My Evening With Mayim Bialik

Was awesome. Seriously.

You can read all about it here.

And said it my best Joey Lawrence impression, "Whoa!"

That Moment When

A turn of phrase I've been seeing more often lately is "that moment when." Usually, it's followed by something awkward, like realizing you left your wallet at home after you've unloaded a full cart of groceries in front of the cashier, but sometimes, it's a moment of awe. I experienced one of those last night.

That moment when you're living a dream come true that you never fully realized you had.

While I was cleaning up from dinner, sweeping the floor like every other night, Marc sat down at the piano with Hannah. She's working on "Puff the Magic Dragon" for her upcoming "recital" (in quotation marks because it's a very low-key affair) and the piece has a duet component. They sat together trying to get their timing in sync while Max attempted to sing along. Of course Max's singing proved too distracting and everyone got a little frustrated. But from my vantage point in the kitchen, it all sounded lovely. My husband and my two children were making music together.

There are those moments when I'm doubting myself: for being too young, for not having made all the right decisions, for moving too fast, for stumbling, for being closed off. But sometimes, I catch the glorious moments too, and last night was a good one.

Five Years

Today marks the fifth anniversary of The Life of LilMisBusy.

While that may seem amazing to no one except me, allow me a moment of reflection. I've really enjoyed having this medium as a journal of my life, and I've loved the many interactions I've had with family and friends because of it. Design-wise, I haven't changed a thing since that first day, and I kind of like it that way. I want this spot to be about what I'm actually saying, not the super cool graphics or ads.

That might put me at odds with many of the blogs I follow (do you have one I should be reading?). But for me, blogging has always been about the stories. I'm interested in the minutiae of life: how you spend a weekend, your parenting decisions, your health crises, your fears and triumphs. There's nothing more fascinating to me than getting to know people, and my primary motivation for starting all this was to give a little piece of myself back to all those I'm reading about along the way. When you leave me a comment or start a conversation by saying "so I read that post of yours..." it gives me the opportunity to know more about you too.

So I may not be a huge blogging success, but in my mind, engaging with all of you in this way has made me more successful than I could have dreamed. Maybe I can't measure it in Google Analytics, but it's still meant an awful lot to me.

Five years ago we had LilMisBusy, Mr. Busy, BusyBee and eventually, BabyBee. Life keeps getting busier, and I hope I can continue to share it with you. Here's to the next five years.

(Okay, one more thing. I decided to look at old pictures to see what I looked like in March 2007 and how much I've aged. The one picture I'm in from that month happens to be in the same shirt I'm wearing RIGHT NOW. So I guess five years doesn't really change much!)

Then:



Now:

Wanted: Inspiration

Men, you may wish to skip this post, as I'm going to do something here that I have no right to be doing: I'm going to write about fashion.

I feel like I'm actually aware of what some trends are this spring, and that fact in and of itself feels odd to me. But somehow, pastels, floral patterns and tangerine have made their way into my cluttered stream of consciousness. This is troubling because I'm not a fan of any of those items.

I realize I can't spend 365 days a year in my preferred black ensembles, but I do try hard (evidenced by this recent dress order). At least it incorporates flowers, in a big bold way, right?

So what I'm looking for is inspiration. I can't promise I'll take all of your suggestions, but feel free to lead me in a new direction. What are you looking forward to wearing now that the sun should be shining more?

The (Non-)Winter Blahs

Here in Boston, winter hasn't really happened this year, and I'm thrilled. Even with my Yaktrax, I hate snow and ice with a passion. So I feel a bit guilty complaining about having a case of the winter blahs, but there it is.

The month of February has gone by and I felt like we haven't done much. Of course, when last February meant Paris, everything else would pale in comparison. I could really go for some Pizza Pino.

And yet, we've still been busy. I had the opportunity to meet up with one of my childhood best friends, Sarah, who was in town on business. The last 15 years of our lives were covered over 45 minutes and coffee, and it felt really good to connect with someone from that part of my life. Marc and I also enjoyed celebrating our friend Nicole's recent birthday.

The kids are fine. Max had fun being "Star of the Week" at school, is still excited about learning letters, and has spent much of the last two months thoroughly obsessed with pirates. Hannah has been on vacation this week, and I took her to the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum before she got to spend three days away with Fillis and John. One of her school art projects was selected to be displayed at the Newton Education Center, and there is a reception for that next week. And Marc bought a new car, but I'll leave it to him to tell that story.

I've been very busy with temple-related work, first on Share a Shabbat and then on Yom Hashoah (Holocaust remembrance). I watched about 20 hours of footage that was filmed for the movie "Tikkun," hearing the complete interviews from all 35 participants, and the stories are just amazing. "Tikkun" was the short version, just quickly showing how so many members of our community were impacted by the Holocaust, and our committee is hoping to do some longer form versions. Now that I've seen them all, I feel a strong responsibility to do something with them. The experiences are so varied, and I learned things about people I've known for a long time, but never had the opportunity to discuss. The stories are too important to sit unwatched.

I've been trying to continue to exercise, and yes, I still hate it. But I'm back to seeing a personal trainer, now on Thursday nights. Without that scheduled appointment, there is no way I'd bother going. Combining that with time I spend exercising while Hannah takes rock climbing on Tuesdays, I'm doing it twice a week. I'm not deluding myself into thinking that there will be any results from my exercise, but instead telling myself that it's better than not doing any at all. I'm still using my continuous glucose monitor, though it's been more of a struggle with it lately, so I've given myself 24 hour breaks when I need it. In general, it's made me a lot more responsible and diligent about taking care of myself, so I guess it's still a good thing, but when it's not functioning properly, it's really super annoying.

So that's the mishmash of updates from here. How's the winter been treating you?

For Julia

This morning via Facebook, I received news that my dear childhood friend Julia had passed away after a year-long struggle with cancer. Julia lived in San Diego, and I hadn't seen her in person since 2006, when the above photo was taken at our 10 year Solon High School reunion.

Julia and I met while attending religious school at Fairmount Temple, in either third or fourth grade. I liked her immediately - we were both the teacher's pets in our class, and she seemed exotic, being a Russian Jew. In fifth grade when my parents bought a new house in Solon, she was the only person I knew who lived there, and I desperately clung to that information. I remember eating lunch with her and her group of friends in those first few days at my new school, trying to figure out where I fit in there.

We continued to attend synagogue events together, even though I can't recall us being very close during middle school. But during this time, I know that Julia became seriously ill. Looking back now, it was probably cancer then too, but I didn't know it at the time. I knew she missed lots of school, and lost her hair, but I don't remember knowing how serious it probably was. She was just my friend, the kind of friend where you just picked up where you left off when you had to.

During our freshman year of high school we attended a conference in Washington, D.C. and I remember we were feeling pretty full of ourselves. We were excited for this big trip away, it was my first time in D.C., and we took giddy pictures of ourselves standing on the fence outside the White House and at the Lincoln Memorial. We got a little lost hanging around in Baltimore, but I remember not being worried. When Marc and I went to that same area years later, I remembered the peace I'd felt there with her.

We carpooled back and forth from Beachwood to Solon for years. We wrote articles together for our BBYO chapter newsletter, the Chaia Chailights. I will never forget her excitement over her family's adoption of their first dog, Ruby, who she loved like a sibling. We had a fabulous time catching up at our 10 year reunion, and she was one of the first people I looked for when I joined Facebook in 2008.

Julia became an accomplished dentist, and I sought her advice when Hannah developed "shark teeth" before her fifth birthday. She got in a couple of heated debates on my posts over the years, but I always respected what she had to say. I sincerely hoped that someday I would be able to visit her in San Diego, where she seemed to be very happy with her parents and sister.

Last August, after writing yet another blog post on The Back, she wrote me to "stay strong and be patient." Julia, you were always the strong one. I am sorry we didn't get more time together, but I am very thankful for the many wonderful memories I will always treasure. My deepest condolences to all who knew and loved her. Rest in peace, and I hope Ruby was there waiting for you.

A Post Just to Post

I haven't felt like writing much here lately. Well, that's not entirely true, as I've written about things and haven't posted them. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to say about this and this and most definitely this controversy, but would love to hear your thoughts on any and all of those topics, if you feel like clicking through to the links. But in the meantime, here's a bit of a January update.

The kids both really enjoyed their birthdays. Hannah had another Sleep Under, which this year was timed to coincide with the series finale of one of her favorite shows, "The Wizards of Waverly Place." Max's party was a couple of days later, at the amazing Kid's Street, and he seemed to really enjoy it. They both started new classes as well; Hannah is doing rock climbing, and Max is doing gymnastics and swimming (though he doesn't seem a big fan of the swimming class). Max has also completely given up his nap, which has made life a little more interesting lately.

The Temple Emanuel Share a Shabbat registrations have been rolling in, and it's been fun answering questions and facilitating the program. I've sent some emails akin to secret admirer notes asking people to sign up if they'd been requested by others as possible matches. It feels like I'm getting to know everyone a little better. We have our match-making meeting next weekend, and I'm excited to hear how all of the dinners go.

This weekend I've been home alone with the kids while Marc took a trip to Little Rock to visit Rachel, Jon, Nate and Evie. Shockingly, we didn't get the major snow storm that I was predicting to happen while he was away. I took a day off on Friday and treated myself to some shopping and to the movie "The Descendants." We've been having a nice little weekend, just the three of us, but we're also ready for Marc to get back too.

Anyway, this is just a post in order to get posting again. Maybe February will be more worth writing about.