• Confessions,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Music,  Proud Moments

    Proud Moments In Parenting

    I was always adamant when the boys were little that I wasn’t going to be one of those moms who always put the kids’ music on in the car. I mean, we had a couple of cassettes (YES, I SAID CASSETTES: my boys were little in the 90’s.) that were in the genre of Children’s Music–and by “a couple”, I literally mean “two”–but for the most part the soundtrack for our time in the car was made up of Top 40 radio and tunes from the 1980’s and early 1990’s. I figured that the boys would grow to like whatever music we listened to, and I was right. Of course,…

  • Family Fun,  Music,  Travels

    Record Store Day 2012!

    Your Black Friday traditions might include trying to find retail bargains, sleeping off your food coma, or putting up your Christmas tree. As usual, my family goes in a totally different direction. Our tradition, which is in its second year, is twofold: some of us (Jim and the boys) leave bright and early to hike in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park, and some of us (my sister and me, joined by Mom this year) head out to celebrate Record Store Day! Record Store Day celebrates vinyl and the idea of actually holding your music in your hands rather than using a digital file: believe it or not there ARE…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Childhood Memories,  Music,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  Uncategorized

    Totally Worth The 30-Year Wait.

    Something incredible happened this weekend. I don’t even feel like I can put a proper post together, partly because I only got five hours of sleep and partly because I still can’t believe it. My sister and I saw Adam Ant live last night. If you don’t know me well, you might think, “Oh, cool…I guess.” It was beyond cool. Trust me. You may recall that Adam Ant was my Numero Uno back in the 80s. I wrote about my obsession here, in a post that even includes a picture of me dressed up as Adam Ant for Halloween 1983. I never saw him in a live concert, though. Back…

  • Music,  Random Thoughts,  Something That Could Change Your Life,  Working On My Fitness

    Retired.

    I have been alluding to some changes as of late, and one of them happens today. This evening I will be teaching my last spin class, ever. I have been thinking about retiring for months now (after teaching for more than nine years!) for many reasons. Just a few of them are: 1. The reason I started teaching in the first place was because I loved taking group fitness classes and thought A) I’d be good at teaching and B) Why not get paid to do something I really enjoy, but once I started teaching I mostly stopped TAKING classes and as I got further from that part of it,…

  • Music,  My Kid Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments,  Reflections on Parenting

    DJ J, Revisited

    It’s interesting how life works. While contemplating how my life has taken some pretty cool twists and turns over the past couple of years, I have discovered that often we end up doing things we never set out to do, ever. These new activities, pastimes, or even career changes come in the form of a natural progression, sometimes when you least expect it and often before you realize it. As it turns out, I’m not the only one in our house experiencing this sort of thing. I have written before about how J, my 17-year-old guitar-loving son who has always had a wide range of musical interests thanks to his…