I went on sabbatical yesterday afternoon. It was extremely out of character for me, but I have been out of character for a while now. I’ve been working even more than usual, sleeping less than usual, and feeling more drained than usual. Last week it all seemed to hit me at once and I walked around on the verge of stress- and exhaustion-induced tears for days. I had the strong desire to take a road trip somewhere, anywhere. Just…away. That’s why, when I ran into a friend of mine while running errands and she noticed that I was so tightly-wound and subsequently offered up her lake house as a possible…
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Better Than Sea Glass
When I visited Liz in New Jersey last November, I was tremendously excited to find a bunch of sea glass (and a couple of other treasures) on a little side trip to Seaside Heights. I thought Liz was just pulling my leg when she told me that in her entire life of living there, she had not found as much sea glass on the beach as I had on that one day. “Ha ha, Liz. Very funny.” I was all ready to go back to Seaside during my visit a couple of weeks ago and just, you know, grab another handful of it. As you do. Um. Best laid plans?…
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BlogHer Food: I Want To Go Back To There.
It hardly seems possible that BlogHer Food 2014 in Miami was nearly two weeks ago. Time flies when you’re having fun! Truth be told, I wish I could step into a time machine and go back to do it all over again. Don’t get me wrong: it was HARD WORK. I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again: the amount of work involved in putting on these conferences doesn’t seem possible when you consider the size of the team that’s doing it all. (I also submit that everyone who attends a major event like this should have to produce one, just once, so they can see what goes into…
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Tap Tap Tap…Is This Thing Still On?
Oh, hi! Nice to see you again. Did I mention how busy May would be for me? BUSIEST EVER. It’s a blogger’s dream, really, to have all kinds of super fun things going on because blog fodder is like gold around these here parts. It’s a blogger’s nightmare to have no time to write about it while it’s happening. OR IS IT? I guess “living life” really does need to take precedence over social media sometimes. I’ve learned a lot about that in the past couple of weeks and I can’t wait to tell you about it. My return to “normalcy” (or my own version of it), at least for…
- Amazing People, Best Thing Ever, Favorite Things, Fun in Chicago, I've Got Mad Skillz, My Friends Have Mad Skillz, Pretty Pictures
Listen To Your Mother Chicago 2014: Wow, That Was Quick!
It’s been a full week (eight days, actually!) since the show, and I can’t even believe THAT, let alone the fact that the 2014 season, our THIRD season in Chicago, flew by faster than a…what is one of those cute southern sayings? These last two weeks, in fact, have flown by faster than a…never mind. I can’t think of anything. QUICKLY. They went by QUICKLY. In the last two weeks Tracey and I drove to Milwaukee to see that show, we put on our own show, we drove to Valparaiso to see the NWIndiana show, and yesterday I drove up to Madison, where it all began five years ago, to…
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Giving St. Louis Another Chance
I used to have extended family in the St. Louis area and when I was a kid we made the drive to visit them every now and then, but one trip to The Lou has stood out in my mind for almost forty years. That one particular trip was supposed to be fun: my family went to St. Louis for a weekend getaway with another family, great friends, and what we kids looked forward to the most was our day at Six Flags St. Louis, known back then as “Six Flags Over Mid-America”. And I’m sure it WAS fun, mostly. All except for the moment when… when… I can still…
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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…
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Nearly Wordless Wednesday
Still trying for the perfect picture. Helps when you get off the moving sidewalk to spend a few minutes grabbing shots. I’ll get it someday.
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Monkey See, Monkey Draw
Every now and then, magic happens on Twitter. It’s more rare these days because just about everyone (myself included) is tweeting out lots of links and not always engaging as much as they (I) used to, but still, magic can happen. I have found that the best Twitter interactions for me are the ones that either stem from or lead to something that happens IRL (in real life). With that in mind, some examples of my favorite Twitter moments, in no particular order, are as follows: 1. The roadtrip known as Momo’s Meat Wagon played out in 2009 over Twitter with so many of our friends chiming in and having…
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Concrete Jungle
New York City’s Central Park is amazing. I have been there several times and there’s always something new to see. I was looking forward to walking around there on Wednesday afternoon, and as Liz and I moseyed through the winding paths I took tons of pictures. All of the scenery is impressive, really. I mean, check out this gorgeous view of The Mall, the main walkway that runs down the center of the Park on its southern end. The beauty that nature provides was only half of it. I am, for some reason, drawn to concrete ornamentation. Central Park is full of it and I created quite a collection of…