Have you got swagga?

Being a parent of tweens/teenagers is sometimes like being in a foreign country where you don’t speak the language and you’re not familiar with the natives’ customs. Should I approach? Am I standing too close? What are they saying? They keep telling me “You don’t understand!”


On American Idol the other night, Miley Cyrus told one of the contestants that his voice had swagga. He was very pleased with this comment and I had no clue what it meant. Now, I’m a pretty hip Mom. I’ve read the Twilight series, I watched the Jersey Shore, I know Goths, Posers, and Emo and the difference between them. I know most of the IM acronyms like LMAO, POS, BTW, JK, GTG, and BRB. I have a face book, a blog, and a farm!!

Well, I stumbled across this little gem today on the internet and need to share it with my fellow Moms: http://www.urbandictionary.com/ Click on it now! You need this! It is like a tween/teen translator. Bookmark this on your computer and iphones! You will understand your kids once again!

Feeling Blu?

Okay I love Blu at the Ritz… It is restaurant week in Boston and my friend Sandi and I went to Blu. Blu is located at the Sports Club LA adjacent to the Ritz on Avery Street in the theater district. This is also the same Ritz Charlton that was home to Red Sox slugger David Ortiz!

The menu is somewhat limited for the week and I do have to say I had my hesitations when Sandi booked the reservation. However, the service was fantastic the portions very generous and the food was out of the world.

It was a 3 course menu for $20.10, I had steamed mussels, with tomatoes, basil pesto cream and grilled texas toast , followed by salmon with wild rice, arugula and maple chipotle vinaigrette and for dessert… dear god, Carmel Apple Napoleon, crispy phyllo, mascarpone cream and brandied apples. My tummy is in heaven!

Booktini Gathering

What a great night!  The Booktini gals got together to discuss Michelle Moran's book, Cleopatra's Daughter.  We started our evening with some pomegranate wine, pita bread, hummus, and very tasty olives. In keeping with our Egyptian theme, we had Egyptian music in the background, place cards with our names in hieroglyphics, and modern Egyptian food (that didn't turn out so great except for the Baklavan - yum).  

We all enjoyed reading this fascinating novel.  The story begins with Cleopatra and Marc Antony's suicides and tells the story of what becomes of their children.  The Romans have taken over Egypt and the fate of these children, in particular Cleopatra's daughter Selene, is very uncertain.  The development of these characters and vivid descriptions of Egypt and Rome transport the reader to this tumultuous time in history. 

We had the opportunity to speak with Michelle and enjoyed hearing how she came to telling this previously untold story.  It is a story of survival, loss, power and love.  Michelle's passion for these characters and this story is evident in every page.  So, if you are at all interested in Ancient Egypt, Rome, or Cleopatra then you would love this book!  Michelle also revealed to us what her next book is about and we can't wait to get our hands on it, but you will have to keep checking back - we aren't going to spill the beans!

The next book we'll be reading is Stieg Larsson's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.  Our next Booktini gathering will be April 23rd and it's going to have a Swedish theme.  IKEA anyone?

We are so excited!

There are so many things we are looking forward to!  For starters, The Carrie Diaries, Candace Bushnell's new book, available on April 27th.  This is like the prequel to Sex and the City.  Also coming on May 28th is Sex and the City 2 movie.  Grab your Cosmos and your girlfriends for a great movie night!

Now switching gears a bit, we have important dates for Twilight Fans!  The New Moon DVD is available March 20th.  Then right around the corner is the release of Eclipse in movie theaters on June 30th.  We can't wait for that!

Since we're talking about vampires, Vampire Diaries returns with new episodes on Marh 25th.  It's the only show that I watch faithfully!  Also, for anyone who is reading the House of Night series, the next book Burned, will be available April 27th.  A few of us Booktini gals love this series.  I swear we're not 15 years old.  Really, we're a group of ladies who are just young at heart!

Let us know if you are counting down the days (like us) for any of these releases or if there's something you think we should put on our radar!

All good things come in brown paper bags!

Okay, get your mind out of the gutter!  I am not talking about the items you pick up at those "adult-only" stores, I am talking about wine and the best seafood anyone could ever want.  More specifically, fried calamari from The Net Result seafood restaurant on Martha's Vineyard.

While others flocked to a more southern locale, Dave, Brendan, Catie and I decided to vacation on the Vineyard last summer, so we packed our bags and headed to the island!  After giving Catie a bath in the sink of a public restroom when she was 5, I thought I would step it up a notch and stay at a place with our own bathing facilities!  The motel, and yes I say motel, we stayed at was right across the street from this seafood paradise!

My son, who was 11 at the time, tried his first and probably last whole lobster - not because it was bad, but because it was staring at him while he tried to eat it!  So after giving up on that he asked if he could try my calamari, and what mother would deny her child food?  BIG MISTAKE... after fighting him for the last piece, he has been hooked!  He has tried it since then at a slew of other restaurants and nothing has come close to this deep fried delight in a brown paper bag.

Do you have this?

Do you read in bed at night while your significant other snoozes away?  Well, I do and I had tried every book light imaginable.  Some of them wouldn't clip right, others only lit up a small portion of the page, some were too dim and the list went on and on.  I felt like the Goldilocks of book lights!  Then about a year or so ago, I saw Oprah talking about the Lightwedge and figured that if Oprah liked it then it must be good. 

So, I ordered it and have been in love with it ever since!  I use it at least 5 nights a week for about an hour or so each night (sometimes more, sometimes less) and I've only changed the batteries once!  I'd love to hear if anyone else loves it as much as I do or if you have another type of book light that you love.