Winter is here, folks, and it’s probably not news to you that my family lives in the Chicago area. That means pulling the heaters out of the crawlspace, putting extra blankets on the bed, and habitual wearing of fleece hoodies and sweatshirts. For Roxie, winter usually just means less outside walks with a good chance of a snowshoe outing now and then. (Oh, and an extra blanket on her bed, too.) I have never purchased a coat, sweater, or winter boots for her. I have always thought that dogs look ridiculous in clothing and since I don’t take Roxie out in dangerous temperatures, I figured there was really no need.…
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Reestablishing Chicago As The House Music Capital of the World
I had a conversation on Facebook yesterday that made me positively giddy. I was in a back-and-forth with my friend who you might remember: Jane the Phoole from the Bristol Renaissance (Ren-AY-sance) Faire. One of the things I adore about “Jane” is that she may spend her summer days dressed up in 16th century chic, but she spends her nights listening to House music, which is SO NOT 16th century. The juxtaposition of Jane’s (whose real name is Ann) Facebook statuses cracks me up on a regular basis, because how funny is it to see that one day during Ren Faire season she’s posting something like this: “Join Jane the…
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Confirmation That I Should Totally Become A Famous Actress
I sent the link to my post about how I died at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater on Saturday to Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair (Joe is the co-star and both are responsible for the book, lyrics, and music for “Murder For Two: A Killer Musical”), and I just got this reply: Hi there Melisa, Thank you so much for the kind words… and for being a willing participant in the action! Congrats on a great performance. 🙂 be well, Joe (& Kellen) I need an agent. Want to make this a long-term commitment? I might become a famous actress and win an Oscar someday. Please subscribe to my feed by…
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One of These Things Is Not Like The Other…
D was home from college last weekend, to observe Yom Kippur with the family. On Friday night, Jim and I had just gone to bed and were watching the news when we heard a commotion in the bathroom. The boys were arguing about a toothbrush. It was unusual to hear them arguing, actually: since D started college last year, they seem to get along so much better now that they each have some space. Muting the television so we could hear what was being said, we ascertained that J has been using D’s “at-home toothbrush”, thinking it was his. Once the “That’s my toothbrush!” “No, it’s MINE!” part of the…
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How I Got My Hands On Some Schweddy Balls: A True Story
Ever since the news came out that Ben & Jerry’s was producing Schweddy Balls (inspired by this, one of the best SNL skits ever), I knew I had to find it locally. But where to find Schweddy Balls in the Chicago area? I was stumped for a while, because our grocery stores (and drug stores, and convenience stores…yes, I’ve been checking!) haven’t started stocking it yet. Finally, duh: I decided to do a web search to see if we have any Ben & Jerry’s locations in my area. I already knew that there is a location downtown at Navy Pier, but was hoping I’d find one in the western suburbs.…
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It’s What’s For Breakfast.
We get up pretty early in this house, due to having a high schooler in the family. Usually the alarms go off around 5:30 a.m., and everyone shuffles around showering, brushing teeth, and doing all of those other things required to get out of the house. J leaves by 6:30 every day. Having a sixteen-year-old means, in this house anyway, that we don’t have to dress him or make his lunch or supervise his every move to make sure he gets out the door on time: he’s very good at doing that himself. It’s for that reason that on occasion, Jim and I will “sleep in” until 6:00. Today was…
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Zeus and the Hanger
Time flies. It flies so quickly that I just realized I never wrote about the acquisition of J’s first car, six weeks ago. SIX WEEKS AGO. That’s like, four years in blog time. I won’t go into all of the details of the search except to say that J was delightfully open to “almost any car that runs”. This attitude was in massive contrast to his brother’s: when D was looking for his first car, he had things narrowed down to what was nearly impossible to find. Oh, he found it alright, but the annoyance level of everything having to do with that car hunt was high. This house was…
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It Would’ve Been A Great Reason To Be Late, And By “Great” I Mean Terrible.
Yesterday Jim declared he was taking a sick day, so he could try and get a doctor’s appointment and some medication for his raging cough. D took Jim’s car to work, and so I needed Jim to drive me to the salon. I remembered at the last minute that my gas tank was almost empty, so we absolutely had to stop, even though it was going to make me late for my shift. Jim noticed, while pumping the gas, that my tires were low enough that neglecting to fill them with air would be a safety hazard. Bad news when you want to get to work, but the alternative wasn’t…
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On The Fringe
One of the most memorable pieces of my weekend in San Diego was the morning on which I took the ferry to Coronado Island along with Michelle, Sue, and Liz. We got up, made a stop at the Starbucks (conveniently located in the hotel) for those who needed cawfee (right, Liz?) and then headed to the marina. The ferry ride, which was all of six minutes, was beautiful. Skimming over the water from the hotel to Coronado was a little bit dreamy, the color of the water unbelievable. When we arrived on the other side, we walked up the pier towards the sidewalk…and that’s when we saw it. A surrey.…
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#BlogHer11: Third Time’s A Charm!
BlogHer ’11 was my third, and there was something magical about it for me (shut up). Okay, the first two times I attended BlogHer were pretty darn good too, but I had the most fun this year, perhaps partly because I didn’t overdo like I did last year. I don’t even know where to start with my recap so I just decided to spew randomness sprinkled with pictures. That’s organized enough, isn’t it? Favorite moments: (so many, and in no particular order!) 1. Lots of quality time with my favorite “really, really, really wish we were neighbors” Jersey girl, Liz. I luv huh. 2. Giggling with my roommates, especially each…