My very favorite baseball team is the Chicago Cubs. Actually, my very favorite team in any sport is the Chicago Cubs. When you’re from Chicago, it’s kind of a rule that you have to pick a baseball team, because we have two. You HAVE to choose. The Cubs or The White Sox North Side or South Side Red, White, and Blue or Black, White, and Silver Wrigley Field or Comiskey Park (It’s not technically Comiskey anymore but go with it.) The thing is, I don’t actually remember picking the Cubs; I only know that I’ve loved them for as long as I can remember. One example of how fiercely I…
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#MemorialDaySuperSale at Gurnee Mills: Don’t Miss It!
Jim and I moved back to the Chicagoland area from Norfolk, Virginia in the summer of 1991, just a couple of months before an amazing new mall opened for business. Gurnee Mills was its name, and we were so excited about it. The two shopping centers closest to our house were sorely lacking in many areas and the possibilities this new thing had in store were thrilling to think about. Our home in Kenosha, Wisconsin was only about twenty minutes away from Gurnee so we made frequent visits to the mall. When D was a toddler, we went to Gurnee Mills on Halloween for trick-or-treating. There were always things going…
- Amazing People, Best Thing Ever, Blessings, Fun in Chicago, My Friends Have Mad Skillz, Proud Moments, Something That Could Change Your Life
Five.
Sunday was a great day. On Sunday Tracey and I, along with our incredible cast of ten other women and one Pete, brought the fifth annual LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER CHICAGO show to the stage. I don’t write as much about LTYM here on Suburban Scrawl as I used to. I’m not sure why that is, because it really has become a part of my practically-daily life all year round. Being involved with LTYM on a few different levels is still a life highlight, and it just keeps on getting better. Like Sunday. Our fifth show? Wow. Time flies when you’re having fun. Five years in and it’s still a…
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Like Food, Drinks, Fun, and Shopping? Go To Rosemont!
If you know me at all, you know that I don’t hesitate when offered a chance to travel somewhere and spend a night in a hotel room, even if it’s close to my house. That’s why, when the Village of Rosemont in conjunction with the Loews Chicago O’Hare Hotel, recently invited me to do just that, I responded within seconds of reading the email. Disclosure: I was provided with complimentary accommodations, food, and drink during our overnighter. I’m sharing my own experience here, and all opinions and photos are mine. Rosemont, which is only 2.5 square miles in size, is located about twenty-five minutes away from my house (and thirty…
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So Long, 2015!
Another year is gone (I think I have whiplash!) and Jim and I will be spending another New Year’s Eve like boring older people. In fact, last night as we were discussing our exciting plans (basically watching movies on Netflix), our older son, who is headed to Wisconsin to do a bar crawl with friends, was sitting there thinking, “That is such a LAME New Year’s Eve.” No, I’m not a mind reader but his eye roll and head shake told me all I needed to know to make a good guess regarding his thoughts. Good thing he won’t be around, I guess. I mean, Netflixing IS a really good…
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Spa Suites + Holiday Happy Hour = Escape From Crazy
Usually when I hear (or read) “spa services” in the same sentence or paragraph as “hotel”, my ears perk up. (Err, or my eyes…widen?) I used to work in the salon industry and I wrote business articles for trade magazines in that industry for years. That, combined with my being the daughter of a (now retired) hotel manager who was very interested in providing excellent experiences for his customers at every company he worked for over the years, means that I completely respect and admire what goes into providing high end service. Typically when there’s a spa at a hotel, I know it’s going to be top-notch. A while back…
- Amazing People, Best Thing Ever, Blessings, Favorite Things, Food, Friends, Fun in Chicago, My Friends Have Mad Skillz, Pretty Pictures, Something That Could Change Your Life
I Nearly Nailed @MomoFali In The Eye With A Gummy Bear Last Night.
Honestly. It was close. More on that in a bit. The 2015 BlogHer Food conference is in the books, and it was awesome. I loved that it was in my hometown for many reasons, not the least of which was that a bunch of my local friends (some food bloggers, some not) were in attendance. Working a conference on my birthday when work doesn’t seem like work AND I’m surrounded by so many people I love wasn’t too shabby of a gig, I have to say. My friend Aimee Giese of Greeblehaus, who I’ve known online since 2008-ish but with whom I’ve never spent more than a minute or two…
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Exercising My Free Birthday Pass
I was out/up late last night and so I’m using a “Get out of Jail Free” card (figuratively! FIGURATIVELY!) for NaBloPoMo today. Yesterday was great, working the conference and seeing more friends than I typically do on my birthday, and then Momo flew in after dinner (and boy, are her arms tired ba dum bum!) so all in all it was a very good day. Now we’re hitting the ground running for the second day of BlogHer Food 15 and, well, the end. Happy Saturday!
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#BlogHerFood15: I Can’t Wait!
I have been CRAZED this week. Last week too. The week before as well. Wait…maybe I’m always crazed? Okay…I am, but the crazy factor goes up and down. Recently it’s been off the charts because not only have I been working behind the scenes with my fellow national teammates to get ready to launch the 2016 season of LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER (41 cities in the U.S. AND CANADA!), but I’ve been working like crazy behind the scenes of the BlogHer Food conference, which happens to be in Chicago this weekend. The Events and Social Teams work so very hard on every BlogHer event, and while the intensity increases as…
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Go Float! (Part 2)
Disclosure: I am writing this post in exchange for flotation therapy at Anicca Float Club. As usual, all opinions are mine. It was just a few weeks ago that I went to Anicca Float Club for my first “float”, a sensory deprivation experience that takes place in a tank containing salt-filled water, ten inches deep. I loved it. Since then I’ve floated twice more, and I still love it. The post about my first experience includes a lot of the nuts and bolts about the experience. This time I wanted to write a little bit about how each float was different, or the same, and how I’ve progressed. My first…