• Friends,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Spreading the Bloggie Love,  Too Funny To Ignore,  We Are An Awesome Couple,  Working On My Fitness

    Saturday Night Special: Embracing The Pain

    Momo Fali is one of my bloggie besties. She is always a pleasure to talk to, whether it’s on the phone, on Facebook, on Twitter, or of course, in person. (And whether we’re speaking English OR French.) I adore her. My Momo and me The other night, we were on Twitter, having a discussion about her first day of boot camp and her reentry into a health and fitness plan. The conversation was just too good to leave there in the black hole of Twitter archives, so I preserved it in possibly one of the funniest things I’ve ever created. (Thanks for the comedy gold, Momo! And I made you…

  • Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?,  Friends,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Happy New Year From My House To Yours!

    Tonight is a very special night in this house. Yeah, yeah, I know it’s New Year’s Eve and that in itself is special, but we are really looking forward to it this year because we are getting together with our oldest friends (Dawn from Dishin’ with Dawndi and her husband and son), a tradition we’ve had for years with the exception of last year, because they had a family birthday party to attend. If you miss one year of a great tradition, and then pick it up again the following year, it’s sure to be magical in some shape or form. What will we do? Well, the main event involves…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Confessions,  I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jew Stuff,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    When Good Stalking Leads To A Great Marriage

    Once a month, our temple’s Friday night services include Birthday and Anniversary blessings. It’s a really great tradition, and there’s something about having the rabbi and cantor give a blessing for the upcoming year (being witnessed by the congregation, of course!) that makes me feel all warm and fuzzy. Jim and I do our best to, as he says, “Go get our blessing” every year, and we did just that two weeks ago. At this part of the service, the rabbi calls all couples who are celebrating a wedding anniversary up to the bimah. As you can imagine, December is not one of the more popular months for weddings, and…

  • Favorite Things,  Fun in Chicago,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Schnitzel and Face Masks and Hookers, Oh My! (Alternate Title: “How I Spent My Christmas Eve”)

    Friday (also known as Christmas Eve) was a lovely day. It was the first time in ages that Jim and I had day-long plans, alone together. To top it off, we were going to one of my favorite places–downtown Chicago–and experiencing a few of my favorite things. We took the train from the station near our house; the hour-long ride was lovely. Seeing the holiday decorations at each station along the way was very cool, even though some of the life-sized snowman decorations made by school children at the Berwyn stop were mega-creepy (sorry kids!). Once we arrived at Union Station we headed upstairs and grabbed a taxi that would…

  • I've Got Mad Skillz,  Jim Has Mad Skillz,  My Dad Has Mad Skillz,  My Kids Have Mad Skillz,  My Mom Has Mad Skillz,  Reflections on Parenting,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Parenting Secrets From Behind the Tiara

    I wrote this post a couple of years ago, for a friend who needed a guest post on her blog. She has since shut down her site, so I thought I’d post it here! My husband Jim and I are successful parents. Really. If we were in Oprah’s magazine, our mad parenting skillz would be featured on her “What I Know For Sure” page. Of course we are not the only successful parents in the world, but we’re the only ones that matter…to our kids. I am happy to report that our boys are fine, upstanding young men–and it’s not only because we think so: that’s the general consensus from…

  • Friends,  Travels,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Phil Keoghan Would Totally Dig Us.

    “The Amazing Race” is one of my favorite shows. My entire family loves to stop everything on Sunday evenings to watch. For those of you who aren’t familiar with the show, it’s a reality game show in which teams race around the world, completing tasks along the way, in hopes that they’ll be the first team to the finish line. On most legs of the race, the last team to arrive at the finish line (where host Phil Keoghan waits for them) gets eliminated. On the very last leg, the first team to arrive at the finish wins a million dollars. Two years ago, we even had a theme dinner…

  • Fun in Chicago,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Not As Dangerous As Tina Fey & Steve Carrell’s Version, But Our Date Night Was Pretty Exciting, Too.

    Our date night last night turned out to be way more interesting (and even exciting!) than we expected. First of all, we left our house in the western burbs at about 7:30 p.m. The Blue Man Group show (which the older boy and his girlfriend were attending: read yesterday’s post if you missed it!) was at 10:00 p.m., and we wanted to leave plenty of time in case the Eisenhower was as terrible as it usually is. We were shooting to get to the Lakeview area between 9-9:30. Miracle of miracles, it only took us about 45 minutes to get there, which left us with a new issue: what to…

  • Jim Has Mad Skillz,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    Wherever, Together.

    I am always dazzled by the writings of Stephanie Nielsen, better known as Nie Nie of “NieNie Dialogues”. If you don’t currently read her blog, you should, if you’re into being moved and inspired. Not only is her personal story as a whole (plane crash survival: and currently thriving) very, very inspiring, but her posts–which usually say so much in very few words–are gorgeous. Some of my favorite posts are the ones that ooze her love for her husband, Mr. Nielsen. Anyhoo, I liked and related to a recent post so much that I shared it in my reader*, and have thought about it often. It started out with a…

  • Amazing People,  Best Thing Ever,  Blessings,  Friends,  I'm Apparently Old.,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz,  Proud Moments,  We Are An Awesome Couple

    The Best Thing Is? It Goes Both Ways.

    You have my heartAnd we’ll never be worlds apartMaybe in magazinesBut you’ll still be my star Baby cause in the darkYou can’t see shiny carsAnd that’s when you need me thereWith you I’ll always shareBecause When the sun shines, we’ll shine togetherTold you I’ll be here foreverSaid I’ll always be a friendTook an oath, I’m a stick it out till the end Now that it’s raining more than everKnow that we’ll still have each otherYou can stand under my umbrellaYou can stand under my umbrella (Ella ella, eh eh eh)Under my umbrella(Ella ella, eh eh eh)Under my umbrella(Ella ella, eh eh eh)Under my umbrella(Ella ella, eh eh eh, eh eh…