“I can’t breathe”

Trigger warning ahead: violence and foul language

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After college, I lived in an apartment on the north side of the city, with my all-star roommates, (please read the sarcasm there) we’ll call them Elizabeth and Jessica. We were fortunate enough to have some outstanding downstairs neighbors. (Please read the additional sarcasm utterly dripping from there, too.) […]

My Birth

I’ve been told the story of my birth, my grand entrance into this world, by countless people throughout my life. You see, I was the first grandchild on both my Mom and Dad’s side. I was kind of a big deal…

“What are you having?”

“What are you having?”

“Is it a boy or a girl?”

“Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl yet?”

“When do you find out if it’s a girl or a boy?”

“What do you think it is? A boy or a girl?”

“Which one do you want? A girl or a boy?” […]

Cravings & Crying

This Friday will mark 8 weeks exactly into this pregnancy, which also happens to be 2/3 of the way through the First Trimester (Y’all gon’ learn today!)
The first trimester of a pregnancy is mainly marked by morning sickness (in more than 50% of women!), gas, cravings, and emotional turbulence (because hormones are all kinds of whack-a-doo.)
Morning Sickness has me. But it’s […]

Great News

Dearest friends & readers it is with great joy & celebration that I report:
After 11 months trying, countless doctor visits in both Florida and Illinois, med changes, countless sticks peed on, more than 25 pounds lost, and gallons of tears shed:
Martin and I are officially having a baby!!! […]

Noodles

I want to tell you a story about when things just happen the way they’re supposed to…

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It was springtime 2010. I had been out of college for a couple of years and had just moved back home with my parents in Evanston after an awful apartment situation in Rogers Park (a neighborhood in Chicago just north of the city). (That’s a story for another day!)

While I had lived in the apartment, I had the opportunity to […]

Blogger’s Block

Blogger’s block is a real thing. And I’m in it. Man, am I in it. I want to try to explain it to you because it’s different from regular writer’s block, in that I don’t write poetry, novels, or stories for a living. Here on my blog, I try to write what brings me joy, sadness or an itch in that moment; to have a healthy mix of stories, funny things, helpful things, and serious and dear-to-my-heart issues. Lately, though, my trouble has begun to grow, and here’s why: […]

20 Years in the Making

It was the summer of 1997. I was 12, and just about to enter dreaded middle school (eek, I know). Old enough to stay home during the day while my parents were at work, and make plans for sleepovers with my girlfriends, and watch all the VH1 & MTV I wanted. I liked to watch the Top 10 Videos regularly on both. This was before the Carson Daly and his Total Request Live (TRL) days. It was the glory days of the 90’s music scene, especially for a 12-year-old girl, with hard-hitting female rock anthem singles like […]