• Music

    Come With Me And Escape

    Do you ever hear a song that was released years and years ago on the radio, and even though you’ve been singing along with it all that time you—at some point—started truly paying attention to the lyrics and, among other things, marvel at how times have changed? No? Just me? Okay. Anyway. Since I happen to have spent time on some pretty fabulous beaches last weekend and my brain continues to be obsessed with paradise as I get readjusted to real life (and Chicago winter weather UGH), I thought it would be a great time to give you an idea of what goes through my head every single time I…

  • Random Thoughts

    I Do My Best Thinking In The Shower…

    …which is why a post full of random thoughts I’ve had while waiting to board a plane in San Diego is bound to disappoint. Sorry. We had a great trip overall, with the exception of our luggage being MIA from the time we arrived in San Diego until 11:30 that night (1:30 a.m Chicago time, oy!) and after we dropped a couple hundred bucks on replacement toiletries and clothing, just in case. We returned that stuff when our luggage was delivered to us, except the toothbrushes, toothpaste, and Jim’s new jeans from the Gap because wowzers! A woman sitting across from me is hacking up a lung. She probably shouldn’t…

  • Best Thing Ever,  Pretty Pictures,  Travels

    If Only Life Was Really A Beach. Or Something Like That.

    I’m in San Diego for the weekend. (Yay!) Jim and I decided not to wait until January to take a quick trip out of town like we have for the past two years, and when we were discussing our December Destination, the only requirements were that it would be warmer than Chicago AND that we could use airline miles to get there. I thought of Southern California immediately because it’s truly one of my favorite places in the whole world. He really doesn’t like Los Angeles very much, so I suggested San Diego and he was all for it. It’s not lost on me, by the way, that I have…

  • Roxie,  UGH.

    About That Time My Dog’s Life Was In Danger

    Oh, it’s all good now, thank goodness, but things were a little bit dicey earlier this week. Let me explain. On Sunday, Jim and I drove the boys back to Wisconsin and to their respective colleges. While we were gone, my mom called the house and left a voicemail. Apparently she and my dad had left a bag at our house before leaving town. The bag, she said, contained the games they brought along with a “cap”. I heard the message when we returned home and didn’t think much about it other than, “We’ll get that bag to them on our next visit,” like she requested. We were exhausted from…

  • Review

    The Day I Was An OnStar Advisor

    Okay, if I must be honest I was actually SITTING NEXT TO an OnStar Advisor. (Two of them, actually.) That said, I did have a moment in the sun as I provided a “major” assist during a call. I’ll get to that momentarily. Disclosure: Last month I was a guest of OnStar when I visited their headquarters in Detroit. They provided my transportation, accommodations, and food while I learned all about the company. I was not required to write anything about it but chose to do so because the experience–and the company–was completely awesome. I visited the OnStar Call Center that’s located outside of Detroit in Warren, Michigan along with…

  • Friends,  My Friends Have Mad Skillz

    Grand Theft Auto

    See this guy? That’s my friend Fred, otherwise known all over the internet as Mocha Dad. (Totally famous, you guys.) Mocha Dad and I go way back. Well, in internet years, anyway. Even though he lives in Texas, I’ve been lucky enough to spend time with him on multiple occasions: at a couple of conferences, over breakfast when he was in Chicago for business a while back, and most recently, last month in Detroit at an immersion event with OnStar and a bunch of other awesome bloggers. While in Detroit, Mocha Dad and I did the following things: 1. Spent more time than the average driver/passenger combo in one of…

  • Friends,  Review

    OnStar Immersion!

    I have used lots of words on this here blog talking (err, writing) about how much I love OnStar and all of the technology that goes with it. It’s always a treat when I get to borrow a car from General Motors and have a week or so to press that little blue OnStar button for directions and other assistance. That’s why I was thrilled to be invited, with a group of other bloggers, to experience an OnStar Immersion Experience in Detroit last month. (Disclosure: OnStar provided my transportation, food, and accommodations for the weekend trip without requiring anything from me: I’m writing this post because I want to, and,…

  • My Kids Have Mad Skillz

    Always, Ham.

    Naturally because I put it out into the universe that I was going to carry my camera around and take a bunch of pictures this weekend so I could pick one for our holiday cards, I didn’t. (I was busy cooking and forgot!!) Luckily, because I’m always thinking, it occurred to me this morning that today might be the only opportunity we have left to return to the marina in Kenosha with both boys—because we were driving them both back up to their respective schools on the same day, in the same car—and have them re-enact one of my favorite pictures that has been framed and on a shelf in…