We call ourselves The Orlando Mafia.
And every time we do, one of us invariably rolls rolls our eyes and laughs, “man we are douches.”  And then another one of us laughs too and agrees, “I know!  I can’t imagine why anyone would ever want to hang out with us!”  And then we all laugh some [...]

I keep thinking about how I want to come here and tell you thank you.  I want to express how grateful I am for the kindness of loved ones and strangers and how all of it has reminded me that there is good in the world.
And then, before I get a chance to flex my [...]

I am absolutely over the moon that today is Christmas Eve.
Jared and I both have to work today, but tonight we’ll go to church with the kids and Hilly.  After church, we’ll come home to have chilli and appetizers, just like we do every year on Christmas Eve.  Of course, this is the first time [...]

I never remember to call her on her birthday.
Ever.
We’ve been friends for 17 years, and I always call the day before or the day after, but never on the actual day.  I’m pretty good at remembering dates, I’m just rarely aware of what the date is today.
I think we’ve been friends for as long as [...]

My family is having Thanksgiving dinner without me today.
My mom and my brothers, along with the rest of their families, will gather around a table and turkey, 1400 miles to the north of me in a small ranch house in Iowa.  They’ll laugh and they’ll eat and they’ll make fun of one another.  They’ll take [...]

We met for the first time in the hallway of a Philadelphia hotel room.  I had just convinced all of her friends to ditch her at the airport and make her get a cab to the hotel.  I was sure she’d  understand why we’d rather do tequila shots than greet her personally.
It’s a miracle she [...]

I’ve been a little anxious about this upcoming weekend.
You see, here in central Florida it’s time for Avitaween – Avitable’s ginormous Halloween party where about 100 people, including about 30 bloggers who I happen to adore, gather in costumes for a night of fun and ridiculous behavior.
See? A completely rational reason to be anxious, [...]

Sarah pointed me to an article in Wired that pretty much sums up my philosophy on life.
Or, at the very least, the point I’ve been trying to make in an ongoing argument with Avitable recently.*
The entire article is a long list of new rules of behavior for “highly evolved humans” – aka, people living in [...]

First let me say that any and all BlogHer recaps here will be woefully short on the pretty pictures, because one of the very first things I did in Chicago was drop and break my point and shoot camera.
Y’all are stuck with having to read real and actual words.  Sorry.
SO – Wednesday morning I woke [...]

In two days I leave for BlogHer.
I swear, I can actually hear most of you groaning.
Sure, there are a handful of you who read this blog who will also be attending BlogHer.  And maybe you are just as excited and nervous as I am.  I’m certain you are.
But the rest of you, the bulk of [...]

Blog memes are like bell bottoms.
It doesn’t matter how good or bad of an idea they were in the first place, they always come back around eventually.
The most recent one to resurface is the “Things I Would Love To Say” post.  The way it works is that the blogger makes a list of random things [...]

The kids left Friday morning.
Red Eye movie download
By Friday night, Jared and I were ready to walk on the wild side.
We headed out for a romantic dinner at the local sports bar.  Because nothing says romance and wild and crazy like a place with big screen TVs and free face painting on Wednesday nights.
Right.  Awesome.  [...]

I am from Parkersburg, Iowa.
I wasn’t born there, I don’t live there now, but it is, without a doubt, where I am from.
It is – and will always be – integral to who I am.
On Wednesday morning, that part of who I am was once again hit by tragedy.  But this tragedy was far, far [...]

Once upon a time, in a land far, far away, there was a girl named Shmritt.
Shmritt was best friends with a boy named Shmadam, and they did everything together.  Shmritt and Shmadam had other friends – lots of friends, really – but they always knew that they were each other’s best friends.  And that was [...]

I woke up this morning dreading writing this post.
I got back late last night from a long weekend in Lexington, Kentucky.  I went to Lexington for “ConFab, Baby!” – a blogger houseparty hosted by Turnbaby and the man formerly known as Mr. Fabulous.  Everyone knows you can’t go to a blogger party without blogging about [...]