Author Archives: Ilene

One Lovely Blog

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  Two weeks ago, Christine from Love Life Surf,  had surprised me with the One Lovely Blog award.  A few days later, Mary from A Teachable Mom, nominated me for a Kreativ blogger award!  Then, the end of last week, Jessica from RunOnOrganic nominated me again for One Lovely Blog.  Wow!  Talk about feeling highly complimented and a little humbled.  First, I want to thank all of you for your nominations and support.  One of the pleasant surprises as a new blogger is the enthusiasm I have received from others in the blogging world.     I would like to pay … Continue reading →

Greenalicious

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Yes, that’s me, gazing at my green smoothie with reverence and blind devotion. Perhaps even a bit of a platonic crush.  Because anything that makes someone feel that good from the inside out deserves praise, and lots of it.  As we wrap up week three of the Run to the Finish Green Smoothie Challenge, we welcomed 2 more friends to our green team, which means our posse of smoothie drinkers is now up to twenty.  One is an old friend from grade school, and one, a new friend and fellow blogger, Denise, who you can find at accordingtodenise.com  Our daily roll … Continue reading →

When I Grow Up

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What do you want to do when you grow up? It's the question we have been asked since kindergarten, if not sooner.  In my first grade essay, I said I wanted to be a nurse. In fifth grade, I said attorney. The first time I went to college, I decided to become an English teacher. The second time I went to college, I thought I'd be a writer. By my third try at college, I was no longer focused on what I wanted to do.  I just wanted to graduate.    I took my first post-bachelor's degree job out of … Continue reading →

Raising Hot Sauce

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She sizes up her two year-old play date, with a large blue-eyed stare,  cocks her head to one side, and tosses her wispy brown hair back behind her shoulder.  "When  {pausing for a sigh and another hair toss} are you going home?" she demands, with breathy exasperation. Why would you ask that honey?  I inquire, although I already sense where this is going. "Because…" she starts, with hands on hips.  "He's Booooooring!" Meet Hot Sauce, the youngest of my three children, a four year-old spitfire with so much spice, she'd make Atomic Fireballs seem mellow on your tongue. Hot Sauce … Continue reading →

Have Your Ice Cream And Eat It, Too!

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The neighborhood ice cream truck driver loathes my family.   I have that dreaded clan of children who love to chase down the truck but never buy a thing.  They are the Big Tease.  They are that posse of kids  who would just die for a popsicle created in the image of Sponge Bob or Dora, with eyes made of miniature gumballs, yet they were born to a mother too neurotic about sugar to allow her children to eat "real ice cream" more than once a month, if not once in an entire summer. Not to mention my frugality.  Why spend … Continue reading →

My Yoga Playlist May Surprise You

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Yoga teacher training changed my life.  Yet, in the thick of it, those six months were comparable to attending boot camp.  There were strict rules, high standards, and last minute schedule changes that had trainees jumping through hoops to find babysitters, teach impromptu classes, and cram for a "surprise" final written exam.   Our trainers were traditionalists.   Through the intensity of the program, their beliefs became deeply ingrained into my psyche in such a way, that they led to nightmares, like the one where I can't recall the Sanskrit names of the yoga postures I am teaching my students (bad!)  … Continue reading →

Fifty Shades of Green Smoothies

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Oh, that sophomore slump.   Broken blenders, emergency kale runs in the middle of the night, and smoothie challenge participants suffering from lost momentum.   We are at day 15, exactly that middle point of the Amanda Brooks Run to the Finish Green Smoothie Challenge, and as much as I love my green smoothies, have woken up to a green smoothie every morning for a period of time that spans beyond this challenge,  I've had a few moments where it wasn't easy being green.  It has not been easy for my blender, either, which took its last breath on Thursday morning, from … Continue reading →

The Fat Girl

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Carla never liked me.  She resented that she had to work, and the fact that she answered to a seventeen year old girl as her manager at a mall retail job exacerbated her bitterness.   She compared me to her own kids, while making tiny jabs that picked apart the relics of my teen angst, the black nail polish, the buzz cut, the quasi-goth clothing.  "I would never let my Gabby go out of the house in that."    Nightly, at closing time I would remind Carla to straighten her area.  "You don't have to remind me," she'd snap  But … Continue reading →

Love Letters

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It was the second phone call in a week from Miss F's teacher to discuss her defiant behavior.  Miss F was born defiant, I want to explain.  She could not be sleep trained. She would not allow me to put her down, ever, in a bouncy chair, Exercauser, or swing.  I learned to perform all household and personal tasks, from checking email to stir frying tofu,  with Miss F nestled in a sling against my chest.  She "ran away" for the first time, at the age of four, leaving me in the complicated position of having to leave a two-year … Continue reading →

Confessions of a Slow Poke Runner

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When people hear I'm a runner, they assume I book down neighborhood streets at super hero speed!   That I am nothing more than a blur as I sprint by!  That I could qualify for the Boston Marathon!  Because in order to be a runner, you have to be fast, right? Well, in my case, that couldn't be farther from the truth. One of the reasons I started running was because no other team sport wanted me.   You will hear no pity from me over this, because quite honestly, I can't blame them.  I sucked at team sports. I made enemies … Continue reading →