I’m a pretty busy person, to put it mildly. If you’re a regular reader, you know this already. If you’re new (welcome!), just know that I don’t have idle time very often because I am always running in five or six different directions simultaneously, while juggling. It’s not often that I can just hang out, just for fun. Although events (planning and attending) are a big part of my life these days and I immensely enjoy seeing friends old and new at huge, noisy gatherings, the experience of a non-stop-laughing hang-out session with a friend or two has become almost totally foreign to me. Yesterday I was reminded how much…
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A Cheesy Visit To The Mars Cheese Castle In Kenosha, Wisconsin
Since this is a week in which so many are traveling, I thought it would be fun to tell you about a very famous tourist attraction that is just over the Illinois/Wisconsin border, off the stretch of Interstate 94 between Chicagoland and Milwaukee. It’s the Mars Cheese Castle. The “Mars Cheese Castle” has been there for more than forty-five years. The owners recently built an actual “castle” just west of the land on which the original building stood. Regardless (and even though it’s not *right* on the border but actually about eight-ish miles north of it), when you see that sign you know for sure you’re in Wisconsin. The mouse,…
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Hey Mr. DJ…
Look what J recently purchased for himself! He has been practicing, and displays some mad skills! It’s enough to make an electronica/techno/house/trance/dubstep-lovin’ mom cry proud and happy tears. Video to come soon! Want to make this a long-term commitment? Please subscribe to my feed by clicking here.
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Holiday Gifts
I have written many times about my distaste for so many aspects of various holidays, from the decorating to the stress to the retail store overload, to, well, all kinds of things. In fact, the last post I wrote on the topic was less than two weeks ago. That said, when both of my sons, my sister, and my husband all chipped in tonight to help wrap holiday gifts for the friends and family members we’ll be seeing later this week for Thanksgiving, my ice-cold holiday heart melted just a little bit. I’m not sure if it was when we were giving the boys a hard time about leaving about…
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I Died At The Chicago Shakespeare Theater. Seriously.
I had a fantastic birthday weekend. Jim whisked me away to the city for a show and an overnight stay. When we came home, my sister presented me with the best birthday cake EVER, which you need to check out before you go any further because ohmygodyoujusthavetoseeit. Click here, and then come back. I’ll wait. I bet you’re wondering about the title of this post. Believe it or not, it’s totally true! How many people can say they made their stage debut dying at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater, especially if they have never had any desire whatsoever to be on stage at all? (Good question, right? I’ll Google it later.)…
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Crafty.
I’m crafty. Not in a bad way, mind you: what I mean is that I am skilled at arts and crafts. All kinds. I’ve given you hints about it over the past few years: the wooden CD cabinet, the notecards, the paper sashes and flowers…but there’s more. WAY MORE. I have spent time doing the following things at some point: Cross-stitching Plastic Canvas needleworking Beaded jewelry Clay jewelry Stained Glass Clay sculpture Ceramics Stamping Mosaics Flower arranging Sewing Wood crafts Scrapbooking Quilling …but there’s more. When I was a kid, my mom frequented Leewards Craft Store. My mom is viciously talented when it comes to crafts. Her big craft now…
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One of These Things Is Not Like The Other…
D was home from college last weekend, to observe Yom Kippur with the family. On Friday night, Jim and I had just gone to bed and were watching the news when we heard a commotion in the bathroom. The boys were arguing about a toothbrush. It was unusual to hear them arguing, actually: since D started college last year, they seem to get along so much better now that they each have some space. Muting the television so we could hear what was being said, we ascertained that J has been using D’s “at-home toothbrush”, thinking it was his. Once the “That’s my toothbrush!” “No, it’s MINE!” part of the…
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Inspired To Action.
A funny thing happens sometimes, when you’re busy with life, going through your daily schedule and getting things done (or not): your mojo can start to slip away. It can slip when you’re tired, and it can slip when you aren’t organized. Mojo can fade away when you’re not paying attention. The silver lining in all of this is the fact that, it’s easy to get a jumpstart for your mojo, and I had not one but TWO jumpstarts today. First, after insanely aggravating traffic that, due to nothing in particular except for some rain, caused me to be in the car for a full two and a half hours…
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I’m With The Brand! No, Really. I Am! #CleverRockStar
If there’s a smurf that’s good at smurfing a smurf, it’s definitely Clever Smurfs Collective. The smurf smurfed a smurf a couple of smurfs ago in San Diego, and smurf was smurfed by all! Okay, let me try that in English, since you might be a little rusty in Smurf. Clever Girls Collective (are YOU a Clever Girl? No? You should be! Click here to check out the site and apply!), which is made up of an awesome group of ladies who I really admire for both their business sense AND their spunky nature, threw one heck of a party at BlogHer ’11 in San Diego. The party, which took…
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ComedySportz Chicago Brings The Funny!
Every single person in my family loves comedy. Whether it’s stand-up or improv, on television or in person, we just love it. That’s why, when the fine folks at ComedySportz offered us complimentary tickets (with no obligation to write about it, I might add), it was like Hanukkah around here. We caught the show last week, and it was a total riot. Upon entering the building (ComedySportz is located at 929 W. Belmont), we were directed upstairs to the bar and waiting area, where we looked at a wall display detailing the history of ComedySportz Chicago and hung out for a bit before the house opened. When it was time…