I guess “icing on the cake” is probably not the best choice of words in the case of a fitness-focused post, but that’s how it feels and it’s my blog so we’re going with it. You all already know how I loudly exclaim on a regular basis (on Facebook, on the phone, on Twitter, in person, and even to total strangers) how much The Dailey Method has changed my life. I have written about TDM workouts so many times that I finally created a landing page for all of the posts (See the link at the very top of this page?) for any of you who might be curious. After…
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The Bad Parent, Good Teenager Strategy In Action
The scene: My dining room, earlier this week The players: Seventeen-year-old J, me, and my sister J: “So, Tim* and Megan* want me and (girlfriend) Shannon* to go to this dance club with them on Saturday night.” Me: “Really? A DANCE CLUB? Like, for under twenty-ones?” J: “Yep.” I glanced across the table and raised my eyebrows at my sister. Me: “What is the name of this dance club?” J: “The Zone.**” Me: “And where is this ‘The Zone Dance Club’ that I’ve never heard of after twenty years of living in this Chicago suburb?” J: (shrugging shoulders) “I don’t know. They have a 17+ night on Saturdays. It starts…
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We See The Finish Line!
Even though we had planned on renovating our master bathroom at some point this year, we ended up starting in July because the pipes behind our tub suddenly sprang a leak that dripped into the downstairs bathroom. Nothing like a kick in the pants administered by old plumbing. After getting the tub replaced by a professional, we put the rest of the room on hold for a while due to a busy summer, and then we got back into gear at the beginning of October. I have been to Home Depot more times in the last six weeks than I can count, and Jim and I don’t take free time…
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Five Years Down…
Today happens to be my 5th Blogoversary! Over the past five years I have written 1453 posts on Suburban Scrawl, which is a pretty darn good average: 291 per year. I didn’t feel any pressure to write any kind of overly spectacular post to celebrate this milestone for a couple of reasons: 1. It’s Sunday and I’m in the middle of a bathroom renovation so I can’t sit here working on my craft for hours. 2. No matter how little effort I put into writing this post, it is bound to end up better (by leaps and bounds) than my very first post here on Suburban Scrawl on October 28,…
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Happy 5th Anniversary, The Dailey Method Naperville!
If you’re been reading Suburban Scrawl over the past four months, you probably already know that I fell head-over-heels in love this summer with The Dailey Method workout. (My most recent update post is HERE.) I am not kidding you when I say that The Dailey Method (specifically the Naperville location) has changed my life. In four months. (Less, actually, because I felt the life change in the first thirty days!) Between the workouts that challenge me dailEy (
- Best Thing Ever, Childhood Memories, Music, My Sister Has Mad Skillz, Something That Could Change Your Life, Uncategorized
Totally Worth The 30-Year Wait.
Something incredible happened this weekend. I don’t even feel like I can put a proper post together, partly because I only got five hours of sleep and partly because I still can’t believe it. My sister and I saw Adam Ant live last night. If you don’t know me well, you might think, “Oh, cool…I guess.” It was beyond cool. Trust me. You may recall that Adam Ant was my Numero Uno back in the 80s. I wrote about my obsession here, in a post that even includes a picture of me dressed up as Adam Ant for Halloween 1983. I never saw him in a live concert, though. Back…
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Happy Retirement Birthday, Dad!
My Dad, as I’m sure you’re smart enough to figure out from my post title, is celebrating his birthday AND retirement today. This is a huge milestone for him, and he’s been counting the days until his retirement for months now. (Although he’s “retiring” from his job as a full-time hotel manager, he will still be working, exact job TBD. He has a couple of irons in the fire!) He has been in the hotel business for more than thirty-five years, but did lots of things before that, from serving in the U.S. Army (Vietnam) to delivering mail for the U.S. Post Office to making balloon animals (pretty sure that…
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Retirement Party Surprise!
Next month, my Dad turns seventy and retires from a long (37 years-ish?) and storied* career in the hospitality industry, hotel management to be more specific. He is looking forward to Retirement Day so much that he has been counting the days for months now. (His enjoyment of the countdown has been greatly aided because of what he’s had to deal with at work lately: pimps, hookers, and drug dealers. Yes, really.) We wanted to throw a party in honor of his retirement, and it just so happened that he and my Mom were coming to town last weekend for her 50th high school reunion. Perfect. My sister designed some…
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And Just Like That…
After a summer away, training young scouts on wilderness survival and chasing bears into the woods he returned home. We’re all pretty happy about it.
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What Teenagers Do Behind Closed Doors
If there’s one thing you parents of young children should know about what happens when they become teenagers, it’s that their bedroom door will often be closed. (Technically there’s more than one thing you should know but let’s just tackle this one for today.) It’s all a part of their asserting independence and wanting real privacy, even though “real privacy”–in my family, anyway–isn’t scheduled to happen for the offspring until they are living on their own. For teens, closing the door can make circumstances more forgivable to play music really loudly, easier to have a quiet phone call after it is technically allowed, conducive to an illicit afternoon nap when…