The first installment in this series covered some basic running tips that helped me get started. Now it’s time to Get Serious. Here are the tips that have helped me get to my next running level. Continue reading
Advice
152 posts
When I taught junior high, it was at a rural “alternative” school — a school for students who had been expelled from other urban schools in the county. “At-risk” kids, if you like: Virtually all had chaotic home lives, or incarcerated parents, or something. There was also abuse, of course — although that issue was more the province of the social workers than the teachers. (This school had two full-time social workers on staff — for a student body of sixty kids in total.) The entire institution was specifically designed to educate this “population” of students: It was situated at some distance from other schools in the district, and was reached via a long ride through the countryside on an actual “short bus.” Continue reading
My mom was a tough lady. Born to genocide survivors from Turkey in pre-war Palestine and raised in the post-war West Bank she grew up with loss always on the brink, and a sense garnered out of necessity that one can make lemonade out of even the tartest, dirtiest lemons. She was also very, very ill from a young age, one of the first in her generation to be formally diagnosed with SLE (as opposed to “rheumatism”), but regardless of her life’s seemingly endless challenges, she went to school in the states, graduated Magna cum Laude, and was a highly respected linguist and speech pathologist. Along the way she married my dad- a schlubby, sweet Mormon guy (I know), and had me. So it goes.
She was also a bitch of the first order. A woman who inspired fear and respect. She ruled the household with an iron fist clad in a velvet Chanel glove, and made it a point of pride to stand any man down who got in the way of her or her husband’s success. Continue reading
It’s almost May, and that means the start of wedding season! Open bars and casual foreveralone-fueled hookups and cheap yet “meaningful” party favors and mason jars filled with ALL THE THINGS!
But wedding season isn’t just about collecting seven hundred monogrammed boxes of Jordan almonds; it means bridesmaid-duty season, too. According to a survey of over 20,000 brides in the U.S., it costs an average of $1,695 to be a bridesmaid. The study, done by WeddingChannel.com, found that not only is the cost of the average wedding going up, but that the cost for those roped into being in a giant matrimonial circus is increasing too. Continue reading
If there’s anything I love more than uninformed veterinary advice and xoJane, it’s uninformed veterinary advice on xoJane. In “I Think My Dog Gave Me Ringworm,” Helena Andrews thinks her dog gave her…no, actually, she imagines her ringworm-infected dog could possibly give it to her. I’m serious: “I now believe my eczema is ringworm because my vet said so — sorta.” Oh boy. Anyway, this post, and the comments, are a goldmine of bullshit advice. Continue reading
The other day Crasstalk superstar commenter MonkeyBiz was informing us that he and his three roommates (yes, I count Leo) have opened their hot tub. You all congratulated him on his new, swinging jacuzzi-based lifestyle and while I too was happy for Mister Biz, I felt a deep sense of conflict.
I had something to get off my chest. I’ve kept the feelings bottled up inside me for so long that I’d forgotten the joys of a three-hour hot tub soak. I’m writing this today because my fellow survivors have stories to tell — stories about 6 to 10 days of mild discomfort, stories of cool dudes with shiny t-shirts and bangin’ ass chicks with Kanye glasses who have been relegated to the shadows of society for up to a week and a half. My friends, I’m writing this today because I am a Hot Tub Rash survivor and this is my story. Continue reading
We’ve all heard the expression “You are what you eat.” I always took this to heart, being from the South, which has a very rich history of consuming very rich and high-fat foods. We always expressed ourselves through the foods we ate — well at least in my house we did. Continue reading
A number of us ladies (and Dogs) were discussing beauty tricks last evening and venting our frustrations with the problems cosmetics cause us. We had questions: Is the smokey eye a myth? (Answer: Yes). Why are Spanx crotchless and is that ever not funny? (Answers: Let’s not think about that too hard and no). We realized that we all have different strengths and that combined, we could probably construct the perfect beauty look.
Personally, I am useless when it comes to eye makeup and intricate hairstyles? Forget it. The one thing I am really good at is creating a nice, natural-looking base layer. Continue reading
Surely there’s a better word, or term, for this function than what I’ve come up with in the title here, but I can’t lay my hand on it just now.
What it is, is when someone has died or gone into a long-term care facility, and someone – you – has to go into the house and deal with its contents. The object is to get all the person’s belongings out of the home so it can be sold, or rented out again if it’s an apartment. Continue reading
During college, I interned for my local U.S. representative on Capitol Hill. Since I come from a very politically-red region of the country, my Congressman was of course a Republican. I was unregistered with a party myself (as I remain to this day), but quite interested in politics. Continue reading