• Best Thing Ever,  Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Music,  Tough Questions

    We’re Gonna Need A Bigger Speaker.

    I love music. If you know me at all, this is not news. I listen to music all day long. I have Sirius XM radio in my car and I am a Spotify addict, with different offline playlists downloaded to my phone than the ones downloaded to my iPad, for those occasions when I have no WiFi and have to limit my choices (on a plane, on a road trip, etc.). I used to make fun of Jim for walking around with music blaring from his iPhone. After a while, I realized he was onto something there (sorry, Jim). We never ever ever ever use the stereo iPod/iPhone doc that…

  • Amazing People,  Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Friends,  My Friends Have Mad Skillz

    Friends First.

    Momo and I met online seven years ago, at some point in 2008. (In Internet time that’s virtually 575 years ago.) We met in real life in June of 2009, when I helped bring a van full of meat to her house. (The Momo’s Meat Wagon story is here.) We’ve been close friends ever since. I became her contractor at BlogHer three years ago, and for every day of those three years I have been one half of a total Dream Team. I don’t think every pair of friends could have a successful work relationship, but we do. We have worked together seamlessly, with excellent communication and just the right…

  • Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Something That Could Change Your Life

    How To Organize Your Inbox, My Way.

    Email, which is mostly awesome, has altered our perception of what is an acceptable speed of every day communication to the point where the idea of waiting two or three days for a piece of snail mail is almost totally preposterous unless you’re waiting on an old-school wedding invitation or a package from Amazon. The way I see it, there are two bad things about email: the way it has totally reduced our patience level (see above) and the way it can clutter up an inbox beyond belief so that you A) can’t find anything and B) lose your marbles over the sheer volume of it. Or is that just…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Roxie,  Working On My Fitness

    Thoughts From This Morning’s Walk

    I hope I don’t get rained on. Why does Roxie have to bark at EVERYTHING? I need someone to walk a block ahead of me, warning everyone that she’s a loud barker but harmless. I love that I can listen to music on my iPhone while walking. So grateful for Steve Jobs as well as those who invented the Sony Walkman before him. Walking with a boom box would’ve been way harder than this. I really need to make time to file the 1500 read emails that are sitting in my inbox. I’ll feel better after I do that. Maybe tomorrow. It just occurred to me that I take really…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?

    The Stages of a Cold, Melisa-Style

    One Day Pre-cold Uh-oh. I think I’m getting sick. I can’t get sick. I don’t have time to get sick. I’m going to lay down for a little while to see if I feel better. I can’t get sick. I will not get sick. I should start drinking lots more water. Cold, Day One Oh gosh, I am. I AM getting sick. I feel it in my chest. My chest is SOOOOO congested. Ugh, the congestion. It’s so tight. And right on schedule, the cough. Fantastic. I’m not going to workout today. But just today. OMG I HATE SKIPPING WORKOUTS. I am drinking a ton of water. I should just…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  I've Got Mad Skillz

    Just Give Me A Second And I’ll Figure It Out.

    Unfortunately, all of the answers can’t be found on Google. I mean, LOTS of them can…but often there are questions or problems that can’t be resolved by typing in a query. Here’s what I do when I have a dilemma: I call someone to talk it out. Now, you might think that when I say “talk it out”, I mean that I’m calling that person to have a two-person exchange about my issue and then hang up feeling triumphant because we have figured it out together. Good job. That’s what I thought I was doing too, for a while. Not so. I mean, that’s my INTENTION, but that’s not exactly…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Friends,  Fun in Chicago,  I've Got Mad Skillz

    Just Noh.

    I’m in a mood this afternoon, because I scheduled a workout for 4:30 p.m. and one of my least favorite things to do is drag myself away from whatever I’m doing to go take an afternoon class. I used to do my workouts mostly in the evening or at 5:30 in the morning almost exclusively, so it’s not like I’m new at this, but I’m a creature of habit and changing up my schedule today hurt. I’ve grown quite accustomed to doing my 8:30 a.m. class and then being finished for the day. Actually, the fact that this is bothering me so much really tells me that I probably need…

  • Childhood Memories,  Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Music

    Record Regret

    After lunch on Sunday we walked to the next street corner where we found a record store. As in vinyl. As in albumins. As in “Big CDs”, which was the term I used when trying to explain to my two boys what record albums were, way back in the late 90’s and before they became interested in vinyl themselves. These days, all three of us are suckers for a cool record store. (Jim’s lukewarm about it but will absolutely spend some time happily browsing if you ask him to.) We’ve all spent time with my sister on Record Store Day, tracking down colored vinyl or special releases or other treasures.…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Jim Has Mad Skillz

    Movie Popcorn. We Have a Love/Hate Relationship.

    Ah, movie popcorn. It’s one of my very favorite things to eat in the entire world. And yes, I know it’s horrible for me, especially with extra butter. Let’s just get that out of the way. It’s HORRIBLE for me. Horrible. But I love it so. I happen to think that the theaters who have the little “add-your-own-butter” stations did that just for me. I get a little carried away. In fact, I expect my local theater to take away those stations someday, and it’ll be because of me. Last summer, I cut way, way back on the movie popcorn and then I gradually started eating it again. But ONLY…

  • Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Reflections on Parenting,  UGH.

    Empty Nesting Is Awesome, Except When It’s Not.

    I love my life the way it is at this moment. I have one son who graduated from college and supports himself with an actual job, and I have another son who is a college sophomore, living only two hours from home. I work from home. I have the freedom to sleep in if I want, workout for as long as I want, not cook dinner for a whole week if I don’t want to, and most of all, pack a bag and take off to visit friends or accompany Jim on a business trip if I want, with no problem. Many of my friends who still have kids at…