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    Confessions,  Favorite Things,  Pretty Pictures

    100 Things I Love

    Here are 100 things I love, in no particular order: 1. My family 2. My friends 3. The British Royals 4. Writing 5. The smell of lilac 6. Traveling 7. Playing cards with friends 8. Food trucks 9. The beach 10. Road trips 11. Laughing 12. Crème brûlée 13. Baking 14. People magazine 15. Steak 16. The Chicago Cubs 17. Taking pictures 18. David Sedaris 19. Dancing 20. Yacht Rock 21. The smell of coconut 22. My house 23. Hot cocoa with whipped cream on top 24. Reminiscing 25. Foo Fighters 26. Dogs 27. Boxing 28. Making people smile 29. Lou Malnati’s deep dish pizza 30. My cherry red KitchenAid…

  • Random Thoughts

    Taylor Swift, Get Out of My Brain!

    I’ll get to Taylor Swift in a minute. One of my favorite tasks in my job at BlogHer is growing and maintaining the Instagram account. I’ve worked really hard over the past couple of years to find good content that inspires people to become engaged. I always get pretty good results when I share an interesting quote, and so I try to post one almost every weekday. That’s where Miss Swift comes in. Today I searched for quotes about “preparation” because everyone I know is in full-on holiday prep. I found this one by Taylor Swift: The funny thing is, I had to read that quote to myself multiple times…

  • Childhood Memories,  Confessions,  Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?

    Fun Facts About Me

    Today’s post was inspired by my friend Leigh Ann, who did a “Fun Facts About Me” post on her own blog a couple of days ago. (Thanks, Leigh Ann!) Before LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER CHICAGO, the last time I had any substantial stage time was in elementary school. I was in a couple of productions; my favorite was when I played Earth. Even when I was a kid, I could never do a proper, straight-legged cartwheel. This has always bugged me. When I was a teenager I had three main career aspirations: journalist, travel agent, and housewife/mom. I later earned a Bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education. The movies I have…

  • My Friends Have Mad Skillz,  Random Thoughts

    Sunday Smatterings

    I just made that title up. Well, I make up all of my titles, but typically I will think about it for hours and often will have a title in mind before I even sit down to type out the post. Anyway, this one just shot out of my brain and through my fingers, into my computer and onto the screen. And I hate it. But it stays. *** My feet are in Chicagoland again, at least temporarily, and I’m ready to dive into my regular work/workout/taking care of things around the house schedule. This weekend has been great for easing in: yesterday Jim and I did our workouts in…

  • Random Thoughts

    Random Recipe

    I decided to mix some random scraps together, bake at 350 for twenty minutes and see if it results in a blog post. I bet it will. 1. I wrote about the new Dailey Method Interval class yesterday, but you can now find all of my Dailey Method posts with one click because I added TDM to my navigation bar at the very top of this page. You’re welcome. 2. I totally forgot to mention in this space that Chicago’s 2013 LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER show now has a cast (woot!), and tickets are ON SALE NOW. We sold out in about a week last year and so we moved…

  • Random Thoughts

    So Random.

    I’m feeling scattered today so I thought I’d spill what’s in my head here, for your enjoyment (hopefully). 1. I still have not developed our waterproof cameras from the cruise in January. This bothers me and I need to rectify that situation as soon as possible because hey, I may have taken some AWESOME pictures while snorkeling! 2. The weather is beautiful here in Chicagoland this week. It’s really interfering with my work, for two reasons: because I get easily distracted looking out the window and because Roxie stares at me constantly, willing me to take her out on a nice, long walk. She will stare at me for hours…

  • Random Thoughts

    Random Thoughts On A Saturday

    ~ Just when I think I can’t possibly juggle more balls in the air, I find that I can. I have so much work in so many areas to finish by Tuesday, it’s ridiculous. It’s all good, though: all good things. ~ The Lenny concert is Tuesday evening. I can’t imagine a better way to relax and have some fun with my family after meeting my deadlines. (I WILL meet my deadlines, right?) (Never mind, I know I will.) ~ I finally have myself on a steady workout schedule: five days per week and six classes (Zumba, spin, and weight training/abs). ~ My new, steady workout schedule puts a little…

  • Random Thoughts

    A Bunch of Randomness For Your Enjoyment

    Well, technically it’s for your enjoyment AND my being able to fulfill my commitment to NaBloPoMoFo in a hurry today, since I have very little time. Ready? Here we go. 1. I am driving a Chevy Suburban for the next week (and will be reviewing it, of course). It is HUGE. I have to admit, I feel like a tough girl when I’m behind the wheel. Weird, I know. 2. I get to meet my buddy John Cave Osborne for coffee tomorrow. He hates when I call him a mentor (even though he is), but I’m pretty sure he doesn’t mind when I call him a friend (because he is).…