Summer means many things to many people. For the folks in southeastern Wisconsin, summer means that it’s time to celebrate the arrival of Queen Elizabeth at the Bristol Renaissance Faire! The Faire will be open (Saturdays, Sundays, and Labor Day) starting next weekend, July 9-10. During opening weekend ONLY, kids twelve and under get in for FREE! Also, starting today, parents (all adults, really!) can get discounted tickets by going to their website (click here!). Who better to tell you about the Faire than one of its own, right? Check out this video that I made a few weeks ago (Disclosure: The Bristol Renaissance Faire was kind enough to sponsor…
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Tahoe, Tahoe, To Pick Up Books We Go!
Apologies for the corny title. I couldn’t help myself. A few weeks ago, Chevy (the major sponsor of my book launch, by the way) blessed me with the use of a Tahoe Hybrid for seven glorious days. My family was headed down south for a quick weekend (and I do mean quick: more on that in a minute!) for two reasons: my niece was graduating from high school and I was meeting my publisher in person for the very first time, as her office is only about twenty minutes from my sister-in-law’s house. When I was asked what kind of large General Motors vehicle I wanted to drive for our…
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Shedd Aquarium Opens “Jellies” Exhibit (Or, “Jellies Are Our Friends”)
For the past month or so, I’ve been seeing gorgeous (yes, gorgeous) and mesmerizing commercials for the newest exhibit at the Shedd Aquarium, “Jellies”. Check it out for yourself. I dare you to not be fascinated. When my family was personally invited to check out the exhibit, I was thrilled! Disclosure #1: I was not asked to write about this exhibit: I chose to. Also, all words and opinions are mine, as usual. My family was given a free pass to check out the exhibit and the rest of the aquarium, along with coffee and JELLY doughnuts, a detail which was not lost on my sixteen-year-old son. If your marketing…
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Chevy Cruze: Great Things Come In Small Packages
Recently I was generously offered a chance to drive* a 2011 Chevy Cruze LTZ around for an entire week. A week! It was a glorious offer, and timed well too: on the Friday before, my younger son got his driver’s license. By having access to an additional vehicle, our lives would be made very easy for the week, because he would be able to drive our family car to daily lacrosse practice while I could actually drive around and have some fun in the Cruze! (Thanks, Connie Burke! Whee!) The Cruze is a really attractive car. I’d say that it’s cute (because it’s a compact car, and it’s adorable), but…
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World’s Largest Shamrock Shake? Yes, Please!
To say that I’m a fan of the McDonald’s Shamrock Shake is a gross understatement. See? Here I am with one of the approximately 500 Shamrock Shakes I consumed last year. To me, Shamrock Shake season is even better than Girl Scout Cookie season. Ask my Facebook friends: they can vouch for my obsession. It’s because of my Shamrock Shake madness that I was extremely interested in the fact that McDonald’s was, in celebration of Chicago’s grand St. Patrick’s Day tradition, floating the World’s Largest Shamrock Shake down the Chicago River. Until I found out that I wouldn’t get to drink it. (Kidding. Can you IMAGINE??) From the press release…
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McDonalds’ Fruit and Maple Oatmeal
I’ve written here about McDonald’s many times. I really, really love this company and, yes, I love the food. Admittedly, I can’t eat at McDonald’s as often as I would want to sometimes, because my will power has a really hard time making the healthier choices they offer. For example, my favorite breakfast from McDonald’s is an Egg and Cheese Biscuit and a hash brown. Yummy, right? The fact is, though, if I enjoy this breakfast while I’m watching my calorie and fat intake, I really, really have to eat a barebones-style diet for the rest of the day, because that contains around 500 calories, with about half of that…
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The Chicago Wolves Provide Fun For All Ages!
Watching hockey is, for me, a lot like watching lacrosse, which is what my sons play. It’s a fast-paced, thrilling game of skill and strategy. I have a strong “first memory” of hockey: I was glued to my television during the 1980 Lake Placid Olympics, when the U.S. Men’s hockey team defeated the Soviet team and then went on to win the gold in the final game against Finland. (In fact, our family watches that often, in the form of the 2004 Kurt Russell movie, “Miracle”. I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it!) Believe it or not, I have never, ever actually attended a hockey game, live and…
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HomeGoods Should Be Called HomeGreats. That’s All.
I don’t shop much, outside of purchasing food for the family because, well, ya gotta eat. The idea of going to the mall and browsing around like I did when I was a teenager and in my early twenties is something that really never sounds fun to me anymore, and I think twice (or three times) about most things that I buy when I do have to make a trip to any non-food store. My husband (who doesn’t pay much attention to price tags unless we’re shopping for something large like appliances or automobiles) gets extremely frustrated with my frugality, though I choose to look at it as being “financially…
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Flowers, Cookies, Candy, Popcorn, Wine…Sounds Like The Perfect Afternoon To Me!
I don’t entertain much. Wait, let me clarify that. I like to think I am quite entertaining, but what I mean is, I don’t host dinner parties and such. Mainly it’s because of our family’s schedule: we’re just so dang busy all the time. When we do have friends over on those rare occasions, I try to do little things to make it memorable, like plan the food around a certain theme, make special music playlists, and other such things. New ideas are always good, though, and last week I got some great ones when I attended a lovely holiday event hosted by the 1800FLOWERS family of companies: 1800FLOWERS1800BASKETSCheryl’sThe Popcorn…
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Hot Off The Presses! Wigilia!
When my boys, now eighteen and nearly sixteen (ouch, it always hurts to type that), were little, we always had talks around this time of year about how people celebrate different holidays from each other, and sometimes the same holidays as each other but in different ways. They loved checking books out of the library at school that they could bring home and read, learning about all kinds of celebrations. They grew up having a very firm grasp of Judaism but with a great attitude about embracing all of their friends and the way they experienced different aspects of life (including religion), too. In my weekend post promoting books written…