• Cards from friends
    Blessings,  Writing

    It Just Seems Write.

    Let me take a second to congratulate myself on a clever title for a post about writing notes to friends. See what I did there? Go, Melisa! When all of the self-isolating (or social distancing, physical distancing, quarantining, or whatever we’re calling it these days) started a couple of months ago, the vast majority of us resorted to doing whatever made us feel better. That is to say, in a time when we’ve had (and continue to have) to do something that is for the most part extremely uncomfortable—staying home most or all of the time—it seems only natural that we would choose to spend our time doing the things…

  • Family Fun,  Favorite Things,  Friends,  Travels

    California Dreaming

    I just returned from a long weekend, a glorious weekend, in southern California. The reason for my visit was my cousin’s wedding on Saturday, but I flew out there (alone) early Thursday morning so I could see a couple of friends and spend some time “doing my own thing”. I had an amazing time. I mean, truly amazing. I felt so purely happy for the duration of the trip: I loved it. So many good things. (I have since decided that I need to figure out a way to travel regularly. Really.) Though the four days were chock full of goodness, here are some of my favorite things about the…

  • Music,  Random Thoughts

    Grown-Up Groupie

    When I was in high school, I was crazy—CRAZY—about the band Berlin. Though their biggest hit was “Take My Breath Away” from the “Top Gun” soundtrack, that came later on and the song really doesn’t represent the kind of band they were. I loved their earliest stuff, which was heavy with synthesizers, starting with the albums “Information” and “Pleasure Victim”. I listened to that music all the time, and naturally knew every song by heart. My friends and I watched MTV for hours a day, and whenever the video for “The Metro” came on, I was glued. Soon “No More Words” got heavy rotation on the radio, and in turn…