Katie Dohman

Sparks flew, doorknobs dropped, and paper peeled, but this writer couldn’t help falling in love with this old house.
illustration by Trisha Krauss
The first time I walked through my would-be house, a doorknob fell off in my hand. When I lightly ran my fingers over a piece of yellowing, white-on-white textured wallpaper, it crumbled to dust. I walked on cat-pee-soaked garnet carpet that covered the first floor and headed up a grand staircase lined by peeling wallpaper. It was like a scene from...

Once seen as a fringy alternative to The Pill, today’s intrauterine devices — five types in all! — are winning the hearts of moms (and non-moms) alike
Katie Dohman lives in West St. Paul with her three kids, two dogs and one husband. She loves them a lot, which is good, because she can’t remember the last time she slept a whole night through. (Her columnist photo is by Cadence & Eli Photography.)
In 1960, a prescription drug designed to suppress ovulation and inhibit conception — widely known...

At dawn on April 24, Jenny Thompson Halverson, the first female mayor of West St. Paul, Minnesota, was getting ready to go for a run. Known for her early-morning neighborhood jaunts, her campaign slogan was “Run Jenny Run." But this particular morning would get off to a violating start. And kicked off a revolution in her local political sphere.

We planned on living in our current house forever. But then came a dream house and an offer we couldn't refuse. A love letter.

Prince's singular vision left us with a lot of memories, and a lot of lessons on creativity.

8 recipes for clean, all-natural skincare products you can make at home—and why you should.

It was the right house at the right time.

As a freelancer, I'm working harder than ever. As a parent, I can't imagine my life any other way.

When her pregnancy takes an unexpected turn, a mom-to-be learns her first lessons in parenthood.

Dad says “sunfish,” daughter says “sunglasses”—how an outdoorsman and a style editor teach each other about the finer things in life.

Years ago, Aveda and a struggling Brazilian tribe forged a trading relationship both sides hoped would produce a profit. The result? A business that makes dollars and sense.

It’s not often that an architectural designer gets called back in on a project he had completed just five years prior. But in the case of this St. Paul Mediterranean marvel, Charlie Simmons of Charlie & Co. Design was summoned by its new owners who wanted to truly make it their own.
As he explains, “The homeowner told me, ‘We want to mix things up. We know it’s a pretty new house, but after living in it, we’re using it differently than we imagined.’” The question then became: What could Simmo...

When Twin Cities tastemaker Nancy Bigos set foot on the 1920 Lake Minnetonka estate once owned by the lumber baron Fullerton family, she instantly fell in love. “I knew it was the diamond in the rough,” she says of the original home and the accompanying 7.2-acre waterfront property. “It wrapped itself around me and said, ‘You have to buy me.’”
So she did, then began the painstaking process of conserving the abode’s considerable history, renovating the existing 10,000-square-foot footprint and...

Mallory Weggemann
Paralympic Swimmer
Mallory Weggemann is on the comeback. And it’s a mindset and a path this two-time Paralympian has blazed more than once.
In January of 2008, just a couple months shy of her 19th birthday, she was paralyzed from the waist down as a result of an epidural injection to treat her back pain, a lingering aftereffect from shingles. She was coming of age — her time of ultimate possibility — unexpectedly as a paraplegic.
“When I was injured, I realized seldomly are ...

Jina Penn-Tracy
Jina Penn-Tracy, Financial Advisor and co-owner of Centered Wealth, has been investing in a better future her entire life, whether she realized it or not. She survived cancer in her late teens and, in response, became a consumer advocate for reducing cancer-causing toxins in our environment and food supply.
She also survived childhood sexual abuse, in what became a high-profile case against the Children’s Theatre Company. To help create a better life for fellow survivors, she ...