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Anna S.

About Anna S.

Anna S. is living the good life in New Jersey with three kids under the age of eight and one husband over the age of thirty. A former New Yorker, the arrival of baby number three sent the family to the suburban wilds like many before them. When not complaining about how hard it is to find decent Thai food in her small town, she spends her time trying to curb her children’s candy and TV consumption, teaching them the joy of a good book, and extolling the many benefits of the occasional nap.

Anna also blogs about all things mom at Random Handprints

Three Things I can Live Without on Halloween

October 31, 2011 By 10 Comments
Last year, I got about 10 seconds of my Fifteen Minutes of Fame. I wrote a post complaining New Halloween: You’re giving me a headache, and a reporter from The New York Post saw it, quoted me, and of course fueled me to complain some more about dear ol’ All Hallows’ Eve.
But that was last year. This year, I decided to break with my year-old tradition and resolved to only write happy, positive things about Halloween.
But seriously people, there was only so long I could keep that  facade going. [Read more...]
Filed Under: "Un"Culture, Anna S.

Where I was on 9/11/01: Stamford, CT

September 9, 2011 By 3 Comments
On September 11, 2001, I was living with my boyfriend in Stamford, CT. Notice I write I was living with my boyfriend, and not we were living together. I was woefully “between jobs,” having recently lost mine in the dot-com crash, and feeling very aimless. My boyfriend had given me a place to stay, much like you’d offer your college buddy a place to crash for a few months as he figured out what to do next. Everything I owned was stored at my childhood home in suburban Virginia, right outside of Washington, DC. Life was not terrible, but it wasn’t exactly ideal either. I was desperately hoping to find a new job and to get my life back on track.
 
On September 11, I woke-up eager to greet the new day. I had an interview in Manhattan for a job that seemed more than promising. I got ready, putting on my black Ann Taylor “interview suit” and practicing my nice-to-meet-you handshake in the mirror. When I was about three minutes away from dashing out the door to the train station, the phone rang. It was my mom.
 
“Don’t go into the City today,” she cautioned. [Read more...]
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Minimalist Macaroons – My Mom's Secret-Stolen Recipe

May 4, 2011 By 1 Comment

All this week on Jersey Moms Blog, in honor of Mother’s Day, we are sharing our mother’s and/or grandmother’s best recipe.

For Passover, my family always has Macaroons. This is the traditional dessert shared by many as these tasty cookies do not require flour, which is forbidden over the eight day holiday.

This year, my mom brought her recipe as well as the four required ingredients, and made these easy, and delicious, cookies with her delighted granddaughters. They were the best macaroons I had ever eaten, so Grandma kindly gave us her “secret” recipe so we could make them again.  [Read more...]

Filed Under: Anna S., Food Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Twitter, Facebook and the good ol’ days of blogs.

February 11, 2011 By 7 Comments

Recently I’ve begun to use Twitter.  A lot. I admit it: I’m totally addicted.  A few months back I asked the question of whether I needed to tweet at all.  Now, I only ask: how can I find more hours in the day to tweet?

In fact, I started this very post months ago.  Then I started using Twitter for “research,” and well, I never even had time to finish it until today, when my toddler decided to treat Mommy and take an extra-long nap. (Thanks, buddy. I owe you one.)

For those of you who aren’t already hopelessly addicted to Twitter, let me tell you some of the great things about it: [Read more...]

Filed Under: "Un"Culture, Anna S., Humor Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

What to do with your kids on school vacation week. With a pile of snow.

December 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Vacation  weeks when you’re on vacation from school, but not actually on vacation, can be long.  And stressful.  And let’s face it, not fun.

And vacations that aren’t really vacations, and also are long, and stressful, and not fun, are a total waste of what should be, well, a vacation week.  So, with a few days left for many in this winter holiday vacation week, with extra bonus piles of snow, I give you my personal Top Five Ideas for having a really great week with your kids. [Read more...]

Filed Under: Anna S., Family, Humor Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My Mommy-mobile

December 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment

When we moved to the suburbs from Manhattan, we had like many other New Yorkers our City Car.  It was old, it was dented, it was scraped, it was dirty.  But none of this mattered, these were all the scars of a life well-lived in New York City, of fitting into spaces that should have been way too small, proof of the trafficy trips we’d taken to beaches, hiking trails, and the much-appreciated airport pick-ups when out-of-town guests came to visit us.

Once we got to the suburbs, our City Car didn’t look so good anymore. What once had appeared well-worn, now looked worn-out. We initially scoffed at people with their oversized SUVs, and even more-so, we couldn’t believe some people had the audacity to own two cars. We couldn’t imagine needing more than one car, but within weeks we couldn’t imagine how we had lived that long with just the one.  

We were also about to have our third kid, so we decided that yes, we would become yet another suburban family with the gigantic SUV.  And a few weeks later I was happily driving around in my seats-seven SUV.  And I loved my new car. [Read more...]

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New Halloween: You're giving me a headache

October 26, 2010 By Leave a Comment
Halloween is still about a week away, but I feel like I’ve had enough of what I am now officially calling New Halloween to last me a decade. When did Halloween get so ridiculously super-sized like everything else in modern life? I hate to think I’m old enough to be talking about the good ol’ days, but that’s how I feel when it comes to Halloween – oops, I mean New Halloween. Is it really too much to ask that my kids be able to just put on a costume (or not), pull out a pillowcase, and knock on the neighbors’ doors for some mass-produced candy?  And by the way, any candy would be fine. It doesn’t need to be specially manufactured for New Halloween and emblazoned with orange pumpkins, black cats and green ghouls.
 
Halloween is no longer just the 31st of October, no New Halloween insists on taking over the entire month of October. And it needs to, or you wouldn’t be able to complete all of the activities required by New Halloween. First and foremost New Halloween requires a trip to a pumpkin patch, and if my friends’ photos on Facebook are any indication, dressing your baby up like a pumpkin for that trip is also a requirement.
 
Adherence to the rules of New Halloween also necessitates decorating your house with everything from giant inflatable black cats (with fangs!) to festive twinkling lights (in orange and black, of course) to funny scenes you produce of severed limbs peeking out playfully from hay bales (so clever).  [Read more...]
Filed Under: "Un"Culture, Anna S., Family Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I Heart NJ

October 7, 2010 By Leave a Comment
My time as a New Jersey resident can still be measured in days and weeks, not months and years, and I have so much more to learn about what it means to be a Jersey-ite. (Like that even, what do you call yourself in Jersey?)
 
And yes, some of my New Yorker prejudice remains when it comes to assessing New Jersey fairly and accurately. Even though I know they are (mostly) not true, the Jersey stereotypes stay in my head. Jersey smells. Everyone has big hair. And wears sweat suits.  Bedazzled sweat suits.  And the accent – fuggedaboutit!  Not to mention the turnpikes, the traffic, and the malls. Oh, those infamous New Jersey malls. 
 
Yet, even with memories of Manhattan still prominent in my mind, I am willing to admit that so far I’m loving my Jersey life. Now I live here, in a welcoming town with friendly neighbors and excellent schools. The bagels aren’t bad. The gym is totally Jerseyfied and amazing. And yes, as my Jersey born-and-bred husband keeps reminding me, I will never have to pump my own gas again (uh, honey, it’s actually that you won’t have to pump my gas any more). [Read more...]
Filed Under: "Un"Culture, Anna S., NJ Fun Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,