Life is a Balancing Act Blog

As I sat in my office at year’s end, closing out books and records for my clients and then lastly for my own corporation, “The Year in Review” was streaming on every TV station I turned to. It’s hard not to reflect at the conclusion of a year, to look both forward and back. For me, 2011 can be summed up by one three letter word – FUN!

That’s not to say that every day was fun. Life isn’t like that. But overall, it was a good year. And when so many people continue to struggle financially, I am grateful to be able to say that out loud. I work hard. I play hard. That’s been my motto and my goal for many years. As an entrepreneur, I had the opportunity to create my own life. And I took it! It took years of fine tuning. But I have a great life! I support myself in a manner to which I’ve become accustomed. I’m not wealthy by any means, other than in spirit. I work hard enough to pay my bills, buy what I want, save for retirement and not have to worry when the next dollar is coming in. My three day work week from April 15th – December 15th is a lifestyle which others envy. I can pull it off because I set the rules that I live by. Sometimes the rules are meant to be broken – weeks where going into work for that fourth day, if only for a few hours, made the difference between knowing that I accomplished what I needed to for the week vs. work mentally hanging over my head the rest of the weekend. When I am not at work, I am not at work – mentally or physically.

Business in 2011 was good, really good! Old receivables came in. Cash was flowing early and often. I raised my hourly rate $10 for the first time in 4 years. I mastered e-filing in a matter of weeks. I’ll even admit that I like the process more than I expected to. I suspect it was my reactive nature in being forced to do something, by the IRS no less that prompted my initial hesitation. More likely it’s that I’m getting lazy in my old age. I operate on the motto that if it’s not broken it doesn’t need to be fixed. Without question it applies to my technology. But it applies to other things in life too. Change is good, but not always. The whole e-file mandate taught me that you can teach this old CPA “new tricks” even if she doesn’t want to learn them. My brain was on fire, in a good way all year. I saw facts and circumstances in an analytical way that I know others would have missed. Even the crunch in October didn’t seem as stressful as 2010. The work load all year seemed more even. My newly implemented “procrastinators” billing rate (added $100 to my billing rate for initial information received in the last three weeks) eased the pain, even if only actually charged to one client. I ate the increase on two other long time clients whose lives are still in some financial economic turmoil although included on the bill, to prove a point – I am not a super-hero in living with other peoples’ procrastination!

On December 30th as I closed out my year, I was in third place in terms of earnings W-2 withdrawn from the business. My corporate structure (a C Corp) is such that I pretty much zero out the earnings, cognizant that cash flow in early January is non-existent. And yet one big check that I knew was in the mail had yet to arrive! And while most business owners would be happy to wait to report the revenue the next year, that check would take me from 3rd place to 1st place, in one fell swoop! So I went into the office on Saturday, December 31st to check the mail, whooping and hollering when I saw that the check had in fact arrived. Bonus #2 equals my highest W-2 ever, a threshold of earnings not met before. Plus 25% SEP retirement to be contributed with next year’s cash!

To top it off, I paid off $5000 of debt lingering from a painful business investment from year’s past. I hadn’t plan on it until Christmas Day as I made my monthly payment on one of the remaining credit lines. I looked at the balance and my monthly payment and decided that I didn’t want to look at this for another two years. Low interest credit line or not (varied from 1.9% – 4.99%), I wanted to be done. After I paid off that loan, I went back to the other and did the same. What a freeing move that was! Another lesson in – it’s just money. The experience is now in the past, the life lessons learned. Karma will still to pay its visit to the partner who financially screwed me to be sure!

Yes, revenues were up from 2010. But I’ve kept a toe on expenses the last few years, my office move two years ago being the catalyst. I don’t care if I work a little less every year. Because proud as I am about it being a record year for me, life and work is not just about the money – it’s about living my balanced life!

The only downside to tax season was how my body continues to react physically to the stresses of the season, a different body part reacting to the increase in my hours each of the last five plus years. Aging is for the birds! I worked through the pain while at the same time running to the chiropractor, acupuncture and massage, one (if not more) of the three at least weekly. And when the pains did not subside on April 16th as they have in the past, I worked through it with Dr. Dan Fedeli, my chiropractor for close to 30 years. Hopefully as I head into tax season 2012, we’ll ward off the body stresses at the pass. Or not! At least I’ll be ready with my teams of holistic professionals at the ready.

So where’s the fun, you may ask? All I’ve talked about is work! Alas, it was what I did to entertain myself, in living that made this year so fun. Here are some highlights of my 2011 Memory Lane!

MUSIC/THEATRE

Toy Story 3 on Ice February 3rd
Aunt Debbie takes the Little Lessins to the United Center after the Chicago Blizzard of February 1st and 2nd. The streets were cleared! And while the gas mileage of the Infiniti FX35 is awful, I forgive it when it plows through the snow! Amazing how cleaner the suburban streets were than the city ones after drive to return them to River Forest! 12 year old Jake didn’t want to admit how much he enjoyed, but he did!

Rain – A Tribute to the Beatle February 10th
Sang along with the performers all night long! Hard not to be happy after an evening of Beatles
Songs!

Circle Mirror Transformation April 16th
Tax Season over! Stayed awake for the whole play which was hard as so tired! One of my clients (Joe Lauck) was one of the actors in the play! Another client/friend (Jan Kallish) is Executive Director of Victory Gardens Theatre!

Next to Normal May 5th
Tony Award winner, though provoking – Chicago is lucky to have the Broadway in Chicago series which brings us such great theatre.

Matthew Morrison @ Goodman Theatre Benefit May 21st
Glee fan, that I am, jumped at the chance to join my friend Sheree Franklin (Goodman’s Women’s Board member) at the 2011 benefit. Concert, dinner, dancing – all dressed up with somewhere to go! New dress, wore my fascinator again! If only I wasn’t sick as a dog it would have been a perfect night. As it was, I was happy that I lasted out the evening. A true example of “it’s not how you feel, it is how you look!”

Working May 26th
The Studs Turkel book comes to life in musical form. About twenty minutes too long but it was enjoyable just the same. Perhaps it was the knowledge that I was missing the Bull’s playoff game that was distracting me! Tried to catch the end of the game across the street at the Westin Bar but it was too crowded. Home in time for 4th quarter but alas the Bulls could not seal the deal that night!

Robert Plant @ Ravinia June 16th
Not a concert that I would have chosen but invited as a guest by a friend of a friend who was gifted box seats. Hard to pass up free tickets @ Ravinia especially on a since summer night!

Peter Gabriel & the New Blood Orchestra June 20th
Take old favorites done with an Orchestra instead of a bank plus new music, United Center floor seats and the company of a longtime friend and you have the recipe for an evening of fun!

Tribute to the Blues Brothers July 7th
This was kind of hokey production to be honest with you. But an evening with my best friend highlighted by outdoor dining on Michigan Ave prior to the theatre can only be fun! Ran into a friend/client several rows ahead and chatted at intermission.

Peter Pan July 8th
Katy Perry concert scheduled for the night was cancelled so I arranged this as alternative with the Little Lessins. Went online and got discounted tickets on Goldstar. This was our Aunt Debbie birthday celebration. We first went for Mexican food in the neighborhood first. The production was 3D, in the round and had human puppets. Milly summed it up this way “Awesome! Can we go again?”

Cirque du Soleil July 21st
Knowing that this was Cirque’s bi-annual visit to the circus tent outside the United Center, I got tickets months in advance. Great seats! Great show!

Bill Maher July 23rd
Bill Maher takes a break from his Friday night HBO TV show and I crave my political commentary. Good thing that Chicago is one of his tour cities! Two hours flew by with signature wit, humor and insight!

Paul McCartney August 1st
Wrigley Field…hot summer night and Paul McCartney! What a combination this was! Three hours of music. I don’t think that he even took a drink of water. Without question the highlight of the summer!

Katy Perry August 21st
Rescheduled from July, took Ava and Milly (at 5, probably a little young but she knew all the words of the songs!) with my sister-in-law who was feeling guilty because Monday was the first day of school and we had the girls out late! Fun, pop, Katy Perry!

In the Next Room (the Vibrator Play) October 6th
This Tony award winning play by Sarah Rule was really well done. You laugh and you think. Isn’t that truly entertainment?

Women are Crazy Because Men are A-Holes October 16th
Just plain fun! A laugh a minute!

Godspell (New York) October 21st
I am a Broadway Producer! Niece Samantha worked for producer Ken Davenport’s Production Company while at NYU. So when Ken set out to make Godspell, the People’s play allowing investments for as little as $1000, my sister & I jumped on board. During our annual visit to New York to see Sami, we took in this new production. Got to go backstage and meet some of the cast members too!

The Book of Mormon (New York) October 22nd
Tickets are pricey and impossible to come by. Thank goodness for American Express Entertainment Access and advance planning! Well worth it. Funny, funny, funny!

Love, Loss & What I Wore October 27th
The perfect play for a girls’ night out!

Sting November 5th
A nice laid back evening of music from one of my favorites. More country than I would have expected. But Sting is Sting. And for 60 that man looks great!

Paul Simon November 13th
You can tell my age just by the concerts I attend! Paul Simon, another classic. Great seats at The Rosemont Theatre (much better than Sting the week before).

Ann November 17th
Taylor Holland wrote and starred in this play about the life of former Texas Governor Ann Richards. Ann Richards was a pistol. Pre-Broadway run will tweak out some of the excess I suspect. I loved Ann Richards. I have a magnet with her holding up a t-shirt proclaiming “A Woman’s Place is in the Dome” on my refrigerator. This one woman play was a fitting tribute.

The Gift Theatre 10 Year Anniversary Gala November 18th
Small theatre thrives in Chicago. There were some Hollywood connections to Gray’s Anatomy & Private Practice too! This group of friends remembers their roots. Nice, comfortable evening of food, drink, theatre, dancing and celebrating local theatre.

Memphis December 8th
Tony Winner of Best Musical 2010, another Broadway in Chicago production. Music and social issues share the spotlight.

Goodnight Moon…the Musical December 18th
Aunt Debbie takes Milly, age 5 out for an afternoon of children’s theatre and shopping. Target with a five year old before the holidays? What was I thinking?!?

TRAVEL:

Greece & London April 18th – April 30th
An excursion with my sister, brother in law and niece Sami, my roommate! You can read more about this in blog archives. The highlight of the trip was without question being in London the day of the Royal Wedding…at the hotel closest to the Royal Palace no less!

Nashville May 12th – 13th
Have visited Nashville many times in the last few years since my college friend Sharon moved there. This was my second time at Iroquois Steeplechase – Nashville’s Kentucky Derby without the gambling. If only it wasn’t raining! Good thing that I brought rain boots! This will be an annual event!

Florida June 1st – June 6th
Mom turned 80 but has told everyone where she lives that she’s 79! So if anyone knows my mother, please don’t tell her that I wrote this. She’d kill me! I don’t know why if she was going to lie about her age that she’d only lie by a year! My mom looks awesome for 80! She should be proud of her age! The one thing that we can’t change about ourselves is our age. We shopped. We saw movies. We ate out every night! We celebrated!

New York October 21 – 23rd
This was my third annual trip to NY with my sister to visit her daughter Sami who is now a junior at NYU. We stayed at the Muse Hotel, a Kimpton Hotel in the heart of the theatre district. We shopped. We walked. We ate. We drank Prossecco! We went to Godspell and Book of Mormon (see above!)

Louisville November 11th – 12th
My friend Lulu now works for Southwest Airlines. We wanted a two day excursion where we didn’t have to transfer planes or spend more time flying that visiting. Louisville it was. We stayed at Hotel21C, a hotel with an art museum inside and a four star restaurant. That was the best part of the trip! We didn’t rent a car which was probably a mistake. We walked a lot. But there wasn’t as much downtown activity as we might have thought. We ended up catching an earlier plane home because we could. But it was a fun 36 hours!

Miraval…a life in Balance Spa in Tucson, Arizona December 8th- 11th
This is somewhere that I’ve wanted to go for ten years! It deserves its own blog post which of course I meant to write but haven’t gotten around to it yet. Great place to go by myself to rest and relax. More to come!

SPORTS:

Green Bay Packers (the team of my youth) win the Super Bowl. They get there by beating the Chicago Bears (the team where I live). Everyone tells me I can’t be a fan of both! They are wrong! The way I look at it, I can’t lose!

Chicago Bulls – thank you for a wonderful season of basketball. It’s been so long since basketball mattered in June! Can’t wait until this season (now that there is a season)!

Chicago Cubs – 4 games in June and July (two back to back games two weeks apart) sealed my losing fate. I started giving away tickets after that – which I can’t remember ever doing before. But being at Wrigley was simply too painful this year. I’m wondering if I will even bother buying tickets for the 2012 season, new manager or not.

FAMILY HIGHLIGHTS:

Joe Salvati Wedding July 3rd
For me, family includes my extended family, my family of friends. Joe is my best friend’s nephew whom I’ve known since he was a little boy. Now living in Australia with Melissa, this wedding was an international event. Everyone danced all night! One of the top five highlights of the summer.

Ava Fashion Designer Day July 29th
Best Aunt Debbie Day Ever! Read the archived blog entry.

Jake Lessin Bar Mitzvah September 10th
My brother’s oldest steps to the bema and takes his turn in this time honored tradition! He looked wonderful and was perfect (even if he wasn’t!). Fun party at East Bank Club followed.

Everyone is healthy and relatively happy! Can’t ask for much more than that!

BALANCING ACT PRODUCTIONS:

It is my creative endeavors that make me happy…make the stresses of the CPA business a lot more tolerable. Granted, I know which business pays the bills. It’s not this one. But this is the one that I cherish in all that it brings to me. Two speaking engagements seemingly came out of the blue. If you Google Chicago Life Balance Speaker, lo and behold Lifeisabalancingact.com is at the top of the page! There was my 8th annual speaking event at The Heartland Spa on July 15th, a weekend I always look forward to (read more in blog archives!)

And there was Balance Lady Designs, my new passion (or shall I say obsession). All I want to do is make more jewelry! I continue to be stunned and amazed by how well everything has been received. The December 15th holiday party was a roaring success – lots of jewelry sold, a real girls night out! My favorite shoe store, City Soles, features my work at the checkout counter! New products are in the works – pony tail holder, shoe clips, clip earrings, headbands and cufflinks- covered buttons with beautiful Lee Allison fabric. I have to remind myself that it’s tax season soon. I know that I’ll figure out how to integrate it into my life regardless. It’s what I do watching TV instead of playing a game on my IPad! More to come in 2012 – that you can be sure of!

ASSORTED FUN FACTS (am a numbers cruncher so why not!)

Massages: 22 (doesn’t include spa trips!)
Acupuncture: 28
Chiropractor: 18
Workouts w/Personal Trainer: 29
Pilates Equipment Class: 22
Facials (including microdermabrasion): 6
Books Read: 33 (4 hardcover, rest Kindle)
Evenings with Boy Friend (not boyfriend): 75
Dinners and/or Movies with Friends – too many to count!
Of these, dinner at Spout on August 10th and the friends and family pre-opening to Michael Jordan’s Steakhouse on August 19th made my top 5 events of the summer!

Wow…am exhausted just writing this all! Yes, 2011 was a great year! Here’s to 2012 – may the good times continue!!

Balancing Act Productions, Inc. has been Debbie Lessin’s creative business outlet for well over 10 years. From her Life is a Balancing Act Workshops to Life is a Balance Act…a fun book to the Life is a Balancing Act Blog, Debbie’s creative passion has been rekindled in many ways over the years. Debbie’s writings are on vacation (for now)…too much time at a computer in her day job as a CPA!

And doing what Debbie does best, she took her creative endeavor and turned it into a new business. That’s just who Debbie is! From researching the designs, sources for findings, display, packaging and marketing, Debbie’s entrepreneurial spirit is on overdrive. She has so many ideas that she’s thinking about creating a student internship to keep up the momentum. Because sooner rather than later tax season will be back and the Balance Lady will have to morph back into the Tax Lady! Balance Lady Designs is the perfect post October 15th venture for Debbie – that perfect time when there’s not much work to do at the CPA office.

Balance Lady Designs came about as a result of Debbie admiring the amazingly wonderful silk designed by her friend and work neighbor Lee Allison. Lee is kind of a big deal in the local Chicago fashion scene. He mostly designs ties under his own label but he also does a lot of custom work for the likes of the Lyric Opera and various corporations like Northwestern Mutual and Miller Beer. He even designed a tie for President Obama’s National Finance Committee during the 2008 election.
Lee sells his ties to better retail stores throughout the country. In the Chicago area, his ties are at Macy’s on State Street and Apartment Number 9 in Bucktown, as well as several other stores. They’re also available online at leeallison.com.
Lee really wasn’t sure he wanted Debbie to do this, but she talked him into it because she thinks the fabric is so beautiful and so fun. By the way, this is silk that is woven at a 300-year-old family-owned silk mill in England (10th generation no less!) This is the same mill that was asked by the Royal Family to weave the silk used for Lady Diana’s wedding dress. It’s really just amazingly fabulous. Be sure to check out www.leeallison.com!

This beautiful fabric also makes great pins, hair clips and earrings. And at great prices too! The pins are whimsical; many of them are one of a kind! Balance Lady Designs will be available at several holiday fairs and at a number of local Chicago boutiques this season. Special thanks go out to Chicago Fashion Designers Michelle Tan who is carrying Balance Lady Designs in her store and bringing them to events throughout Chicago and Lauren Lein who incorporated the Balance Lady Design pins in her “Fit to be Tied” Scarf collection this season! Visit these wonderful designers at www.michelletan.com and www.laurenlein.com.

To read more about all three of these Chicago Fashion Designers story read “Best Aunt Debbie Day Ever!”. Seems like Aunt Debbie was motivated by that special day for her niece Ava more than she might have anticipated!

Balance Lady Designs – it’s only just begun. And the best is yet to come!

I am a woman of many identities. I am a daughter, a sister, a sister-in-law, an aunt, a neighbor, a great friend, an entrepreneur, a CPA, an author, a blogger, a motivational speaker, a homeowner and a gardener…to name just a few! Of my family identities, the one that is the most joyful for me is “Aunt Debbie”. Also know as “Cool Aunt Debbie”, an honor bestowed upon me by Benjamin at his Bar Mitzvah in May 2001.

Also known as “Bad Aunt Debbie”, this proclamation coming from Jake, then age three, almost four. Just to measure how fast time flies…Jake’s preparing for his Bar Mitzvah, now less than a month away. “Bad Aunt” he’d say, with a smirk on his face, bad meaning good! Just writing that reminded me of my long forgotten, unfinished gift book entitled “Awesome Aunt Adventures…Things to Do & Rhymes to Read…with Other’s People Children!” I really wanted to name it “Bad Aunt” but knew that very few would get our inside family joke. As the thought crossed my mind, I pulled the manuscript off the shelf, revisiting the simple things that I did with the kids when they were really young – Ride a Bike, Take a Bath, Play a Game, Fly a Kite, to name but a few. The portfolio held two sets of colored pencils, and two notebooks, Ava’s filled with some illustrations, an early indication of her artistic abilities. Talk about putting a smile on my face. I probably haven’t looked at folder in over 5 years. In the dedication, baby Milly (now 5) hadn’t even been born yet. Things happen for a reason. That thought…well maybe it’s time to get this printed, if only for the kids. There have been so many changes in the publishing industry since I self-published “Life is a Balancing Act…a fun book!” seven years ago. Hmm, another creative project to pursue!

I’ve tried to have individual relationships with each of my nieces and nephews. They range in age from 5 – 23, the older two belonging to my sister Marla, the younger three to my brother Barry (married at 40, first child at 41). I’m the single one in the family (and the oldest!). I’ve planned Aunt Debbie activities not only to forge a relationship between myself and the kids but also to give my siblings a respite or date night opportunity with all responsibilities covered.

When Barry & Elena had Milly (their 3rd) I refused to take her until she could at least talk…as in “Oh Aunt Debbie, please don’t leave me home.” With her head cocked to one side, eyes bright, holding onto my leg, I reminded myself that I did not sign up for 3 kids, they did! But Milly being cute, silly Milly with her sister Ava always willing to help, Aunt Debbie was a push over once we made it through our first three at once outing.

Ava and I have gone to Hubbard Street Dance concerts at the Harris Theatre several times (thank you very much Groupon). We go to the Sunday afternoon matinee all dressed up. We get an hour of shopping in at Macy’s right after the show but before the store closes. We end our adventure going out for dinner. Ava and Jake are foodies! Jake and I attended a few Bulls games together (Groupon again!) a few years back. But alas there will be no more discounted Bulls tickets for a while. The Bulls can fill the stadium now with full paying fans, they are that good! Benj and I share our love of the Chicago Cubs. I wish I could take the younger ones to a Cubs game. But alas my brother Barry has poisoned his children to boo the Cubs and only be Sox fans. Two can play stubborn! Aunt Debbie is a Cubs fan and only a Cubs fan! Now that Benj lives in the City (2nd year of law school), I take him out for dinner every month or so. Sometimes we’ve just hang at my house (or his). Sometimes I’ve even cooked! Sami and I go for pedicures together. She worked for me off and on last summer at the office, a chance for us to bond. Milly’s first big girl Aunt Debbie day was an afternoon at Chuckie Cheese. We’ve all gone to Cirque Shanghai at Navy Pier several years in a row. Just recently I took the three youngest to a production of Peter Pan in the round, Milly dressed in a pink tutu skirt (a birthday present from yours truly) looked just like Tinkerbelle without trying! When the show was over, Milly proclaimed, “That was awesome! Can we go again?” I knew that I had hit a homerun. There are pancakes for breakfast in the morning, Sami my assistant chef while the others Wii bowl or watch TV. There is of course the requisite jumping on each other and Aunt Debbie! Sometimes instead of cooking we go out to eat, so many choices in the neighborhood within walking distance. Until a few years ago, Barry lived around the corner from me. But they moved to the suburbs just as the older two were old enough to walk over by themselves, no streets to cross, just two alleys. I so miss my 10 minute Aunt Debbie fixes!

Two boys (Benj & Jake), three girls (Sami, Ava & Milly)…the older two – Benj (23) and Sami (soon to be 21) have a great relationship with their younger cousins. Little Milly lights up brightly whenever she sees her Benjamin! I’ve taken it upon myself to plan an All Cousins Sleepover at my house at least once a year. This year however we are having scheduling problems what with camp, work, school, vacation and busy schedules in general (and not just mine!). They age and the things we do change. But no matter what, Aunt Debbie Day is an adventure!

July 29th had been originally been the date that we all agreed on for this year’s All Cousins Sleepover. That is until Benj’s apartment move to River North was set for the same day. Since I had already blocked out that day in my mind as an Aunt Debbie Day, I instead made plans with Ava, plans that I had thought of a year prior but had yet to act on. The week before, I went to a Cubs game with my fashion designer friend, Lauren Lein. Seeing Lauren spurred me on to finally plan – Ava’s Chicago Fashion Designer Day!

Ava (almost 11) is artistic with a fair for fashion. I’ve encouraged this in her both in clothes that I buy for her and other art project gifts. A few months ago when I was at her house, she dragged me downstairs so that she could show me Project Runway, the video game. Ava wants to be a fashion designer! And Aunt Debbie is friends with 3 Chicago Fashion designers – Lauren Lein, Lee Allison and Michelle Tan. Plans for the day came together in less than a week. All three were thankfully available to share information with Ava on the 29th! And all three were so gracious, so giving of their time and knowledge that Aunt Debbie knows of no other young lady who could have had a more glorious private day into the world of Chicago fashion!

The day started at 11:45 AM. Elena (my sister-in-law) drops Ava off at my house. Since they moved to River Forest, we usually split the pick-up/drop-off so that I’m not adding two hours of driving to/from to my day. Sitting in a car is not my idea of fun or time management. Sharing the load encourages me to do it more often!
I opt to make it a city girl day so we walk to the Blue line el at Damen/Milwaukee/North Ave. a few blocks from my house. I have two pair of shoes at the ready, knowing that we’ve got some walking ahead of us. Unfortunately neither one was the right pair of walking shoes, my shoes for the day chosen more for the fashion than the walking comfort. My feet ached for days afterwards! Ava’s dressed in a short blue jean skirt, brown boots, funky t-shirt with a scarf (that was removed with the heat of the day). She looks adorable as always. I’m in my basic black & white, a long flowy skirt that I had yet to wear this season, a fitted top. It’s the first el ride that Ava remembers although not the first one she’s been on…says her mother! We only have a few stops to ride before we get off at Clark &Lake and walk about four blocks to our first destination…Lauren Lein Studios.

I’ve known Lauren Lein since she moved to Chicago about 20 years ago. We met through several networking groups – NAWBO (National Association of Women Business Owners) and NEW (Network of Women Entrepreneurs). While I curtailed my membership in both years ago when I both overdosed o networking and chose to stop growing the business, our friendship lived on! Lauren Lein Studios (http://laurenlein.com/) is located in a River North loft across from the Merchandise Mart. The residence that she shares with her daughter Andrea and son Drew is discretely located in the rear of the loft. I had not been to the Studio for a number of years. While I still have a few Lauren Lein designs in my closet, my need for business couture has changed over the years. The array of runway fashion and avant-guard dresses and gowns that supplemented the business attire was stunning. I found myself trying a few things on just for fun! Lauren herself was dressed in a short flowery sundress. Lauren was a wealth of information. She shared tidbits on fabric selection, custom design, customer service, fashion merchandising jobs with The Limited and others as well as her education at Central Michigan University.

After almost an hour at the studio, answering questions that Ava posed, we had lunch at Kinzie Street Chophouse, just down the block from the studio. It was a beautiful summer afternoon so we ate outside…and the conversation continued. Ava shared her drawings and designs with Lauren and Aunt Debbie. Lauren was amazed at her talent at 10! What amazed Aunt Debbie was that each design had a name as did her collection – Ava Lessin Rose Designs©. Rose is Ava’s middle name. And he brother Jake instructed her to add the copyright symbol. She intends on incorporating a rose in each of her designs. My heart (both as an aunt and an entrepreneur) was full of pride and joy. We made a quick stop back at Lauren’s studio after lunch (another trek up those stairs?) so that Ava could choose a piece of fabric, a parting gift from Lauren. She chose a beautiful flowered silk. We can’t wait to see what she makes with it! I have visions of Ava interning for Lauren in years to come. Who knows? It could happen!! Ava bid Lauren farewell knowing that she might even see her at some fashion shows in the fall.

The next designer on our Fashion Day was Lee Allison. (http://www.leeallison.com/) Lee is a tie designer. The Lee Allison line also includes bowties, cummerbund sets and customer shirts. Many of Lee’s designs are whimsical yet sophisticated. But what stands out is the fabric, fabric that Lee designs himself. Lee Allison is my upstairs neighbor at the office (for my life as D J Lessin, CPA). His 4500 square foot loft (another life/work space, the only one in the building) is simply amazing. Part work space, part inventory warehouse, Lee’s eclectic mix of furniture, art and fashion is a show place for many activities including charity wine tastings and political fundraisers. While Ava’s interest in fashion is geared toward girls, I knew that Lee could educate Ava about fabric design, product distribution, trade shows, his internet business and product display. Originally I’d planned for us to simply meet Lee at his loft for a short visit. But our adventure expanded to being included in some errands for the Chicago Mens Wear Collective, the upcoming trade show at the Merchandise Mart where he’d be a vendor. The trade show caters to better mens specialty stores across the country and provides opportunities to showcase his new fall tie line, connect with current customers and of course hopefully entice some new ones!

Ava and I walked about 7 blocks from Lauren’s to the Red Line El train at Grand/State for the next leg of our adventure. We took a train heading south and got off at Roosevelt Road, about 4 stops later. We then starting walking across the Roosevelt Road bridges, me watching for Lee’s car he wound his way through Friday afternoon Chicago traffic. The sun was directly overhead and we were hot and sweaty. So when Lee’s air conditioned car arrived, our chariot, we were happy for the cooling of the air conditioning!

Our first destination was Vogue Fabrics. Lee’s goal there was to find fabric that matched one of three suit coats, resale finds that he uses for display. The Lee Allison Company would be introducing pocket squares at the trade show. His intent was to sew nine squares on the back of the jacket to display them, the back of the mannequin being what the customer would see. One of the fabrics was pretty much perfect match! And he only needed a quarter of a yard to accomplish the job. The next stop was in China Town – Lee’s seamstress who not only hand sews the ties but would create the jacket display Lee envisioned. While I waited in the car, Ava accompanied Lee inside. Ava’s job was to count and sign for the finished ties. That mission also accomplished, we were back in the car headed back to the loft in more Friday afternoon traffic. Once on the highway, Ava fell asleep for a few minutes in the back seat!

Now back at the loft, Lee showed Ava the difference between hand painted fabrics and woven fabrics. Having recently chosen the fabric for the fall tie line, he had fabric “strike-offs”of his designs, the color book close at hand to recreate different combinations that he envisions. Lee showed her how the colors of the underlying threads (the warp) distinctly changed the pattern as the color of the other threads changed. Being the numbers girl that I am (but with my ever present creative spirit!) I am awed by the creativity of this. And if this description is technically incorrect, forgive me my ignorance. Not sure if the warp is horizontal and the other thread vertical, although that’s what I see to remember. I wanted Ava to see Lee’s labeling, logo and distinct blue box packaging. Men’s fashion or not, there was lots to be learned!

And then it was time to head out for our final stop – Michelle Tan’s store at 1872 N. Damen. (http://michelletan.com/home.html) Michelle’s store is a frequent stop on my walks in the neighborhood, either on my way home from work or just out and about shopping. Carless, we walked the half mile there (and another half mile home!), both of our feet quite sore from all the walking already (in the wrong shoes). While Lee had been showing Ava fabric at the office Aunt Debbie was putting numerous band-aids on her blistered feet! By now it was 5:00 PM. Michelle had apparently expected us sometime after 2:00 PM (oops I should have called). The store was open until 6, so no worries (other than did you forget!) Ava circled around the store a couple of time, zoning in again and again on the jewelry, that of another local designer. Michelle sells not only her own line of clothing and purses but other local designers as well plus the well priced goodies that she brings back from her trips to the Orient.

Of the three (Lauren, Lee and Michelle), Michelle was the only one who was actually a seamstress. Lauren and Lee both outsource their production. Michelle on the other hand, oversees her own production staff (at another location). Aunt Debbie does own a number of Michelle Tan designs – 3 jackets + 2 purses – as well as a few pieced designed by her long time (and just recently former) employee Randall Hill.

Ava had been excited to meet Michelle. She had recently attended a fashion show with her mother at IADT (International Academy of Design and Technology). IADT proudly claims Michelle as alum, a well known one in Chicago fashion circles, at that! Ava had the program in her purse to show Michelle but she never took it out. By the time we got to the store, we were both pretty spent. It had been a long, hot amazing day! Ava showed Michelle her designs and was again praised for vision at such a young age. Michelle encouraged Ava to follow her dream by actually making things. She told us that she used to trace her sister to create patterns when she was young. Make doll clothes…just make something! At just before 6:00PM we bid our farewells and walked the few remaining blocks to my house.

Ava’s Fashion Designer Day was officially over. She met three of my friends and learned about so many different aspects of the fashion business all in one day. The one thing that Lauren, Michelle and Lee all pointed out to Ava in the course of the day was this – to be in the fashion design business, especially in Chicago (but elsewhere too), you did for the love of fashion, the desire to be in your own business. You don’t go in to fashion to be famous – the odds of that are miniscule. And you don’t, as a fashion designer necessarily make a lot of money. They were real. They were honest. And yet, all three were proud of their businesses. And that pride and joy came through in sharing what they did with my niece Ava. All three of them are each in their own way active in the Chicago Fashion world. Lee was the Chair of the Chicago Fashion Council under former Mayor Richard Daly. They all contribute to make Chicago a fashion town of its own, not wanting to be New York but to be Chicago! I will never forget their generosity of time, spirit and self. Thank you dear friends!
Home at last, we are both tired but happy. Ava plops on the couch for a few minutes while I head upstairs to change my clothes and SHOES! My feet, my pour aching feet! We get into my car, happy not to be walking, and head west on North Avenue. It’s time to take Ava home. Traffic isn’t too bad even on Friday night. (Can you tell that Aunt Debbie does not like traffic?) It’ll take us a half an hour to get there, tops, just like always. Ava is texting back and forth with her mom on my Iphone. We talk, review the day. And yes, both we both agree – IT WAS THE BEST AUNT DEBBIE DAY EVER!

Summer! Vacation! Summer vacation! But alas, for me, I have no actual vacations plans this summer. I took my vacation early this year – right after tax season ended, the 11 day trip to Greece and London (there for the Royal Wedding by chance no less!) with my sister, brother-in-law and niece that we planned last fall.

What I learned from that vacation is that I can’t/won’t plan a trip so soon after April 15th. I need more time to unwind from the stresses of tax season. May was lost to me upon my return, unexpected of course, my body caught up in allergies, clogged ears, plus aches and pains in an endless circle. When at last I felt human on Memorial Day, I slowly eased back into post-tax season social life. I was tentative at first, so fearful that a relapse might occur. When I was had made it to Pilates three weeks in a row after a prolonged three month injury absence and finally graduated to chiropractor appointments every three weeks (instead of weekly) I knew that life was starting to feel normal again. June ends with a preview of my July 1st birthday and the birthday month activities that follow! I am back to being myself – active, making plans to see friends, go to concerts & plays, baseball games (although painful since the Cubs are so bad), try new restaurants & recipes, ready to enjoy the hot, hot summer. May was so cold that the heat extremes seem surreal. But hey, it’s summer! It’s supposed to be hot! It will pass in a blink of an eye. My three day work weeks are going great. I leave the office each week on Wednesday night feeling productive enough. A Chicago summer is meant to be enjoyed. And I am enjoying it!

One might say that with a three day work week I’m on vacation every week. And frankly, I wouldn’t dispute that. I know that I am lucky. I have a business where I can create my own schedule and live the life that I do. It’s what I do (or don’t do) with my four day weekend that makes it a vacation. And in my mind, a four day weekend is a vacation per se when you leave town! Having traveled from April 19 – 30th, May 12th – 15th and June 1st- 6th, I have no current plans to leave town (by airplane) until the fall (New York here I come for theatre weekend post 10/15!) And yet, I like being out of town for a few days each month. How great that I had scheduled my annual trip to the Heartland Spa (www.heartlandspa.com) for July 15th – 17th!

This year I’m headed there with my friend Bev. The first time I went to Heartland Spa for the weekday program (starts on Sunday afternoon and ends Friday after lunch) was with Bev. Who knew that our winning silent auction bid at a Lungevity Foundation fundraiser 9 years ago was the start of an annual trek to the Heartland! Bev’s comes with me pretty much every other year! Bev – she of the Girls Head West Road trip (see July 2010 blog posts) and Mii Amo Spa/Sedona 2009 adventure and I know that we travel/spa well together.

Bev arrives at my house around 1:00 PM Friday afternoon. We thought me might go to breakfast before we got on the road. But timing such as it was, it didn’t happen. Instead, we opt for our last meal at Forever Yogurt on North Ave (just east of Damen). We are on the road, yogurt in hand, happy. We head South on I-94. I’m driving (Bev’s car safe and sound in my garage) and am pleasantly surprised by the lack of traffic. There have been times where the congestion before 35th Street (US Cellular Field) has been so bad that it’s taken an hour just to get that far. Not so this time! Yeah.
We merge west onto I-57, the route committed to memory, no GPS directions needed. About a half hour outside the Gilman exit (US-24, Exit 283) I decide to guess the Friday night dinner menu as pizza, salad with red pepper sauce and frozen banana desert. Already thinking about food! Not a good sign! The Heartland’s healthy eating program bans junk food on the premises (love the sign at the entrance) and provides a balanced day of food in a daily 1200 calorie range.
On the way to the spa, we stop at Doc’s Drugs and for the first time, Dollar General. It’s just fun to check out the local shopping. Bev is looking for a battery operated fan. It’s supposed to be a hot and humid weekend. And she’s already having enough body heat issues. No luck at either place. Thankfully, the weather was better than anticipated!
We arrive at the Heartland around 3:30PM; leave our bags in the car and head directly to the dining room for registration. And there on the table is the evening menu – spinach pizza (2 small pieces), salad with red pepper dressing and frozen banana for desert. We start to laugh. I don’t recognize Ashley, the young fitness instructor at check-in. But I’m pleased to hear that she’s worked in the kitchen, then the office and now that she’s a personal trainer, she’s part of the fitness department. Home grown talent at its best! We skip the spa tour since we are both familiar with the facilities. There’s about 24 people (capacity is 32) at the 4:45 Welcome Program. About half the people are there on a recently offered Groupon deal with plans to stay just Friday night (leaving before/after lunch on Saturday) to check-out the program and facilities. At registration, everyone goes around the circle and introduces themselves. In the past, I remember people more so saying what they did for a living and where they were lived. But this day, it was more about who everyone was with – a group of six, sisters celebrating the youngest sister’s 50th birthday, several mom/daughters combinations and your basic girlfriend get away weekend. The weekend was about the relationships! Ages ranged from 18 – mid-seventies. And while I have been at the Heartland when men were present (Bev has brought her husband for the weekend), this was all women Heartland Weekend.

The Heartland Spa provides opportunities to learn experience and utilize information regarding fitness, nutrition and stress-management. It’s a jump start program for change, for a healthy lifestyle all in a fun-filled relaxing environment and a trained professional staff. The program is packed with a variety of fitness classes and lectures. You can pick and choose what you want to do. At first, you of course try to do everything. But this too can end up being too stressful. And so I’ve learned that the Heartland can, for me, be just about chilling out, doing spa treatments all weekend long and simply being nice to myself. I already live a pretty healthy lifestyle, walking to work when I can instead of driving as well as eating balanced nutritional meals.

The Heartland Spa is a small quaint country inn. You can walk 1/3 mile in the woods around the lake, sit in the front yard and just watch the fountain spout while you catch a few rays, a few zzz’s or simply read a book (real or e!). The rooms are not lavish, mostly twin beds, decorated in country kitsch. Inspirational messages greet you on the walls outside the dining room, a reminder to think positive! No TV’s, no known internet. Although with 3G I was able to retrieve emails (personal, not work – I do not check work email when not at work – there being no such thing as an accounting emergency). A locked network did pop up but I saw no need to even inquire about a password. Yes, I had my IPad with me. But it wasn’t with me so that I could surf the web or communicate with the outside world. I even left a call go to voicemail, unreturned even when I happened to be in the room, able to answer it. I was happily reading a book on my IPad, in between spa treatments that is.

So here’s what the Heartland Program was for the weekend of July 15th – 17th.

Friday:
4:30 Tour the Spa
4:45 Welcome to the Heartland/Appointment Scheduling
6:30 Dinner
7:30 Qi Gong
8:30 Integrative Meditation

Saturday:
7:00 Wake-Up Call (you can opt out of this FYI!)
7:15 Greet the Day Walk (one mile out, one mile back – follow the hearts on the road!)
8:00 Breakfast Buffet
9:00 Boot Camp OR Zumba Fitness
10:10 Snack (we live for the snacks!)
10:30 Smart Moves w/Dumbbells OR Aqua Motion
11:30 Roll Away Tension OR Tone & Balance w/a Fitball
12:30 Lunch
1:15 Strong Bones Discussion
2:15 Intro to Racewalking
3:15 Snack
3:30 Yoga Stretch & Relax
4:30 “Reiki Is…” Discussion
6:00 Dinner
7:15 “Life is a Balancing Act” Workshop (given by yours truly, ME!)

Sunday:
7:00 Wake-Up Call
7:15 Greet the Day Walk
8:00 Breakfast Buffet
9:00 Aerobic Interval
10:10 Snack
10:30 BOSU Training
11:30 Yoga Stretch & Relax
12:45 Lunch
1:30 Depart for home!

Here was my schedule for the weekend (meals and snacks not noted!) And you will note that it reflects my conscious decision to take care of me.

Friday:

4:45 Welcome to the Heartland Spa

8:30 Reiki Energy Session with not 1 but 2 therapists simultaneously! OMG – the session was amazing. I’ve had Reiki several times over the years but find each session unique. The chakras needed some balancing and I knew it. I had just ended post birthday blues phase. I was ready for some healing! At the end of the treatment I told them what I sensed – tightness at the throat chakra, energy whooshing out my head, some tightness around my heart (ah yes, makes sense). Apparently there was white light coming out of the top of my head, not the violet associated with the crown chakra. I was unsure of what it all meant but energized and relaxed by it none the less. As we started, I was told to think positive thoughts. And so the mantra going through my mind was “love and be loved”. A clock ticking was irritating me. Until I turned the tick, tick into love, love. So when Elizabeth (the other therapist was Naomi) told me that at one point in the treatment her eye was repeatedly focused on the word “love” on the decorative art on the wall, I happily told her about my mantra. These Reiki masters are there every other weekend, alternating with the woman who does Reflexology (I was unable to schedule an appointment with her last year, it was that popular!). I was happy that the schedule turned out as it did this weekend. It gave me an opportunity to experience something new and different, which for me, a regular spa diva as it is, was important! And two therapists at once were simply wonderful. Yes, it sounds kind of kinky. It was not! It was double the energy, double the healing.

9:30 I am back in my room to read and crawl into bed. Bev has a massage scheduled so I have the room to myself. She shows up an hour later, happy after her massage.

11:00 Lights out! Good night!

Saturday:

7:00 I missed the wake-up call by one ring. I had truly fallen back asleep after waking up earlier. Alas, we got up and started moving!

7:15 Morning Walk – Happily it was not too humid. Was a few minutes late and missed warm-up stretch. Am proud of myself as I’ve been a bad girl and blown this off in years past especially when I was with Ida who has problems with her feet so needed to skip it. It’s so much easier to do things together, needless to say.

8:30 Bev and I walk around the lake after breakfast – just because we can!

10:15 Massage 55 Minutes – added 15 minutes to my included 40 minute massage. This was prescheduled for me. And while I was sad to miss Aqua Motion (my favorite class), I got over it quickly!

11:30 Citrus Bliss – a 55 minute body scrub and wrap complete with 2 Vichy Showers and warm lotion coating my body. I was scrubbed, oiled, watered, wrapped, and rubbed. My body felt like butter and smelled delicious (was told this repeatedly at lunch!)

2:00 Spa Manicure – must have purple nails to match purple toes – purple is part of my Balancing Act persona, relaxing balance color that it is. Dipped in paraffin, buffed and polished, I am so relaxed!

3:30 I meant to go to Yoga but didn’t. Rested in room, reading with my body already a vegetable from my day of activities (I mean treatments!)

4:30 Stopped into the Reiki discussion to ask about the white light (something about transformation – which is what my “if today is your birthday” horoscope mentioned too – hmmm, interesting!) Wanted to support Naomi and Elizabeth and encourage others to book a treatment. By this point in the afternoon however, everyone is scattered to the wind, in treatments, chilling, tired from more exercise classes than they are used to, so the attendance is less than what I hope for…for them.

5:00 Prep time for Life is a Balancing Act – mentally and physically. Retrieved folders and low tech lecture blow-ups from the car to prep room.

6:00 Get out of my Heartland clothes (Heartland provides clothing for the weekend. All you really need to pack are workout shoes, underwear, pajamas, toiletries, swim suit and clothes for the way home. I notice more people wearing their own workout wear than not. It kind of surprised me. To each their own, no rules! I love the “Heartland Fairy” who replaces your dirty robe or t-shirt with fresh new ones (as if by magic) just because you put them outside your door!

7:15 Yours truly facilitated a wonderful discussion. The “sisters” contingent was off at treatments, doing their own thing. The crowd now had been reduced from 24 to 12. The one night Groupon people had departed by mid afternoon. Small group, but the openness and sharing of life amongst those in attendance was heartwarming. Everyone stayed to talk long beyond the allotted hour, the conversations personal and deep. I of course am wired by now. I am always unsure of how the workshops will go. Each one different from the next… in a good way!

9:45 We are back in the room for a quiet night of girl talk

11:00 Lights out!

Sunday:

You’d think that after blowing off all the classes the day before I’d redeem myself on Sunday. You’d be wrong! We didn’t even bother to get out of bed for the morning walk, Sunday more humid than the day before, not that we even knew that yet. Both Bev and I had the same 90 minute treatment scheduled for 9:30 – the Thermal Rain Therapy – a combination hot stone massage and rain drop aromatherapy oil treatment for more chakra balancing. It was pure heaven. I am sure that I dozed off at some point, so relaxed. We both had the same massage therapist that had done our previous massages. We were happy. And while we both intended to go to Yoga Stretch (Bev did go the day before while I was in the midst of my Citrus Bliss) we convinced ourselves that because we also had to pack and check-out by 12:30, going to class was pushing it. And so we didn’t. We read in the White Room with the comfortable couches once we were out of the room, awaiting our final Heartland meal – one of my favorites, the simply Chinese Chicken Salad.

And then, just like that, the weekend was over. We said our goodbyes and headed home. We were “bad” girls no sooner than we left, stopping at the Dairy Queen just off the highway before we the Kankakee exits. Hey, we waited a whole 20 minutes, not stopping at the DQ just at the Gilman exit as we filled the tank (gas was so much cheaper than in Chicago, city proper in particular!). And it was National Ice Cream Day! It’s kind like it was ordained! Traffic bottlenecked exactly where we thought it would on the Dan Ryan. By 3:30 home at last, Bev back in her car to head north to Highland Park. Me, a slug on the couch, finishing the book I had been reading over the weekend, relaxed and content.

And already I am looking forward to my next trip to the Heartland Spa! Life is a Balancing Act! My Heartland weekend balanced me, nourished me and made me happy! 50 hours, the company of a good friend and a nice place to escape in the country! Yes, a mini-vacation at that. Just what I needed!

Ah, birthdays…time to celebrate the day you were born! Another milestone of life…time to look forward, time to look back. And yet, just like Christmas, New Year’s Eve and Valentine’s Day, a birthday can be another day to be disappointed, depressed, miserable or unhappy. Looking at your life in the microscopic build-up to one day can simply be too much pressure. And more times than not, its pressure that you put on yourself. And for what? For that one perfect day that’s here today and gone tomorrow? Like everything else in life – nothing is perfect! And a birthday is really just another day!

But I love my birthday! July 1st…the exact middle of the year. When I was young I didn’t especially like a summer birthday. A summer birthday meant that you never had a party at school. You were never able to bring birthday treats to share with the class. But as an adult, I appreciate that its summer! It’s not tax season. I can take the day off of work, no matter what! That’s a great trade-off now that I think of it. Not working is a treat – one that I can share by myself and/or with friends!

Birthdays are the best excuse for me to get together with friends. And maybe even give or get presents. Or not! In recent years, many of my friends and I have opted out of giving gifts. Instead we decide to do something special (theatre/concert tickets and/or dinner at a $$$ restaurant) instead of buying each other something. Especially with long time friends, it gets harder every year to come up with a unique gift in a reasonable price range. We all have too much stuff as it is. How much more do we really need?

So while my birthday is one specific day, it often lasts the entire month of July or beyond (by the time coordinating calendars with everyone works!). I am still returning birthday calls and emails and doing that calendar thing back and forth. I can say for a fact that it was a good birthday. I know I am loved. I know that I have good friends and family who cares about me. And yet for about a week thereafter, I was in the midst of the birthday blues, examining my life in a way that I usually don’t need to do. Or want to do to be honest with you.

A few days before my birthday, a box arrives from a long last friend. Despite my curiosity, I decided not to open it until the actual day! I count 13 actual birthday cards to put in my 2011 memory box, the accumulation of things I’ve done through the year (Playbills, concert tickets, my life in a box!). There was even a card from the Mii Amo Spa in Sedona, signed by the entire staff. If they send a card, maybe I will come back? Good marketing if you ask me! I was there on my birthday two years ago! Best spa experience ever! Maybe I will go back one day (pricey trip however requires planning!)…maybe even for my birthday!

I save the cards I received in the mail for my annual birthday morning ritual: 8:30 AM, my time of birth. It includes a make a wish ritual, lighting a candle while holding a crystal on the privacy of my deck. Me, myself & I, celebrating my special day. But this year, the birthday ritual never happened.

A surprise text at 8:24 AM from my next door neighbor Dan invites me to breakfast. I’m still lounging in bed after too many drinks the night before one of my BFFs, a boy (who shall remain nameless). Originally I was supposed to spend my birthday evening with him. But he was unable to keep the commitment so we started the day off the evening before, as opposed to finish it off in style. Luckily I was not short on offers for evening plans so in the end, it was fine. It’s just not what I had built up in my head – that place where all bad thoughts go to linger! Unfortunately for me, the change in plans was what I, rightly or wrongly, focused on for days afterwards.

The phone (land and cell) started ringing. By now, it’s not too early. A quick call from my best friend Ida with 3 more texts throughout the day and evening complete with emoticons! Not seeing Ida at some point in the day/evening on my birthday is rare – really rare. But this year it was the prelude to her nephew’s wedding (a lovely international event that I’d attend on the 3rd). I knew that her week/end was packed with events and responsibilities. So I told her weeks before that she was off the hook, making plans to play on the 7th instead – tapas on Michigan Ave before the Tribute to the Blues Brothers. Ida tends to do everything on overload (sorry honey, you do!). So being the BFF I made sure that I didn’t contribute to her stress by adding my birthday responsibilities to the mix.

Another quick call received, this one from my friend Sheree (met through business networking about 18 years ago!) She’s on her way into an exercise class while I’m headed out the door to walk to breakfast. We are still trying to coordinate our schedules to do a dual birthday celebration – her birthday being June 10th. So far we’ve tried and tried but our lives are on opposite schedules! Our plans this last Wednesday were foiled by a power outage no less. Try, try again! But you can see how birthday celebrations can go one for a month or more!

Breakfast at Café Con Leche around the corner was yummy – eggs with chorizo to soak up some of that lingering alcohol! The skies were gray and cloudy, the weather still iffy. The rain and hail storm the night before curtailed our plans to go rooftop bar hopping downtown. Would it also ruin the Cubs/Sox Cross-town Classic game at Wrigley Field, my plans for the day? No, it would not! And thankfully the extreme heat and humidity predicted for the day was delayed until the next day (had tickets for that game too – both losing Cubs games – boo hoo.)

The calls start to flow now. 9:22 AM: Cell phone call from Bev, another one of my BFFs. If her son, daughter-in-law & beloved grandson (10 months old) were not arriving from San Francisco that evening, I most likely would have been partying with her too (most likely a girls night out!). While I want to talk to her, I am at breakfast and do not want to be rude. So I let the call go to voice mail. I listen to her singing me happy birthday later! I don’t have time to call her back.

9:53 AM: Phone call from mom on the land line. I am back home getting ready for the day’s events. Birthday breakfast has put me behind the schedule that’s not a schedule. I take the call! Must talk to mom on my birthday! She birthed me!

I make the time to go to Chicagotribune.com to get my “if today is your birthday” horoscopes. In the old days, you’d have to actually buy the paper. Or maybe you didn’t have to, I just did. Princess Diana would have been 50 on the 1st. I stop for a second to remember her. (I was in London on 4/29, the day of the Royal Wedding!) Georgia Nicols tells me “Nothing will remain the same for long and your ability to adapt will be key to how well you do this year. Strength, dedication and not giving in will be necessary, along with taking care of whatever responsibilities come your way. There will be test, challenges and preparation for bigger and better opportunities.” Eugenia Last tells me that “I have style flair and personality! Does she know me or what? “A major change will take place in the year ahead, perhaps as significant as something around 2001-02.” What does this mean? I am intrigued. Wasn’t 2001 the first full year of the last of the downsizing with biz on my own (no employees, yeah!). For being a numbers girl, remembering what happened by year has never been a strong suit. Hmm, time will tell! The next birthday year (astrologically) has begun!

Leave the house at 10:45 walking to meet BFB (best friend boy) before game. I help him with a work project, watching him be the creative wizard that he is, loving every minute of it. That one hour made it that much easier for him to take the afternoon off of work, deadline notwithstanding. It was my birthday after all!

10:49 AM: Phone call (cell) from friend Michele. Birthday wishes. She’s curious as to our game plan for dinner that evening. I walk and talk!

11:04 AM: Phone call (cell) from Ann, friend & garden lady extraordinaire! Her and husband Doug are singing me Happy Birthday. Call goes to voice mail!

11:06 AM: Phone call (cell) from my sister Marla. Once again, I let call go to voice mail.

12:21 PM: Phone call (cell) from friend Wayne (known more than 25 years). He’s my Cubs game partner for the Saturday game.

12:34 PM: Phone call (cell). Bev again! Oh well, if first you don’t succeed….call goes to voice mail yet again!

Am obviously not answering any calls. I must be present and am on the way to Fullerton El and Wrigley Field. A summer day at Wrigley is fun regardless – of weather or the Cubs. And this year you really have to look way beyond the team itself to make it fun (they are NOT good at all!). Met friends there, a double birthday celebration for me and birthday gal pal Lois! We share good times together on the actual day every few years. I bought these tickets in February and thought of her immediately!

Day is going just fine. It’s hot but not too hot. We are mixing and mingling and watching the game. But at 3:50, BFB gets up to leave. Yes, I knew he had other plans for the evening and would leave right after the game. We planned our transportation there accordingly. But I didn’t anticipate him actually leaving before the game was over. I guess I never asked (nor did he inform). I’m sure that my face was not smiling as it should have been. The one drink I had has left a sour taste in my mouth. I’m happy that at least he waited until the top of the eighth and sang “Take Me Out to the Ballgame!” He knows my baseball protocol. But there’s a taint that quietly hovers in the air encircling my day. Game over – Cubs lose 6-4.

Lois, Joe (her husband) and I are off to find some champagne to celebrate our dual birthdays. We head west on Addison away from the crowds and the crazies! Too many loud people who have been drinking all afternoon! We are old(er) and need space to breathe and enjoy our drink, somewhere we can hear ourselves talk! He who left me texts several times and calls once (feeling guilty?) I respond once with the final score of the game (he asked) while we are walking but choose to ignore him after that.

We never quite find the “right” bar, but opt for an outdoor café at Belmont & Sheffield, we’ve been walking enough already. We munch on fish tacos, each have a drink. This is not the place to get champagne (or an equivalent). Beer and wine is just fine! A short time later, they head off to meet up with their son Alexander for dinner. I heard towards home in search of a cab.

Instead, I end up walking home another 3+ miles. Did I have the right shoes on for this journey? Not really! But I knew there’d be some walking during the day and wore decent enough walking sandals. With the heat, the last thing that I wanted was to enclose my feet with shoes and socks, even if that was the best thing for my walking feet! I amused myself by listening to the messages accumulated on my cell phone. With the noise at Wrigley I didn’t hear the phone ringing, nor would I have answered it if I had.

1:45 PM: Friend/client Andy. We had just celebrated his birthday with picnic at Millennium Park the week prior!

2:00 PM: Kyle, she of the July 2nd birthday (turning 24!), the daughter of my friend Sharon from college. We have our own special bond. She’s “one of my girls”, the niece who isn’t a niece to my Aunt who isn’t an Aunt. I’ve known this young lady since the day she was born! She now lives in Houston and is off to Austin for the weekend. (We talk on her way home the evening of the 5th!)

2:12 PM: Another call from Michele (found a message on the land line at home at 2:10). Oops…better call her back. Her car’s in the shop so now I’m driving tonight. Good thing the restaurant is close by in case I want to drink – which in the end I really didn’t- one class of Prosecco (which we were craving hours before!) and that was all!

3:11PM: Friend Lauren, she of Evanston but in Florida for the long weekend. She calls back on the 3rd to get me live and in person. We had just celebrated her June 2rd birthday with brunch and art fair the week before.

3:42 PM: Brittany – Sheree’s daughter (age 25 or maybe 26; known since she was eight) another one of “my girls”, calling from St. Louis.

4:01 PM: Sharon – the aforementioned friend from college (mother to Kyle and Erik –who apparently meant to call but didn’t). She of my recent travels to and adventures in Nashville, TN since her move there two years ago.

5:35 PM: Call from he who shall not be mentioned. Having drinks with Lois/Joe. Did not answer, did not return call.

On my walk home I call my sister back and chat for a while. I actually answer a call from my friend Brian, a friend from college (UW- Madison: me, class of 76, him, class of 74). He is shocked to get me live! We talk for a few minutes and promise to make plans for dinner – our birthdays being the time we see each other. We are still trying to make a date for his birthday which was April 9th! My birthday dinner will most likely be in October at this rate! A call goes to voice mail, the number not registering as a contact in my phone. Later I find out it’s my friend Robin calling from an unknown number in California. I don’t call her back at I’m almost home. 6:34 PM (cell) Brother Barry, finally checking in. I walk and we talk! His kids, my darlings Jake (almost 13) and Ava (almost 11) are at camp for the first time this year. I miss not hearing their voices on my birthday.

I arrive home around 7:00 PM. My feet are a little weary to a few more voice mail messages on the land line and emails. A private caller at 6:19 PM is Robin, this is where she sings! 6:35 PM: Brian. They covered their bases, a call on each phone! I crawl into bed for an hour to rest. Long day already; more to come!

Michele and I have a nice dinner at Antico, a new restaurant in the neighborhood. And while we didn’t wait for an outdoor table and the service was just so so, we had a lovely evening eating and catching up, being friends. I let one call interrupt dinner – my niece Milly, age 5. This is her first time singing Aunt Debbie Happy Birthday by herself (her siblings are at camp). The first call she doesn’t get on the phone (with daddy). The second call (from mommy’s cell phone) she’s singing away. And I am beaming! One last call to/from Ida as we leave the restaurant confirming that yes, she’s too tired for a late night drink. I remind her that she’s off the hook, it is okay!

I’m home a little after 11:00 PM, Michelle not being a late night girl either. One last voice mail message at home – 9:21 PM (land line) – from Joel, a long time friend (& client!) from the days where I was more actively involved politically (now more informed than involved). I still need to call him back and make plans to see him, wife Susan & baby Nathan.

The last hour I crawl into bed with the TV on. It’s been a long 28 hours. I realize that I didn’t hear from Benjamin (23 nephew – out of town, calls on Sunday), Sami (his sister, age 20 – she never calls and get’s called out on it at dinner two weeks later) and a friend here or there. Funny how weeks later you get a call from someone remembering that they forgot your birthday! I know I fall asleep before midnight. The day is over! At last! I have survived!

And yet for hours to follow over the weekend, I obsessed about how I built up the day and set myself up to be disappointed by the one person I should have known I could not really count on in the first place. The problem was that I didn’t follow my own rules to make it a day trip – obsess for a day, then get over it. It lingered…and lingered and lingered. I quietly felt sorry for myself, took to writing much needed journal entries, emotions long buried within committed to words, private thoughts not for public sharing on a blog. It all probably happened for a reason. Things usually do. I examined it. I processed it. And then a week later, thankfully this too passed. The heavy emotional tugging at my chest was thankfully gone.

A few more birthday cards arrived. Emails awaited me at work on Tuesday (Monday being the 4th). I remembered that I was loved. And that I have a wonderful life. I celebrated the next week with the kids, Jake & Ava, now home from camp! A canceled Katy Perry concert on the 8th turned into tickets to Peter Pan in the round. Little Milly was so enthralled that she proclaimed that she wanted to go again the minute we stepped out of the big tent! We had dinner at the same restaurant that I had breakfast at on my birthday morning. I had come full circle!

And isn’t that what a birthday is…the culmination of a circle of a year of your life – a circle in time? It’s good to celebrate your birthday for more than a day. It’s good to simply celebrate life…on your birthday and every day! Cherish those you love! Be loved! And remember that you are loved! Happy Birthday to you! Life is a Balancing Act!

July 3rd already! Oops, I forgot to blog at least once in June. I promised myself that I’d write once a month at a mininmum. But alas, apparently I did not. Oh well! Thankfully, June was not a lost month like May was! (See last month’s post!) The May croup or whatever that was that kept morphing into something else, finally left my body – on May 30th, the Memorial Day holiday. At last I felt like a human being with some energy for living. The real me was replacing the alien me slowly but surely. Can’t remember being out of commission like that before. Don’t want to go back there anytime soon. And so I was still taking care of me.

Spending the first five days in Florida for my mom’s 80th birthday where it was warm, restful and relaxing really helped. That’s not to say that we didn’t eat out every night, see community theatre, the new Woody Allen movie and of course shop! We did! But it was after this respite that I knew I could go back home and start making plans to live again! I just needed to be sure that no one week was too overbooked all month. Finally it was time to reconnect with long lost friends at new restaurants, concerts (Peter Gabriel and the New Blood Orchestra – awesome!), art fairs and more concerts outdoor at Ravinia and Millenium Park, the weather that day surprisingly permitting despite the overcast skies. Several nights in a row were spent at the Friendly Confines of Wrigley Field, although the hour and forty five minute rain delay on June 15th was smartly spent sipping martinis at Chen’s on Clark. Baseball at Wrigley would usuallby be a true sign to the start of a fun summer for me. If only the Cubs weren’t already huge losers. I am so not a fair weather fan. But this year, I never got into baseball after my renewed interest in the NBA playoffs kept me busy through June 12th. If the TV’s on just for noise, sure I’ll check to see if there’s a Cubs game on. But I’m know I’m really not watching it because I don’t really care this year. Sad.

The buzzing down my left arm, the aftermath of the 12 hour days hunched over my desk during tax season (this year’s body part that decided it did not like my longer work hours) finally seems to be under control. My trainer workouts both strengthen and challenge again. My trips to Dr. Dan, my chiropractor now every few weeks instead of weekly. After a three month injury absence, I return to Wednesday night Pilates class at month’s end. I so missed that class. I am conscious of how I sit, the position of my shoulders. My mind focuses on my body because my body was talking so loudly to me that I had to listen. It’s only humming now and then, a good sign, a steady recovery.

The spring, now summer weather has still been strange. The temperatures in June finally on the warming side but too many walk to work mornings or late evenings interrupted by rain, pouring driving windy rains. My garden however is truly happy! Although the newly planted parkway is shielded by the huge tree and is crying to be watered. I can’t put it on the automatic system (do they even make a 3 prong hose outlet?) because the hose crosses the sidewalk. The words “tripping” and “liability” flitter across my mind. I maneuver the sprinkler head just so, to avoid watering everything and everyone around it. The cars parked on the street will be cleaned and rained upon regardless! The least of my worries.

My creative spirit is missing this year. Now that June has past, I can say that with certainty. I could blame it on “the lost month”, the delay in getting back on track post tax season. But I know it probably has more to do with the emotional chatter flying around in my brain. Things happening that I don’t write about, at least not on this blog. Not everything is meant to be shared with the blogosphere. And so be it. While I miss my creative self, I know I can’t force it. It will come back when it comes back. I’ve been busy – good busy in fact! And there are only so many things that I can accomplish on my to-do list without putting myself too much out of balance. I remind myself of this all the time. Writing, being creative has not been near the top of the list or I’d be doing it more. It’s as simple as that. Maybe doing this today will urge me on to do more. Or maybe not!

Work in June was quiet but productive. The phone rings more with wrong numbers than anything else. Most of the time, I don’t even bother to pick it up. I’ve surprised myself by how many Thursdays since April 15th I’ve actually gone in to the office to do admin or clean up a few last things that I couldn’t quite get done by the end of my shortened work week on Wednesday. I have to vacate the house every other Thursday around 11:00 AM for a few hours while it’s being cleaned. On too many of those days, it was pouring outside. Doing errands on foot in the neighborhood or going for a walk, were simply ruled out. Going to the office just made sense, especially as it was never for more than 2, 2 ½ hours. Most times I didn’t even check email. I don’t check work email from home and go from Thursday – Sunday without that distraction. Since my clients don’t think I’m in on Thursdays, what would be the point other than to potentially create a situation that I wouldn’t want to deal with until Monday but might not leave my head once entered? On those unexpected work Thursdays I wasn’t doing anything to tax my brain, so to speak. If I did any client work at all it was signing/processing a return so that I could bill it and send it out! Easy, mindless, done! I know that one difference for me is the new office. Yes, it will be two years in October. But I was at 444 for 22+ years. Compared to 22, 2 years is still new! I could not even look at the walls of that place by the time I finally moved, the art gracing it one of the many reminders of a bad place, both emotionally and financially, now thankfully a thing of the past. Amazing what new surroundings, a new office home (with new art!) did for my psyche.

There have been little work stresses this month which feel big sometimes, but really aren’t. The medical leave/personnel problems at the computer center are directly affecting my ability to get things done. I’m patient some days, other not so much. I’m frustrated by the incompetence of the replacement that is not a true replacement. When the frustrations start to grate on my nerves is when I waste the partner’s time to complain and move things along. I am your client too. And I am not happy! I am sick of my time being wasted by incompetence. And unlike other professionals who bill every minute (include ones they don’t work), I don’t bill wasted time to clients.

When that ongoing stress converged on the same day that a panicked client blindly followed his attorney’s advice to change CPAs to close/liquidate his business, I growled…a nice way to say became bitchy. The attorney, a generalist at best, was not even professional enough to discuss the situation with me first. Smacked of the “old boys” network if you ask me. And it really pissed me off. I am the first one to proclaim – ask someone else, not my area of expertise. But this was not the case. So…so long, farewell, you disloyal client of mine. Hope your decision doesn’t bite you in the butt – i.e. cost you more money because someone new is starting over and for what – to close things out? I did my job well. I know that without one moment’s hesitation.

Because its’ not tax season, I consciously choose to be try patient, to let things roll off my back. The operative word of course is “try”. And when I am not, I make it a day trip – obsess for a day and get over it. I’ve had this business this long enough (27+ years) to know that it all gets done. So far…so good! I’ve got a weekly rhythm going that of course gets disrupted every week by something unexpected. But by the end of each week (and shortened weeks at that) I still feel productive enough. And that’s all that really matters!

On those days were I spend too many hours online trying to get concert tickets (Paul McCartney – oh, what a stupid fool click the wrong button and pay $450/ticket (x 4) without meaning to story that is) or obsessing over unexpected emotions (am only fooling myself), an unhappy change in upcoming birthday plans (again probably should have that seen coming because am only fooling myself) and then discussing it with my best friends during the middle of the work day because of unexpected emotions (because I am only fooling myself), so what if I lost a few billable hours?!? Work is progressing at a decent post tax season pace. It’s good enough!

And sometimes you just need to be satisfied with good enough! Life is a balancing act! Good enough is sometimes as good as it gets! And there’s nothing wrong with knowing that…and accepting that. Good enough is good enough!

I’m not sure how it could possibly be May 29th. It feels like I missed the entire month. For me, May is the first month of the rest of my year. I’m usually well rested, tax season finally over. My body and mind are back to a slower pace, a more balanced one. The Tax Lady leaves. The Balance Lady returns.

Not so this year. This year I ran off to Greece and London on a family vacation, leaving on April 19th after 4 days without any rest. There’s plenty that I could say about the vacation. I should have written about it long before now. But all I can think about at this point is how cold Greece was. Mid fifties plus wind chill. Clothing layered but seeming unprepared. How my hair was wind-blown in every picture, one in the Parthenon, it’s straight up in the air! Rather than write, my creative endeavor on the trip was expressed through photos – beautiful blue skies, sunsets, volcanic stone, water, mountains and white buildings. I captured amazing scenery in each and every shot. My sister and niece were posting photos to Facebook pretty much every night. I, the non-Facebook person, waited until I came home to edit my over 500 photos on a day when I just needed to hang at home. I arranged them into mini albums, synced to the IPad slowly but surely as the sheer volume seemed to turn off the computer without warning. They are now ready for slide show viewing! And the side pocket of my new spring purse is just the right size to schlep that computer everywhere to share the photos with friends.

The vacation had its ups and downs as all vacations tend to do. I lost my credit cards en route from Athens to London with two days to the trip remaining. Luckily I was with family. So it wasn’t like I was going to starve. But not having control over my own money is simply something that I am not used to. I suspect that it saved me from spending even more money on Royal Weddings goodies to bring home to friends. I know I was not robbed. I remember the last time I took money out to buy dinner around 5:00 PM. My guess is that the travel wallet slipped out at some point grabbing my boarding pass…or something to that effect. After a 7 hour layover in the Athens airport, a three hour + flight to Heathrow, I was overtired and choking back the tears. Relatively easy phone calls to Capital One and American Express reported the theft immediately. Replacement cards waiting for me upon my return three days later. No harm, no foul. Yes, I wasted most of my first Sunday home changing the endless automatic charges, online accounts for myself and my business instead of taking it easy. It was what it was.

And then there was my IPad. Jostled by a little too much traveling, it broke twice. The first time it happened, the little apple miraculously turned back on after about 18 hours. A deep sigh of relief, my e-books were calling to me. The second time – right after I saw Kate Middleton go by in the car with her dad on the way to her wedding in front of my hotel, ready to tweet again, no such luck. I tried to restore it upon my return late Saturday afternoon and then again with the Apple Care lady on Sunday. Clearly the computer was registering. I just couldn’t see anything on the screen. Yeah for the warranty! New IPad just like magic, although not the 2 since I owned the 1! So much for reentry back into real life upon return from my cold but fun but not so restful European vacation! Jet lag in some ways was meant to be – stopping me from overdoing it, doing what needed to be done…and then stopping to rest and starting to watch the 12 days of television that had accumulated on the DVR.

Monday morning and it’s time for my re-entry to work. What a smooth comfortable re-entry it was. The two weeks after April 15th were thankfully quiet in terms of phone calls and even emails. The mail full of checks paying me for services rendered! My friend at work, arranging my piles of mail nicely on my desk, welcoming me home!

My throat that first day back felt a little raw, the sinuses dripping. Not unexpected given the change of seasons, the changing weather – still too cold, spring not really showing up, a warm day here or there followed by the return of March, rain, rain and then more rain. The next day, I wake up and I know – no voice, that low throaty almost sexy voice that does not belong to me! It’s an annual rite of spring. And I shouldn’t have been surprised since it’s also the worst allergy season in years. And while I haven’t popped allergy pills in years on a regular basis, I’m not immune to the change in seasons.
My voice clears in a few days, replaced now by a cough and clogged ears. I rest, not really making plans until I start to feel better. I have plans to travel to Nashville two weeks hence. And I don’t want to go there sick. No such luck! Acupuncture -temporary relief. Whatever this is in my body seems to morph into something new every few days. I don’t bother going to the doctor. I don’t think that there’s a point. I’m pretty sure that it’s just allergies. And yet, the over the counter medication isn’t doing the trick. Some days I put homeopathic ear drops in my ear before I go to sleep. I tell myself that it’s helping. I just don’t know.

The weather in Nashville is slightly warmer than Chicago. But it’s just as damp with storms every day. Iroquois Steeplechase was fun but wet. Thank goodness we were tailgating with people with a tent. This year, the attire was just as much about the boots (black & white houndstooth!) as about the hat (black & white feather fascinator that I wore in London the day of the Royal Wedding!) In the pictures, I look happy and content. In my mind, I simply remember being cold and damp all weekend long. It’s a running joke now that if I’m in Nashville (five times now in the last two years since my friend moved there) the weather is sure to be colder than it should be. And it doesn’t matter if it’s May, October or December! If Debbie’s there, it’s cold! And it was!

So many May’s I’d be focused on how I’m transitioning back into work. This year the transition seems smooth. I truly don’t mind being at the office. No one is pushing me to finish their tax return. The only catch seems to be that my computer person is out on medical leave. And his replacement doesn’t really have a clue. It’s not tax season. It could be worse. I just keep repeating this to myself every week as I make some minimal progress. There’s really no rush.
It’s still damp and cold in Chicago upon my return from Nashville. I’m driving to walk because of the weather. By now I should be walking every day. I’m lucky if I walked twice since the early morning, late nights of April – probably the two days where instead of being spring, it was summer for a day or so. And then it was cold and wet and rainy – again!
I’m not the only one who’s feeling badly. My best friend Ida and I hack away at each other on the phone. I bequeathed the Nyquil/Dayquil to my friend at work who was also coughing when I left for Nashville convinced that I was done with it. I wasn’t. But I don’t bother to buy any more upon my return.

My goal now is to make it to the next weekend, a black tie event for the Goodman Theatre on the social calendar. On Thursday I have a mammogram scheduled in the western suburbs, following by lunch and shopping nearby with a long time friend. I’m driving there thinking that I should have cancelled everything. I go through the motions. But after the first store after lunch, I turn to my friend and announce that I have to go home. It is sunny for a change as I drive home as quickly as I can. I crawl into bed, my head pounding (the first time for that). I find the thermometer. I have a 101+ fever. I sleep. My fever breaks around 9:00 PM. I get out of bed, move to the couch for a few hours so that I can actually go back to sleep again and sleep through the night. On Friday, the only thing I do is get my hair cut and colored. I am saving my energy for the black tie event. I remember that it’s not how I feel, it is how I look! And I look marvelous! If only I could stop coughing! It’s a dry racking cough. I dance knowing it’ll take all my energy. I don’t care. I don’t know who this sick person is. But I know that I don’t like her!

By Sunday morning, I text my brother and ask for antibiotics. That is my easy concession to going to the doctor. This has to be something more than just allergies at this point. Doesn’t it? I turn down two invitations for a BBQ to stay home and watch the Bulls Game from the comfort of my couch. I take the pills in the Z-Pak from Sunday through Thursday. And yet, days later now, I don’t think it’s done anything for me. My right ear is still clogged. I’m still coughing. And it’s still cold and raining outside. The pharmacist told me weeks ago that what I had was just as much about the weather as anything else. I didn’t believe him at the time. Now, I think I do.

Alas, there has been Chicago Bulls basketball to entertain me this month. It’s been so long since the glory days of the Michael Jordan years. I unearthed my repeat three-peat playoff souvenirs to cheer the young Bulls on. Basketball in May in Chicago – yeah! A friend comes over to watch a few of the games. We cook dinner, watch basketball. I have company while I rest – trying to coax this monster whatever out of my body. I find out that I can drink wine on the antibiotics (online research and asked my brother the doctor!) I am happy and just a little more social!

At least finally, the buzzing down my left arm has mostly subsided. I hate admitting that I’m getting old. Every year for the past six or seven, some body part decides during tax season that it does not like the increase in working hours. And it reminds me loudly – with pain. In the past, April 15th passes and the pain goes away. The operative word however is the “past”. This year, the buzzing doesn’t end. My neck and shoulders are still tight after repeated body work. Luckily the pain is nowhere near what it was at the end of my twelve hour days, my chest and shoulders aching for heat or ice. But something is not right. I’ve skipped my Wednesday night Pilates equipment class for two months now. I can’t go back until that buzzing goes away. X-rays at Dr. Dan’s reveal that yes, over the years (at least 10, if not more, since the last x-rays) there have been changes in the discs, some work to be done. And so good girl that I am, every week, I trek to the chiropractor, hoping that this week won’t require an adjustment, that things will go back to normal. I’m still hoping…but not quite there yet.

Next week I’m off to Florida – to see Mom – for her 80th birthday! I’m amused that she’s decided to start lying about her age, by a mere year, now. But the thought of another plane – more germs to spread around does not excite me. My ears will not like the pressure. But I know that warmth awaits me.

I’m really not a whiner. But I’m so sick of being sick. I allow myself a social event every few days so I can pretend that I’m having a life and that all is well. But then I come home and take a nap. I need to rest. I need to shake this cold/allergy/sinus/ear thing that has taken over my life.

A Cubs game just yesterday, what should be the perfect start to the Memorial Day weekend. It should be fun. Basketball season is over, time for my Cubbies. And yet it’s not fun. The game is boring from the get-go. The seats are great but in the shade. It’s cold in the shade. There’s wind in Wrigley Field, it’s colder at the lake. My friend Laura, in town from Laguna Beach is just fine with two plus innings, a little people watching on the upper deck patio – where there is warming sun! We walk back to the car two miles on the sunny side of the street. After the endless rain the day before it just feels nice to be outside. This game does not count for me as the start of baseball season. Several games await me in June. It ought to be nice by then, right? And next season, I’m sticking to my rules of not purchasing tickets until June!

Where is the nice weather I thought I heard forecast for this weekend? Tomorrow is supposed to be close a record high (after days of unseasonable cold and rain). A BBQ invitation awaits me, my event of the day, an evening with friends to end the month on a high note. And then the month will be over. June will be here, the real start of summer, I hope! I will get my health back. I will get my energy back. I will go back to being me.

To me, the lesson I’ve learned is not to go away again so soon after April 15th. I need that unwind time after tax season. I need to be the “spa girl” that I am over weeks, not crammed into a few days in a rush to get out of town. My body is telling me something. It needs to rest. And I need to listen. I am listening. I am doing plenty to take care of me. Really I am. I don’t have to run to a doctor to be taking care of me. But this lost month of May 2011 feels just that – lost. And time is just one of those things that you can’t get back. Not that I need it back. I don’t. I’ll just cram that much more living into June…when I know that I’m back to being me 100%. I’m trying to be patient. I know that this too shall pass. I just wish it would hurry up already! I want the old me back…and soon!

Alas, tax season is over! I survived the hectic hours, the last minute law changes, the e-file mandate (moral of that story is you can teach an old dog new tricks even if she has no desire to learn them!), and even the two week delay in the start to the season. My body wasn’t happy at all with the increase in hours. Hunched over my desk for twelve hours a day can you blame it? By day’s end, my neck and shoulders were screaming for attention. “Help me! I ache.”, they silently echoed. Biofreeze rollled on my upper body, the antiseptic smell a comfort. I even scorched the heating pad in the microwave one night, not conscious of the awkward placement on the shelf.

To my amazement I had more fun than I expected, the company of one person in particular who keep me amused, cooked with me or mostly for me at the end of a busy work day, sometimes once a week, some weeks more than once. Call me spoiled. Call me happy. Call me content. During tax season, my needs are simple. Feed me, turn on the TV and let me fall asleep. It’s all about work. And it’s not often that I’ve had a companion to help it go so quickly.

And just like that ten weeks of work overload was over. While I promised myself to only work from 7 – 7, the last two weeks, I took it up a notch, working until 8 (but not on Friday) and putting in a much longer days than anticipated on Saturdays. It was quiet. I was productive. And I know what could be done within reason. The thing is – I will not rush to finish something just to finish it. There are six month extensions for a reason. And while the work is concentrated in that 10 week time frame, I have six months to get the 35% of the returns that are always extended finished. Six months of three days a week schedule!

Was it is a good season overall? I think so. I didn’t have time to do my usual post-tax season stats. For the first time that I can remember, I had a vacation planned right after the 15th. I’m in Greece with my sister, brother-in-law and niece, a trip that I didn’t have to plan – my sister did. A place I’ve not gone before, something new to explore.

I’d been packing for weeks – throwing clothes on the bed of the second bedroom until the week before I finally began to organize it all. And heaven forbid I should not do my post 4/15 spa routine – all crunched into 5 days because I was leaving on the 19th – massage, body wrap, hair cut/color, mani/pedi, hair straightening, acupuncture and a last minute trip to the chiropractor – yes was out of line, no surprise there! Good idea before my long journey – the 8 hour flight, the night spent in Heathrow on uncomfortable chairs no less.

A journey isn’t a journey without some misadventures! My airport transfer in Greece did not show up. After the flight cancellations and rescheduling of a few weeks before, I was not about to spend another 5 hours in the airport waiting for everyone else to arrive (they were in Paris). The kindness of a stranger, my bewildered look. And I was looking so forward to being one of those people with their name on a placard at the airport! A phone call placed, an travel agency excuse that they did not know of my separate transfer (already prepaid) but then two minutes later my ride comes to tae me to the hotel in Athens when I simply chilled for a few hours waiting for them to arrive.

And now, a week later, the tingling down my left arm has lessened. It’s still there but less so. I’ve stopped waking up at 3:00 AM most nights doing tax returns in my head. But for the fact that we’ve had early morning wake-up calls for scheduled tours, flights between islands, I’ve been able to settle in and just relax. I’ve already read three books (Kindle app on my Ipad!). The reader in me is back! While some tax seasons I’ve managed to read a book every few weeks, this season I couldn’t keep my eyes open, even on the weekends to bother. Or I was busy doing fun things on the one day I had to myself – Sunday.

The trip itself I’ll save for another post – something to look forward to. I don’t want to be on the computer too much. At the airport now in a wi-fi free one hour zone (watching the clock carefully!) waiting for our flight to Santorini, two days just spent in Mykynos! I can’t wait to upload my photos (my sister and niece have their laptops with them and are doing it every night). But that’s something that I’ll save for home, editing the shots of the beautiful scenery that surrounds me. And sometimes, you just have to remember that your minds eye is the best camera that exists. Yes, I know, it would be great to get some of the photos up here. But for whatever reason, I’ve yet to figure it out – how many error messages can you get before you simply give up. Something to tackle when I get home (another 6 days of vacation awaits me!).

One thing’s for sure. I won’t check work email. I leave work at work. There is NO such thing as an accounting emergency. And if there’s anytime that I can walk away from work for two weeks (have not done this for 10 years I believe) it’s right after April 15th!

Ah, life is a balancing act! And as the tax season ends, the season of my content begins anew. The Tax Lady is on vacation! And in her place, the Balance Lady cometh! The creative me is in bloom, happy to be back!!

by Debbie Lessin
@BalanceActLady

I know what lies ahead this week. But for today I will play, do home stuff, shop, relax and just be. A day with no tax returns in my head!
9:01 AM

Freshly showered wearing a “Be Balanced” t-shirt, it’s time to head out walking on Bucktown adventure. Love my ‘hood! Beautiful spring day!
12:37 PM

First stop- Scoop NYC. Success! 25% off entire store thru Tues. Cute B & W 3/4 length cropped sweater/top! New clothes for vacation! Fun!!
12:57PM

Next stop – UPS Store to pick up copies for work. No Balancing Act mail in my mailbox. Headed South on Milwaukee Ave. Lovely day!
1:03 PM

@citysoles. Many shoes already purchased this Spring. Most not yet worn. 3 purchased recently here. Just Say No! Hello to Terri & Friends.
1:15 PM

Now walking North on Damen. In Stitch. Nothing must have or impulse this trip. Bracket a week or so ago. I do like to spend $ in tax season!
1:27 PM

At Michelle Tan. Hanging w/Randall Hill store manager/fashion designer. Time to head home. Have errands that require car! The day continues!
2:01 PM

Headed to Art Effect @Bissell/Dickens. Lived here 16 yrs ago! Still great shopping. 20% off coupon in hand! Neighborhood same but different.
2:37 PM

Way cool B & W bracket @ Art Effect. Send me a coupon! I will come. Walking down Armitage to Lori’s w/$60 GroupGroupon in hand.
2:56 PM

Walked a few blocks to Underthings @Webster/Halsted.12 pairs of favorite Felina panties. No worries about last minute laundry before trip!!
3:19 PM

Hit the wall @ Lori’s. Not in mood for shoes. None of the accessories call my name. Leaving after quick pass through store. Save Groupon!
3:25 PM

(Note to self: This was sent out of sequence. It must have gone through after the fact. The reception in the Shefield neighborhood was just so, so. I had a number of drafts that required second or third attempts. Lori’s first then Underthings!)

Got some good walking in on shopping journey. Fresh air. Warm but may rain. Need the exercise. Feels great to be out and about.
3:33 PM

Just drove past my old apartment – brownstone on Bissell. Think I’ll treat myself to DQ blizzard. Just realized have not eaten today!
3:35 PM

Stopped @ Sweet Mandy B’s on Webster/Racine for cupcakes for office friends tomorrow. Friend bringing taxes on 50th. Cupcake awaits him! Yum
4:03 PM

Baseball is back. Listening to Cubs game on WGN in car on way to Office Depot. Cubs lose. Oh well. Tomorrow’s another day. Tickets in May!
4:11 PM

Recycled 4 toner cartridges @ Office Depot. Bought 3 more crates to organize backlog of returns. Errands done. Am home! Time to read/relax
4:39 PM

Oops I forget I left laundry in the dryer. Think I will procrastinate. Fold later!!
4:50 PM

No, this is not about the NCAA Basketball tournament. So if you’ve landed here by searching for that, you may be disappointed. Besides Wisconsin got knocked out on Thursday so I’m not as interested now. No brackets for me! And if I was going to write about basketball, it would be about my Chicago Bulls. They are bringing basketball excitement back to Chicago. It’s been a long time. But oh, the memories of the Bull’s repeat three-peats!

My March madness is the craziness of Tax Season, the annual onslaught of my season of work. And March…March is my busiest most billable month of the year. It’s 6 days a week, 65-70 hours a week at the office, Saturdays included (although not usually full days). 50+ billable weeks are the norm. And this year with everything off to such a late start, in March, it’s been non-stop action in motion.

All in all, despite being busy it’s been a good month. My mind is on fire. I’m doing awesome work, mastering the e-file software by within 3 weeks of starting to process. For me, the moral of that was that you can teach an old dog new tricks, even if she doesn’t want to learn them. Clients are opting out about half the time regardless because I was right, it does cost more – a little more of my time in the set-up and the final process. But the refund, oh the refunds come so fast. I even changed what I was planning on doing so that I could get my federal and state tax refunds to pay for my Cook County real estate taxes! Ah to steal from Peter to pay Paul. But including the e-file election and acknowledging the new Illinois Use Tax line item (2 e-updates after Organizer packages mailed)have still been the bane of my existence Even the easiest of returns is usually missing one if not both of these “extras”! It simply seems like this year, nothing can be done and completed first shot out. Frustrating to say the least.

But the end is near – 3 weeks to go. And I know that for myself…for all kinds of reasons – the clothes already spread out and hung on the door of the 2nd bedroom, early packing for my post 4/15 trip. Of course, that is if I can even get to Greece – Olympic Airlines having informed Expedia who then informed my by email on Thursday that they are no longer flying to Greece from London (where I got a round-trip frequent flier miles ticket for only 40,000 miles!) The $121 one way non-stop ticket to Greece(1/2 of which was taxes) booked in October now costs over $800. Trying to get through to the airlines to see what accommodations they are willing to make has been nothing short of a pain in the ass. Trying says it all. 5 calls to Expedia, an inability to get through to any one since hey, it’s Independence Day in Greece (Friday 3/25). My plan is to get up at 3:00 AM tonight and lay in bed on the phone hoping that this is resolved before I have to leave for work in the morning. I have a case number. That has to count for something,doesn’t it? The time difference, the shortened Greek work days – OY really sums it up! A good night’s sleep is not in my future tonight. And truth be told – I don’t have time for this!! This is why this trip was planned last October and November!!

My mind is clear. My energy is amazing. My body is a mess! Hunched over, working the long hours, some body part every year decides it does not like this schedule and rebels. This year – neck and shoulders. I do so much weekly body work, I can’t imagine how I’d feel without it. Especially knowing how bad I’ve felt with it. Chiropractor four times in the last five weeks, the last two times, knowing that my neck alignment was holding but that something was still off. Massage, acupuncture – my regular routine. Have had someone even come to stretch me out for an hour at work twice. And while there’s immediate relief, nothing lasts for more than a few hours. I’m just thankful that it’s not my right arm. There have been years where it has been. Not fun to say the least. Just trying to cope. I listen to my body. I do. It needs to listen to me – just 3 weeks and counting. Then all will be well.

I’ve blown off Pilates for now. When I went three weeks ago I left 1/2 way through class because I was in so much arm pain. Arm pain? It surprised me and made me really sad. But I certainly didn’t need to hurt myself anymore than I was already hurt. My Sunday trainer session was canceled one or two weeks this month due to her scheduling conflicts. Probably a good thing. The last two weeks we’ve worked around my injuries just to keep my body moving. It was clear today that I was in better shape. A much different work-out than last week. And yet we were sure to stay away from anything that put strain on my left shoulder in particular, that humming and buzzing down the left arm clearly not a good sign. This too shall pass – like right after April 15th.

A friend called me out the other day on my comments that that April 15th didn’t really mean anything in terms of filing your taxes. Stagger the deadlines he suggested. And I glared at him saying are you kidding me? My payoff is that post 4/15 I only work three days a week for 8 months. I’ll trade a little body aches and pains for the freedom of that schedule any day of the week! Most clients still want to file by April 15th so that they are done. It’s the procrastinators that I extend, either because they get that the deadline doesn’t matter or because it is not for me to honor their procrastination. Hard work, not withstanding, I am NOT a super-hero. Nor do I play one on TV!

For the end of March I’m in a great mood. My best friend says she’s never seen me with so much energy. I know it’s because in the last few years I’ve learned to both work hard but also have a life. I’ve given up the 5:30 AM treadmill for an extra half hour of sleep mostly because I’ve had pretty regular late night dinners and TV watching company that’s kept me amused, sane and happy. Ah, Life is a Balancing Act!

I’ve already started booking my post 4/15 spa treatments – the first one booked in fact for 5:30 PM on 4/14, I’m that confident of my cut-off point. I usually spa hop for a week or more. But this year, it’s how much can I get in the four days before I leave town. So far, I have a body wrap booked, a mani/pedi, a haircut and a full body organic spray tan. The pre-tan obligatory waxing is scheduled for 5:00 PM on Saturday April 9th,the last Saturday I plan to work for the year. Priorities!!

Money is finally starting to flow too. Working for free is never fun. But as an entrepreneur sometimes it just happens. Whether it’s paying your bills or employees (no more of those for me thank you very much!)I always am last. Early season cash flow always lags. But then it catches up to itself.

Of course working for 50+ hours a week, by week’s end I deserve and want to buy myself a treat. Someone mentioned to me recently that I must not have time to shop during tax season. Well, they don’t know me. The damage I can do in an hour or two late Saturday afternoon or a Sunday is a source of pride! Last week, a spontaneous trip downtown with a friend to run a few errands, including a gift exchange at Saks (Kiel’s for Jo Malone Lavender & Amber Body Lotion) yielded a cute Elie Tahari top (about 40% off), 3 pairs of shoes, Tom’s silver/black sequins exclusively for Neiman Marcus, a cute pair of black and white flowered flip flops at Stuart Weitzman’s and a really expensive pair of Anyli Lu black wedge sandals at Nordstrom’s! Yeah for me and my feet. We had an early dinner (the famous Macho salad) and with one cocktail at Bandera’s just before it got too crowded and we would have had to wait. A fun, spontaneous girlfriend night!

Work hard. Play hard. That’s my motto and I do my best to live up to it. My arm is buzzing as I write this, a sign perhaps to get off the computer? Will I listen? Soon, soon, enough I will relax to end the day. Not sure where it went. But alas my Sunday is done. And then there’s my workday Monday!

But this Monday and for the next 10 days, I have help at work – my trusted freelancer Susan who’s driving in from
Maryland tonight. She’s worked for me off and on for almost 20 years. And in the five or so years that she moved East, she taken a week of vacation and come to help, staying with me, getting up at the crack of dawn and cranking it out. She will leave and I will coast to the end! If this is like other years by the time she leaves on April 5th or 6th I will be as caught up as I can be. And I will be happy. We think alike. And that is a rarity. Because all accountants are not created equal. So to have one whose work I trust and can entrust, well, it’s a gift. And luckily a gift that keeps on giving.

Ah, the end is near! I can see it, feel it, taste it! Tonight I head to acupuncture, cancelled on Thursday night because she was sick. A great way to end the week/end before Susan gets here and I get my few hours of sleep before I get up at 3:00AM to deal with rebooking the journey from London to Greece. I have my fingers crossed. I want this to be over before it begins.

By this time next month, I will be done, on vacation and ready for the rest of my year/life. The season of my discontent will be over. It will be the season of my content. For me, March Madness brings April Freedom! That’s my story and I’m sticking to it!