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First Mud Run
There was a rainbow of tutus, team tee shirts with long socks, fake boobs, long sparkly dresses, headbands, sneakers, smiles, singing, and mud. Lots of mud. Last weekend I ran the first IL Dirty Girl...
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Perfect New York Visit
Hello, lonely blog. Summer used to be a slow, lazy time for families. No more. Between working overtime, kids choosing to continue sports camps, family obligations, volunteering, and blistering hot...
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New York Exploration
A few more photos from our recent NY visit. My girls showed that teenagers still are very curious. They want to learn, to wander, to shop, to laugh, to take many photos. Also, they definitely wanted...
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Bow to the Giant Zucchini
Zucchini bread. Grilled zucchini. Zucchini in stir fry. Zucchini tart. Zucchini fritters. Raw zucchini on a veggie platter. Zucchini enchiladas with homemade sauce. It is zucchini time of year!...
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Native Tourist
Last week I spent some time with an old friend in my old Chicago neighborhood, Wicker Park. We walked the streets on a gorgeous summer day catching up, and snapping pictures at will. While there have...
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Riding High
I really miss riding. It’s been a month off of most exercise–too busy with work, family, too hot to ride weeks–other than a short bike ride, dog walk, yoga class. But on my bike, I close my eyes and...
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Class Cliques Conquered
“Time is the great equalizer,” one of my former high school classmates stated, as we gazed around the crowded bar during our 30th high school reunion last weekend (really? can I be that old?) “So...
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Some Trips are Worth Repeating
Sometimes a brief getaway with friends is exactly what you need to restore your center, step outside your routine, push your worries to the recesses of your mind, free your spirit. We recently spent...
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Egging Stinks!
Open letter to the Hoodlums who egged my house last weekend: Thanks. For stealing the trust I have being in my home, in my neighborhood, in my kids’ friends who are always stopping by, sharing our...
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Living Authentically
Is it possible for someone like me, to “live authentically” right now, today? I have been asking myself this question recently, reading the novel The Red Book by Deborah Copaken Kogan. This novel...
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Untitled Poem
Enchanting blue waves frolic and play chasing those they cannot outrun before they collapse back onto themselves merging with the surface, tiny white caps with their spittle of salty froth spraying...
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A Familiar College Visit
Can you go back? To college, that is. I loved college. My daughter Tara is now a junior at my alma mater, University of Dayton; my other daughter Devon is going to attend UD in the fall. I feel lucky...
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3 Bedrooms
I recently saw the Art Institute’s of Chicago’s excellent “Van Gogh’s Bedrooms” exhibit. The piece de resistance is all 3 of his very similar “Bedroom” paintings side by side, with a unique video...
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Writer’s Block Vanish
halt! no fingers slide across the keys the brain frozen while the mind froths over with hidden lists of work family travel dogs weather work work exercise errands what is for dinner? the heart...
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The First Summery Weekend
Living all of summer in one weekend. In Chicago, where we have had an extremely cold and wet spring, these last three days have been a welcoming sign of summer approaching. And I filled every moment...
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After 900+ Games, A Soccer Mom No More
I am no longer a Soccer Mom. It is truly the end of a parenting era for me. It has been such a huge part of our family life, with 3 kids involved in house league, club, and school soccer for 18+ years....
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Become a Child Again, Time Permitting.
Schedules, lists, calendars. They rule our daily lives, with some deadlines and events unmovable and others set arbitrarily in our minds. (you know, the to-do lists and laundry that MUST get done on a...
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Nancy the Creator
No matter what talents are born within ourselves, we need to discover and nurture them to help them expand, morph, breathe, grow. That could not be more physically true than for these amazing...
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Embrace Everyday Moments
Life is not remembered by one stupendous event defined by horror or humor or elation. Rather, it is a compilation of moments lived daily, sometimes highlighted by a singular chance occurrence. Embrace...
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Lifeline
With an ill family member a plane ride away that little rectangular tool called the Cell Phone so full of need and escape in a hand-held box that I sometimes abhor, (when others are hypnotized and...
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