Until nine or ten years ago–right around the time I started blogging, in fact–I had 20/20 vision. Right around the time I turned 40 I started noticing just the slightest change in my vision when I was reading. Jim and I made appointments to see the eye doctor–who is also an old family friend, which is why we always go together–and I was presented with the idea that the lowest level of readers would be prudent. “But make sure you stay with 1.00,” he said. “The longer we can keep you out of glasses, the better.” Each year after that, Jim and I would go in for our eye exams…
-
-
#StreamTeam Gets Down With The Get Down
I am a member of the Netflix #StreamTeam and will be happily sharing monthly tips and stories about how my family uses Netflix on a regular basis. (Okay, that’s an understatement. I should say CONSTANTLY. We use Netflix CONSTANTLY.) This post is sponsored by Netflix, of course! Okay, let’s talk. If you have not or are not watching Netflix’s “The Get Down”, you need to remedy that now. As in, right now. I know it’s weird for me to start off a post like that before even telling you about this phenomenal series, but perhaps because I did that you’ll get a sense of my love for it. Now that…
-
That Voodoo That You Do (or, Big Bucket of Donuts)
I’m currently in Austin, Texas for work (we’re here to do a site visit for #BlogHerFood16, which happens in October and have you registered yet because Earlybird pricing ends 3/31!). It’s a whirlwind trip and sadly, I had to tell several friends and two relatives that I just couldn’t make any plans to meet up this time (argghhhhh). Liz and Brandi (my social media team partner, or PARDNER as they say in Texas…don’t they?) and I arrived at the Austin airport within minutes of each other, which was a pretty cool thing considering we were coming from New Jersey, California, and Illinois. We took a cab to the hotel, checked…
-
Drury Lane’s “Billy Elliot”: Effing Amazing!
Hey you, Chicagoland. Pay close attention to what you’re about to read: GO SEE THE DRURY LANE PRODUCTION OF “BILLY ELLIOT: THE MUSICAL”! Yes, I yelled. And yes, I said “effing” in the title up there. I would have used the actual F word in honor of its major role in the musical, but this is a family-friendly blog. Let me back up for a minute. The fine folks at Drury Lane in Oakbrook asked me to come and check out the show, on their dime, and I jumped at the chance. I loved the movie, and just a few months ago my sister and I went to see (and…
-
Better Three And A Half Years Late Than Never…
I’ve spent hours and hours (and hours) over the past few days organizing, deleting, and consolidating all of the files on my old laptop in preparation for transferring everything over to my new laptop. Adequately describing the enormity of that job is another blog post all by itself, so I’ll save it. In going through my folders and folders (and folders) of pictures, I was able to see, all in one place, how many trips I’ve taken over the past few years. (Counting my blessings for the ability to travel, by the way. SO LUCKY.) I revisit some of those trips via my pictures regularly (the 2010 Germany trip, cruises,…
-
Create Your Taste At McDonald’s!
If you’ve been reading Suburban Scrawl for a while, you may recall that I have a special place in my heart for the McDonald’s brand. My first job was at McDonald’s and for two years I worked at the brand new location just steps away from my high school, with many of my friends. We had a BLAST. One of the benefits of working there was the food, obviously. Break time was easy because the food was RIGHT THERE. I have always loved the traditional menu but back then we would create our own custom creations, too, to mix things up. We would make sloppy joes with chopped up burger…
-
A Tale of Two Movies.
We are HUGE movie fans in this family. Often, if we have a free weekend day or two, you can find us at one of the two movie theaters that are conveniently located within about six minutes of our house. Checking out a movie is an easy afternoon getaway, and one of our theaters even serves lunch and dinner in addition to popcorn and candy, so it’s a great way to spend date night. I’m not sure if it’s because we’re just easy to please, because we let ourselves be carried away/entertained by what’s on the big screen rather than analyze every little thing in hopes of discovering plot holes…
- Best Thing Ever, Childhood Memories, My Friends Have Mad Skillz, Something That Could Change Your Life
It’s A Very Brady Birthday
It’s my birthday today, and over the past couple of days I’ve put some thought into what I might want to write about this year…and came up completely empty. This is my eighth birthday blog post, and I feel like I’ve covered all of the angles already. I mean, how much can a person really write about her own birthday? Then a friend, Erica, who I will now call “the Amazingly Wonderful and Hugely Tremendous Erica” whenever her name crosses my lips to infinity and beyond, did something really nice last night and unknowingly gave me the perfect gift. Make that two gifts; she gave me a gift AND the…
-
A Little Like Stopping To Smell The Flowers
I’ve written a few times about how I don’t look too hard for souvenirs when I travel, because the photographs I bring home on my camera card or in my phone are the best takeaways, in my opinion. The very best thing about traveling is the potential for experiencing people, places, and things that you can’t find in your own neighborhood. One day while in Costa Rica last spring, we were on a bus and traveling up a mountain to look at a dormant volcano up close. The bus trip seemed to take forever and the weather was terrible. It was a rainy day and visibility grew worse as we…
-
Happy Friday!
Indeed, it is. Sidenote: I absolutely know that just prior to 5:00 p.m. on a Friday is perhaps the absolute worst time to publish a blog post if you want people to notice and maybe even read it, but I’m throwing caution to the wind and just doing it. I’ve been trying to build back up to posting four to five times each week and I think the “posting” part is more important to me at the moment than the “having it read by actual people” part. (That said, big sloppy kisses to you if you’re reading this.) I have to say that I have felt an internal change over…