Like most others, my family has a bunch of different interests. Take television, for example. I love sitcoms and a little bit of reality tv (don’t judge). Jim loves anything on the History channel. D loves to watch shows like “Storage Wars” with a little bit of “Mythbusters” on the side. J overlaps all of us, but his go-to show as of late is “Friends”. My sister likes all kinds of tv, from British shows to reality to documentaries to sitcoms. That’s just one example…don’t even get me started on music, sports teams, food, or any other category (times of day, even!) because all five of us run the gamut.…
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Princess and Knight Training at Medieval Times: A Giveaway, Too!
With all of the things my family has ever done in the Chicago area, believe it or not we’ve never been to Medieval Times. Correction: We HAD never been to Medieval Times until just weeks ago. The Medieval Times Dinner and Tournament has always been on our to-do list, and why not? Horses! Battles! Colorful characters! Jousting! Eating food without utensils! My family was invited to check out the show as well as the Princess Training (we just watched, of course, having not brought a young girl with us, though I tweeted at the time that I probably could have taught the course…) and so we headed to the castle.…
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Back-To-School Fashion: This Time, It’s All About Attitude And Seniority.
I hope you enjoy this month’s contribution to Hallmark’s “Life Is A Special Occasion” campaign! (I bet you’ll love it. It’s got funny pictures, even!) Today is a very special day. It’s not just the first day of school in our district. It’s the first day of J’s SENIOR YEAR. Let THAT absorb for a moment. I know from experience that this year is going to fly by for all of us, what with all of the special activities crammed into a final year of high school education combined with the college search, his girlfriend, his job, his car, and all of the other things he’s got going on. (Related:…
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Lake Erie Shores And Islands: A Fun And Easy Trip For Chicago Families! (part 2)
Welcome to Post #2 about our family trip to the Sandusky, Ohio area! I have tons of pictures to share with you from our second day of the trip (and third morning before we got back on the road to Chicago in the Chevrolet Tahoe Hybrid that General Motors let us use: thanks again, GM!). But first, if you missed Day One you should probably catch up before reading this post. Click here to experience Day One. I’ll wait. We spent Friday and Saturday nights at the Maui Sands Hotel, which has just recently reopened. (The pool is open, but the waterpark doesn’t open until 2013!) We thought the rooms…
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Lake Erie Shores And Islands: A Fun And Easy Trip For Chicago Families! (part 1)
We just got back from vacation on Sunday! Well, it was technically a working vacation for me, but the best kind: I was invited to bring my family to the Sandusky, Ohio area to enjoy a whole bunch of stuff that Lake Erie Shores and Islands has to offer, for the explicit purpose of sharing it with you. (Yes, YOU.) Before I get started, let me summarize in case you’re the type that likes to read the last chapter of a mystery novel first so you can see whodunnit: WE LOVED IT. ALL OF IT. That said, I encourage you to read more. (And MORE: this is post number one…
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Top Five: The Chevy Tahoe Edition
My family returned Sunday night from a great weekend in the Sandusky, Ohio area on Lake Erie. I’ll be writing about that over the next couple of days but one thing I totally have my thoughts together on NOW is our sweet ride. The lovely folks at Chevrolet were kind enough to loan us a 2012 Tahoe Hybrid so that our trip would be more comfortable, and boy was it! I reviewed the 2011 Chevy Tahoe Hybrid last May when we drove one down south to pick up books from my publisher and you can read that post by clicking here. As I recall, there were no major changes to…
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Cody Simpson + Hallmark = True Love (& other stories)
A couple of months ago, I received an invitation to a Hallmark event that was actually taking place only about seven miles from my house. As a blogger who is contracted with Hallmark for 2012 and writing monthly posts for their awesome “Life Is A Special Occasion” campaign, this event was not “mandatory” by any stretch of the imagination, but it’s not every day that my buddies at Hallmark have an event in my neck of the woods and I also thought it would be fun to cover it. Apparently this young man named Cody Simpson was going to perform at the event, which was to promote the new Hallmark…
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Let’s Talk About It…But Only One At A Time, Please!
I hope you enjoy this month’s contribution to Hallmark’s “Life Is A Special Occasion” campaign! (I’m sure you will. Trust me.) “Keep the lines of communication open” is one of my favorite pieces of advice to dole out when people ask me how to survive once their kids become teenagers. I have always tried to do that with my own kids and, although making the time to talk with your kids (and listen too, because you know, TWO WAY and all that kind of stuff) isn’t an iron-clad guarantee that everything’s gonna be alright, it’s definitely one of the best ways to set a strong foundation that can help fix…
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Cell Phone Tips For A Safe Summer (Or Any Other Season)
I often discuss with my friends the pros and cons of the technology that’s available today as it relates to youngsters. Even though technology seems to make things much easier for us, it also opens the world up for our kids, probably a little more than many of us parents would like it to be opened. Take cell phones, for example. Let’s say that you have a kid who likes to push the limits or, okay, one who likes to break rules. (There, I said it.) She could use the cell phone to fib about her whereabouts. She could use a cell phone to access things she isn’t supposed to,…
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Shakespeare And Stars
Even though I absolutely adore movies, there is something about seeing a live performance that is so wonderful and memorable, I’d pick “live” almost any day of the week. And when you combine a live performance with an unexpected element, I’m there. I was recently invited to experience a First Folio Theatre performance of Shakespeare’s “The Merchant of Venice” at the beautiful Mayslake Peabody Estate in Oak Brook and I couldn’t say no because the performance would be outside, under the stars. I’m not a huge Shakespeare fan: I admit it. In high school I always read the Cliffs Notes rather than the assigned works of The Bard, because I…