Entries from June 2008 ↓

Have you ever started talking, then lecturing, then ranting to your kids and later regretted it? That’s what happened to me today.

Here’s the story.

My kids are learning to play tennis. I should probably mention that I love tennis. I’m disappointed by our country’s poor showing in Wimbledon right now (and disappointed by Ana Ivanovic’s loss).

Ana Ivanovic

I felt sad when Federer lost to Nadal (again) at the French Open. But I am hopeful that he’ll win Wimbledon.

More to the point, though, I’m aware of the emotional nature of the sport of tennis and the importance of maintaining control when you play . It’s a sport where it pays to be calm and assertive. Strong but controlled. Especially when the players are sensitive and intense (think McEnroe ).

Like my kids, for example.

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Have you heard about this yet? Blog Nosh Magazine launched this week. Led by editor-in-chief, Megan Jordan , it’s the new online magazine that, as described by the tag line (below), will "satisfy your craving for fresh voices and delicious content."

Imagine picking up a magazine filled with a great collection of articles from a wide variety of topics like art, politics, design, education, business, tech, and more. That’s what BlogNosh offers - high quality blog articles which have fallen off the front pages of blogs but are still worthy of your valuable time.

Let’s say that you began reading your favorite blog in March. Did you go back and read all the posts starting from day one? If not, you missed that great post from last October. BlogNosh finds those articles that fall into the archive heap and brings them to you, so you get the best of the blogosphere, conveniently arranged by topic (or "channel"). So you can just nosh on what you like.

Delicious content, fresh voices, compiled for you in one place. New posts daily!

If you’re a blogger and have posts that deserve to be brought into the spotlight, send me an email or DM me on Twitter , because I’m happy to say that I’m part of this venture. Let’s just say I’m one of the gummy bears (see, now you have to go and see BlogNosh to figure out what that means!).

Happy noshing!

Accomplished author, food critic, and mother of three, Julie Halpert was my guest on Soapbox Radio - recorded live today.

Based in Ann Arbor, Michigan, she’s been a journalist for twenty years with articles in the New York Times , Newsweek , the Washington Post and many other publications. Halpert is currently teaching a course on environmental journalism at her alma mater, the University of Michigan (go blue!).

What’s she doing now? She’s touring the country to talk about her new book (which she co-authored with Deborah Carr, Ph.D.) and she made a stop on the Soapbox .

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It should be so easy.

That’s what I kept thinking as I watched the chicken get more and more blackened. Well, one of the pieces of chicken. Curiously, the chicken on the other end of the grill was still pretty raw. What the…?!

Chicken on the Grill

I’ve said before that I consider myself a baker (that’s probably a mistake right there - why pigeonhole myself, right?). But, it’s true. I love to bake. I love looking through recipes for delicious desserts and then creating them as if they’re works of art and then, the best part of all, seeing the looks on the faces of friends and loved ones when they take that first bite. My success rate for my baked goods is pretty darn high.

Dark Chocolate Bundt Cake Drizzled with Fudge Sauce

But cooking?

Well, I feel like I get punched in the gut again…and again…and…

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I’m happy to say that at least one author believes they can. In fact, she’s written a book about it

Julie Halpert, co-author of the book entitled, “Making Up With Mom” was my guest on Soapbox Radio on Tuesday, June 24.

Here’s a video of one of her recent interviews:

At the end of a remarkable guy’s funeral service, this song played.

Then a rainbow appeared in the sky.

Rest in Peace. We’ll miss you.

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Updated 6.26.08:

Jeremy Biser, author of several blogs including Discovering Dad , Struck in Traffic , Thoughts on Quotes and Lead Inspectors joined me on Tuesday, June 17 on Soapbox Radio . If you follow Jeremy on his Discovering Dad blog (which, by the way was recently featured in this ABC News piece ), you know about his beautiful new baby girl, Caitlin, born premature and now adapting well (thank goodness!) to home life. Download the podcast here to listen as Jeremy talks about her and many other topics.

Here’s the promo we used before the show:

I finally carved out some time to see SATC this past weekend.

Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte and Samantha

My hubby and I (yep, he used to watch it with me) were loyal, regular viewers of the series with Sarah Jessica Parker , et al. So it was fun seeing the ladies up on the big screen. I wasn’t expecting much, considering most TV-to-movie attempts just don’t work (at least for me). But, at the end of the day, here’s what I got out of it.

Many women identify with at least one of the characters, whether it’s Samantha, Carrie, Charlotte or Miranda. I always saw a little of myself in each of them, but probably with a tad bit more Charlotte. Always positive, hopeful, and romantic.

In the movie, however, Charlotte (played by Kristin Davis ) was over-the-top uptight, particularly when she packed little pudding cups on a trip to Mexico because she feared the safety of the food and water. Come on now. Last I checked they have pills you can take to prevent acquiring Montezuma’s revenge . No need to starve or subsist on Jello pudding packs. A bit absurd… But then I realized why that stance was necessary. It ultimately gave Charlotte her “bad thing” for the year (see below). And that moment was hysterical. Really funny. Made Carrie laugh at a time when she wondered whether she would ever laugh again.

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