(I’m thrilled to have had the opportunity to work with Wal-Mart and receive their new White Cloud diapers for Susannah to try out. This is a sponsored post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own.) *** This past Wednesday I hosted a bevy of Chicago-area mamas and their adorable offspring for a party featuring Wal-Mart’s reintroduced line of White Cloud diapers. And what a crew! While

Listen, there are times when it’s darned near impossible to find the time to bake a chicken pot pie for your family. (For the sake of this blog, let’s just go ahead and mentally swap each “you” with “Keely,” okay? That way I won’t feel so alone in my time management ineptitude and you won’t feel berated by a snacky blogger. Good? Good.) Anyway. Chicken pot pie. Let’s be honest- you don’t even

So, today I have the opportunity for some awesomely lucky readers to win an invite to the wicked exclusive Hyundai Santa Fe’s Epic Playdate Weekend in Santa Barbara, California. But first, here’s my dream playdate with the gals: It would start early- but not too early. (This is, after all, a “dream.”) Maybe 8 or 9? Can we all agree on 8 or 9am? And it would be at the beach. Of course. But not a super trendy, crowded-with-hot-bodies-who-by-comparison-make-me-feel-badly-about-myself kinda beach. Nor would {Read More}

Contemplative. And starving. We have a favorite meal at our house- called Ardell’s Chicken- named for a woman who a) created the dish and b) is like a second Mom to me. (And what gives “second Mom” status? I don’t bandy that term around. I reserve it for women who drive me to the E.R. in the middle of my [one] freshman year soccer game and repeatedly bake me miniature cheesecakes every time I visit my hometown.) Anyway. Ardell’s Chicken {Read More}

I think we all know how I feel about yoga pants, right? Well, since I began working with Ellie and this new line of activewear (formerly pvBody- the company shifted to ensure more available stock and the ability for customers to handpick their own pieces), I feel like I’ve fallen into a neatly folded pile of awesome. The subscription model is much the same. You still get your style profile and workout preferences (unfortunately, “napping in a pile of puzzle {Read More}

Well team, we did it. As we near the close of the LISTERINE 21 Day Challenge, I just want to congratulate…me…on my ability to finally step it up and take care of my mouth like a functional adult. I went from flossing once every seventeen months to every single night. People, I felt like I deserved a medal. And apparently, if you have the kinda gums that bleed when you floss (once every seventeen months), you should endeavor to do {Read More}

My coffee addiction/routine has evolved over the years. It began when my parents would fix me a Keely Half n’ Half- part hazelnut, part cocoa- in the early mornings at our family’s restaurant. Which was really all an ambitious 13 year-old would need to wash the heck out of those dishes at 6am. In college, my roommates and I would use a fancy French press…and then leave it on the kitchen counter for the rest of the day. (Wouldn’t stop us {Read More}

We’re at the halfway point for the LISTERINE 21 Day Challenge! To celebrate, I offer you this video. Nora is obviously the best helper in the world, but perhaps a career in the Dental Arts is not in her future? Disclosure: I received products from Johnson and Johnson Healthcare Products Division of McNeil-PPC, Inc. and The Motherhood as part of my participation in the LISTERINE® 21 Day Challenge. All thoughts and opinions expressed in this post are my own.