It has been woefully long since my last post. I left full-time employment on June 30 and you'd think that would leave me with much leisure time for things like blogging, but we went on vacation for ten days and since then I have been in turbo-nesting mode. My husband oscillates between amusement at my third-trimester behavior and mild panic that all this frenzied laundering of baby clothes and re-organizing of closets means our second child is making its debut any minute. Cliches aside, I am quite enjoying having two days a week to putter at will before the baby is born, and I am dipping ... [READ MORE]
Keepin’ up with the Joneses
May 20, 2011 by Leave a Comment
To listen to our breakfast-table conversations lately, the most anticipated event of the summer in our household is NOT the arrival of our second child. No, the most anticipated event of the summer is the release of Disney/Pixar's Cars 2 on June 24th. Actually, for me personally, the most anticipated event of the YEAR is the release of Cars II on DVD sometime in the Fall, so that I can finally halt the endless loop of the original Cars film -- and, when enough TV is enough, the Cars motion picture soundtrack, or even just Babyman's running narration of the entire Cars plotline -- in our ... [READ MORE]
Princess No More
March 10, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Remember your first pregnancy? The one when you still had no idea what you were going to be up against, and your body was a temple, and it actually felt kind of good to sacrifice booze and brie for the benefit of your unborn bundle of joy, and people carried even your lightest grocery bags for you, and you loved the way your hair looked like a Prell commercial when you blew it dry, and you got to (HAD to!) discover a whole new world of retail, and pedicures were a weekly must -- especially once you had gained a few pounds? That was nice. It's good to be Princess for a month or ten. This ... [READ MORE]
A Week in a Day
February 15, 2011 by Leave a Comment
My husband has taken up yoga on Saturday mornings, which means Sunday mornings are my gym time, and I am quite liking it. In particular, while I am gasping away on the Stairmaster I like watching Meet the Press to get my comprehensive week-in-review for news and current events, followed by a new Food Network program called Week in a Day hosted by Rachael Ray. The former program wraps up the week, the latter kicks it off. Symmetry in TV-land. Love her or hate her (and I confess I oscillate on that one), Ms. Ray has landed quite a concept with her new show, and while I haven't actually ... [READ MORE]
Me Time, Tea Time
February 9, 2011 by Leave a Comment
My Facebook feed the other day contained two articles about the disenchantment of parenthood: one analyzed how little "me-time" the average parent gets in a 24-hour period (90 minutes), and the other discussed the cognitive dissonance of parenthood, i.e. that we delude ourselves into thinking that this whole enterprise is rewarding in order to cope with the stress. Hmmm. I can't help but wonder what purpose is served by these types of studies. Is the human race to stop reproducing? Should we be focused on the endless pursuit of personal pleasure and ignore an innate instinct to propagate ... [READ MORE]
All Good Things…
January 5, 2011 by Leave a Comment
Did you ever see that Friends episode where Joey and Chandler's TV gets stuck on the porn channel? Not to ruin the plot if you haven't, but the upshot is that they love it, until they realize all that porn is warping their sense of reality. Babyman appears to be experiencing a similar struggle surrounding the end of the Christmas season. The past month has totally messed with his expectations: he wakes in the morning expecting chocolate at the breakfast table (the inevitable Advent calendar hangover); he studies every piece of mail, every package, and every decorative store display before ... [READ MORE]
On Giving Thanks and Running in Heels
December 1, 2010 by Leave a Comment
I cannot find the interview to quote directly, but not long ago I was lusting after a pair of never-to-be-mine Jimmy Choo sandals and reading an article about the glamorous founder of Jimmy Choo, Tamara Mellon. She was describing her own life, something to the tune of, she might have a personal training session followed by a parent-teacher conference for her daughter in the morning, and then she runs this global brand all day, and then she has some fabulous fashion party to go to in the evening...so she needs to keep three pairs of shoes in the car to be prepared for anything. This of ... [READ MORE]
