What I Did
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The Music was Like, Omigod, Totally Awesome!
Yes, I was a teenager in the 80’s. No, I was not a “valley girl” and did not speak that way. I was, however, recently brought back to the 80’s as I attended a local summer concert. I have always loved attending outdoor concerts in the nice weather, and I have been aware that many suburbs host summer concert series. This summer, rather than just thinking about them and attending perhaps one, I would make a real effort to enjoy more outdoor live music. I had a plan. Instead of going to the different community websites and printing out their summer concert schedules, I printed out blank weekly calendar pages…
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My 30(ish) Minute Beauty Getaway
My husband and I live in the suburbs, but we continue to see a dentist in the city. It is truly a pain in the neck to go to appointments, but she is really good, so, several times a year, we schlep downtown to see her. As long as we are making the trip into Chicago on appointment days, I do take advantage of knowing that a Sephora flagship store is close by the dental office. I usually have my appointment first while my husband uses his “parking spot karma” to find a parking place, and, weather permitting, I go outside and walk during his appointment. The weather was beautiful…
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Lunch at Enzo and Lucia–My Mouth is Watering Just Thinking About It
Disclaimer: My husband and I were provided a complimentary meal in exchange for sharing on this blog my honest thoughts about the experience. My husband and I had the opportunity to try a restaurant that we have known about for years but, for no particular reason, have never tried. Enzo and Lucia is an Italian restaurant in historic Long Grove. I will start by saying that this was a wonderful place for my husband and myself to share an anniversary lunch (we celebrated here one day before our 20th wedding anniversary–it just worked better with our schedules)! We had an 11:30a reservation. The restaurant was nice and quiet at that…
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I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty
I met Sara through one of my calls for “help” which I sent via a community facebook page. When I asked “Who is interested in teaching me something new?”, Sara was there for me! She is a make-up artist and beauty consultant at a local Walgreens, and I spent part of a recent afternoon having fun being “girly” and having my makeup done. We kept it simple (this time–I definitely plan to go back) because I knew that I had plans that evening to take a group of 8th graders out to see a nearby high school performance. The full-on glam look would have been overkill for a high school…
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Aspects of Passover 2019
My family always hosts at least one of the two yearly Passover seders at my home. Passover is the holiday that I have claimed for family hosting. The first year that my husband and I lived in our house, we hosted Thanksgiving. That was simply our trial run of hosting a family event. Once we acknowledged that we could handle it, we took over a religious holiday, and I am glad that we did! If you don’t have any idea what I am talking about when I use the term “Passover,” this link can provide some useful information. (FYI–the article in the link is from a previous year. The date…
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College Tour, Part 5: Last Stop–University of Louisville
The drive to Frankfort, Kentucky from Knoxville, Tennessee was uneventful (which is good). We arrived at the Capital Plaza Hotel and decided to have a mellow evening. My husband decided to just sit back and relax in the room. He had been doing ALL of the driving; he earned this! The kids were very happy to be able to enjoy some time in the indoor hotel pool (as you are farther south, you find fewer indoor pools). Shortly after we entered the pool, several other families showed up as well. Despite the noise and chaos in the pool, I was able to just sit and chat with another mom who…
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College Tour, Part 4: Time for Tennessee
After leaving the University of Georgia, we started on the next leg of our college tour–we were heading to Tennessee to visit the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. After a quick stop for lunch and to arrange for a hotel stay, we turned on the Waze app and started this leg of the journey. Foreshadowing: Sometimes things have ways of working out… We have some friends who live near the Knoxville area. We had previously discussed trying to meet up, but we knew that due to various circumstances, any plans would have to be made last minute. Unfortunately, our friends would not be able to join us that evening. We…
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College Tour, Part 3: Peachy Keen–Visiting the University of Georgia
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary stay at the hotel mentioned in this post for sharing an honest opinion in my blog. All opinions stated are my own. In a previous post, I mentioned that my family tends to make last minute hotel reservations. Well, this time we actually had a plan not one but TWO days in advance. Our initial destination on arrival in Athens, Georgia was Georgia Gameday Center. WOW! I think that I became a Georgia Bulldogs fan just by entering the building, lol! I honestly never really thought about the University of Georgia (UGA) before, but within moments of entering the building, I was a fan!…
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College Tour, Part 2: Carolinas on My Mind–University of North Carolina and Clemson University
The underlying purpose for our spring break trip should now be revealing itself. We arrived at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in time for our 1p scheduled admissions meeting and tour. OUR FIRST REAL COLLEGE VISIT!! The initial session was very interesting and helpful. Some assorted topics mentioned which were important for me to hear were that 78% of the classes have fewer than 40 students. There are also hundreds of study abroad programs. (When I was in college, I spent a year in Southampton, England. I really hope that my kids can take advantage of some international experience, as well, during their studies.) The students overall…
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College Tour, Part 1: From Home to Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Disclaimer: I received a complimentary stay at the hotel mentioned in this post for sharing an honest opinion in my blog. All opinions stated are my own. An initial FYI–As you may know, I am all about “living and learning.” Saying that, I will often include links to other sites which provide additional information on a variety of topics or places that I think you might find interesting to read (because I do). Additionally, this was a college trip. I likely won’t include, however, a lot of school specific academic/application/housing/etc information. The better source for that would be on-line at the school’s website or directly from those who work or…
