Happy summer! Happy solstice! Happy roughly ten weeks of zero public school drop off, pick up, stand up, sit down, fight fight fight! (And to my longtime readers/framily, happy “We know you’re going to be posting with the regularity of a cheerfully confused wombat” season to us all!) As I enter into this highly anticipated season with my kids, the wind-down of the school year has allowed my brain to acknowledge some rather unusual things about myself that have started {Read More}
39 and feeling good and indulgent birthday posts
June 6, 2019 By 2 Comments
39. Good gracious. There’s something so self-indulgent about a birthday blog post, isn’t there? Thanks for indulging my self-indulgence. Today, I am 39. Thirty nine. That’s…a number right there. (Special note to friends and family over the age of 39: Thanks in advance for not smacking me upside the head. Because I’m gonna talk about it a little bit longer.) Because 39. It feels heavy. Like, your parents are 39, right? (Except they’re totally not; they’re most likely 50 and {Read More}
Cirque du Soleil’s Big Top ‘Volta’ surges with energy
May 24, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Brace yourself for Volta: 30 years ago, Cirque du Soleil came to Chicago for the first time with its show Cirque Réinventé; the love affair between Chicagoans and the Canadian company is still going quite strong in 2019 with Volta, the company’s 25th production. There’s nothing quite like a big top show, and Cirque remains firmly unmatched in terms of filling every inch of this kind of gargantuan space with energy and jaw-dropping talent. (Cirque’s tent, situated right outside of {Read More}
21 things my daughters need to see me do (often)
May 17, 2019 By 4 Comments
21 things my daughters need to see me do (often): My daughters need to see me apologize when I’ve truly, honestly messed up. To my husband, to my friends and, yep, to my kids. They also need to see me: Hold out- and push for- a real apology when someone else has really, truly messed up. (And thoroughly eradicate “no worries” from my vocabulary as an automatic argument-ender when there should legit be some “worries.”) (Stop saying/posting/pre-empting potentially upsetting/important conversations {Read More}
Change…is hard.
May 2, 2019 By 2 Comments
Change. …is hard. That could be the whole dang post right there, couldn’t it? CHANGE IS HARD. (It won’t be, however, because “concise” is not my “thing.”) Sometimes- as the case was this past winter- the name of the game was Stillness. Mandatory, forced, if-you-don’t-stop-this-junk-and-stay-still-your-brain-will-break Stillness. At first it was incredibly difficult and felt more like stagnation than a resting period. (Then I got over that real real quick and took daily naps and read entire mystery series and had {Read More}
I tried to quit social media for Lent. It’s…a work in progress.
April 11, 2019 By Leave a Comment
For Lent this year, I gave up excessive social media and internet time. In all honesty, I think I had been looking for a bit of an online detox, and since Lent is generally encouraged to be a season of self-reflection and sacrifice, the added layer of piety made it even more appealing. Besides, when you tell people you’re going to quit social media, they look at you like you’re embarking on something really, really cool. (So much for piety.) {Read More}
If 18 year-old Me saw me now. (A helpful primer!)
March 1, 2019 By Leave a Comment
20 years ago, I was a college freshman. I had plans back then, you guys. Like Plans in capital letters. I was thinking about this baby version of myself the other day as I was living my fully grown, decidedly non-college freshman life. This train of thought quickly turned to “Oh my goodness, what would 18 year-old Me think if she were plopped down into my 2019 day?” (I can’t be the only one who has thoughts like this every {Read More}
Valentine’s Day & mental illness & I promise this one ends well.
February 14, 2019 By Leave a Comment
Yes, this one concerns a bit o’ mental illness… But it’s really a Valentine’s Day story. (With a tiny bit of mental illness all up in there too.) I promise that it is. So. Back when I was little, I was convinced that the perfect Valentine’s Day involved cellophane-wrapped hearts and truckloads of roses and lilies and Golden Era romantic comedies on a loop. (To be quite honest, that is the perfect Valentine’s Day. It just is.) But as I’ve {Read More}
