Man Candy Monday!!!!!!!!

Today, in honor of the Dancing With The Stars Finals our Man Candy is Maksim Chmerkovskiy. Born in the Ukraine, Maks and his family came to the United States to make a better life. He and his family own Dance With Me Dance Studios. In addition to being a professional dancer on Dancing With The Stars, and his dance studios, Maks is one of the creators and directors of Dance Team USA, a non-profit educational and charitable organization dedicated to recruiting, supporting, and training future DanceSport participants. Through his company "Maksim Chmerkovskiy Productions", he produces, organizes and choreographs performances globally. Among his professional works, Maks is currently working with the Wynn Las Vegas' water-based show: Le Reve. He developed the ballroom-inspired dance numbers in this Franco Dragone production. (Now I have to go see that!)

Good Luck Maks & Kirstie!!!!!!!

The American Dream...

The ‘Home Alone’ house in Winnetka is up for sale. I have always loved this home and every home that looks like this center hall colonial for as long as I can remember. Even before I ever had the delightful pleasure of seeing a John Hughes film. It is the quintessential American Dream home.

John Hughes, (may he RIP) gave us a view of life on the North Shore of Chicago that was completely representative of most upper+ middle class suburbs across the nation. I am sure that many of us longed for the life and adventures the teens he portrayed in his films had. I know that I did. Even though I grew up in a Western Chicago suburb that was just as affluent as Winnetka and my friends and I had our own adventures (minus Jake Ryan). But it was just…different.

Blame ‘North Shore Magazine’ and John Hughes but there was something about Winnetka and Glencoe that just put me in a euphoric state. It was a feeling that life was beautiful and perfect. The possibilities were limitless. There are homes like that in my hometown, but Winnetka was so authentically American. It was a different American Dream than my parents had. It was old money, settled, preppy perfection wrapped up in a pink and green plaid bow. I know my parents’ American Dream was fulfilled when they built a brand new house in a brand new subdivision with skinny sticks for trees. The tall pillars in front of the  raised ranch (bi-level) house reminded my mommy of Tara in ‘Gone with the Wind”. My daddy had a great job and my mommy could stay home with me. (That staying home part? Not her idea of a dream.) The Palladian windows in North Shore colonials surrounded by ancient trees reminded me of what my future could hold. Mommy was completely contemporary in her decorating taste. She would have loved Ikea. My taste still is the polar opposite of hers. I love floral and plaid upholstered wing back chairs and sofas and cherry wood colonial furniture. Ralph Lauren is still my favorite designer and idol.

I longed for my own American Dream. I dreamed of meeting a handsome business man husband, buying a center hall colonial in Winnetka with Palladian windows and arched window over the front door, decorated in hunter green and burgundy plaid and floral. I wanted to have an in the ground pool and sail boat at the Winnetka Yacht Club. I always said in high school that the home would be behind gates and I would have a pool boy and a cleaning lady. More than anything in the world, I wanted to fill that house with at least four kids, two small dogs and love. Those homes represented large, happy families and huge festive holiday celebrations with family and friends. There were just the four of us and one mean little Pekingese in our immediate family. The remainder of our small family lived in Poland. Mommy’s mother came on a boat to visit us every couple years. I have one second cousin that lives in California and I didn’t meet my first cousins until I was in my late 20’s when mommy and I went to Poland for my grandmother’s funeral. I longed for a large family to be a part of. That was the essence of my American Dream—the family. The house just represented it.

Now, many (I refuse to do the math) years later, I am married to a handsome and wonderful man. We were blessed with gorgeous healthy children and two adorable small dogs. I do in fact live on the North Shore of Chicago on Lake Michigan – albeit the FAR North Shore! I live in a lovely neighborhood, in a ranch house that I have grown to love. I have plaid and floral furniture and I have a pool too! (The Prince and Big Daddy are the pool boys. I am the cleaning lady.)  And above all -- we are incredibly happy and blessed with wonderful family and friends that are family too.  I have achieved my American Dream.

What is your dream? 

This is the link to the realestate listing. Only $2.4 mil! Such a bargain!

http://homealonehome.coldwellbanker.com/property_details.html 

Man Candy Monday!!!!

Wow! It's Monday already? The weekend went way tooooo quick! Before I dive into my Muse Therapy Class I am taking with Author DeeDee Scott (Bootscootin' Blahniks, Thug Guard) I must put up our Man Candy of  the week! Pirates of the Caribbean~ On Stranger Tides opens May 20th, so here is the incredible and eccentric Johnny Depp!

Mmmmmm! Enjoy!!!!!

Man Candy Monday!!!!!!

Hope everyone had as fabulous of a weekend as I did! I am a lucky girl!
Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth who stars as Thor seems to be very popular lately, so I will break y'all off with a little bit of Thor today for all your Chris lovers!

Enjoy your Monday!!!!!

Mrs.Perfect...

Because I have been procrastinating on writing my blog post about procrastination, I am going to post an article/book review I had published last fall in She Magazine, a local magazine published by our news paper. Enjoy and have a very Happy Mother's Day!!!!!
  

     There are so many books that I love, it was difficult to choose one book that had the most influence in my life. Mrs. Perfect, by Jane Porter because it made me sit back and think about life and I wanted all my friends to read it because it shared such an amazing message and made a huge impact on me.

     Marta Zinzer is a single mother who recently returned to her home town to help take care of her ailing mother and start her own Ad agency. She has always prided herself in being an individual and tries to pass that on to her daughter Eva. Eva is more interested in being like all the other girls and fitting in and having a “normal” mom. Marta decides to get involved in Eva’s school and it is no surprise that she is not accepted by the perfect Alpha Mom’s. This is where Mrs. Perfect, Taylor Young comes in. 
     We all know and dislike a woman like Taylor Young. She is the quintessential Alpha Mom. She and her husband are the perfect couple. Her designer wardrobe is perfect. Her children are always dressed perfectly as she takes them from one perfect after school activity to the next.         
     Eventually, Taylor’s perfect world crumbles around her. Her husband loses his job and they lose everything due to her compulsive spending on $200 bras, designer clothes and vacations. She is forced to sell everything and move into a small rental house. And the worst is that she has to take a job working for Marta! The other model mom’s shun her as if she has a communicable disease. Taylor finally learns that your real friends are the ones that stand behind you when you need them most and surprisingly finds that friend in Marta.
     I completely sympathized with Marta’s daughter Eva. I remember what it was like to be that age and wanting to fit in with the popular crowd but no matter what I did, I could never completely fit in. The pain of constantly feeling left out and rejected was all too familiar. We had many similarities in our lives. My mom worked and was older than the other moms. My sister was much older so I was like an only child. And even though we were well off, my immigrant parents didn’t understand why I wanted to be like everyone else and have what everyone else had.
           I always wanted to grow up and be like Taylor and be the perfect mom who was involved with everything at school and had the perfect life. Luckily, I didn’t and I am very happy, although I may not fit in the cookie cutter mold, I have a wonderful family with a man I love, wonderful friends and most of all everyone is happy! It’s not the things we have that make us happy; we need to remember to love what we have and who we are to be happy.

Man Candy Monday!!!!!

I can't believe that it is Monday already! That did go quick! I have been working on a new blog post about procrastination-- my worst issue! LOL So...because I can't find the list I made of the Man Candy suggestions, in honor of Fast 5 crushing the box office totals with a record $83.6 Million, I am putting up a pic I got from friend and mi amor Valentino Morales from Fast 5.

Val is my Main Man Candy and I could have him up every Monday but I know that's not fair to all of you who don't love big tan Dominican men with big muscles and dreamy eyes...(sorry I had to wipe up the drool on my key board...) Valentino is an actor and Vin Diesel's best friend and body guard.

Valentino Morales, Vin Diesel and Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson.

Happy Monday!!!!!