It’s the time of year when I start to plan what I’m going to do for holiday cards. I’m one of the dinosaurs that still sends them, you see. I used to make them myself: papercrafting, when I had time to do it, was a blast. I loved expressing my creativity on my holiday card project every year, and if the card didn’t have a picture element attached to it, I included one in the envelope so our friends and relatives who don’t see us very often can check out how much the boys have grown during the year. For the last few years, I’ve ordered cards online, and that’s…
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Beeeeeeep!
Thanks for calling. Melisa is not here at the moment; she’s busy dealing with the remnants of a day that started out wonderfully with a Dailey Method workout and a LISTEN TO YOUR MOTHER webinar and slowly disintegrated into a seemingly endless grocery shopping trip during which she spent a king’s ransom to restock her pantry and refrigerator with food for the coming week plus Thanksgiving. Her eventual release from the checkout, after feeling judged by her fellow shoppers for how much she had in her cart, resulted in a longer-than-usual drive home due to construction and then an eventful transfer of groceries from the car to the kitchen, during…
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I’m Cutting Back On This Particular Tradition.
Passover begins tomorrow evening, and for us that means our traditional seder with friends. I just did the math and figured out that we’ve been sharing the first evening of Passover at this particular house for sixteen years with various combinations of families from our temple Havurah, which was formed for the purpose of spending many of the Jewish holidays together. (Our group of six families was formed when D was in preschool!) There have only been a few Passovers–the earliest ones–on which every family was present at the seder (25 people!), and over the past few years as the kids have grown up and some have taken Spring Break…
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A Post-Conference Conversation
The #BBSummit12 conference is over and short of some WiFi problems on the hotel’s end, I think it went really well. I will probably do some sort of mini-recap of my favorite moments at the conference, but for now here is a recap of what happened when I went upstairs to the hotel room I was sharing with Liz in between #BBSummit12 and the after party*. *I let myself into the room. Liz has already freshened up.* Liz: “Hi! You’re done! Yay!” *hugs me* Me: “I know! Yay!” Liz: “it went well!” Me: “You think?” Liz: “Yes! Of course!” *I start to get teary-eyed* Me: “I’m very emotional right now!”…
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Very Funny.
I am struggling. Okay, that sounds/reads a little on the melodramatic side. (I can’t help it. My mom didn’t call me Sarah Bernhardt for nothing.) There are big problems in the world…and this post is not about one of those. It’s about a big problem in MY world, and something that has been, as of late, causing quite a bit of consternation–and no, I did not misspell (or mean) constipation. Ready? *deep breath* I don’t know how to be funny. Yes, that’s it. (I warned you.) Here’s the thing: people tell me all the time how hilarious I am (apparently). But I’m not. Honestly. I usually think my ability to…
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Green Thumb
I take joy from many things. Here are just a few of them: ~Family time ~Travel ~Writing ~Baking ~Eating ~Zumba Gardening, you’ll notice, is not on that partial list. It’s not even on the full list. That’s because I despise it. My total disdain for the activity was likely brought on by a combination of my couch potato tendencies as a kid (when all of my little friends were outside, I was inside practicing my Ubbi Dubbi skills) and the fact that my sister and I spent many weekends pulling weeds out of the landscaping around our house and especially under that godforsaken magnolia tree, whose lower branches were left…
- Confessions, Do I Really Want My Readers To Know This?, Queen of Denial, Something That Could Change Your Life
The Haircut (Alternate Title: “I Guess It Just Wasn’t Meant To Be.”)
My hair has never been long, thick, and glorious. It’s been long. That’s it. One out of three? Not so great. I have always wanted to have bouncin’ and behavin’ hair that has just the right amount of curl and looks just as full at the end of the day as it does in the morning. I have always wanted to put my hair up in a messy-on-purpose-but-still-looks-cute ponytail, or a casual bun with pretty tendrils gracefully hanging down on each side of my face. I have always wanted to have hair that allowed barrettes and other accessories to cling to it rather than sliding off almost immediately as if…
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Exhaustion
In what was perhaps perfect timing, I finally hit the wall this weekend. I have slept more in the past two days (9-10 hours at night PLUS LENGTHY NAPS) than I normally do in about five days put together. I credit a couple of things for this: 1. Doing nothing makes me sleepy. For a person who lives life at top speed, slowing down to no activity means one thing: Zzzzz… 2. Fighting off illness. I am the “lucky recipient” of a nasty sinus infection a couple of times each year. I’ve had a sinus headache off and on for about four days now. It’s tiring, dealing with that pressure…
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It’s Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas
I stand with so many other people around this time of year who are annoyed with the stores, malls, and restaurants that begin their Christmas decorating (and sales) way too early. In fact, this year I saw so much red and green before Halloween I had to look at a calendar to check the date more than once. I don’t enjoy the barrage of Christmas music, in elevators, on the radio, in stores, everywhere. It’s partly because I’m Jewish, I suppose. That’s not to say that I don’t enjoy a good Christmas tune–Mariah Carey’s recent take on “All I Want For Christmas Is You” is my modern favorite–it’s just that…
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NaBloPoMo 2011: Oops, I Did It Again.
Look over there, to the right, below those adorable social media stars that D created for me, and below the Pinterest badge. See that? That badge that says “NaBloPoMo is Glorious Madness”? Gah. And yikes. NaBloPoMo (National Blog Posting Month) is an ongoing monthly “event” during which those who participate commit to post for the entire month, each and every day. Participants sign up at the beginning of each month. November is the largest of the monthly celebrations of NaBloPoMo. Thousands of bloggers sign up in their commitment to post each and every day in November, and there are even prizes offered. I did NaBloPoMo in 2007, 2008, and 2009.…