Kristin Emery

As I write this, Hurricane Dorian is churning just north of the Bahamas after devastating the Abaco Islands. My heart breaks as I see the footage of 20 feet of storm surge overwhelming cars, homes and lives.

I am constantly amazed at how many people are on the highway and how much traffic there is everywhere you go nowadays.

Warm summertime temperatures motivate me to get outside and take a daily walk (most of the time). Sometimes I take my smartphone with me to play some music to enjoy through my earbuds and to keep me going. To those of you who are also products of the 1980s, this is the equivalent of those gu…

Is it just me or did I somehow miss the fact that I moved to the tropical rainforest this year? The heat and humidity over the past week were so tropical that you could almost cut the mugginess with a knife.

I like driving. I realized this the other day while I was driving to work for an early morning weather shift and practically no one else was on the highway. That’s rare these days since the roads are more packed than ever, even though they keep building more and more lanes.

Are you a collector? I know plenty of folks who are collectors, and my mom was a big collector. Part of being a collector is the fun of acquiring pieces for your collection or in having someone give you a certain piece as a gift. It’s great fun seeing something that you know a loved one woul…

Spring cleaning got started a little late at my house, but at least it’s done. After going through boxes and plastic totes of belongings that used to be in storage, I can proudly say that my entire house is organized and “redd out.” Well, don’t go into the attic – that’s a project I’ll tackl…

I wrote a column a while ago about how much time and effort we women put into our appearance. Between makeup, skincare, hair styling, nail polish, jewelry and matching shoes and belts among other things ... it’s exhausting.

I heard that familiar sound the other morning just after waking up, and it wasn’t the birds chirping or the sound of the school bus on its usual route.

When I was growing up, there were several things that were annual summer traditions in our family: a trip to the Jersey Shore, spending long days at the local pool, playing baseball and softball at Washington Park and taking part in the Washington Community Theater summer musical production.

You may have read a recent health and medical article I wrote that appeared in last Saturday’s Observer-Reporter about the results of a new study showing the pros and cons of getting enough, too little or too much sleep.

As we slog through winter, my skin keeps getting drier and drier. Ladies, you know what I mean, right? Despite the humidifier on the furnace, thicker face and body creams and even moisturizing botanical oil, the flaky skin always resurfaces this time of year. I just returned from a ski trip …

This wild roller coaster of temperature swings that we’ve been on the past two weeks has everyone so confused about the weather that they don’t know if they should fire up the snow blower or throw on a T-shirt and sunglasses and wash their cars.

Every time I bend at the waist or reach above my head this week, I am cursing the creators of wallpaper. Who in the world invented this stuff, anyway?

It’s a new year, and since we’re already one week in and I haven’t exercised once, that working out resolution isn’t going so well. But today is a new day and there’s no reason to give up yet, right? My New Year’s resolutions in recent years have been more introspective and have included goa…

Let's all hope that Mother Nature's New Year's resolution is to turn off the faucet around here.

They finally found me. There, in my mailbox, was the official notice that I wasn’t a spring chicken anymore. No one really needed to inform me of that, but in my mind I’m still eternally 25 years old. Aren’t we all? It’s just my right knee that tells me otherwise after too many decades of sk…

Note to self: Don’t book your next diving excursion right after binge-watching an entire DVR full of “Shark Week” specials. Then again, maybe that’s exactly what I need to do every year. I booked my latest trip to the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico at the same time I was glued to the television…

You know that famous opening song from the musical “Oklahoma”?

I picked up a couple of bags of Halloween candy for trick-or-treaters the other day while browsing the Halloween aisles of a local store. Yes, there was an entire section of Halloween candy, costumes and decorations, and we even have entire Halloween stores pop up temporarily just for the oc…

What are you wearing right now? That’s not meant to be a creepy question, because you may be in your pajamas if it’s first thing in the morning. The real question is whether those pajamas are summer shorties or fall flannels. While you may have put away your flip-flops for the season, the we…

It was a very busy week for me, and I was doing my best to meet every deadline for my editors, wake up before the crack of dawn to do the early morning weather broadcasts and still keep on top of chores around the house, such as mowing the lawn and doing laundry while trying not to find excu…

We’re at the peak of the 2018 Atlantic hurricane season and even though we don’t live near the ocean, we are still experiencing the effects of tropical systems thanks to moisture from both Hurricanes Gordon and Florence making its way inland across our area.

It’s football season, and we kicked it off by traveling to Charlotte, N.C., where my WVU Mountaineers played Tennessee. That area has huge alumni populations for both schools and provided close proximity for both fan bases. The folks at the stadium were prepared for the enormous crowd, but I…

A funny thing happened in the fitting room of a clothing store the other day, and it’s too funny not to share. I was trying on sale dresses when I heard voices next to me. Women often shop together and sometimes share a fitting room. I have not, however, seen a man share a fitting room with …

It’s summer, and that means the farmers markets are in full swing. So I was surprised recently when I read an article about the fear that farmers markets have maxed out and are selling less than they used to.

I turned on the television Sunday morning and was riveted, as I’m sure many of you also were, by watching the British Open.

There I was, surfing the television channels or watching those shows I love about buying vacation homes on some Caribbean island when the commercial break hit. Some ad for a company selling furniture and home furnishings online was first followed by an ad for another company touting its webs…

I’ve pulled some real winners when it comes to stupid mistakes in my life. There are the daily missteps first thing in the morning such as pouring orange juice rather than milk on my cereal or starting to apply my pink lip liner only to realize I’m holding a black eyeliner pencil in my hand.

Memorial Day has come and gone, and though it’s officially still spring, it sure feels like summer. It seems we went from a never-ending winter straight to blazing hot temperatures and just skipped right over spring this year.

Memorial Day weekend is my favorite weekend of the year, and it’s not just because it’s the unofficial start to the summer season.

If you read my last column, you might remember me worrying that we had to change planes at JFK airport in New York on our latest trip and the crazy experience I had doing that there two years ago. Well, we’re back after an amazing trip to the Caribbean. However, JFK lived up to its awful rep…

As I pack for a trip (I know, when am I not on a trip?), I’m reviewing the itinerary for our upcoming flight. This time, a travel agent helped plan our route and connections, and we chose the times and flights that will maximize the time at our destination and on the beach (arrive early, lea…

The posting on the vacation home rental website looked too good to be true …which usually means it is. A high-rise, modern, luxury condo right in the heart of the Toronto entertainment district for the same price as a hotel. Two of us would make the short drive north of the border and pick u…

Aren’t you glad it’s finally spring? You’re probably reading this thinking it still looks a lot like gloomy wintry weather, and it sure does. This latest wintry blast of rain/freezing rain/snow marks the fourth nor’easter of the month, with parts of the East Coast from Boston to New York ant…

Last time, I wrote about the wasted minutes and hours that we women spend on fashion decisions such as foundation color, matching earrings and which pantyhose to wear. My inbox was filled with comments on the column, including one from a woman who enjoyed reading it but wanted to sell me her…

There I was packing for a weekend getaway and deciding what to wear that evening. I am a seasoned traveler and could easily live out of a suitcase and hotel room for months. However, it does take women some extra time to pack, as you ladies can attest. I always envy men who seem to throw a f…

Are you ready for spring yet? The calendar officially says it’s still six weeks away, but given that we’ve had wild swings from days of zero degrees and subzero wind chills up to 62 degrees a few days later and another drop of 30 degrees in three hours, well… who can tell what season we’re i…

The post on social media had us all worried. When several friends embarked on a weeklong Caribbean cruise last winter, it sounded like a dream come true and we were all envious.

Just know that whatever dumb move you pull today is not as ditzy as what I did on Christmas Eve. It all started with the best of intentions: I wanted to go to church despite the fact that I had to work forecasting the weather for the 6:30, 10 and 11 p.m. newscasts.

As you’re reading this, I imagine you’re bundled up in your warm, fluffy bathrobe or flannel pajamas sipping on hot morning coffee, since many folks are on a holiday vacation this week. It’s certainly looking and feeling like winter outside now, and the season officially arrived Dec. 21.

I spent a few days this month on the road with a friend helping to drive her car to Colorado, where she’ll spend the winter with family. It was an easy drive due west on Interstate 70 and we encountered rain only briefly on one evening. Most of the trip was highway, but we stopped to sightse…

Last time, I wrote about how amazed I am that folks scour other people’s trash to find treasure. While giving my house a makeover, I’ve put a lot of things out by the curb, taken many an item to charity drop-off sites and sold several items. As I got rid of rid of old furniture and other bel…

My garbage men are my heroes. Week after week, they show up in the rain, snow, heat or cold to take away things that I want to discard from my house and life.

Have you broken out your fall fashions yet? I haven’t either, and that’s probably because it has felt more like San Diego or Miami around here than what we’re used to in fall around Southwestern Pennsylvania. So much for kids playing in piles of leaves while you enjoy that piping hot pumpkin…