If you’re been reading Suburban Scrawl over the past four months, you probably already know that I fell head-over-heels in love this summer with The Dailey Method workout. (My most recent update post is HERE.) I am not kidding you when I say that The Dailey Method (specifically the Naperville location) has changed my life. In four months. (Less, actually, because I felt the life change in the first thirty days!) Between the workouts that challenge me dailEy (
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And Just Like That…
After a summer away, training young scouts on wilderness survival and chasing bears into the woods he returned home. We’re all pretty happy about it.
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Bonus, Indeed.
When my maternal grandparents passed away within two years of each other, I was still in elementary school. Obviously life happens: nobody can plan when it’s supposed to end. (I’m not even sure if anyone would want to plan the timing of that milestone.) Those of us who are left behind usually say things like, “I wish she were still living” or “He died way too soon” or, as if to justify feeling robbed of more time, “Only the good die young.” All I knew as a young girl was that I was going to miss my grandparents terribly, and I have. Lucky for my sister and me, Marilyn and…
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Wait…July??? (And Other Thoughts)
…and then, when I woke up, I realized it was July first already. I’m not sure what is going on, but time is moving at warp speed: nothing new for me, really, but this is ridiculous. Six months of 2012 are gone already. Wasn’t it just New Year’s Eve? It’s not slowing down anytime soon, either. This month alone I’ve got a couple of college visits left (plus a weekend College Open House), a visit to Tennessee, final prep for BBSummit and the conference itself (along with a long weekend visit with Liz!), two events (so far!), continued workouts at The Dailey Method and Zumba, a magazine article deadline, and…
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Fast Family
I was at an event last night with some great company: my sister and about half the cast of the Chicago LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER show. Sitting around that table, we laughed and joked and teased each other like we’d known each other forever. We hadn’t. In fact, “forever” couldn’t be further from the truth. Well, except in the case of my sister and me, because, you know. I had realized something interesting a couple of days ahead of our meet-up: the members of our cast who were able to come to the meet-up were all, with one exception (plus my sister, of course), people who Tracey and I had…
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Good Riddance, Junior Year!
I took this picture of J way back in August on the first day of Junior year. I wish I had known that morning when I admonished him for making that face (“Come on, give me a smile or something!”) that the face he gave me–one of sarcastic annoyance with a touch of “Are we done yet?”–would be a 100% accurate representation of the year as a whole, because perhaps I wouldn’t have given him such a hard time. (Perhaps.) Junior year sucks, and has sucked. It was the same with D, and although I can’t claim to know that Junior year sucks for every Junior and his or her…
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Extreme Makeover: Garden Edition
I wrote a post just last month about how much I despise gardening. I despise it so much that there are truly no words to describe my feelings. As it happens, my friend Jen adores gardening. I think she loves it as much as I hate it. In spite of that obvious personality flaw (I kid, I kid), Jen is a sweet person. She has mentioned several times over the past few weeks that she would be willing to come over and give me a consultation on the garden in my front yard. You know, the one that has become overrun with weeds. Yesterday I called her and said, “Um,…
- Amazing People, Best Thing Ever, Blessings, Fun in Chicago, I've Got Mad Skillz, My Friends Have Mad Skillz, Proud Moments, Shameless Promotion, Something That Could Change Your Life
Listen To Your Mother Chicago: Countdown To Showtime!
For the last nine days, Tracey and I have posted countdown pictures on Facebook. I think these pictures both excited and terrified our cast. Today is the big day. More than six months in the making, the very first LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER CHICAGO is finally making its debut, at 7:00 p.m. tonight to be specific. Where am I, mentally? So calm I can’t even express it. If you know me well, you know that “calm” is not a word I EVER use when I’m this heavily involved in a project. (Okay, or, uh, EVER. At all.) I know that I will be nervous as showtime approaches because I am…
- Amazing People, Best Thing Ever, Blessings, Fun in Chicago, My Friends Have Mad Skillz, Proud Moments, Something That Could Change Your Life
On Getting It, And Ending Up At The Motel Bar.
Yesterday was a great day. We conducted our second and final formal rehearsal for the Chicago LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER show. I can’t express to you how happy it made me to run the show from start to finish. Tracey brought the actual podium we’ll be using at the actual show (in thirteen days!), and in a quiet conference room at Calumet Photo (thanks for providing such a great space, Calumet Photo! Woot!)–a huge change in environment from the restaurant where we had our first read-through because it was so much quieter and we could really focus–we laughed and cried, as the unit to which we had all contributed a…
- Amazing People, Best Thing Ever, Blessings, My Friends Have Mad Skillz, Something That Could Change Your Life, We Are An Awesome Couple
WWTBD
So I have this little side project called “Listen To Your Mother”. It’s not something I would ever want to handle by myself, and in fact, I am not. I just want to take a moment today to express some gratitude for my partner and co-producer, Tracey. Tracey and I knew each other before we joined forces (Wonder Twin powers, activate!) on LTYM, but only socially. As in, I had seen her dance like Elaine from “Seinfeld” and it’s one of the most entertaining things I’ve ever observed. As you can imagine, co-producing a behemoth such as LTYM requires more than just dancing. Even though I knew that Tracey was…