One thing I’m known for is my habit of making lists. I don’t just make to-do lists, mind you; I make lists for everything. What to pack, what I want to read, what I need to remember to tell someone I’m talking to later on any given day. Heck, I even made grocery listing a fine art a while back when I created my own list (in Excel) of commonly purchased items in the order of the grocery store aisles, with the produce, refrigerated, and freezer sections near the end so that my food would still be cold by the time I got home. When I’ve got a project going…
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Hallmark Card Shower Them With Love!
When I turned thirty, my husband and my sister threw an epic surprise party for me. It was epic for many reasons, including: 1. It took place in my own home. (I still can’t believe they planned a huge party IN MY HOUSE and I–a control freak–had no idea) 2. My first crush and my first kiss flew in from Tennessee to surprise me (yikes, they did!) 3. The posters that my sister made and hung all over my house were amazing (I still have them!) 4. It was a great night, being surrounded by almost all of my loved ones. I also got one of my best gifts ever…
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Vienna Beef = Hot Dog Heaven
I really don’t even know where to start. I was invited to the Vienna Beef Headquarters and Factory Store to be in the small (miniscule, actually: there were about eight of us!) blogger audience for a broadcasting of Chicagonista Live, with my Social RevUp partner MJ Tam, BBRadio hostess Beth Rosen, and the other two CL ladies, Nancy Loo (Big Tiny) and Duong Sheehan. The experience was set up to be really fun: we would meet some of the folks from Vienna Beef while enjoying some Chicago hot dogs (THE Chicago hot dogs, actually: Vienna Beef hot dogs were first introduced at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition, otherwise known as…
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House Party With The Glade® Home Style Studio!
It was a busy weekend! You already know that I absolutely adore spending time in the city. You also already know that I am usually pretty outgoing, so talking to people isn’t a problem. Working with the folks on the Glade® Expressions™ Happiair Tour this weekend meant combining two of my favorite things: the city and talking. (Seriously!) I was part of the Street Team (not the official name but it really makes me sound cool so I’m going with it), tweeting and Facebooking while passersby (and their noses) checked out the products that make up the new Glade® Expressions™ Collection. (The Collection features a Fragrance Mist and Oil Diffuser,…
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Glade® Expressions™ Collection: It’s All About Being #Happiair!
I have a sensitive nose. This is a blessing and a curse. While I can smell a field of beautiful, purple lavender from a mile away, I can also tell when our kitchen trash needs to be taken out immediately because something in it is thisclose to spoiling and making an icky, bad smell waft through my house like a fast-moving thunderstorm. Trash cans aside, I love when my–or any–space smells nice. I am the person your realtor warned you about, the one who will look more kindly upon your newly-listed house if you bake cookies just before my walk-through. The smell of a new car makes me smile. I…
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Melisa And The Girl And The Goat
Warning: LONG POST AHEAD. (Sorry. It’s worth it: I promise!) One of my favorite things about being a blogger is that I have been afforded experiences that I wouldn’t have otherwise been able to enjoy. My non-blogger friends are often flabbergasted at my stories of, say, driving a car for a week just for the purpose of reviewing it or getting a preview copy of a television show before the general public gets to watch it. Some of these unique experiences involve meeting people who I wouldn’t normally run across on the streets of Chicago (or the western burbs for that matter). Monday night was one of those nights, and…
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Update: Operation Precious CARgo!
It seems like only yesterday that I signed on to be a team captain for Chevrolet’s Operation Precious CARgo, in which twelve teams would collect donations of baby registry items for expectant military moms, but it’s over already. We had the culminating event last night, and it was really fun. All twelve captains and all twelve military moms were invited to Chevrolet of Naperville for the party, and even though not everybody could make it (one of the moms had her baby on Wednesday!), we had a great crowd. When we first arrived, we all had to unload our donations and bring them into the dealership. It was pretty exciting…
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McDonald’s “Happy Meal Chefs” Contest + #GNO Twitter Party
It was last August at the BlogHer conference in San Diego when I first heard about how McDonald’s was updating the contents of the popular Happy Meal: instead of an order of small fries, they were substituting a smaller, kids’ sized fry along with apple slices. Although my kids are years beyond Happy Meals, I completely appreciated the efforts of McDonald’s to listen to their customers’ requests for healthier options. The “new” Happy Meals are being rolled out nationally now, and to celebrate this new development the company is having a great contest that I totally wish my family could enter. (We’re all too old!) The Happy Meal Chefs Contest…
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Sometimes The Actual Surprise Is A Surprise
Eleven years ago, Jim came home from work with the news that he was headed to Orlando, Florida for a conference. We decided that it would be fun if the boys and I tagged along and took advantage of the fact that his company was providing a stipend for Jim’s accommodations and flight: the trip as a whole would be less expensive for us personally. The plan was that I would take the boys to the Disney parks during the day and Jim would join us there in the late afternoons when his sessions were complete. We decided to surprise the boys and not tell them about the trip until…
- Blessings, Childhood Memories, Family Fun, Favorite Things, Food, I've Got Mad Skillz, My Kid Has Mad Skillz, My Mom Has Mad Skillz, Review
Birthday Traditions: Make A Cake And Eat It, Too.
A couple of weeks ago we celebrated J’s 17th birthday. SEVENTEEN. As in, “My younger–and last born–son is seventeen.” It would be really hard for me to believe if there weren’t a trail of rainbow-colored crumbs all over our family photo albums*. You see, around here birthdays mean one thing: beautifully decorated rainbow cakes (the insides are tinted in various colors). It’s a tradition my mom started, and what I love about it is the thought that goes into it, resulting in the birthday honoree feeling extra special. I remember how creative my mom was with birthday cakes when we were kids. Over the years, she made me a Holly…