Snow White at the Emerald City Theatre

Saturday morning we headed out in the frozen slush and drove to Lincoln Park to take the girls to lunch and a play. Lunch was at the very affordable Salt and & Pepper Diner, which is virtually across the street from the Emerald City Theatre. Not surprisingly, nearly all of the families we saw eating at the diner also ended up in the opening day audience of Snow White.

The schtick behind this particular performance, which is officially titled Snow White as performed by Professor TJ Barker's Troupe of Theatricals, is that the actors was running late and missing many of their fellow actors as well as their entire orchestra. But because they are a dedicated group, they pitch in by playing multiple roles and all of the musical instruments. Seven year old Zoe was intrigued and kept asking me if their train really was late or if that was part of the show. And because her brain has been washed by Walt Disney, she couldn't help pointing out the inconsistencies between this stage production and the animated film. (We had a post-show discussion of "artistic license.")

Four year old Ada was unfazed by the breaking of the fourth wall and unfamiliar costumes and songs. She was so completely rapt Josh and I had a hard time keeping our eyes on the show--it was so much more fun to watch her reactions--wide-eyed wonder at the beautiful princesses, lip-biting glee at the wicked stepmother's evil plotting and smiles at the silly antics of the ragtag dwarves.

And like all of the Emerald City Theatre performances we seen, this one is designed for children 3 and up, but totally tolerable for adults (in fact, this one was quite enjoyable). The show is 1 hour long with no intermission and snacks and drinks are allowed in the theatre. Tickets are typically $16 for adults and $13 for children, but Valentine's Day weekend kids can take their grown-ups for free with the discount code SNOW.

Disclosure: I received media passes to this show.

MCA Family Day

When it comes to its art collection, the MCA lives in the long shadow of the Art Institute of Chicago. But when it comes to welcoming families, their monthly Family Day events are second to none.

Unless you take public transit there, it won't be a cheap day--we paid $32 to park in the MCA lot--but with free admission (typically $12/adult and $7/child) and coat check, hours of hands-on activities, free kids' meal with adult entree purchase at Puck's and free snacks in the Tot Room (kid-friendly fare like clementines, fruit snacks and Goldfish), it is a fantastic deal.


I was delighted by number and variety of art activities organized for the families (3-4 crafts, an artist-led tour and a scavenger hunt) and how many red-shirted volunteers were there to work with the kids. And while families streamed in pretty consistently between 11 and 2--when we were there--it never had the chaotic crowdedness of a children's museum on the weekend.

Cocktail time at the House of Klein

As a gift to our hardworking house husbands, my best friend Kate and I bought our men admission to a vintage cocktail making class at The Whistler (rated one of the 25 best cocktail bars in America by GQ Magazine) in late November.

Josh has never been much of a drinker, but the recent rise in craft cocktailing seemed to have piqued his interest--probably because he's a foodie and very plugged into the local online chatter about food, restaurants and bars.

Well, one afternoon class and he was hooked, reading the guide bartender Paul McGee sent home with his students, checking cocktail recipe books out of the library, researching liquor brands online and making daily trips to Binny's to pick up the often obscure ingredients he needed to prepare us colorfully named drinks like the Corpse Reviver 2, Jack Rose, Monkey Gland and Penicillin.

Indeed, gourmet cocktailing has stimulated all of the OCD tendencies my dear husband has previously applied toward coffee preparation (we buy awesome beans, grind them and brew by hand in a Chemex), movies (he was a Criterion Collection hoader for a few years) and guitars (he's been playing for 4 years and owns 5 instruments, all sourced from Craigslist). To be fair, like the coffee brewing, bread baking and general cookery passions, I'm a major beneficiary of this new hobby. For one thing, relaxing in the evening with a fancy drink that could have cost $10 at a trendy bar is a pretty awesome luxury. And I've discovered I'm a lover of gin drinks--who knew?

But also, I finally have some gift ideas for my infamously hard-to-shop for husband! I bought him some barware for Chanukah (we had exactly two rocks glasses, both emblazoned with logos) and there are plenty of interesting bottles I can pick up for him for special occasions.

And something tells me our Spring Break trip to Louisville may include a distillery tour.

Our 3rd Annual New Year's Day brunch

This is what our basement playroom looked like in the aftermath of our third annual New Year's Day brunch.

I guess that's what happens when 47 people--half of them under 8 and the other half sleep-deprived and/or hungover--cram into a 3 bedroom house between 10 and noon.

Believe it or not, we had the house back to rights in under 2 hours, and it was all worth it to kick off 2012 with so many friends.

I served pumpkin muffins, praline french toast, vegetarian sausage links, cinnamon coffee cake, two quiches (I riffed on Mark Bittman's instructions), a winter fruit salad and Bruegger's bagels with cream cheese and lox. And of course we were able to put the giant, 42-cup coffee percolator I bought at a yard sale years ago (for $5, best purchase ever) and serve juice, juice boxes and mimosas. Many of our guests contributed to the spread--adding more Champagne, pumpkin muffins (including a gluten-free variety), quiches, squash bread, brownies, a lemon tart and a noodle kugel.

The timing was right, too, as our modest living room rehab/redeco had reached a hospitable spot; in fact I finished knitting the floor pouf just the day before, stuffing it with an old toddler bed quilt and two $6 pillows from the dollar store. Needless to say, it was a hit with all the kids, especially the littlest ones, who took turns rolling across it.

Speaking of DIY projects, I followed up on two tricks I read about somewhere online that totally worked. First, I used a raw shelled walnut to fill in scratches on our hardwood floors. Amazing the difference it made--especially on the more superficial marks.

The second DIY project was fixing the ratty, tangled hair on the girls' American Girl Dolls. I mixed together 1 part liquid fabric softener (a horribly fragrant substance I had to buy special for this experiment) and 4 parts water in a spray bottle (another dollar store purchase). I spritzed the dolls' hair throughly and brushed with a metal doll brush (I've heard wig brushes work, too, but, um, I don't own a wig brush). The transformation was instantaneous and the girls were thrilled with their girls' silky locks. It's a little hard to see the results from this picture, but trust me--it is an easy fix and the dolls' hair looks great.

And any locals can feel free to come pick up a bottle of fabric softener from me--I'm sure I'll never use it for its intended purpose.

A sneak peek at our living room redo

I've been working with local interior designer (and friend of a friend) Amanda Miller to refresh our small, cluttered living room and dining room and I'm so excited to share a sneak peek at our progress!

We've ordered this couch in brown (with teal buttons and welt), added 6 can lights to the ceiling so the room isn't so dim all the time and picked out two chairs and an accent table to replace the loveseat (one is from Rowe and the other from West Elm). We're expecting a carpenter to get us a quote on a radiator cover for the dining room radiator so we can use that space as a bar when we're entertaining.

I'm knitting a cream-colored pouf for extra seating and Josh is repainting the tall bookshelf in the dining room a dark kona brown to better coordinate with the rest of the furniture. We're also ordering some hooks to hang some of his guitars on the wall. Check out my Pinterest board to see what we've got in mind.

But one big change has already been made--Amanda helped us rearrange our modular shelving and suggested a teal accent wall to go behind the shelves (it's actually Benjamin Moore Polished Slate). We took most of the clutter off the shelves and added baskets to contain the rest. Oh, and got a bigger TV. Looks pretty nice, huh?

The airlines wouldn't dare lose my child on Christmas

On Christmas morning, when many of my friends and neighbors were lolling about in their pajamas, opening presents and eating cinnamon rolls, I drove Zoe to Midway airport for her first solo flight. The airport was surprisingly crowded--especially after an easy, traffic-free drive to the airport--but her flight took off on time and landed early. So early, in fact, that I initially missed the "I've got your daughter" call my mom placed to my cell phone immediately upon picking up Zoe in D.C.

And I'm only half joking when I say I booked her travel on December 25th knowing what a PR nightmare it would be for an airline to misplace a youngster on Christmas. It's only been a day or so, but it sounds like my 7 year old is having a grand old time with my mom and stepdad in Virginia--reading Ramona books, looking at old photographs, learning to pick out tunes on the piano, playing ping pong and visiting my extended family.

For the record, it isn't cheap to send your child unaccompanied. In addition to the regular airfare, United and American Airlines charge an additional $100 each way, while Southwest charges half that: $50 each way (and two bags of luggage fly free). Since Zoe is only going for 4 nights, we didn't end up checking any luggage. Instead, she rolled aboard with a small child's suitcase and a backpack packed with 2 Boxcar Children paperbacks, a couple of snacks, a pack of gum and an iPod Touch with headphones. I'd also tucked her birth certificate in there, but we were never asked to show it.

A guide to buying last minute gifts at Walgreens

This is my Walgreens

Thanks to Walgreens for underwriting this post. I was paid as a member of the Clever Girls Collective, but the content is all mine. Visit http://www.walgreens.com/beauty.

Walgreens might not be the first (or even the third) place you'd think to shop for holiday gifts, but they're convenient and they're open late on Christmas Eve and again on Christmas. If you need a last-minute gift, you could do a lot worse. Provided you stay out of the "seasonal" aisle.

Isn't it lovely?

I happen to live 2 blocks from one of the newly redesigned Walgreens stores, so going to Wags is actually a pleasure for me now. Gone are the cluttered aisles and singing fish--instead we have bins of fresh bananas, a clinic and a tidy beauty department where I stock up on Goody hair elastics. Pretty much weekly.

And thus I present to you: The Marketing Mommy Last-Minute Beauty Shopping Guide, gift suggestions heavily influenced by what I like.

Idea 1: Create a Curly Girl Method Gift Basket

Help the curly girl in your life embrace her ringlets with Curly Girl Method-approved products. Pick up a sulfate-free shampoo like L'Oreal EverSleek Sulfate-Free or a co-wash like Suave Milk and Honey Conditioner. Add in a more moisturizing conditioner like L'Oreal EverPure Conditioner, big bottle of L.A. Looks Gel (oh, yeah) and a microfiber towel.

Idea 2: Buy the Upscale Stuff

No one will know you did your holiday shopping at Walgreens (not that there's anything wrong with that) if you buy their more upscale, beautifully-packaged lines like Fekkai, Yes to Carrots, Burt's Bees and Essie nail polish. My account director is sporting Essie's Bobbing for Bobbles, a dark bluish-slate shade, today and it is quite the talk of the office. Throw a ribbon and a gift tag on a bottle of Essie and you've got a hip hostess/colleague gift for under $10.

Idea #3: Power Toothbrush

Buy someone (okay, a close relative) an Oral-B power toothbrush. My mom bought one for me and Josh 10 years ago and we only just replaced it (with this one, actually). Your loved ones deserve the gift of immaculately clean teeth. Seriously, we've been getting kudos from our dentist every six months. 

Idea #4: Pick up a gift pack

Full disclosure: as part of my job as a creative director, I was responsible for helping design and market P&G's beauty lovely multi-brand gift packs. They've been priced at just under $10 at Walgreens and that's a pretty tremendous value--especially if you consider the booklet of coupons inside. So whether you use a lot of P&G products (think Olay, Secret, Venus) and want to stock up for yourself, or whether you want to get a gift pack to have on hand for that "oh shoot I forgot to get something for the babysitter/coach/neighbor" moment, they're a deal and they don't even need to be wrapped.