This year, BlogHer is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its annual conference and in honor of that milestone, there are lots of activities going on around the Selfiebration hashtag. Last week, BlogHer’s Executive Editor Julie Ross Godar asked, “Where were YOU ten years ago?” If that’s not a great blog post prompt, I don’t know what is. Ten years ago, it was 2004. (See? I can do math.) My life was completely different in so many ways from what it is at this moment. Let’s start by talking about me and the internet ten years ago. I used it only for email and…well, I think that’s about it. I had…
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Giving St. Louis Another Chance
I used to have extended family in the St. Louis area and when I was a kid we made the drive to visit them every now and then, but one trip to The Lou has stood out in my mind for almost forty years. That one particular trip was supposed to be fun: my family went to St. Louis for a weekend getaway with another family, great friends, and what we kids looked forward to the most was our day at Six Flags St. Louis, known back then as “Six Flags Over Mid-America”. And I’m sure it WAS fun, mostly. All except for the moment when… when… I can still…
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Kiss, Cher, and Rock and Roll
Buckle up for this one. It’s going to be a crazy, zig-zaggy ride. When I heard the news a couple of weeks ago that Kiss was finally going to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, I was thrilled, but surprised that they weren’t already in there. Sidenote: You might be surprised to learn that I’m a big fan of Kiss. Surprise! I like their music a lot, I think Gene Simmons is one of the smartest business-minds out there, and shhhh! Guilty pleasure alert: I loved watching the adventures of the Tweed-Simmons family on A&E’s “Gene Simmons’ Family Jewels” (“Scripted Reality” or not, that was good…
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Go West, Young Man! (Part 2)
Last weekend D left his Wisconsin home to head out west with three friends on a trip he’s been talking about for nearly a year. To sum it up, they are driving all the way across the country to visit (and camp and hike in) a couple of different national parks. This is totally different from the last time he left for the western United States; that time it was a controlled summer of working for the Boy Scouts. This time? Pretty much flying by the seat of his pants. In the wild west. It took a while for Jim and me to warm up to the idea of this…
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Sometimes It’s Best To Let Other People Make The Decisions, No Matter The Outcome.
I’m easily stressed. This is not news to most of you. It’s mostly because I’m a worrier. And a perfectionist. And…well, need I go on? When I find myself in the middle of a stress spiral as I am this week—for many reasons, all of which have been resolved/finished/taken care of—the part of my brain that normally makes decisions easily just…shuts down. “What do you want for dinner, Melisa?” “I don’t know. I can’t even think about that right now.” “Okay, do you want salad, or how about grilled chicken? Or burgers?” “I don’t know. I don’t care. You pick.” Like THAT. I am also a life-long nail biter, which…
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Musings From The Road
Hello from Momo‘s house in Columbus, Ohio! I was on the road for six hours yesterday: it was heavenly. I am borrowing a Buick Regal (review to come next week) which is equipped with XM Radio, and my five favorite stations—80’s on 8, 90’s on 9, Pop2K, KIIS-Los Angeles, and Z100/NY—kept me singing at the top of my lungs for the duration and made the trip fly by. Unfortunately for the blogger in me, I do some of my best thinking in the car (and in the shower, but that’s another post) when I can’t write anything down. That’s why I made a stop at the halfway point, so I…
- Confessions, Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?, Family Fun, I'm Apparently Old., My Kid Has Mad Skillz, Queen of Denial
Six Of One, Half Dozen Of The Other
I have always been very proud of the way I can remember things. From dates to pop culture factoids to details about all kinds of things, remembering is one of my greatest skills. Well, it was. As I’ve grown older (and frankly, more dependent on Google Calendar), my memory bank is shutting down a little more often than it used to. I like to justify it by saying that since I’m older I have more information that has to be held in there and so it’s only natural that some of the little things would fall through the cracks, but I don’t necessarily believe that. It’s just my way of…
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Just sNOw.
It’s been a rough week for me. I have a lot on my mind: my brain is overworked. Also, tired. You might laugh and wonder what’s different from any other week, but in fact my brain has two types of operation: 1. “Obsessive, never-slowing-down, juggle juggle juggle” or…NORMAL. 2. “HIGHLY obsessive, no-idea-what-slow-even-means, can’t-shut-off, juggle juggle juggle juggle”, or…NORMAL ON STEROIDS, otherwise known as Overdrive. “Normal”, or MY normal is totally manageable for me; it’s actually how I thrive, how I get things done. Overdrive comes with emotional side effects and occasionally, a little bit of anxiety. That one’s a little more difficult. To add insult to injury, it just WON’T…
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I Found THE Dress.
I am a little giddy right now because yesterday I found the dress that—I am 99% sure—I will be wearing on Sunday, May 4 to Chicago’s third annual LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER show*. That’s more than three months ahead, folks. Shouldn’t I get some kind of award for that?? Let me acknowledge, for those who are new here, that I have a storied history when it comes to finding outfits for specific occasions. Now let me acknowledge something else: that’s a giant understatement. I have a couple of things working against me, right out of the gate: 1. I don’t much like shopping, which means that if I’m on a…
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Don’t Try This At Home!
So let’s say that sometimes you wear those nasal strips at night, the ones that help you breathe easier and keep you from snoring. And let’s say that one night you go through the same face-cleansing routine you perform every night, paying special attention to your nose because the nasal strips stick so much better when you have properly cleansed your nose. And then let’s say that you apply the nasal strip, pressing it down tightly to create the seal it needs in order to stay put all night. And then let’s say that shortly after you apply the nasal strip you rip it off in anger (the reason for…