New Book Arrival! Get Ready to Enjoy!

It's official!  We'd like to welcome Stephanie Caprini's new book, The Summer of 3!  Now available on Amazon, Kindle, and Barnes & Noble.com

During the summer before Rachel’s wedding, three friends must face realities none had foreseen. In college, everything about life and the future had seemed optimistic and ideal, but the reality of life proves more complicated, uncertain, and incongruent with what any of them had expected.

Chelsea deals with a brutally honest and traditional mother who has an opinion about everything. Danielle is caught with choosing between a career and a relationship threatened to be torn apart by distance, and Rachel must decide if the wedding and life she had always imagined for herself is worth the complications and frustrations it is presenting. Each of the girls must work through and face her own reality while learning from each other’s problems in order to arrive at the answers each so desperately seeks. In the process, each searches to discover her own voice, courage, and ability to succeed in the crazy complicated world of adulthood.



This is a GREAT story for women, teens, or those who just want an enjoyable, honest, witty, and generally good-hearted story!  Enjoy!

Teachers, Well....Pay Teachers

Coolest website ever.  Are you a teacher or know someone who is?  This is where teachers can sell their original material ONLINE to other teachers to use in their classrooms.  With all the importance placed on differentiating and creating your own unique materials to use in your classroom, why not share with others?  Maybe another teacher hasn't taught the subject before. Maybe they're struggling to create a new way to teach the material.  Or maybe they just don't like the material they've been presented and want something else.  Either way, you've put effort into your material, why not help others?!

That's where Teachers Pay Teachers comes into play!  You can do all of that sharing and helping here!  I started my own SPANISH site a while back, and it's been a great hit! I'm so happy to be helping other people, because I've been building my own curriculum for 4 years now.  Let me tell you, that is no easy feat!  It can be daunting at times, and I'm so honored to be able to help others! 

If you'd like to set up your own website, be sure to just note me as the referral!  Stephanie Caprini!  You're going to do great things!!

Book Shout-Out!

Congrats to our newest readers in Canada and the UK!! 

Living with B: A College Girl's Struggle with Bulimia and Everyday LIfe has had an amazing reception with its readership! 

Have a friend or know someone that's struggling with the disorder?  This is a great book to help them feel connected or to help you understand their struggle!  Quick, fun, and a great page turner!

Have friends in NYC?  One of the women in government there just braved her story in the NY Times!  Share with them and even her!  We need to stand together as a community and bring light to a very dark reality that has the potential to be lessened with our support!

Check it out on Amzon, Kindle, and Lulu!
http://www.amazon.com/Living-College-Struggle-Bulimia-Everyday/dp/0557498821/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1369402245&sr=8-1&keywords=living+with+b+stephanie+caprini

Spring Rebound

For those of us in Chicago, Spring is a bit of an illusion.  We have 90 degree days followed by 50 degree days.  This morning, we awoke to 47 degrees. WOO HOO!  Pull the parkas back out because you'll need it this morning.

For those of you with dogs or baby buggies, be sure to prepare for your walk and bundle the babies up properly!  It'll get wunny and warmer later, but just not quite yet.

Now, the rebound part:  we Chicagoans always bounce back!  And with Memorial Day Weekend right in front of us, we have so much to look forward to!  Going to be outside?  Bring an extra bottle of wine like you did in college and just coat yourself in warmth.  Or bring a blanket if you're more practical! :-)  Going to be grilling?  Get a few good steaks and burgers because people will want to eat hearty food!

Because guess what, Chicago?  SUMMER'S ALMOST HERE and 90 plus will be here to stay! 

VEGAS BABY!

Just returned from Vegas for a conference, and WOW!  What an experience!

Haven't been?  MUST go.

Have been? Go again!  There's always new stuff to see and fun things to appreciate all over again.

Last year we stayed at the MGM in the regular rooms before they were redone.  I heard the new rooms are leaps and bounds better now that they've renovated, but we decided to move anyways.  At the last conference, we visited a friend who stayed in the Signature Towers and realized the rooms there had a kitchen!  Last year we spent over $100 per person per day on food.  This year we decided things would be different.

So we booked a Junior 1 Bedroom at the hotel, and it was the best decision ever.  The kitchen came in extremely handy, having made a point of taking a cab to Whole Foods just a few miles down Las Vegas Blvd.  For $52 we had beer, wine, and food for breakfast and most lunches for all 3 days!  We only had to buy dinner, which made experiencing the good food more enjoyable because we were only spending that kind of money once a day as opposed to every meal.

Additionally, the Signature towers are about a third of the way down the strip, so if you wish to walk anywhere, you cut your walking time a substantial amount.  For those who haven't been yet, walking from the MGM Grand to the Wynn (where we ALWAYS to go to get a good vegan meal!) is about an hour and a half walk over about 4 miles.  So, therefore, be sure you have good walking shoes on! Bring your heals, but walk in comfort! It's not worth it otherwise!

This time we stopped at a few favorites: the Wynn (and ate at Misumi!), the Venetian (and ate in St. Mark's Square!), and, of course, saw the Bellagio fountain show!  We also made a point of stopping in Paris, which I loved!  It reminded me of being back on the Parisian streets, and the Moulin Rouge parade they have right around 7pm is so fun!  The girls come out in a conga line in their dealer corsets and make their way to the tables where they are to deal.  Clearly, the show is meant to entice gamblers to the table, and its a very effective method!  We all just stood and watched the conga line and then it was like people in trances went to sit at the tables. ....maybe there was a subliminal message in the song?  Who knows!

And, as always, be sure to budget for your trip and your gambling!  Viva las Vegas!

An Outsider's Perspective

Sometimes you just aren't having the best week.  At all.  It feels like the mountain ahead of you in insurmountable.  It's the Everest of your being, and you just know you'll die before you reach the summit.  And it's exhausting.

When you feel like you're in that place, I implore you to find a friend and confidant (or a really fun person you trust) to employ for the moment.  Ask them to help you find a new perspective on your day because you're just stuck in the biggest snow storm and can't seem to see 3 feet past your face.  Let them remind you what makes you amazing and unique - the 30 second commercial that defines you, not your struggles.  It's fun!  I had one of my students offer up my 30 second commercial completely out of the blue, and it totally made my day.  When I heard what the student said, I told him, "Can you just follow me around and narrate my day? When I need a PR person, I'm calling you!"

I challenge you to find your "guide through the storm" - someone to give you the quick run down of the greatness that sometimes gets overshadowed by the mountains you create.  You may just find it makes you smile for a lot longer than a few moments, and that alone is a win.

The Pain Stop

No, this is not where you can choose your favorite style of pain.  Rather, this is the Chinese massage therapy location I stopped by today to help alleviate the incredible pain in my lower back. Alas, I believe the pain initiated from a 2 hour Yoga class I took with a friend on Saturday, which was fantastic, but it did a number on me.  Same happened when I tried Pilates when I was 18.  I ended up half immobilized from lower back pain.  One would think I would learn!

Instead, I suffered through 3 days of increasing back pain to finally make the decision I was going to pop over to this awesomely reviewed massage therapy center down the street from my house in Wicker Park.  The Pain Stop.  Rightfully named, it's intention is to bring the best of Eastern knowledge and massage therapy, including cupping, to the Western world.  Or well, the western part of Chicago also known as Wicker Park.  It's an unassuming place, cash only, located right off Milwaukee Ave.  It's white walls and barren interior almost make you wonder if it's legitimate.  I'm used to spas and heavenly sanctuaries where there are waterfalls, water pitchers, and fine seating for those entering the building.  This was just ... there.  You are there to correct pain.  They are there to help.  They don't feel the need to court you beforehand, and after my massage was over I didn't feel the need for it either.  BECAUSE IT WAS AMAZING!!! 

Lee was my therapist, and I asked he do a "medium" tissue massage.  I was in so much pain I feared a "deep" tissue massage might break me. He threw on his 60 minute timer and went to work.  Now, I've had loads of massages, and he was top-notch. And for $65 for an hour, there isn't even a hit for room for complaining.  I would go back in a heartbeat!  Within minutes I wanted water, and by the time I was done I could barely move.  I was in more pain than when I arrived, to which I was assured some good solid stretching and water would make me right as rain my tomorrow.  The lady behind the counter even suggested if I wanted to make it back to hot yoga that might not be a bad idea as I could sweat out the free-roaming toxins and do some stretching.  Just, as she said, take it slow. 

Again, for those of you who know good massage, you know that when you enter with severe pain, you'll leave with more, because that's what happens.  They break up and move the pain around so that it can leave the body.  They don't suck it out.  They don't wave a wand and make it disappear, and they don't remove it by sugar coating and lightly rubbing your back.  They work it out, and that is exactly what they did.  Thank you, The Pain Stop, for being exactly what I needed.  I cannot wait for tomorrow, nor for the next 64 ounces of water I still need to drink to rehydrate and detoxify those free radicals now roaming around my body.  I promise, I will be back.

Catch Some Rays

Sometimes, the world just seems immensely overwhelming.  You wake up and, literally, everything is wrong or massively insurmountable.  The nature of everything swallows you up, and you end up only wanting to sit on the couch, curled in a blanket, hiding from the world behind a long series of TV shows.

That was today.  Today, it was as if nothing was right, and everything was a massive ordeal.  Luckily, it was also the first day of my vacation, so sitting under a blanket, hiding behind the TV didn't seem so terrible.  After all, I had 6 more days to make everything else work, right?

Not according to my fiancé.  He was on a mission to be sure we had things done.  The list was long, but he kept wanting to check things off the list. This, I shall remind you, was the epitome of the opposite of what I wanted.  It seemed like every time we accomplished something, I got grumpier because the list never seemed to get shorter.  Then he decided we needed to run to the bank.  What?  Outside?  Like I actually have to put on real people clothes and go somewhere??? **ugh**

So I schlepped on my clothes and begrudgingly left my house.  I hit the outside wind, the sun on my face and the chilled air wrapping itself around me, and the result was instantaneous.  I felt better, magically and entirely better.  I was happier, I was more alive, and I was smiling.  Smiling!  All the insurmountable issues from the morning still existed, but they were less immense and terrifying.  The sun was out, I felt alive, and I could tackle anything!

So the next time you feel like...well...butt.  Throw on some clothes and go run an errand.  OUTSIDE.  No driving, or if you have to drive, park far away.  Make sure to really take in the fresh air and allow it to revive you.  You are, after all, a being meant to interact with the world, not just the four walls around you.  So let that be your reminder.  GET OUT! .... and then smile a little more.  :-)

Wait, What?!

The other day, my students were taking a test.  One of my student's desk was really close to mine, and I had to get to my desk for something.  I couldn't fit through the space left between my desk and the student's so I jokingly said, "Can you pull your desk back?  I'm skinny, but I'm not that skinny."  The student laughed and pulled his desk back. 
Immediately after I said that the student next to him said, "Ms. Caprini, you ain't skinny," and looked at me half laughing. 
I had to stop for a moment and look at her with a "what?" expression. 
She then repeated, "You ain't skinny." 
I wasn't really sure what to say at that point, so I just scrunched my face together in surprised confusion, shaking my head, saying "Uh...."
"Well you're not," she said.  "You ain't fat. But you ain't skinny neither."  Then she paused, and very matter of factly said, "You fit."
....Right.  Well, world, there you go.  I'm fit.

Those Daily Moments

Wow! Where have I been!? It's like I left you guys all alone. . .

 . . . oh wait . . . sorry.  My bad.  I'm back now, and with quite an interesting few stories to tell!  Sometimes, kids say the darn-dest things, regardless if they're 8 or 18.  In fact, I've had 3 fun stories in the last month alone. Enjoy! (names have been changed)

(1)  had a black, square-plastic, long necklace around my neck.  One young adult approached me, dead serious, and asked, "Are those real black diamonds?"   (hold dramatic pause here)  "No, Greg."  "So they're not real?"  "No, Greg."  "oh."  "Greg, if these were real, I'd have body guards walking around with me!"  "But aren't black diamonds cheaper?" "Not that much cheaper."  " . . . oh."

(2) [side note, I recently got engaged and one student said "WHAT does your fiancé do?" / "Why?" / "He has to be a huge surgeon or something because nobody can afford that ring."  I laughed]  Fast forward two weeks.  Same student approaches me and says, "I figured you out!"  / "Oh?!" / "You're old money."  / (insert laughing here) "Oh?!?" / "yeah, totally. Old money.  You're straight living off grandpa's trust fund" / (laughing) / "Yeah. Your grandpa so got rich, like Rockefeller business rich, and you're just enjoying it now and living off it." / "Yes, Jamal, you're so right.  How did you know?!" (still laughing but trying to be serious) / "Like, the only reason you work here is because you'd be bored with nothing to do and you're doing your 'humanitarian give back' work."  / "I need to meet this grandpa of mine!"

(3)  Almost 18 year old kid I was working with was talking and talking and talking and talking and (gasp) talking and talking, and I finally said, "Seriously! Please just work." :-)  "Sorry."....and three seconds later: talking and talking and talking and talking, so I just stared at him, waiting and wondering if he had any conscious notion of what had just happened.  He, still talking, looked up at me, caught himself, and stopped talking.  Then he smiled, shook his head and started working.  Withing two seconds I hear, "My momma used to say I was retarded . . . as a kid . . . but I grew out of it."

Oy vey.

The Men's Ring

Let me tell you, ladies and gentleman, if you are searching for the men's wedding ring, remember this:  it is NOT easy!  As one woman so eloquently put it, there are so many options out there nowadays for men that it's almost as complicated as finding the perfect engagement ring!  .... And she was right!

We have trekked over many miles hunting for his ring.  We went to Jared, Kay, Bella Cosa, Macy's, Saks, and David Yurman.  After 8 places, and some being multiple visits, we think we may have found one!  YAY!  And it's only 2 months later, but that's okay.  The important thing is that it's found. 

The other thing we discovered?  The newest trend in men's wedding rings is to buy 2.  TWO!  Apparently, especially for the rough and tumble man, he buys the one that is his "band," and then one that is his "in case it gets ________" band (you can fill it in with anything, but we were told things like: lost, nicked at work, in the way of heavy lifting or his fixing of things)  crazy.  And I thought it was intense enough buying a matching wedding band for the engagement ring, but apparently there was a lot I had yet to learn! 

So, ladies and gentleman, make sure you leave yourselves ample room to look.  Start early, and enjoy.  You may even get some free beer and wine in the process, depending on which store you visit!  Happy hunting!

Promote Yourself

This weekend was amazing.  There were so many wonderful opportunities to connect with people, whether they were people I know previously or ones I met for the first time.

And that is a key part of doing business.  Have the "why not?" attitude when it comes to engaging in activities, and keep it light and social.  People like people who look like they enjoy life.  Therefore, when you are out and about, instead of trying to "FIND" people who might be interested in what you're doing, just find people with whom to connect.  The conversation alone will tell you if there is a need for what you have to offer, if the person with whom you are speaking is open to any solution you may have, or if the person with whom you are talking is even open to talking about anyone other than him/herself.  Those are factors that you must acknowledge before even opening your mouth about what you may want to discuss because if any of the above are not there, you're wasting your energy! 

Then, just be casual about it.  The more intriguing it seems, the more people will want to know.  Don't word vomit all over them.  Keep it short.  Keep it simple.  Keep it interesting. And be prepared!  Be sure that if you have fliers, or business cards, or samples, or info, you have them available!  Don't hand them out before someone asks for them, and wait a few minutes before finding it, even if you know exactly where it is!  The intrigue is always exciting!

And remember to have fun.  There is not "end" point in what you do.  It's a journey, so there's no race.  Rather, it's about enjoying the endeavor and learning to love connecting with people!

Those We Love

This is what I love.  No, it's not the flowers above here, although I do LOVE the flowers.  It is when someone knows exactly what I need to feel human again.  My fiancé did an amazing job today.  I called him, frustrated, and just said I had a horrible day.  I didn't ask for anything, I just vented.  He came home and had flowers and a card.  A-MAAAAZING!!!

The point - listen.  When a friend or your partner or a family member struggles or is upset, it's not about you.  It's your job as the other half of that conversation to help build up your friend.  It doesn't mean that you have to agree with them or back them, because that won't help them grow.  What they need is support, support to grow, and support to work through their frustration.  It may be as simple as coming over to their house to just hang out. It may be a cup of coffee.  It may be a longer phone call, or a quick little "pick me up gift" like the one above.  The point, though, is just to show you care.  They don't need to be right.  They need to be supported.

Flowers!

So I discovered something fun this weekend: flowers!  I am SO not a flower person, but I do love the way the look in a vase.  So when I headed out to the florist this weekend to search for what flowers I was going to have in my wedding bouquet and in my table arrangements, I had a lot to learn. 

How to approach a floral bouquet:
1) Pick a starting point
I LOVE roses and lilies.  I also wanted a certain rust/orange to deep red color scheme. 

2) Bring a picture of the style of bouquet you want:
Meaning....do you want a tightly wound bouquet or a cascading one?

3) Let the florist DO HER JOB!
Florists have a job for a reason!  Now, granted, I also don't have any idea what flowers are what past the basic tulip, carnation, rose, lily, orchid, but I also know that when someone is good at what they do, let them be good at it!  I showed her my #2 and my #1 pieces and she said "HERE" and gave me a run down of what she would use.  Within 5 mintues she had a basic working bouquet and it was gorgeous!

4) Keep in mind colors and flowers are seasonal!
So.....when she showed me the bouquet, the colors were wrong, but the flowers were perfect!  Remember to be flexible and ask to come in for a sample bouquet prior to the wedding if you really want to make triple sure the bouquet is what you want!

AND lastly, ask if they rent or if you buy the centerpiece vases.  Many people think they can take the centerpieces at weddings, so you don't want to end up with a hidden fee at the end!

2/4

Today is my mom's birthday.  Or, well, it was. 

She passed away almost 6 years ago, now, and it's amazing how time flies.  People always say time heals all wounds, and there are moments when I agree with that.  It's not that the wound heals, because that suggests that you don't notice it anymore, aside from a faint scar.  Rather, the wound becomes less pester-some.  It flairs up less, and you become able to control what was initially throbbing pain and then just a dull ache.  There even become times, admittedly, when you almost don't notice it.

In fact, I didn't remember today was her birthday until I saw my brother post on FB about it.  I had a momentary smile and then part of me thought, why dwell on the past?  I didn't even remember how old she would have been until I did some serious math.  It wasn't until later today when a student said, "Guess what today is?!  My birthday!" that I smiled widely and without even thinking said, "Nice! It's my mom's bday too!"  Then I had to pause and reflect for a moment, and realize how subconsciously that response flew off my lips.  It wasn't a sad comment.  It was like agreement.  Like someone had just said that their favorite movie was your favorite movie, and you simply smile and chime in about how awesome that is that you have it in common!

So here's to you, Mom, for your birthday.  Hope it was wonderful.