeting just before I moved away from Chicago. Ken died just days after I left and I’ve been following along through email and via Ron’s blog to see how he’s been doing. This week in Read more…

I’m in Chicago right now, typing this out in my friend’s downtown loft apartment while Bug sleeps behind the next wall. Greg just landed in Los Angeles and is headed home to Topanga, to a week of solitude while Vera and I have a girl party in Chicago and then attend my friend Ashley’s wedding Read more…