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By Trish • March 6th, 2012

“Today you are You, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is Youer than You.” ― Dr. Seuss, Happy Birthday to You! When Theodor Seuss Geisel wrote this saying in the children’s book, Happy Birthday to You! in 1959, he couldn’t have imagined that 53 years later, thousands of people using the social media tool Twitter would “tweet” this “Seussism” — along with many others— on the anniversary of his birthday. Many people paid the prolific tri-syllabic master of prose personal tributes ..read more

Donald Trump, move over.  I have truly perfected the Art of the Deal. While my deals may not be in the mega-millions, they’re big in my eyes. Take my bean deal, for example. A few years ago, Stop and Shop was promoting a $1.00 per item refund on selected Rienzi brand foods, including canned beans. The best part? The beans were on sale for 99 cents. Late that night, I hightailed it to the bean aisle and emptied the shelves of ..read more

Yesterday I skipped church and ran the Mercedes Marathon in Birmingham instead. Yes, I said Birmingham, not Burlington. I had decided to travel to Alabama’s largest city to try to qualify for next year’s Boston Marathon by running 26.2 miles in 4:00 hours or better – my personal BQ (Boston Qualifier). I kept my qualifying quest a secret from most people, because  I knew it sounded crazy, and was afraid if I missed my goal it really would ..read more

I spent a large part of the holiday weekend freezing my bunting off at the New Hampshire Liquor and Wine Outlet in Hampton, New Hampshire. I had volunteered to fundraise for the Alzheimer’s Association, not counting on numbing single-digit temperatures and arctic gales. Standing outside of a liquor store asking for spare change was a few degrees out of my comfort zone. As I drove there the first day, I questioned my commitment and soundness of mind. Ten hours, hundreds of ..read more

The weather outside may have been frightful, but the first peals of Boston’s Old South Meeting House newly-installed Paul Revere Bell were, in a word, delightful. At 12:00 pm on 1/12/2012, the historic Westborough Paul Revere bell rang 12 times. It was the first time in 136 years that a bell has rung out on the hour from Old South. Despite the driving rain and windy weather, dozens of onlookers were there to witness the historic event. “Nearly a hundred thousand ..read more

Published in Atlanta Parent and Central California Parent Panicking over the impending, non-ending list of holiday to-dos? Wait a minute! When did the holidays morph from moments of meaning to pre-holiday months of mania? I used to epitomize the stressed-out holiday mom, snapping at her four kids (No, you can’t change your list to Santa – too late for that!), snagging parking spaces at the mall, risking life and limb (not mine), and frantically Photoshopping my family into an online ..read more

Simple Tips for Simply Fun Birthday Parties Does the thought of planning your child’s next birthday party make you want to celebrate or break out on a cold sweat? Children’s birthday celebrations can easily balloon out of control. Parties are big business, where the birthday guest list often includes Chuck E. Cheese. As kid’s parties get bigger, so do complications, expenses and stress. Your child’s next birthday party shouldn’t require a lot of fuss to be a lot of fun. Here are ..read more

As a mom of four, I have planned, plotted and put on literally dozens of birthday parties over the years. Almost all of them have been hosted at the best party place in town – our backyard. We’ve had Thomas the Tank Engine parties. We’ve had Elmo parties. We’ve had a Cinderella ball. We’ve had Star Wars parties, from Return of the Jedi to A New Hope. Our backyard has morphed from the Aussie Outback to the Wild Wild West with ..read more

Published in the Metrowest Daily News and the Westborough News It’s the holy grail. The brass ring. The oldest, the notorious, the elite, the famed. The magical, mythical Boston Marathon. And I was running it. Just saying “I’m training for the Boston Marathon,” gave me a smug, self-satisfied feeling. I won’t lie. No matter that I was a charity runner, had the flabby breasts-tummy-thigh-thing going from bearing three children in five years. I dreamed of that moment in April when I ..read more

Author Jeff Kinney Talks about Wimpy Kids, the Kinney Family Published in baystateparent Magazine, Memphis Parent and Baton Rouge Parent While famed Wimpy Kid character Greg Heffley is always scheming ways to notch up his popularity at middle school, his creator Jeff Kinney of Plainville, MA is having no trouble getting noticed these days. Jeff’s wildly popular “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” book series have consistency topped the New York Times Bestseller list for children’s books. In 2009, Kinney ..read more