The Daily Grind of a Work @ Home Mom...

A Simple Day

Like most everyone else, weekends are somewhat sacred in our house.  Unfortunately, too many of them get eaten up by errands, (other people's) birthday parties, commitment, and some silly thing or another so after spending Saturday doing my own thing, I reserved Sunday - for which the forecast was a warm, sunny day in New England - to do one of my favorite things: hit the beach.

It's getting easier now that my kids are getting older.  At four and almost six, they can carry their own snack, (almost) carry their own mini beach chairs, and play together.  Where a trip to the beach used to mean a cart load of stuff, eyes in the back of my head times two, and equal parts anxiety and fun, it's not like that anymore. 

For me, the beach - especially the New England beach - is a safe place.

It's a place I can think clearly, whether I'm jumping waves or sitting in my chair staring at them.  I can breathe deeply - I almost believe the sea air helps me sleep better (bottled beach air!  just $19.99!).  There's just something about a long beach day that equals luxury, decandence, relaxation.  Especially after a long week at school and work.  Especially when I'm surrounded by people I love.

We ended the day eating dinner while looking at the ocean in a nearby seaside town.  We hit the candy store, walked with the throngs of early toursists, begged for ice cream and finally, fell asleep on the drive home, the sand still attached to our toes.

It was a simple day. A perfectly, simple day.

The Rockettes did it again

And again.  And again.

On Saturday morning, we hit the Wang Theatre for what is most definitely one of my favorite family shows, The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes.  If you have any holiday spirit, you have to catch this show.  It just infuses you with that Christmas feeling (and this coming from the Jewish girl). 

Last year the show impressed us.  And this year, the Rockettes lived up to our expectations, and even surpassed them with a freshness to the show. The performance included those scissor perfect kicking legs, hot little outfits, Santa (Mrs. Claus was conspicuously MIA - did the big D hit the North Pole, too?), the cute dancing bears and an amazing Nutcracker scene.  Props to the young ballerina dancing Clara who is such an incredible talent!

Included in the show is the traditional sleighride, those fantastic wooden soldiers, and of course the nativity scene (camels on stage, Mom?  Are they real?).  My personal favorite part was the new "New York at Christmas" scene, complete with the Rockettes in glamorous white coats and hats taking a tour of New York City in a life-sized double-decker tour bus. As the bus changes position and direction, the new 50-foot LED screen backdrop gives the illusion that they are moving from one major attraction to another. It has a 3D-like effect and was really awesome.  As in AWE-some.

You know, I think the best thing about the Rockettes show, apart from the dazzling effects, amazing costumes, those legs, the legs, and the legs, is that it's completely suitable for everyone, age three to 93.  Seriously.  Before we bundled ourselves up in our coats and mittess to head away from the magic and back to the real world, my daughters made me promise that we would visit the Rockettes again next year.

And promise I did.

I received four tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes to facilitate this review.  All opinions are my own.

 

 

 

 

The Rockettes return to Boston!

It's becoming a bit of a holiday tradition that our Jewish family hits The Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes show in December.  I mean, it's only our second year, but I can definitely see where this is going.  Because even before we knew we had seats, we were talking about it at breakfast. 

"Mommy, you know that show we saw last year with the dancers and Santa and the presents?"

"Yep," I answered.

"Let's do that again," said my five year old daughter.  And I agreed.

We soooo loved it last year.  Not at all what I was expecting, the famous Rockettes are more than a bunch of perfect legs.  It's a terrific story including all the holiday faves - Santa and Mrs. Claus, the elves, Santa's Helpers, many of Santa's toys, the Wooden Soldiers, and so many other holiday characters.  Even for this Jewish bunch, it got us in the spirit of things.   And a visit to the gorgeous Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theater is a treat in itself!

We are so looking forward to this year's show, which features brand-new scenes and songs, spectacular new sets, dazzling new costumes, an amazing 50-foot LED screen, and a new finale.  We can't wait to see the incredible precision dancing of The Rockettes, and especially the new number “Christmas in New York,” featuring a chorus of Broadway-style singers and a life-sized double-decker bus!

You too can take your family to see The Rockettes at the Citi Performing Arts Center Wang Theater between now and December 28th, or select a non-peak show and save 25% off* your tickets:

How to Buy Tickets at 25% off*:
1. Log onto: www.citicenter.org/radiocity

2. Select a NON Peak Performance (not bolded) between Sat, Dec 7^th – Dec 28^th for your 25% off discount:

12/2/2011 at 8 pm

12/16/2011 at 2 pm, 5 pm

12/3/2011 at 11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm, 8 pm

12/17/2011 at 11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm, 8 pm

12/4/2011 at 12 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm

12/18/2011 at 12 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm

12/7/2011 at 2 pm

12/20/2011 at 2 pm, 7:30 pm

12/8/2011 at 2 pm, 7:30 pm

12/21/2011 at 2 pm, 7:30 pm

12/9/2011 at 2 pm, 5 pm, 8 pm

12/22/2011 at 5 pm, 8 pm

12/10/2011 at 11 am, 2 pm, 5 pm, 8 pm

12/23/2011 at 2 pm, 5 pm, 8 pm

12/11/2011 at 12 pm, 3 pm, 6 pm

12/26/2011 at 2 pm, 5 pm

12/13/2011 at 7:30 pm

12/27/2011 at 2 pm, 5 pm

12/14/2011 at 2 pm, 7:30 pm

12/28/2011 at 2 pm, 5 pm

12/15/2011 at 2 pm, 7:30 pm

Bolded Performances = Peak Pricing/no Discount    

3. Enter Promo Code: ROXMOM11
*Offer is not valid for Gold Circle - $130 seats, for which there are no discounts. There is a 8 ticket limit on this event.
Pricing                                                Peak                Non-Peak
Orchestra (Pit & Rows A-D):             $130.00                 $130.00
Orchestra (Rows E-O center):            $99.00                    $89.00
Orchestra (Rows E-O sides, P-EE):    $83.00                   $73.00

Mezzanine:                                       $83.00                   $73.00

Balcony (Rows E-J):                          $83.00                   $73.00
Balcony (Rows K-S):                          $74.00                   $64.00
Balcony (Rows T-Z):                          $58.00                    $48.00
Balcony (Rows AA-FF):                     $29.00                    $25.00

Prices include a $3.00 Facility Fee.

I received four tickets to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular starring The Rockettes to facilitate this review. All opinions are my own.

Clickit!togiftit! offers egifts for friends and something special for you

I'm something of a shopaholic.  Forget time of year, I am one of those who derives serious pleasure from spending money all year round, not just at holiday time.  And I love shopping for other people which is weird, I know.  But what makes buying stuff for other people even better, is when I get something out of the deal too (I'm not that selfless).

Clickit!togiftit! is an egifting site that offers digital gift cards to dozens of great places.  Stores like Banana Republic, The Children's Place and Gap, and restaurants including Cheesecake Factory, Chili's, and Not Your Average Joe's are all represented too. What makes this site different is that they offer revolving promotions, so when you buy an egift for a friend, you get something too.

For example, right now, if you buy a $100 gift card to Maggiano's, you (the purchaser) will get a $20 gift card and a one-year subscription to Food & Wine Magazine.  If you live in Boston, Finale is offering a $5 rewards card with every $25 egift (and they have the best molten chocolate cake EVER).

Other promos going on now include:

• Gift a $25 Uno’s eGift card and get $5 to use yourself
• Receive a $10 egift card at The Children’s Place for every $40 you send 
• Give a specially designed Williams-Sonoma egift and they will give $5 to will make a $5 donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital®  

If you are in a hurry, at a loss, or just plain lazy, check out Clickit!togiftit! and I assure you you'll find something over there that will be appreciated by the people on your list.

Clickit!togiftit! is a client, all opinions are my own.

Come to a 3 MUSKETEERS Like-Up at the W Hotel in Boston!

It's very appropriate that I've been invited to co-host a "Like-Up" on behalf of 3 Musketeers, because my name is Jill and I'm a chocoholic. 

The event, to unveil 3 Musketeers' reformulated chocolate bar, will be a couple of hours of chocolate tasting and other fun, all at the beautiful W Hotel, located in the heart of Boston's Theatre District. 

• When: Tuesday, October 25, 2011 from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM
• Where: W Boston, 100 Stuart Street , Boston, MA 02116
• Why: Over 90% of Americans surveyed wanted more sleep, vacation and chocolate.  This event will definitely satisfy one of those needs, and raffle off chances to indulge in the others.
  

And I'll be there!

To RSVP, click here (and let me know you're going!).  And be sure to Like 3 Musketeers on facebook, too!

Still undecided?  Check it out...

Disclosure: I’m an official co-host of this event, and will be compensated for my participation.

 

Stopping to Smell the Pine Needles

Yesterday, Columbus Day, my kids and I were both relieved of our regularly scheduled duties and were free to spend the day together.  Sure, we have weekends together but with packed weekdays filled with school, work, the intermittent playdate and such, there's not much time to put food in the fridge or get haircuts and so weekends are busy too.

But yesterday was totally, completely free.  No visitors, no plans, nothing but us and a record-breaking day of sunshine.  So we hit the road and headed to one of my favorite local spots.  A state park, this not-so-hidden gem has a beautiful pond and a 1.7 mile trail around the water, complete with private divets for swimming and other fun. Being October, we left our bathing suits at home, but we had our sneakers, our bags to fill with rocks (which we would later paint), and our sense of adventure.

I've been dying to get my kids out there for months but was reluctant about a 1.5+ mile walk with a five and not-quite four year old and well, I wasn't looking to haul a 35lb weight around on my back.  But I decided to go for it anyway.  And it was amazing.

My older daughter, an avid outdoors(wo)man, embraced the moment.  She more than indulged me in my requests to close our eyes and breathe in the scents to recall at a later date.  When I asked her what she was smelling when she breathed in deep, she said, "pine needles, water, and nature." 

My almost four-year old replied, "nothing." 

Points for trying, I guess.

Still, it was a great outing.  Despite the fact that I carried a kid for a quarter of a mile while she smiled triumphantly (stupid Mommy gives in to everything), I was glad to have tested their limits instead of doing something safe (I can't be the only parent who hates the zoo).

We stopped to smell the pine needles.  We breathed in the nature.  And I had two sleepy kids last night.  A day well-spent.

My Haul from Nordstrom Rack

I am a person who loves to shop.  I enjoy the whole process, except the havoc a good shopping haul wreaks on my bank account.  But a recent visit to Nordstrom Rack proved that I, and my whole family, can look great without breaking the bank.

I only learned about Nordstrom’s amazing discount stores recently, when I saw one pop up in Natick, Ma.  Just last week, another store opened in Burlington, Ma., and not only was the store immaculate and easy to maneuver, but the pickin’s were FAB!

Shopping at The Rack, you would never know that you were in a discount store.  The copious amount of designer racks will throw off even the most supercilious shopper.  What they will notice are the unbelievable prices!

The Rack has everything from jeans to dresses to shoes and accessories and outer wear.  You’ll also be able to dress your man and your children from head to toe (literally – including underwear, socks, and shoes).  Their designer shoe area was not lost on me – and somehow a pair even ended up in my bag.  Oops!

Ok, so I did pretty well on my mini shopping spree.  Here’s what I got:

• Franco Sarto booties for $59.90 (originally $139)
• Lucky Brand top for $19.97 (originally $49.50)
• Joe’s Jeans for $79.97 (originally $158)
• Love on a Hanger tank top for $7.97

Needless to say, I left the store feeling VERY satisfied.  I could have bought EVERYTHING but alas, my budget was done for the night.  No doubt that I’ll hit Nordstrom Rack again. Soon.

“I attended a pre-opening day event at Nordstrom Rack and received a gift card to facilitate this review.  All opinions are my own.”

Oh, Irene

This weekend, US meteorologists had us all in a crazy panic over Hurricane Irene. Named "the hurricane of the century" before it was even a twinkle in the ocean's eye, Irene sent Twitter and Facebook into a battery-buying, tub-filling, water-hoarding frenzy. Headlines like "Storm roars off Dominican Republic after slashing across Puerto Rico" made the rest of us insane with worry.  When would that storm roar into our city and what would it slash in my yard?

This is Boston.  We are more comfortable being snowed in for days than facing the idea that our lawn furniture could potentially become a projectile missile.

But, as good citizens, we did as we were told.  We spent Saturday morning hauling lawn furniture into the garage.  We sandbagged our patio table so it wouldn't become airborne and be mistaken for a small helicopter before it crashed through the neighbors window. 

I spent $96 on a mini sump pump in the event that my basement started flooding.  Of course, I didn't account for the fact that it was way possible that I'd have nothing to power that baby up with if the electricity was shut-off.  But we did the best we could.

Like the weather guy said, we hunkered down.  Man, did we hunker.  We made no plans.  I made a mental list of every indoor activity that could be done with an almost four- and five year old.  I fielded text message after text message from my vacationing mom on the other (non-hurrican'ing) part of the world asking me if I had bought 48 litres of water.  If I had a wet vac handy.  If I had cleaned out the entire bread section. 

In the end, Irene was devastating.  People lost their homes.  Lives were lost.  Cars floated downstream and Moms allegedly went into labor in cars during the storm.  In North Carolina, about 1,100 homes were destroyed and Irene caused at least $70 million of damage.  Some towns in Vermont were/are completely under water.  

Here in Boston, we saw trees in the streets.  Debris covered rooftops and cars and parks.  But we were pretty much spared of the damage seen in other places.  Thankfully.

Hurricane Irene might have devastated some US cities and towns, but around these parts, the damage pretty much added up to this:

Not bad for the storm of the century. 

Canobie Lake Park Fun

I love amusement parks. I was that kid who rode almost everything, leaving my less adventurous friends holding my stuff at the foot of the roller coaster. So it comes as no surprise that I get immense pleasure from taking my kids to the amusement park, satisfying my own kid-at-heart desires to see them have the same kind of fun I had at their age.

Considering their ages (almost four and five-and-a-half), local Canobie Lake Park in Salem, NH is a great spot.  They're not quite ready for the big kid rides and are shy around characters so Canobie Lake is perfect.  In under an hour, we can pull in to the free parking lot and be having fun without heavy duty lines or the steep ticket prices commanded at other nearby parks.  And although the park does have tons of attractions for little kids, my seven and ten-year old niece and nephew had a blast as well, riding everything from the bumper cars to the featured Boston Tea Party log ride.  Too small to ride, my own kids stood by and loved getting soaked by the wall of water that hit them every time the ride dropped.  That was an experience in itself!  

If you have young kids, Canobie Lake Park offers a kiddie area that has about 15 or so rides.  Many are parent-friendly while others are kids-only (thankfully!).  Family favorites include the Alpine Swing (a scaled down version of the scary adult swings) and Flower Power.  For a full list of kids rides, visit here.  There are also plenty of family rides that are kid-friendly.

While we'd been to the park before, this was our first visit to the water park (included in admission).  Castaway Island "is the largest water play complex of its type in New England, with over 180 ways to get wet! Bring your bathing suit and splash away the day... and it's all included in your general one-price admission to the Park! The ride features water cannons, 9 water slides, waterfalls, and dozens of other ways of getting wet on a hot summer's day."  Don't forget to bring bathing suits and towels!  My kids LOVED this part of the day, which we saved for last.

Food is puh-lentiful at CLP.  Seriously, everywhere you turn are vendors and lunch stands.  While the food is relatively reasonably priced, similar to other amusement parks, quality is average at best.  I did see a grill over at Castaway Island with hamburgers and hot dogs and I would probably check out this option first next time. 

2011 ticket prices are:

General Admission Price: $32
Under 48" or Over 60 Years: $23
After 5pm: $22
Ages 3 & under: FREE!

For more info, visit www.canobie.com.

"I received complimentary park tickets to facilitate this review.  All opinions are my own."

Spring it up at Marshalls

I love a deal.  I mean, I know - who doesn't?  But I really, really love deals.  I have been known to use only coupons from daily deals sites for many consecutive outings, and scour the Internet for the best price on everything.  I'm a discount junkie but at the same time, I never compromise quality for price.  I want it all.

And so it stands to reason that I love shopping at stores that offer discounted clothes, especially when it comes to shopping for my kids.  Like yours, my kids ruin pretty much everything I buy them in no time flat.  The days of handing things down from one kid to the next are long gone.  T-shirts come home paint stained, leggings with dirt from the park (who knew dirt stained?).  So I don't spend big bucks dressing my kids, but I still like buying them cute stuff.  And to throw one more thing into the mix - they LOVE dresses.

TJ Maxx and Marshalls have a fantastic assortment of dresses, which is really perfect at this time of year - with easter and passover around the corner, not to mention the nicer weather (fingers crossed!).  So I was challenged to take my girls on a mini shopping spree to see what we could round up with $50.

We hit Marshall's in Newton, Ma., having asked the brand folks which local store had the best stuff.  While I personally like the selection of designer clothing in The Runway section across the street at TJ Maxx, the kids department at this Marshalls is fantastic and big.  Not only were we able to find dresses galore, we also grabbed a Hello Kitty t-shirt and still we barely hit $40.  Try doing that at a regular department store!

    Our loot!

Not only do I highly recommend hitting up TJ Maxx and Marshall's for your kids clothes this season, consider sprucing up your own wardrobe as well.  The racks are a secret garden of great finds, and you don't need to bring your deep pockets to do some damage.

"I received a gift card, courtesy of TJ Maxx/Marshalls, to facilitate our mini shopping spree.  All opinions are my own."