Abby Off the Record — The scoop on life, writing & raising kids

How Not to Network

July 27, 2011

Early in my freelance career, I took a writing class. One of the other students, “Kat,” was also a new freelancer. She was ballsy and brusque, the kind of person whose energy – negative or positive – took over whatever room she occupied. A few weeks into class, she e-mailed me to ask for the […]

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Yoga? No-Go…at First

July 25, 2011

It took me a while to warm up to yoga, truth be told. I spent the early part of my childhood on a college campus in the ’70s, and I associated yoga with a certain type of bearded and/or tie-dye clad person who smells of patchouli. I tried yoga in college, and the hirsute, deodorant-averse […]

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It’s All Fun, Fashion & Fine Food at Our House

July 22, 2011

My 5yo son completely stumped me with this question one day: “Mom, don’t you ever play with toys?” I was about to reply, “Of course I do!” but my new Shark vacuum cleaner and my smartphone hardly qualify. I couldn’t even come up with a tennis racket or pool float. Lame. That’s not to say […]

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Rocks in My Pocket

July 20, 2011

On the beach that day, low tide, the sun slanting low in the sky, so bright you had to shade your eyes even with sunglasses on, the stones glistened on the sand like multicolored jewels. I couldn’t believe all those different colors could exist in nature, let alone on the same beach. Emerald green, deep […]

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If Clark Kent Were a Working Mom

July 18, 2011

I’ve said before that my days seem to end up being either all work or all play. (And by “play,” I mean feeding and caring for 2 rambunctious sons.) It’s like I’m mostly Mommy with an alter ego, Writer Woman, who occasionally puts on some lipstick and shows up for meetings. Last week was no […]

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Flashback Friday: Blogs – Cheaper than Therapy

July 15, 2011

One of the great things about blogging for over 5 years is that I don’t have to rack my addled mommy brain to try and recall, say, what my firstborn was like at age 2. I can just look it up in my archives. And lo and behold, I found this post, which sums up […]

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Mind Your Manners

July 13, 2011

I overheard this conversation between my 2 boys recently: Miles: “Hey, Riley. Nice underpants.” Riley: “Thank you, Miles.” This exchange cracked me up. Never mind that the underwear was a short-lived (and failed) experiment that ended with a puddle on the floor and extra laundry. I think it’s funny that a) my 5yo would voice […]

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Taking Turns

July 11, 2011

There’s an intersection in my neighborhood with a 3-way stop. What that means – as any person who’s ever passed driver’s ed should know, IMO – is that whoever gets to the stop sign first, goes, after coming to a full and complete stop. Then the next car, then the next. I get IRATE when […]

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Random Thoughts at the Pool

July 8, 2011

All these people are essentially standing around in their underwear in broad daylight. Where else do people wear so little clothing in public? Even at the gym you don’t see this much thigh. Seriously, teenage girls? The string bikini tops and short-shorts weren’t revealing enough? You had to roll down the waistband, too? When did […]

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What Were You Born to Do?

July 6, 2011

In case you missed it, I made an unsolicited vow to come up with some ideas for better programming on Oprah’s OWN network. Here’s my first idea: One day last year while I was watching my son’s swimming lesson, Michael Phelps walked past me in a Speedo. In case you don’t know, Phelps was the […]