Claire Bidwell Smith

Veronica started ballet school this morning. As with all new things, she was very nervous and shy in the beginning. We were the first ones to arrive and she sat solemnly on the bench while her teacher fitted her for ballet slippers. Vera wouldn’t utter a word, no matter how many questions her sweet instructor Read more…

Now that I’m back from Australia and Juliette has reached the three month mark, I’m expanding my practice as a therapist and am now accepting clients in my Beverly Hills office, or by long-distance via phone and skype sessions. I’d be thrilled if you’d pass along my information to anyone to whom it might be Read more…

Today is my 34th birthday. (I somehow think that  entitles me to take one of these self-aggrandizing phone portraits in which I angle the camera just so that all the best parts of my face are highlighted, and none of the worst. For the record, and because you’re probably making guesses already, I only did Read more…

It’s Friday and life, as usual, is a jumble of all sorts of things. I’m wearing a maxi dress today. That’s how pregnant I’ve become. I’m just about 30 weeks and really feeling it. I’ve been experiencing a witching hour of sorts between 3 and 4AM every night, during which I think about things like Read more…

I’m perched at a counter by the back windows in Intelligentsia in Venice right now, an hour in front of me before I head over to 826LA to teach a workshop on autobiographical writing to a group of teenagers. The convergence of my old LA life and my new one is strange sometimes. When I Read more…

Well, it’s publication eve, and it really does feel like tomorrow is Christmas or my birthday, or my baby’s due date, or something monumental and exciting. I spent the day mainly doing a lot of mom stuff. In the morning, Vera and I walked down to the beach so that we could meet some friends Read more…

Our holiday card this year… Front Inside Three years in a row… Hope everyone has a cheery holiday this month, whatever you’re celebrating. We got into it a bit early around here. Photos here.

Uncle Brad came down from San Francisco and entertained Vera while I cooked. I made my port wine & cranberry sauce that no one ever eats. As well as a 12 pound turkey, cornbread stuffing with apples & sausage, scalloped potatoes, and brussel sprouts with carmelized onions, pecans and gruyere. Liz made grits florentine, sweet Read more…

  I got home from New York two days ago and only now feel like I’m mostly recovered. It was a big trip emotionally and even though it was amazing, it was also exhausting. I had a terrible cold while I was there and it took a lot of work to ignore it in the Read more…

More from our morning beach walk…