Shaking Our Groove Thing for Princess Margaret Hospital

Twitter. Pinterest. Blogging. Facebook. Some may call them time suckers. Others a fabulous hobby.  Still others an incredibly effective communication channel.  I call them all of the above, but plus also just plain fun.

Here’s the thing.  To me, philanthropy is just groovy.  It feels really great, for me at least, to do for others just because I can. It doesn’t always have to be money related, though.  Sometimes an opportunity presents itself to take what I love like tweeting, and direct my energies for the greater good

That’s what I’m doing this weekend.  I’m Live Tweeting The Dance to Conquer Cancer in support of Princess Margaret Hospital.

The Dance to Conquer Cancer

I’ve been touched by Cancer in so many ways. My niece is a Cancer Survivor, my father died of Liver Cancer, my Grandmother died of Breast Cancer.

One of my oldest friends is fighting a rare Adrenal cancer right now.  And, she’s being treated at Princess Margaret Hospital. At PMH, they treat my friend with kindness, respect and empathy. There are nurses there who make her chemo more tolerable, if not enjoyable. She feels welcome there, like everyone wants to help her. There are resources like Look Good Feel Better available to help her mitigate the side effects of her treatment.  Because of the research funds available, the doctors are looking for ways to find new ways to treat rare cancers like hers.

Sure, Dance to Conquer Cancer is going to be fun. Probably the most fun tweeting I’ve ever.  I mean, there’s a DANCE-A-THON featuring Richard Simmons (how cool is that), and Blake McGrath (I’m totally obsessed with So You Can Think You Can Dance ).  There’s a fabulous dinner, MORE dancing, and an evening performance by Gloria Gaynor.

I mean, what better anthem is there for a party who’s goal is to kick Cancer’s butt to the street?

But, the best part of the whole thing, besides the beauty bar where ladies can get hair and makeup touchups, a shopping auction and a Tassimo Coffee station, (this party is getting better and better, come to think of it), is that my DAUGHTER will be on-stage dancing the day and night away as part of the entertainment.

My girl, who I’m so proud of, works for Magen Boys Entertainment. They’re spinning the tunes and shaking their money makers to keep the party-goers energized and boogying for hours.  I’m so happy that Skylar will be able to see the greatness of selflessness and how amazing it feels to use your gift to help others.

Keep your eye out for pictures from the party next week. I’m going to go practice my moves right now, although according to daughter, I’m forbidden from dancing.

For more info about the event:

Website: www.discodays.ca
Twitter: @DiscoDays1

Please visit the Princess Margaret Hospital website for more information about the great things they’re doing.

And if you’re coming to the party, I’ll be the one Tweeting in sequins. Or, maybe not.  

My Party Weekend: Aka the Old and the Tired

What kind of Bastard are you? Fat Bastard Poster

You know what I realized this weekend?  I’m an old suburban lady.  Whatever hipness I fancy myself to have, however hot I am in my own mind, how much cool I possess notwithstanding the opinion of my children,  I am a has been.

I realized this fact this morning when I picked up my top I wore out last night to a club (more on that later) and sniffed it. Why?  Because the last time I went clubbing you’d have to air out your clothes because they smelled like CIGARETTE SMOKE.  That happened so long ago that I can’t even find the date on Wikipedia.  Also meaning that the last time I went clubbing was so long ago that I there wasn’t even a Wikipedia.

I am tired.  I went out FRIDAY and SATURDAY night this week.  At least I only wore high heels one of the nights.  Or else, I’d probably be using a walker right about now.

Friday night, I went with friends, my sister, and the DD (designated driver named husband) to the Gourmet Food and Wine Expo.  Last year, we had the most fun ever at the Gourmet Food & Wine Expo.  We went on a Sunday afternoon and it wasn’t that crowded, and those who were there were ordinary suburbanites and fogeys like ourselves.  We WERE THE COOL PEOPLE.  We owned that Wino Expo, tasting, friending the awesome Spanish, Portuguese and Italian wine vendors (oh the accents), almost getting kicked out when we need a ‘rest’ on the floor (immature I know), as well as some other antics I won’t share.

This year, we went on the Friday night, as I said.  It was crowded.  Like uncomfortably crowded. And full of 20 something hipsters with their cool outfits and Movembers and youngness.  We had no space at all for middle-aged romping.  It was eye-opening with regard to our lack of cool.  And only one accented wine vendor had the time of day for us.  Luckily, his wine was amazing, which is ironic because we only tried it because of the name.  It’s not available in the Liquor Store, but you (meaning I) can order it (will order it) by the 1/2 case.

Portuguese Wine- Evidencia

Husband doesn’t drink, so we spend some time in the gourmet food area.  This was the biggest Paella I’ve ever seen:

Giant Paella

By far, the coolest food at the Expo was the pulled pork parfait from Hank Daddy’s BBQ.  I didn’t have one, because I don’t eat pork, plus I wasn’t hungry due to being full of wine samples. But, you can actually have these folks come to your party with their truck and do this four your guests:

Hank Daddy's BBQ Parfait

That's Hank Daddy hisself with a big tray o' pork

Saturday Night.  My bff loves anything Latino and has been on everyone to go to this dance club called Il Convento Rico in Little Italy in Toronto.  It’s supposedly a gay dance club, which makes it extra scintillating for us suburbanites.  We brought our gay boyfriends with us to make it perfect.  We had a big night planned:  dinner at Pizzeria Libretto (a restaurant I’ve been dying to go to but never do, because they don’t take reservations and my husband hates waiting, plus I’m usually too lazy to go downtown) then dancing and the DRAG QUEEN  show at the club.  Can you tell how suburban I am?  I capitalized drag queen.

I wore these shoes for the occasion (pilfered from the 17 year old daughter’s closet)

Stilettos borrowed from teenage daughter

The night started out strong earlier in the day when the husband threw out his back picking up a bottle of mouthwash at Costco (told ya we were fogeys).  So, we recruited another husband to be our driver.  Good thing we had a criminal lawyer in the car, because there were 8 of us in a 7-seater (teenager behaviour to go with my teenage shoes).  We didn’t get to eat at Pizza Libretto because there was a two hour wait, and the restaurant we did eat at short poured our wine so it was like a teeny sip (so distressing).

We got to Il Convento Rico.  The dancing was fun. We were working that dance floor with moves like the middle-aged booty shake and the sprinkler.  Unlike in a Royal Caribbean cruise disco or at a Bar Mitzvah, there was nowhere to sit when your stilettos start to hurt so much you want to cut your feet off.  So, after, about 45 minutes I was ready to go.  It was really crowded with tiny latino men and seemingly 15-year old girls who apparently forgot their pants at home.  But, we danced, and drank, and waited for the main attraction:  THE DRAG SHOW.

IT WAS SO LAME.  THOSE DRAG QUEENS WEREN’T EVEN LIP-SYNCING!   They were just dancing around.  I mean, I could do that. For real.  The piece de resistance of the night was upon our exit when a creeper grabbed my friend and FRENCHED HER.   We went straight to the pharmacy for some Lysol.

What did you do this weekend?

There are no words: TMI

 

TMI? Too much information? For some...

In order to spare any sensitive souls who regularly read my blog, I put it out there for someone to host a TMI post for me.  This post contains some potentially sensitive or even embarrassing details about something that happened to me.  You know what I’m talking about- those things that happen to you that you’e dying to share, but that are also so cringe-worthy that you really hesitate…

One poor soul took the bait and offered, without even knowing what I was going to say, to post my story on her blog. So, Jodi  http://twitter.com/#!/KarmicEvolution), thank you.  Without you, this story would go untold in an intensely public forum like the interweb. 

So, if you are really interested in reading my post about the hazards of peri-menopause and menstruation, then read on here. 

Otherwise, you can find something else to do.

Come to our #MILFF Party (get your mind out of the gutter)

THIS VIDEO HAS NOT BEEN RETOUCHED. I REALLY LOOK THAT BAD!!!

Once of my best friends is someone I’ve never met.  That’s right. Sounds weird, eh?  Her name is Holly Pavlika, and she is some kind of big Kahuna over at Big Fuel in New York City aka The Big Apple. She also blogs at HaveMomentum.com about women and moms and social media and other smart stuff like that.  Once I guest blogged at her site, but nobody read it, not even my mother, and then I Mara-prastinated and never wrote for her again.

Holly and I met on Twitter, and bonded over our teenage daughters who steal our clothing that still has tags on it.  Anyways, I’ll get to meet Holly next year in The Big Apple when I attend BlogHer12 (a blogging conference) and crash at her house.  I have agreed to stay with Holly as her houseguest if she doesn’t make me wake up at 5 am to go to the gym.  However, I’ve told Holly that if she wants to bring me coffee back from the gym by 7:00, that will be acceptable.

Wow!! I digress.  Anyways, Holly has coined a Follow Friday hashtag that goes like this:  #MomsILiketoFollowFriday.  Obviously, that hashtag is way too long, and has been shortened to #MILFF.  It creates a lot of hilarity amongst the dirty minded men who happen to see it on Twitter. Then, we have to explain it to them, and they get all embarrassed, and that makes it even more fun.

Holly has rocked the Twitter world, and as she approached 5000!!! yes!!!! 5000!!!! followers she convinced her colleague, Seth Berk, (just follow bother him @sethberk) that she should have a party to celebrate, and #milff5000 was born.

Join us on FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 9TH AT 9-10 PM est

The FACEBOOK page http://ht.ly/6mpSZ  has all the deets, including prizes and pictures of the gorgeous #MILLFS who will be hosting.  There are lots of hosts because we will all end up in Twitter Jail.

This is an approximation of the #MILFF T-shirt I'll be wearing

NOMINATE A #MILFF AS QUEEN AND YOU CAN WIN!! (YOU’RE GONNA NOMINATE ME, RIGHT?)

Use #MILFFqueen as the hashtag and give a short reason why. (just less than 120 characters)
The #MILFFQueen will win a $50 American Express gift card courtesy of Mom-entum
and Big Fuel.