• Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  My Friends Have Mad Skillz,  Working On My Fitness,  Zumba

    Zumba-versary

    January 31, 2013

    The first time I ever took a Zumba class, it was at a fitness conference called Midwest Mania. I loved it so much that I came home and immediately looked up a local instructor on their website so I could try a class close to home. I took the class, and was officially hooked. I have always loved to dance. I still do: I have a dance floor radar and if I sense one is nearby, I make a beeline for it. I am *that* woman who is out there for any group dance at a wedding or Bar Mitzvah reception. I am a quintuple threat (1. Cha Cha Slide,…

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  • Amazing People,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting

    Adulthood Looms

    December 18, 2012

    It’s thick in the air around here. I can feel it looming. As busy as I have been lately, I have noticed. What’s fleeting around here? Childhood. I have been doing my best to pay extra attention to my boys, to close the laptop when they are talking to me, to listen fully, to answer them thoughtfully. When they want to play a game with me, I drop everything I’m doing if at all possible and I play. When J wants to show me his latest DJ video, I watch. Same with D and those random YouTube videos that college students seem to spend hours sharing and laughing about. (He…

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  • Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments

    The Bad Parent, Good Teenager Strategy In Action

    November 30, 2012

    The scene: My dining room, earlier this week The players: Seventeen-year-old J, me, and my sister J: “So, Tim* and Megan* want me and (girlfriend) Shannon* to go to this dance club with them on Saturday night.” Me: “Really? A DANCE CLUB? Like, for under twenty-ones?” J: “Yep.” I glanced across the table and raised my eyebrows at my sister. Me: “What is the name of this dance club?” J: “The Zone.**” Me: “And where is this ‘The Zone Dance Club’ that I’ve never heard of after twenty years of living in this Chicago suburb?” J: (shrugging shoulders) “I don’t know. They have a 17+ night on Saturdays. It starts…

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  • Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Friends,  My Friends Have Mad Skillz,  Too Funny To Ignore

    My Friends + Laughter = Me + Thankful

    November 29, 2012

    I had a couple of ideas for this, the penultimate NaBloPoMo post for 2012. I thought I might write about how I used to sew clothing (easy patterns, but still) for the boys when they were little and how a matching pair of shorts led to one of my favorite pictures of them from way back when. Then I thought that I would post a couple of black and white pictures I took of the boys over Thanksgiving weekend. (I love black and white pictures, don’t you?) I also considered sharing (finally) one of the buildings I toured during Open House Chicago, since I never got past talking about Marina…

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  • Amazing People,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  Review

    A Thanksgiving Love Letter

    November 19, 2012

    I hope you enjoy this month’s thankful-themed contribution to Hallmark’s “Life Is A Special Occasion” campaign! Let me know in the comments who YOU’RE thankful for! As I have extensively documented here on Suburban Scrawl, I live a very full, blessed life. Though I know I make most of the choices that pertain to me and thus can claim lots of credit for the various things that happen in my life, I am well aware of the help I receive from others along the way: we don’t go through life alone. This month, Hallmark asked me to express my thanks to someone special, someone who has had an impact on…

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