I just picked (via random drawing) the winner of my first Fast Pass giveaway. She isn’t one of my blog readers so I won’t post her name here, but you can look at the event page to see it. For everyone else, no worries: I’ve got three more giveaways over the next few weeks and the prize pack might increase in size, so stay tuned!
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Chicken In The Car And the Car Won’t Go: The Live Action Version & Giveaway!
Today is a very, very exciting day: one of my BFFs, Momofali, is coming to town with her daughter, let’s call her Daughterofmomo, for a girls’ weekend. I haven’t seen Momo since we were in New York City together for BlogHer last August, and I can barely contain myself regarding the fact that not only is she staying with me through Sunday, but I get to see her AGAIN in just a couple weeks, in San Diego (roomies!). In preparation for their visit, I asked Momo to have her daughter go through my book and jot down various attractions that she really wanted to see. What they came up with,…
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What Teenagers Will Do When Left Alone For The Weekend…
I’m back. You didn’t even really know I was gone, did you? That “rare opportunity to disconnect” that I wrote about on Sunday evening? That was me being away from home for five days, alone with my husband (that means no kids). Jim and I flew to New Mexico and stayed just south of Santa Fe for a much-needed break, and in fact when I wrote that post, I was still “sitting in my southwestern office” at our Bed and Breakfast: It is going to take me a couple of days to assemble a proper post (or two) with pictures (I took about 550, but don’t worry: I won’t share…
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103
I have a very important appointment here this morning, on the 103rd floor. More details later.
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A Penny Saved Is A Penny Earned
In addition to the traditional dinner out for D’s birthday this week, the birthday plans included something really special: the Opening of the Pig. My sister purchased a beautiful, white ceramic piggy bank either for my baby shower or when D turned one (I’m guessing it was for my baby shower because that’s what Julesie thinks and she usually remembers things better than I do). Ever since D knew what to do with a piggy bank, he’s been squirreling away money but never opening the pig to make a withdrawal. This was a separate savings plan from actually using his savings account at the bank, another method he actively uses.…
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Hey, Nineteen
THIS BABY? The one who HATED how grass felt on his feet that first spring? The one who used to chew on my dirty shoe laces whenever he could? IS NINETEEN TODAY. Despite a babyhood that left Jim and me wondering if we’d survive parenting him (the aversion to grass, the shoe lace-chewing, oh, and the fact that he cried for most of his first year if he wasn’t in the same personal space with me), THIS KID has grown into such a wonderful human being, way beyond our expectations (which, admittedly, were still pretty high even after that first year) and still pleasantly surprises us on a regular basis.…
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One Pet Peeve Down…
If you’ve ever known the joys of owning a beagle, you know that the breed comes with all kinds of eccentricities and baggage that show themselves just often enough to keep you in line and remind you who’s really in charge. When Roxie was a puppy, a friend of mine took care of her for a weekend while we were camping, and upon our return said to me, “She’s just cute enough that all of your friends will want to watch her…ONCE.” Roxie has electrocuted herself once. She has been skunked once. She has escaped from the back yard around five times (including the time she was discovered running down…
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Working For A Living
The events surrounding the release of my book weren’t the only big happenings around the Wells house last week. In fact, we had a couple more reasons to celebrate: both D and J found summer jobs! This development could’ve been some kind of miracle: I’ve read that this summer is supposed to be one of the worst summers ever for teenaged job-seekers. Thankfully, the rate of employment for teens in my house is booming. D got a full-time job at Jim’s company. The company has a program specifically for the student-aged offspring of employees. The program has been on hiatus for the past couple of years, so we hear (Jim…
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My Official Book Launch: An Epic Celebration of All Things Chicago
I don’t even know where to start when it comes to summarizing my book launch event that occurred in the city on Tuesday night. I would love to tell you about everything, but I don’t want this post to be a novel and so I have to skip the fine points on: ~ all of the ideas I tossed around in my head starting about two months ago as this event was conceptualized ~ the great conversations (and epiphanies) I had with the ladies of my “Event Advisory Board” (I made up that name but it’s perfect), made up of friends who have experience with the ins and outs of…
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Like A Horse And Carriage.
I had the most spectacular day. I had various appointments in the city (now, doesn’t that sound important?) and needed a sidekick, so I called upon my hilarious, awesome friend Margaret. I met Margaret all the way back in February of this year when I took her Chicago Pedway tour (her tour company is called Chicago Elevated, and it ROCKS.), and we became fast friends. Margaret and I made our way around the city, talking non-stop. The weather was PERFECT. We had a great time, we both learned a few things, and the day flew by. (Uh, for me, anyway.) Our lunch was one of my favorite parts of the…