I'm going Blonde this weekend

Oh, don't get worked up. I'm still working the Joan Jett thing. But this weekend, I will be watching one of my favorite fair-haired, funny, empowered characters go from the sorority house to the court room in Legally Blonde The Musical.

My lady-friends who've already seen Elle Woods and cast belt it out on stage have told me it's one of the best and most entertaining shows they've seen. I am thrilled to see if my own pink heels are tapping when I'm in the audience.

If you're in Chicago, meet me during intermission for a rosé spritzer in the lobby. And, lucky you! You will be able to enjoy an extra luxury if you choose to see Legally Blonde The Musical at Rosemont Theatre because Sassafrass readers are offered a lovely $20 discount (I told you that you were lucky).

Log on to www.rosemonttheatre.com or call Ticketmaster at 800.745.3000 or stop by the theatre box office and use the code GETOUT to purchase specially-priced tickets for this weekend.

A final note: I'll be taking my mom with me and, for the record, she's very real, a complete character, and indeed blonde.

Do you have a favorite Elle Woods moment you'd love to see sung on stage?

The business of Blonde: I was offered complimentary opening night tickets to review Legally Blonde The Musical. The discount and my opinions always have been and always will be honest, authentic and my own.

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Someone Else's Words Wednesday: Sunday flight home edition

Now the time has come to leave you
One more time let me kiss you
Close your eyes, and I'll be on my way
Dream about the days to comeI wont have to leave alone, and I wont have to say:

So kiss me and smile for me
Tell me that you wait for me

Hold me like you never let me go
I'm leaving on a jetplane,I don't know when I'll be back again.

Oh babe I hate to go.

~Written by John Denver, but the version in my head is always Peter, Paul and Mary

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3 people I'm grateful for, part 2

Sweet Baby J, who came into this loud, laughing, yelling, opinionated family and made us all gasp with his knowing smile and twinkly eyes. We've been such a tight group, it was hard to imagine another large-spirited person making his way in. But he did and now our hearts have just grown bigger.

My friend Elizabeth. We met at camp a gazillion years ago, as counselors leading children in spiritual, esteem-building songs about the sinking Titanic and bloody, dead squirrels (those were the banned songs...shhh) around campfires and flagpoles, in canoes and on hikes through the pine forest. We met again as adults making our way through this big city and, for more than the fact that she has seen me flash my sequined cheers before many naive, young Christian campers, I feel so lucky to count her among my friends. She's done work in Rwanda that leaves me in awe and founded the amazing organzation Every Child Is My Child. Elizabeth makes me want to keep singing bad camp songs off-key as loud as I can and to be better at doing good in this world.

The very best teenager I know, Cailey. I interviewed Cailey when I wrote profiles of courageous people surviving devastating illnesses and injuries at CarePages.com. Cailey's energy lit up my room, even though we were thousands of miles apart and shared one simple phone call. We talked so much on that call that it seemed like the profile just wrote itself. She's got an astounding brain, a wicked sense of humor, and the most incredible heart. This girl who had heart surgery at 13 has become a woman who is centered, hilarious, and full of gratitude and joy. She teaches me a lotthrough her advocacy for other children with congenital heart defects, sends me pictures of shoes, leaves comments on Sassafrass just when I wonder if anyone is listening. I'm cheering her on in her first year in college and hopefully, will be there to tear up and woohoo! for all of the adventures that await her. This kid has miles to go. (Encourage Cailey to blog by leaving your comment here.)

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