Sisterhood46

Those who know me, know that I am a certified chocoholic. My addiction started at a very young age, and has never abated. In fact, I come from a long of line of chocoholics, every member of my immediate family can not be trusted with a box of good chocolates. This morning I made sure that this family tradition would be passed on to the next generation. Bella and I spend the morning at our very first chocolate tasting. My friend Stephanie hosted this wonderful event, where in the course of an hour, Bella and six other ladies had the pleasure of tasting, evaluating, discussing 24 kinds of chocolates. We leisurely worked our way from 56% cacao to 99%. It was very similar to a wine tasting. First we smelled the sample, then placed it in the middle of our tongue, let it melt and see what developed. We took copious notes, rated each chocolate and after a sip of room temperature water worked our way to the next sample. I can't think of a better way to spend a frigid Friday morning in

One of my biggest fears about moving to the burbs was that we would be immersed in an hyper American world. One of the advantages of living in New York City is that you're surrounded by people of different cultures and countries. Our family is multicultural I was pretty scared that we wouldn't meet others like us. Well I have good news for foreigners moving to the burbs! In our street we have a Canadian family, a woman who lived in France for ten years, a Parisian family and a family who's half American half Venezuelan. One my son's soccer team we had kids from Sweden and South Africa. In my other son's class we have a girl from Belgium who just moved from Singapore. The huge benefit is that my kids are still exposed to other families who speak more than one language and who travel quite often outside of the U.S. The best thing is that it's inspired me and my kids to start speaking three languages in our house again. I'd kind of slacked off and I fel

Working out in the burbs is really vital to your health. Primarily because you spend the majority of your time in a car. The problem is that working out in the burbs can be deadly. You think I jest.... Let's start with running. Running in the city is done in a park, or the Central Park Reservoir or on a walkway. The point is that a runner rarely has to deal with cars. In the burbs you basically can run on a road with no sidewalk and if you're very lucky it's a road with a bike lane. Either way you're risking your life because you have to run next to cars. In those cars are drivers who are either on the phone, checking e-mails or turning their heads to yell at their kids! The net net is that they are not paying attention to anyone on the road! That means that during a 40 minute run you run the risk of being killed approximately 20 times. It's not much better if you go to the gym. This morning to get to my 6:00AM boxing class I had to drive slowly on my street t

I've spent quite a bit of time over the last year, writing about about the pros and cons of the suburbs. Well let's face it maybe a little bit more about the cons. Last night I was moaning a little bit to hubby about the lack of diversity in the burbs. I really feel that it's important for my kids to interact with people from different ethnic and social backgrounds. I thought I was making a fair point. But hubbie's reaction was less than enthusiastic. He reminded me that in our NYC neighborhood there may have been ethnic diversity but the common denominator was wealth. He also reminded me that for the privilege of living there we were sacrificing on other fronts. At first I reacted badly to this. I always take the pro-city side in any conversation. But upon reflection, I realize that hubby was pointing out something important. In fact he pointed out something that I've been telling my coaching clients. Be grateful. No matter where you are the first step is to be

Setting: After-school gym class, somewhere in the burbs of CT. Preamble: Normal mom chit chat. Five minutes into the conversation.... Burb Woman 1: "Have we met before?" Burb Woman 2: "I don't know. It's possible since we live so close to each other..." BW1: "I swear I met you before." BW2: "um...." BW1: "Yeah, I remember, we walked up the hill together, you were pushing a stroller..." BW2: "um..." BW1: "yeah I'm sure it was you. I just don't remember you looking so pretty. Maybe you were pregnant...." BW2 : "um...I'm not sure how to take that." And they say New Yorkers are mean! Talk about needing a FILTER!!!!!

I have another rule to add... #7 Check in with your husband before you go. Hubbie just walked in and informed me that he'd just purchased half the stuff I kept from today's excursion. We now have enough Special K to last us until 2011!

When you live in the city, you dream of going to those huge wholesale places like Sam's Club so that you can buy diapers and cereals at a fraction of city prices. I use to envy those neighbors who pulled up with their cars at the end of the weekend filled with cheap groceries. Ironies of ironies when I first moved out here I resisted joining a wholesale club. Truth be told it was more than my bruised and homesick ego could take. But after hearing from a number of "normal" people that it was the thing to do with a big family, I joined and I hid my membership card deep into my wallet. That was six months ago. Today I learned that I'm still figuring out the basic rules of wholesale shopping. I learnt these rules the hard way, i.e. by not following them and paying dearly for it. #1 Never ever take a child with you, they'll be a source of distraction and that's the last thing you need in a place like Costco's, you need to focus. #2 Bring a list of what you need

Most things in the suburbs, as you already know, are pretty traditional, including the husband and wife roles. Many husbands go to work in the city from 7am-10pm each day and most women stay in the burbs 24/7. Many of these women have their own local businesses and pursuits as well but the net net on your marriage is that the amount of time you spend together is really reduced to the weekend. Weekends means a lot of kid commitments like sports and parties. Somehow having so little time for each other has made date night, sans kids, even more important. As you can imagine, finding a sitter is just as competitive here as it is in the city. Once you find a good one and your date night is set up you don't want to share. So I recently joined a baby sitting service called sittercity. I highly recommend it all of you who are in the burbs and looking for a sitter that is older than 13 (a lot of people feel ok using a neighbor's kid...) I paid my fee, posted my ad and within 3 days I ha

The city landscape and its inhabitants provide a great deal of material for thought and contemplation. It's easy to be inspired in the city, there's a spark around every corner. There's almost an endless creativity mine in the city. In the burbs that pool of inspiration is not as easily accessible or even available. But I've discovered a precious natural resource in the burbs...time and space to think! Because my brain is not consistently being attracted by a sound or a visual, it has time to think. It has time to present. It's a beautiful thing. Your thinking is uninterrupted in the burbs. You can actually write a whole article in your head from your house to the kids school because you're alone in the car as opposed to being shoved in a noisy subway car. Your thinking is clearer and linear. You don't constantly feel like you've been interrupted. You know the best part? You can have a whole daydream and not be interrupted in the burbs, another beautifu

Reader beware, the burbs can affect your clothing choices and overall style. When you live and work in the burbs it's easy and convenient to just throw on a pair of jeans with a relatively cute, but machine washable, top. For one, it's an outfit that will survive whatever your kids throw at you and secondly it's easy. To be honest, there aren't many people to "dress up for" in the burbs. I mean I'm not getting dressed for the school bus driver, the other moms on the street or the check out lady at the supermarket. When you live in the city, people are much more style aware so it's a bit of a competition. You feel frumpy very quickly if you don't make an effort. Plus you might actually run into someone you want to impress and of course as you're walking you see lots of store fronts with great new fashion ideas that inspire you. And of course as with anything the more you do it the more it becomes a habit. So the net net is that without really no

As you know, food in CT is not usually something to rave about....well yesterday, on our way back from a morning of skiing with the kids, we discovered a gem of a diner. If you are within driving distance of Middletown, CT you must stop at O'Rourke's diner. We devoured the best diner food ever. Banana bread french toast, covered in baked bananas, Grilled Cheese made with homemade whole grain bread, that tasted like cake, Raspberry pancakes that melted in your mouth. To top if off, the service was incredibly friendly and efficient.