Introduction

I know I spelled it wrong, but that's how my neighbor, Amy Shapiro, always pronounced it, at least to my ear.  I know as a semi-Catholic/sometimes Episcopalian/pseudo-Buddhist but really sorta Unitarian-Universalist Irish-Italian girl, it might seem strange for me to use mangled Yiddish in the title of my blog.  But it feels natural to me, so there you go.  Maybe it was growing up on Long Island that makes me feel entitled to do so.  Maybe it was my grandfather's affinity for Barbara Streisand, or the kind motherly attentions of the aforementioned acrylic-nailed, perfectly tanned yenta of a neighbor I adored.  It doesn't matter now.  All I know is that it fits perfectly, and I beg your pardon if you are offended.  Please don't be.  There's other way more important things to get into a twist over, but if you still have to, I can bake you a cupcake to make up for it, and we'll call it even. (No, not really.  Mailing cupcakes would be messy.  Just pretend that's how it went down.)


At first, this blog will probably focus on my quest as a newly minted 40-year-old to re-commit to a healthy lifestyle, lose 30 pounds and become fit enough to hike, bike, paddle and run whenever I get the urge without my body staging a protest.  But since all of that is inextricable from my life as a mom, wife, daughter, sister, aunt, friend, accountant, and observer-of-stuff-that-interests-me, I'm sure it will be about some other things as well.  Really, it's just a place for me to keep my writing skills and creativity intact so that the accountant-y stuff doesn't break them down, and to shpiel when I feel the urge.  How fun will that be for you???  So much.  Let's begin!