• Fun in Chicago,  Music,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz

    Rollin’ Down The Tollway

    Though my Monday was indeed better than my Saturday, it didn’t come without some intensely stressful moments. (I should just accept it: that’s how I roll.) I had, as you know, a few things going on. There was the issue with my car. There was the issue with getting a rental car. There was the issue of the Tina Turner concert, which is a wrong way to put it because on the worst of days, a Tina Turner concert is not an issue. If you need to read the background on how it came about that I was going to see Tina, you can read that here. I drove Jim’s…

  • Blessings,  Fun in Chicago,  Music,  Spreading the Bloggie Love

    My Monday Will Definitely Be Better Than My Saturday, So It’s All Good.

    Thanks so much to all of you who commented over the weekend. I appreciate your support! I am hoping that the dealership will take my 2 1/2 year old car and suddenly find the exact thing wrong with it; otherwise I’m doomed to have it all repeat like “Groundhog Day”, and frankly I don’t think I have any tears left. I will be calling the dealership after I finish this post, to secure my rental car which I will pick up this afternoon. On the bright side, I have a Tina Turner concert to attend tonight with Julesie, providing her airplane from Key West arrives on time. As usual, she’s…

  • Amazing People,  Blessings,  Music,  Proud Moments

    My Baby’s No Baby

    It’s amazing how, as a parent, sometimes you (okay, ME) tend to not expect your youngest child to be able to do certain things at certain ages and stages. I think in my case, it’s not as much that I feel like the thirteen-year-old will “always be the baby” or anything like that; rather, I really think that it’s just my brain. Sometimes I get frustrated because he isn’t doing something or acting in a certain way…and then I remember that–DUH–maybe it’s just beyond his level and I should cut him a break. He’s growing up, though. Sometimes I get an amazing glimpse at Maturation in Action; I got one…

  • Fun in Chicago,  Music,  My Sister Has Mad Skillz

    By George, She Got It!

    So you remember this. As planned, I picked my sister up a little after 5 and we headed towards the McD’s to get dinner for the car. Suddenly, she gave me some amazing news: we would not be sitting up in Section 303 as the tickets I purchased said we would…we would be enjoying FREE SEATS in Section 122, Row FOUR!!!! I am not at liberty to give any details about the sequence of events that led to this moment; I can only “ooh” and “aah” over my sister’s ingenuity, and allow you to do the same. (She didn’t steal the tickets, don’t worry: there was no foul play or…

  • Fun in Chicago,  I'm Apparently Old.,  Music

    We’re On Our Way, George!

    Get tickets–check. Surprise sister—check. Wait.–check. Wait some more.–check. Change typical pre-concert strategy by NOT listening to all of his greatest hits, so the concert will be “more enjoyable and not go by so quickly”–check. Read a great post by my sister on concert day–check. Color hair to get rid of the gray–check. Convince myself that I colored my hair really to get rid of those pesky grays that show themselves again every couple of months and NOT to try to feel like I’m again a teen at this concert–check. Finish blogging and get on the road–check! More tomorrow!

  • Music

    I Think I’m Ready For Another Journey…

    In what will no doubt be my last pop culture post for at least a few days because I am starting to aggravate even myself, I wanted to call your attention to something that blew me away this week. One of my favorite ’80s bands is Journey. “Faithfully” is my and Jim’s “song” (corny geeks, I know, but we like it) and my all-time favorite, but I love their other stuff, too. Now, I don’t go around walking the dog with “Any Way You Want It” blasting through my iPod headphones, nor do I fold laundry while listening to “Open Arms”, but I get the warm fuzzies whenever I do…

  • Music

    Just Let It All Out, Would Ya?

    Remember this Tears for Fears hit from 1985? It came on the radio today as the fifteen-year-old was Driving Miss Melisa home (still working on those learner’s permit hours!), and when he heard it, he let out some kind of primitive grunt noise: “UH!” “What?” I said. “This song. What a sucky remake!” I shook my head as I explained to him that the one he and his father immensely enjoy is, in fact, the sucky remake*: *Okay, I’ll admit that I do like the version by Disturbed also, but I just wasn’t going to let him have that one.

  • Music

    Sometimes I Think What I Need Is a You Intervention

    Yes Madonna, I’m talking to you. I realize that I’m taking the risk of people thinking I’m turning this blog into a Madonna Fan Site between today’s post and the other one I did, the one in which I apparently insulted Billy Joel (click here for the post and then read the comments), but I am not. I just have to say that I downloaded (after pre-ordering it, thank you very much) your new–what do we call them now: CD? Playlist? Bundle of Songs? Download?–uh, your new “release”, “Hard Candy”, rocks. I have not read the reviews by the so-called professionals, but I was told by my crazy class last…

  • Music,  Random Thoughts,  Working On My Fitness

    My Music Is Harder Better Faster Stronger

    I work really, really hard on the music that I use in my group cycling classes. There are some music companies out there that put out CDs which are premixed and ready-to-use, but I have never liked those for cycling. In order for me to really, really enjoy teaching these classes and working out on the bike, I have to use music that is 100% motivating to me. (oh yeah, and hopefully to my class) Because of that, I spend hours on every playlist, and sometimes quite a bit of money on new stuff. There used to be a DJ store right near my house where I used to shop…