What Ana Does

We're MOVING!  One thing that this COVID pandemic has made super-clear to us, is that living near family and life-long friends is no longer just a dream or luxury, it's a must.  We moved out to Illinois nine years ago with two baby girls and a goal to live within our means in a larger home with no commute and a big yard. And we succeeded. It's been a really great place to raise our kids and build a life, but we don't have any big personal connections here.  I made friends with the girls' friends' mothers, but those relationships have started to disappear as their friendships haven't survived adolescents.  Meanwhile, we have friends and family we see annually on the East coast that continue to be important to us. And in normal years we get to see them enough to satisfy our itch for close social ties. But this year, when travel has not been possible, we've really seen how our life is lacking without that connection.  It's something we even talked about...

WAY back in 2013 we got a piano for free from a neighbor. Here's the full story of how we found it is here and there's a bunch more posts here . It has been in a place of honor in our home since ... right by the front door near our living room. The girls took lessons, but, unfortunately, they never really found a passion for it. But I always enjoyed the noise of them practicing. Or just banging on the keys.  This year I decided it was time to find our piano a new home. We never picked up lessons again after we got home from Paris and no one has touched it in all that time. A piano must be played to exist and the soul of this piano was just crying out to me.  I put it up on Facebook Marketplace for free and offered it to a few friends; all they'd need to do, is pay for moving it. And it didn't find any takers for a few months. Then a friend from Dave's gym was over for a Friendsgiving dinner and we mentioned the piano was up for grabs. They just moved into a new (th...

After a week with seven puppies we were sure happy to wave bye-bye to them. They were cute and cuddly but the POOP. And the barking. They were getting loud. I'm proud to say they all got adopted in just a few hours on Saturday. Including this little guy ... he's all ours! We thought he was prefect for us because he seemed the most interested in us, he almost always used the potty pads, and wasn't one of the loud aggressive guys in the pen. He also seemed thoughtful about the house. And he's just so cute! We named him BRUCE WAYNE BANNER SPRINGSTEEN and he's been doing pretty well. We've given him more freedom around the house and he's chewing just about everything. I've got a puppy book and I'm reading as much as I can. It's not easy. But we're all pitching in and hoping we can raise him right. ;) Related links: More about our dogs

While we were in Illinois this summer, Dave and I took a night away from the girls and stayed in a hotel in downtown Chicago. We had tickets to see Pearl Jam at Wrigley and just needed a little break from parenting. It's so important to date your husband, right? Marriage is tough. Anyway, it was a pretty awesome night away, with the concert and a delicious dinner without the banter or small kids, but we had been talking about getting tattoos together. Dave got his first tattoo last year after talking about getting one for years -- maybe a decade -- and had been thinking of expanding or getting another one. So we thought, maybe we should get one together, while in Chicago. We get a little crazy when left unsupervised. I woke up the morning before we drove down to Chicago with an idea. Originally, I thought about putting an inspirational quote or powerful word (such as "breath" or "be present"). But that morning I thought about putting our family initials some...

As a kid, Christmas was full of magic -- gifts and family dinners and games and all those traditions we held to. As an adult in a Jewish family, I still wanted to offer this magic of the season to our girls. And to me, even as an adult, I was still awed by the magic that the Christmas season brings. Mostly, the gift of pulling all my sisters and brother -- with their growing families -- together under one roof to spend time together. There's magic to be found sitting around the dining room table, looking at those beloved faces and sharing stories and a glass of wine. And cookies. The house we bought and the 8-foot dining room table I found was influenced by the promise of these holidays spent together.  My Siblings, the Last Time We Were All Together ... 2013 So this year, we made sure to buy our flight home from Paris so we didn't miss out on that special family time. Unfortunately, the sisters and brother will not be coming together this year. They will be with th...

I was here at Round Lake beach in Clifton Park, NY where Alice and I were staying for a week of sightseeing while Leah was at camp in the Berkshires. This was my view when my cell rang and David gave me the news: he got the Paris assignment; we're moving to Paris. Of course I wanted to jump and holler and cartwheel and high-five everyone on the beach, but we decided to keep the news under wraps. Let's not tell the girls yet, either. Even though we'd been talking about it in an abstract, "maybe someday" kind of way since he interviewed for the job in May. But we needed to review the offer and accept first. Wait until it was official before spilling the beans. So instead, I squealed into the phone while Alice was out of earshot. And walked into the lake as far as I could go and told the water: "Hi, I'm going to live in Paris. This has been my dream for years. And now we're going. We're going to live in Paris." Even as the words left my...

I have a treasured memory of walking across the public library lawn on a sunny but slightly chilly November day in 1984 holding my Mom's hand. The reason I know this date is because we were heading to the polling place to vote for Walter Mondale for President. I was only 8-years-old, but I remember clearly the feelings of that afternoon. Mom was jubilant. Excited. Proud. She was voting for a female vice president - Geraldine Ferraro. This was big. I think she may have even been a bit teary. Maybe my hazy memory is just upping the drama. I really should ask her about it. She was voting for a woman in a presidential election, can you imagine!? The only talk I can recall is her teaching me not to tell anyone who you're voting for; it was a secret. And my elementary-school brain LOVED secrets. Anyway, she was so happy we might have gotten a treat at Dairy Queen afterwards, but, again, I might just be making that part up. I am beyond excited/proud/jubilant to take MY...

I was flipping through a journal I created in 1995 that included magazine pictures that once hung from the walls of my teen-year's bedroom. When I moved out for college, I had to clear the walls (and room) for my little sister who moved in. So everything got pasted into this journal -- except for the large posters of Keanu and the Young Guns movie poster, they were probably trashed. OK, so my taste in cute boys was flawless, but this makes me feel a bit old, right? Bruce Willis with hair!?! Leo! My darling, tragic River?! And friggin' Jordan Catalano! My So-Called Life and LEO This journal also had my thoughts and feelings on life, poetry and profound quotes, neat vocabulary words, names of my future children, and MANY more pages of cute boys. It's actually pretty cool. I have diaries and journals dating back to when I was 11 stored away, but this one is a definite favorite. I can't wait for Leah to page through this when she's a teenager.  

We've been talking, at first jokingly and sometimes more seriously, about getting a second dog. I know, that sounds nuts because I wasn't altogether onboard for the first, but it's true. And oddly, I'm pushing for it. Here are my attempt at organizing my thoughts around this issue. Benny is a wonderful little dog. But he's scared of everything and doesn't seem very happy. I keep thinking a second dog would give him some companionship and challenge him to involve himself more. Maybe learn some play behaviors or commands. We all committed to having this dog, so getting Benny didn't fulfill all our preconceptions of actually getting a dog. If we're going to do it, let's do it 100%. We'd all love Dave to have a dog he can pal around with. Who won't run from the room when he enters it. He takes it personally that Benny is so frightened of him. This whole thing was his idea, he deserves to get the dog he wanted. The girls too were disappoin...

It's been a fantastic eight crazy nights of Hanukkah. Lots of gifts, smiles and laughter exchanged. And I just love the glow of the menorah with all of the candles lit.

I was a princess AND a ballerina. And I'm pretty sure my Mom made this costume, even though my baby sister would have been 1 month old. (How Did She Do It All?!) And I hope I didn't give her too much of a hard time about the white turtleneck. Halloween 1979 Also, that's my Great-Grandpa Jack looking very impressed by my costume in the background. He lived up the street and seemed to enjoy the chaos of my little family. I believe my older sister was a clown. Also a handmade costume. Related links: More History posts 

We finally got delivery on the new sofa last week. Hooray! After 10 years of service, it was time to wave goodbye to this old lumpy friend. Lumpy I changed diapers on that chaise, and snuggled babies and watched hours of movies with my growing family here. We ate ice cream. And Alice memorably vomited electric blue Tylenol on one of the cushions. (It cleaned off pretty well.) This sofa was a pretty big deal when we purchased it from Room & Board in SoHo ... our first major, non-Ikea sofa. The Family Room with the Sofa Pushed Back The new sofa is firm and velvety-soft. We'll enjoy the job of breaking it in. It's a little taller and a smidgen longer than the old one, too. The ottoman has blanket storage. (!!) We're calling it Teddy.  New Sofa In Its Place Happy ending ... I had put the old sofa up on Craigs List with a very honest ad. "Well-Loved, Lumpy Sofa for Sale!" And I even got a few emails of interest, but nothing panned out. S...

Dave unearthed these two adorable pics from deep in his laptop. This is what these ladies looked like when I started this blog in 2011. Lunch With The Girls Alice - Halloween 2011! She Was Blueberry Muffin Relate posts: More more and more Alice

With a kid sick at home (small fever and cough, sigh), I've had a little time in between meetings and work emails to continue my project of scanning in old family photos my Mom has been generously dropping on my desk. Great-Grandparents -- Dressed up for a Dance From the black and white images that belonged in my Grandma's photo albums, I'm starting to recognize faces of relatives that I never met in real-life. "Hey, there's Grandma Hazel and Grandpa Whitey again!" So, it's a rewarding, though, a never-ending project. Someday, I'd like to make a picture family tree using my Mom's genealogy information and give them as gifts. But that's not in the plans for this year. For now, just scanning. Also in the stacks of photos are pictures of my siblings and I when we were young. Grainy shots from the 1970s and '80s of little girls with rosie cheeks and long bangs. It's fun to look for similarities in the faces of my own kids. Last ...

Eight years later, I finally get my Pearl Jam shirt. From a show I was able to attend. And it fits ... Totally Wearing It At Work Right Now P.S. The show was absolutely brilliant. Eddie Vedder is a rock god.  Rocking Out!

So, my 20th high school reunion was this weekend in Minnesota and I really really wanted to go. But, I didn't. Bummer. First, here are two things you need to know about me and high school: 1) I haven't been friends with anyone from high school since about 6 months after graduation (why is another story). 2) Therefore, other than superficial social media contact (facebook!), I haven't talked to anyone I graduated with in those 20 years. So, it shouldn't surprise anyone that when I messaged some of the girls I used to know from high school on Facebook, they weren't going. And couldn't be convinced otherwise. So fine. And I wasn't about to lone-wolf the reunion. No way. Crazy. On the plus side, I took my family on the roadtrip to Minnesota anyway. I got together with one friend from high school and met her family -- this was awesome. And saw some family who still live there. All in all, a pretty awesome weekend. And I did notice some Facebook updates ...

was a pretty good day. I married my best friend in front of all my family and friends. We ate, we danced, we gazed out at the grey Atlantic ocean just outside the windows of the lovely, historic Narragansett Towers. Yeah, it was a pretty good day. My beautiful Mom and handsome brother walked me down the aisle at around 11am -- and I still can't believe I made it without sobbing. An adorable and friendly Rabbi married us under the huppah decorated with fresh daisies by some friends earlier that morning.  It wasn't sunny, just overcast enough to make the day a little silvery, which was fine with me. It made the pictures, taken by a photog friend of ours, a little more shadowy and dramatic. We had a little cocktail hour with a mountain of delicious cheeses, grapes and crackers (I was big on having a mountain of crudités). Lunch was buffet-style fish and fresh veggies. (No, I didn't get the omelet bar that I wanted.) A bottle of Spanish Rioja was on every table. We danced...

A few years ago I listened to the Julie Julia audiobook and was really drawn into the story and the idea of cooking French food. But, I didn't have the book (or time or inspiration). I always thought that I'd stumble upon Mastering the Art of French Cooking in a used bookstore -- stained and dog-eared. Well-loved by its last owner. But this is so much better! My birthday gift from my beautiful big sister. LOVE!

Spends Much of His Day Napping Housetraining a dog is not all that it's cracked up to be. It's a little like toilet training without diapers. The first week Benny was with us we also had Doc and Dixie (my sister's big dogs) visiting and it was a breeze. Benny saw and smelled the other dogs go outside so he followed right along. Sure, he had a few accidents in the house but we thought we had it under control. Wrong. Since then, it's been all falling apart. According to the books, we're supposed to be vigilant, watching him for "signs," but he wanders off to other parts of the house -- and we have other things to do than follow him around. Also, sometimes the signs are no different than his usual activity. Sniff and circle, it's his favorite way to pass the time. And then, HELLO, we find the accident. Argh! I'm sure it's not easy to train outside when it's snowing or below freezing -- which it has been this last week. It's -...

Benny Boy!  The day before ALL my family arrived at my house, we picked up our new, adopted Beagle, who we named Benny. And in the last month, he's been through a lot of change -- with the transition from the lab to the foster house to our house. (PTSD, maybe?) Not to mention the house swelled to 14 people (5 of whom were under the age of 7) and then dropped back to four. So, he continues to be skittish and anxious about, well, everything! The good thing is he doesn't bark much, doesn't chew or bite. He'd only had a few accidents in the house and he's pretty content to be around people and have a LARGE place to roam around. He liked all the little girls, but he continues to like ME the best. Ha! Because of all this anxiety he paces quite a bit. At first, we were sure he was looking for the foster mom. Then, he paced for a place to hang out. Now that everyone is gone, he seems to be looking for all the people. Once we get in our weekly routine, we're ho...