My friend Mina Sabet is working in Berlin and just took her kids Max and Juliette to spray paint the Berlin Wall. Such a cool First! Thought I’d share it. Yes, it’s legal. It’s probably the one and only time they’ll be allowed to graffitti a wall….putting their mark on history.

For almost a year Meg Leder at Perigee Publishing has helped lovingly nurture and guide my book I Dare Me to reality. Yesterday, was the first time I got to meet her in person in NYC.
It was “adore” at first sight. I’m so lucky my book is in her hands.
I know people get excited to come to a tv station where I work. I felt the same way about going to Penguin Publishing headquarters….too cool. (Perigee is a division of Penguin)
We chatted over a lunch of garlicky yummy hummus and lemon orzo soup and found out we both have roots in Cincinnati and a passion for Skyline Chilli. (Hey…that’s a serious bond.)
Meg is also the editor of the popular book series Wreck this Journal by Keri Smith….( If you haven’t heard of it , pick one up. It’s actually full of little Firsts, that will help you get your creative juices flowing.)
I Dare Me will be in bookstores in November and this week we learned there will be an audio book too! Yep, it’s true.
Thanks to all of you who continue to support and follow this journey. I hope it inspires you to start your own. May the Firsts be with you.

It was a balmy 75 degrees inside the Horticultural Center in Philadelphia’s Fairmount Park today. It felt like I was in Florida. AHHHHH …..beautiful! I’d never been here before, but I’ve decided when winter gets too much for me and I need a break from the cold and the grey, this is going to be my new hangout.

  It was a perfect day for a Color Run in Philadelphia…my first. What a team! Come on…we look awesome…Andi Cross, Steven Cross, Me, Alexa and Samantha Seltzer made up our Color Team.  Thousands of people ran (we walked except for Steve. He’s a runner.) a 5 k through colored baking powder until we were all coated.

   We went to breakfast like this at the Manayunk Diner. Loved the looks.  Took hours to shake, wipe off, and scrub this all off.  Alexa still has a big pink blob on her forehead that refuses to budge…awwww.

   Olive oil worked better than anything else but I still have some small random patches I guess will be hanging on for awhile. This was a blast. Would definitely do it again…but next time we’re wearing tutus!

   I think I was on my way to a murder scene in a live truck when we were stopped by a parade of baby geese and momma geese.

   They were trying to cross four lanes of heavy traffic. (I’m not sure why) Anyway, we sat and watched as one gosling after another hopped up the curb to follow his goose family…all but one.

   We watched one gosling try over and over again to get out of the street and hop up over the curb without success.  It flailed and would stomp off like an angry child with his Mother honking at him ” Come on! Try again!”

   But the poor thing just couldn’t do it.  Other big families of geese were running over him…and I was afraid a car would run over him next. 

   I grabbed my flip cam. Watch what happened next.

   You would think that I’d get a little thanks for the rescue, but Mom and gosling quickly turned their backs to me and took off in a huff.

    Whatever!  The gosling was so light and fluffy and it looked liked the others weren’t upset I touched him. 

    It was the best thing that happened all night. 

Okay all of you foodies out there… you are looking at the delicious winner of the annual John DeBella Comfort Food Contest. This is a pierogi like no other. I don’t even like pierogies but this was a little bite of heaven.

The chef from Butch and Singer whipped up this number, filled with duck confit and I think foie gras.  Comfort meets fab food!

Oh, I was a judge at this event at Vie on Broad Street. My qualifications? Hmmm…I will try just about any food for a ”first”. 

 My fellow judges Ashley Primis of the Inquirer and Beth D’Odonno are both food writers and both of them also loved a deviled egg with blue crab from Route 6. Ehhh… I could have passed on that one but it was original. 

This was my personal 2nd favorite from Cuba Libre: barbecue pork on a bun. But it was so much more. So delicious but not quite as “comforting” as a pierogi.

Congratulations to my friend John De Bella (WMGK) for another successful event and thanks for letting me judge 12 entrees. I had to unbutton my pants on the way out the door…whew….           

My daughter just sent this to me.  I’m not sure where this came from but it is dead on true!

The “magic” in your life rarely happens while you’re holed up in your “comfort zone.” It happens when you try something new, (a first), when you stretch beyond the limits of what you thought you could do, when you take a chance.

Today, I was kind of feeling a little blah. I decided to take a chance and call someone who I thought was impossible to pin down for an interview. (I wish I could tell you who it was!)

The answer I got wasn’t no. It was “Maybe.”  Alright, “maybe” is good. “Maybe” might be a start.

I was actually nervous about making the call and I was happy all day that I did.

I know it seems small, but sometimes I think that’s all it takes.  Push yourself, dare yourself….I dare you to go for something you want.

I dare you to step out of your comfort zone!

It’s been a while since I took out my Hula Hoop that I got during my year of firsts. I thought it would be fun to bring it to the Network Now event.

Yes, I hula hooped in front of 80 women! Why? Because it’s absolutely silly. (And okay, I was showing off.)

My hula hoop reminds me to step outside of my serious self. Learning to hula hoop the first time as an adult took me back to the simple things that made us feel fresh and alive as kids. 

Now here’s the funny thing.  The hoop was in the back seat of my car as I went through a toll booth today. 

The guy in the booth said “That your hula hoop?”   

“Sure is.”

“You must be in good shape.”

“Sure am.”  And I drove off…fast.

Don’t know what it is but men really like this hula hooping thing. Just the idea of it.

My husband thinks this video rocks…

I don’t get it but if you want to feel younger and shake things up tomorrow on Valentines Day…I swear… just get yourself a hula hoop.

Happy Valentines and thanks to all the “Super Heroes” I met at Network Now in Bucks County today.  You all inspire me.

Madonna is two years younger than me and I have to say, for the record, I was kind of thinking “you go girl” during some of her Super Bowl Half Time Show.

On the other hand, I cringed a little too. Something about the outfit, trying too hard to look like her twenty year old self, cartwheeling in heels and some crotch shots…hmmm, I don’t know.

When I got to the gym this morning it became a discussion among us 50 something year olds who I think look pretty darn good.  We all are going through that “what is age appropriate” stuff. Seriously…it’s a struggle sometimes. Just because you can wear your daughters jeans, should you? The mini skirt? etc.

I tend to break more “rules” than some of my more conservative friends. So why did I find myself judging Madonna?  She’s a rocker. She doesn’t even live on the same planet as I do.

Maybe because I heard my 24 year old daughter say….”oooooow, she’s too old to be doing that”.  She looked at Madonna like she could be, well,  her mother and just wasn’t buying it.

And of course Madonna had injured herself beforehand so she looked a little stiff and unsteady a few times.

Meanwhile, the guys at the gym thought she was awesome. They told our little group of women we were jealous. Are we? Again, I don’t know. I can’t explain that squeamish feeling…like when you see a friend go way too far drinking, flirting or something you know they’ll feel sick about in the morning.

A young friend of mine said ” all Madonna wanted to do was make sure you were talking about her today and she succeeded.”

Maybe we all need a little cartwheel in our repertoire. Maybe that’s the fountain of youth. Maybe we should be thanking Madonna for reminding everyone, you’re far from done at 53.  Okay.  Thanks Madonna. Now drop the pom poms.