Exactly one year ago, I weighed 117 pounds. I was in severe pain; my belly, my ribs, my brain. For a month, nothing was “officially” wrong. Blood tests were fine, organ functions were skipping along, and- if you disregarded the fact that I couldn’t eat a thing- my doctors assured me that I was all good. I would wake up in in the middle of the night, weeping, panic gripping my chest, the knowledge that I was actually dying keeping {Read More}
Rockets of Awesome & their $10 Black Friday sale!
November 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Important to note- this post contains affiliate links! If you click through, I might make a few pennies here and there. Are you cool with that? You’re cool with that, right? *** Oh gosh, these clothes. I love the fantastically playful, incredibly livable Rockets of Awesome brand– and for Black Friday they launched an unprecedented $10 KIDDO CLOTHING SALE for this weekend only! Where to begin? Okay, we’ll begin with Suzy. Out of this season’s collection, she chose glittery. She {Read More}
‘It’s a Wonderful Life’ celebrates life’s little joys
November 21, 2019 By Leave a Comment
It’s a wonderful life- yes, even now Who’d’ve thought that a radio show about a small town in the 1940s would resonate so hard- and make me so weepy- in a big city in 2019 (at Thanksgiving)? Well, life’s full of delightful surprises if you just know where to look. Friends, here’s your heads-up: American Blues Theater’s live radio performance of ‘It’s a Wonderful Life: Live in Chicago!’ will cure what ails you. (Especially if “what ails you” is a {Read More}
‘The Steadfast Tin Soldier’ joyfully marches us into winter
November 11, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Here’s a li’l true story for you: Last Friday night I was feeling burned out, stressed, and a more than a little achy from a recent incident whereupon I dislocated two ribs. (Long, wholly different story.) I had been slated to see the return of Lookingglass Theatre Company’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier that evening with my boy, my youngest, and even though I knew it would be a wonderful time…I was tired on a primal level. By the time we {Read More}
Ten things to know on your tenth birthday, Nora.
October 29, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Dear Nora Jane, I know I usually wax poetic on your birthdays, telling you how much being your Mom has changed me (because it has), and how incredibly wonderful you continue to be (because you do), but today feels a little different. Today you’re ten. Yes, years old. Which means that the wildest adventure I ever began started ten years ago today, which also means that- somehow- you’re no longer the tiny pinched-face potato tied to my chest, and I’m {Read More}
Ready or not…you’re eight.
October 4, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Ready? Susannah, the “ready or not” part is for me. Because it has never, ever been a question for you, my dear one. Today you are 8. Eight years old! In Suzy years that’s roughly 59 because, as everyone knows, you leaped- fully formed- from my brain like Athena. (Yep, that’s how c-sections work. Next question!) You’ve taught me so many things, my middlest child. Like, that you’re not really all that little anymore. Maybe you never really were? You {Read More}
On missing things.
September 9, 2019 By 2 Comments
Oh- hey there, friend. Did you miss me? I’ve definitely been missing this space. Which is a good, good thing. For a while there, I wasn’t missing it. It felt like yet another deadline, yet another thing I hadn’t done in any sort of timely manner, and yet another thing causing the ball of stress in my belly to poke me in the brain at 4am. (Isn’t that how your anatomy works?) So I spent the summer reading books. Good {Read More}
‘The Recommendation’ puts in a good word
July 16, 2019 By Leave a Comment
What’s behind a good recommendation? It’s not “who you know,” it’s who really knows you. (And if some of those things that people know about you are, shall we say, less than legal…well then, that changes the dynamic of what sort of loyalty is owed in return, doesn’t it?) That’s what’s at the heart of Windy City Playhouse’s gripping new performance The Recommendation, written by Jonathan Caren; a simple favor offered up from a have to a have-not, and the {Read More}
