OhmyGAWD it’s been a week, hasn’t it? (What do you mean, it’s only Thursday? …That’s cool. I thought it was Tuesday for at least three hours this morning.) In a week like this (in a month like this, in a year like this, in an election cycle and subsequent four years like this), it’s good to check in with myself (and others) on what I know to be true today. Here’s what I know to be true today: Chicago is, {Read More}
Signing off, sending love, sharing ideas
December 22, 2016 By 1 Comment
Oh, loves, it has been a YEAR. Since I’m in a share-y kinda mood, here’s this great piece I read the other day. You know how (many, many, many) of you feel like this was an utterly write-off-able year? Here’s the awesome thing: It actually was moderately/pretty close to wonderfully wonderful. Want to keep it that way for 2017 and check off some last-minute gifts at the very same time? Donate here: To help the people of Syria, the Red {Read More}
Be a good guy.
December 1, 2016 By Leave a Comment
“Have a good day, buddy. Be…” “-A good guy,” he tells me. That’s Jasper’s constant- and recently new- refrain. This preschooler’s mantra has become oddly more effective than the looming TIME OUT on the couch, more than the seemingly random removal of toys, and definitely more than the promise that, if he’s patient, something nebulously awesome will happen in a half hour or so. Be a good guy. Since this past summer, it’s seemed an adorably harmless and sweetly moral-compassy catchphrase {Read More}
16 things you should know about my Mom (a birthday list)
November 22, 2016 By Leave a Comment
Yes, it’s Tuesday. Yes, I’m going to go ahead and pretend it’s my normal Thursday posting date. (Listen, if recent events have taught me anything, it’s that- quite literally- anything can happen. Today I’m spinning that for good.) The main reason I’m posting today is to inform my fellow travelers on the internet that my mother, one Deborah J., is celebrating a birthday today. Which really means she’s being regaled throughout the day by her normal daughters, and then sporadically {Read More}
35 reasons: A birthday ode to the best guy I know
October 27, 2016 By 1 Comment
Today, the world’s most perfect Philip Joseph is 35. Thirty-five. Considering what a youthful youth he was when we first met, that number seems positively made up. (But as Suzy pointed out last night, I’ll always be older. And as P.J. pointed out- much older.) Since we first started celebrating birthdays together, I’ve made a habit of emailing him throughout the day and listing the reasons I’m downright bonkers for him. (It was a tad easier in his middle twenties, {Read More}
Girl Trip: Santa Barbara edition a.k.a. An unwise amount of food.
September 1, 2016 By 3 Comments
Last weekend, I abandoned my husband and three kids and jetted off to Santa Barbara for the lowest-key “lost” weekend ever to be kinda/sorta misplaced. Okay, fine. P.J. was with me when I booked the tickets. He practically shoved me out the door. Because he knew- and I know- that when two important people in your life request a getaway, you go away (with them). Kat and Annie were among my very first Chicago pals. We were all of us {Read More}
The worst/best neighborhood in the world/Chicago.
August 25, 2016 By 2 Comments
Sometimes you hate your neighborhood. Sometimes it’s too grungy and loud and entirely too in-your-face for a person who (perhaps) has just returned from the seaside. It doesn’t matter which seaside, only that the glaring juxtaposition with any seaside drives home the fact that someone has recently puked in the alley and you may or may not have run over an already deceased rodent while parking in your garage immediately upon returning from said anonymous seaside. Sometimes after-hours Spanish karaoke sessions {Read More}
To my Dad, one year gone.
March 30, 2016 By 7 Comments
Hi, Dad. So, I miss you. You know this. I know you know this because I’m always telling you this. And you respond in the ways that folks who are desperate for signs are sure to notice; the warmth of a hand on a shoulder, a puffy, heart-shaped cloud on a completely clear day, a third playing of Boz Scagg’s “Lido Shuffle” on major airwaves in 24 hours… This first year without you has been gigantic. And endless. And lightning {Read More}
