Natalie needs you to stage an intervention on her behalf for the following things:

The over purchasing of lip gloss and belly dance gear

The over consumption of coffee

The reading of the Twilight book series

The singing of "Good News! Cigarette Juice" on a daily basis

Cussing like a sailor

Bad grammar, bad, bad grammar

Not blogging about our trip up to the East Coast

Vacation Predictions:

Pillow fights

Swims

Melt downs in the back seat

Brooklyn

Euphoria from not being on call which leads to

Drinking too much coffee which leads to

Staying up late because I'm not on call

Runs in the woods

Pokemon card battles that end in actual battles

Star gazing

Taking the tram out to Roosevelt Island

Shopping

Shopping for Kitsch

Adventure and joy sprinkled with minor threats to the children's lives

Red-Legged Honeycrepper

Today at the Lincoln Park Zoo I learned some thing I should have known a long time ago. Of all the animals in the animal kingdom, birds hold the title of most awesomely named. Behold!

Orange Bishop (covert op for the C.I.A)

Blue-Face Honeyeater (circus legend)

Snowy Egret (topped the charts in the 60's)

Hamerkop ("Back for Blood, Hammerkop II")

Emerald Starling (exotic dancer)

Cape Thick-Knee (the dreaded pirate)

Yellow-Throated Laughing Thrush (what happens when you drink the water)

Inca Tern (published several times in The Lancet)

Sunbittern (opened for Jimmy Buffett)

Twany Frogmouth (BFF's with Emerald Starling)

Red Knot (is Live at the Apollo!)

Piping Plover (my new favorite cuss word)

It's too cold to blog

I know it's been said 1,000 times or more but I am so sick of winter. Sick, sick, sick of it. I used to love cold weather, but I think one too many Chicago winters has turned me bitter. I’ve become a pasty ghost, shallow eyed and asleep waiting for shift in the weather.

I go in my closet and look at all the lovely summer dresses I have tucked away. Some are boxed up, their bright floral patterns pressing up against the side of the plastic container, waiting for release. My other dresses spill out over the tops for me to touch, to wish on.

The cold has become an excuse, an enemy. I won't go hang out with friends because it's too cold. I should go to the store and buy groceries so my family can eat but it's too cold. I didn't want to walk a block in cold to get a cupcake last week because it was too cold. One block! A cupcake!

I keep thinking of this Chekhov quote: "People don't notice whether it's winter or summer when they're happy."

I think it's time I took up a new hobby seeing how I'm already a master at complaining.

New York, New York

This spring we are headed up to New York City for the first time. There is only one thing I really want to do once there. I want to drink coffee out of this cup. That's it. Everything else is gravy.

Winter Break To-Do List

-Install a cage in living room that way if the kids start to fight we can have a cage match. Be sure to charge admission.

-Make grandparents sign a contract stating if they give the children sugar they are responsible for said children until they come down from their sugar high.

-Family bonding! Cook meals together, fall down at the ice skating rink together!

-Go to see the movies the kids want to see, except Madagascar 2. Try explain to children that it got really bad reviews and they will have to wait until it comes out on DVD.

-Wear something besides yoga pants and snow boots when out on the town.

-Take goofy family portrait at home, send the out to friends a family and wait for the complaints that we didn't go to Sears to have it done.

Happy Holidays!

Wicked Classy

My mother is always telling me I look "wicked" or "classy".  After watching me in a dance performance today she said I have "attitude", but I believe she meant stage presence. When you combine these three words: wicked, classy and attitude the only person that truly comes to mind is Daffyd from Little Britain.