Monthly Archives: November 2011

My Crazy Family, Axl Rose and a Chicago Deli

Posted on by November 29, 2011

I’m crazy and it’s because I come from crazy. Last week my entire family made the historic trek to visit me for Thanksgiving. Some would call this a nightmare but not me.

Most of the family in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner.

Most of the family in the middle of Thanksgiving dinner.

It’s been about 10 years since everyone came to Chicago to see me at the same time. This year, all of the planets came into alignment allowing for my mom, dad, sister, her significant other, my niece and nephew to come.

I’ve always … Read more ...

Stream of Consciousness: Quiet and Relax

Posted on by November 18, 2011

Sitting here, watching the ripples on the lake outside the window. It’s quiet. Gloriously quiet. I wish I could bottle up this moment of peace and uncork it whenever I needed.

I’m at a friend’s cabin in Door County. Well, he’s actually my hubby’s friend, but still. I feel like he’s given me a slice of serenity. I can hear nothing of my life back home. There’s no planes flying above, cars whizzing by, cell phone chiming with texts, Twitter chirping, cooing of my little … Read more ...

An Inspiration to Change: Kathy Pacholski

Posted on by November 15, 2011

Have you ever met someone that’s inspired you to change? That’s recently happened to me.

I met Kathy Pacholski. She is a stroke survivor warrior. She was very healthy when she had a stroke 15 months ago, relearned to do practically everything from folding laundry to walking and then on Nov. 6 climbed 103 flights of the Willis Tower.

Impressive, right? I wrote about Kathy’s journey on The Huffington Post here and we talked a lot on the phone. Our conversations would start with … Read more ...

Life’s Messy, Make The Best of It

Posted on by November 14, 2011

Life’s messy. And mine got messier after having kids. We’ve all had our clichéd poop stories, the blowouts and the up-the-backs. There’s also the food fights, where little Johnny’s cheeks and the wall behind him contain more spaghetti than his tummy.

But my messiness is also me. I can’t list all of my mommy messes because there’s too many to count, but also because my swiss-cheese brain can’t remember them all. So here’s a few from my highlight reel.

Burning Dinner. I love, love, … Read more ...