Monogrammed Preppy

Last month I talked about my southern monogrammed Preppy friend, Amanda. As you can see, she is the Queen when it comes to personalizing things, including her Jeep! One of the best monogrammers for all of you Prepsters is Electra’s Monograms. Talk about monogram central-Electra provides amazing preppy personalization for your car, cell phone, lamps, candles and even your wall!

Happy Birthday LeAnita

LeAnita is the ultimate Prepster! As my sister, she is also my BEST friend in the entire world!! Aside from our brother (okay & our parents too) she has known me longer than anyone. We do absolutely everything together-kind of scary- and she knows waaaay to much about me, which is why I will always keep her close ;) LeAnita is super fabulous and I have always put her on a pedastal-just like Barbie. She is a former Miss Maryland National Teenager, Miss Maryland Hemisphere and Miss Howard County. In our family she will always be Queen. LeAnita is an amazing jewelry designer  You can check out all of her exquisite gems at her company website, www.leanita.com. She has been featured on FOX News Chicago, Today’s Chicago Woman, and nationally in Redbook. You rock, Lee-Lee. We had a fabulous birthday celebration for “Lee-Lee” (as Cory has famously nicknamed her) and we stayed out until well past 3AM!! Aren’t we all getting a little old for that? HAPPY BIRTHDAY QUEEN LEANITA!!! Love you.

Raglan Castle, located in Monmothshire Wales is one of my favorite places in the world! But then again, I am obviously biased. This is my majestic palace and after many years, I finally had the opportunity to go inside. It was very overwhelming & I actually cried a bit when I walked through the large gate doors near the main Tower. After many years of researching my Ragland roots, someone told my father about this castle and for many years I wanted to see it in person. Originally spelled “Rhaglan” this Welsh aristocratic home was the last medieval castle built in Great Britain and was destroyed during the English Civil War during the mid-1600s. Driving through Monmouthshire, it was very exciting to see signs for Rhaglan/Raglan-even the GPS system showed Raglan! Across from the castle is Raglan Village, which has a church, pub, restaurant, petrol station, golf course, Farm Shop and more. The townspeople certainly made me feel like a celebrity once they knew my last name is Ragland. At a local restaurant, a councilman took a photo with me because he had only met one other Raglan/Ragland/Rhaglan in his life and that person actually lived in Wales. What a thrill to sit in the restaurant eating fish & chips with mashed peas while people approached my table to say hello to the “Ragland”. It was one of the best experiences of my life & I cannot wait to go back to my other home and visit my “little house” in the Welsh countryside. <

The Sun Never Sets on the Junior League

I should know that the sun never sets on the Junior League because I have been in six different Leagues! As a TV personality I moved a lot and the one thing I could rely on was finding a Junior League nearby. This past weekend was a treat because I traveled back to Florida where I originally joined the League & I must say that there is nothing like your first League. My trip was a fun girl’s weekend retreat. I went to visit my incredibly amazing friend Amanda, who will be League president soon and the ultra fabulous Beth who first invited & proposed me to the League more than a decade ago. We had a great time catching up on the past as well as hearing future JL plans. Amanda is also responsible for bringing me into Phi Mu and we had a wonderful time outside of our Phi Mu Fraternity house. Amanda is definitely a southern belle and my favorite monogram Queen! My goodness, even her car is monogrammed and if you check out one of her photos above you can see that her shirt and her car are both elegantly stitched with her initials. The day after my arrival, Amanda & I took a road trip all the way to the Peach state of Georgia so we could take a tour of my favorite house, Pebble Hill Plantation. This piece of land dates back to 1827, though the current home was built in 1936. It reminds me very much of my first home at the National Park Seminary in the DC area, which was built in the 1880s. At the end of my trip, getting home was truly an adventure in itself. Almost all of the flights were cancelled in the southeast and I was trapped at the airport! Hours later and a change in airlines (twice) I was flown to Charlotte where I spent the night & headed home the first thing the next morning. Another problem is that my hometown has two airports and the airlines had to fly me to one while my car was parked at the other- OY VEY! I ended up retrieving my car on the other side of town at the end of the day when all of the rush hour traffic was gone. I have decided that all of my domestic trips will now be seen from the ground on the railways of AMTRAK.

Weekend in New England

During the 4th of July weekend I finally made it to the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard-at least to the front door, anyway! After college graduation (many moons ago), I began studying for the GRE with the ambition of going to KSG for a Master’s in Public Policy. That summer while on holiday in Maine, a chance meeting with Senator Kennedy changed all of that when he gave me an opportunity to work in his office. Afterwards, I became a political news reporter & remained in TV & public relations without continuing to grad school. Although I’ve been to Harvard & Cambridge before, I never walked down JFK Street to the KSG. It was also nice to waltz through the same courtyard & across the same campus my uncle walked through nearly 60 years ago as he attended classes, as well as my cousin in more recent years. I need to return for the Head of the Charles in October. I became hooked on crew when my brother rowed for Wharton. Go figure-a group of preppy business school guys racing against some of the most competitive teams in the country. It was quite a sight!

Happy Birthday Sherman

An Evening With Roberta Flack

Tonight we were serenaded by Roberta Flack at the Rainbow PUSH College Scholarship dinner Gala. It is the 37th Annual Rainbow PUSH Coalition Conference & of course ran into Rev. Jesse Jackson for the second time this week (see June 24th entry). Singing back-up to Roberta Flack was Tony Terry, an artist whose cassette single (yes, I am THAT old!) I bought in 1991 when he sang a song called “With You”. He sang that song this evening to the crowd.

Silver Wicket a Smashing Success!

Silver Wicket was amazing!! My sister & co-chair, LeAnita & I had a great time with a spectacular group of people. She and I resurrected an age-old tradition of our Woman's Club. It has been defunct for two years and we decided to bring it back. After spending a year last year as Junior League Sustainer Co-Chairs and New Member Chairs, prior to that, we put our "Wonder Twin Powers" to work yet once again. Needless to say, the day was gorgeous and then we had a major downpour right at the croquet kick-off. But it soon passed and the weather was perfect again. The court was flanked with Gatsby-esque attire and thanks to my Escada outfit, I won best dressed. We had some amazing classic and modern cars on the Green as well. My favorite was the Rolls Royce whose hood emblem would retract every time the car is locked & of course Mercedes through the years from classic to modern, including my own red sports model, which I have named Ralph Lauren (all of my cars have had men's names). Our event raised scholarship money for high school students. My niece & nephew were the youngest "croqueters" and did a fabulous job getting the ball through the wickets.

Chicago Sun-Times Social pages

Tonight my sister, LeAnita & I attended the N’Digo Foundation Gala at the Chicago Civic Opera House, chaired by Rep. Jesse Jackon, Jr. Approximately 1100 people attended the event, which honored six leaders in the community. Twenty-three students receives scholarships as a result of the fundraising. We appeared in the Chicago Sun-Times column, Susanna’s night Out

Happy Birthday Giuseppe!

For 17 years of my life, we had a little black and white shih-tzu named “Giuseppe”, which is Italian for Joseph. Seppe received his name after my mother, sister & I went on holiday to Europe when I was 12-years-old. In Italy, we rode on a bus driven by a Roman named Giuseppe who drove us from Rome through the Swiss Alps. He was quite adorable and a very nice guy. Shortly after our trip, my mother surprised me with a puppy for my birthday. Struggling to give him a name, my sister blurted out “Giuseppe” and it stuck. Although Giuseppe is no longer with us, I think about him all of the time-especially this week because it would have been his birthday. Several years ago, I did a feature on NBC 5 in Dallas about Seppe for “Take Your Dog to Work Day”. Believe it or not, after doing the show, he had a heart attack that evening, survived and lived another two years! When he died he was 17-years-old. I hope you enjoy Giuseppe hard at work as a news reporter.

Surgery is a Success!

Meeting Senator Kennedy while on holiday in Maine. The senator told us where to find his favorite Chowder House-for New England clam chowder of course, not Manhattan. After 3.5 hours in the OR, Senator Kennedy’s surgery was a success, according to his neurosurgeon, Dr. Allan Friedman at Duke University Medical Center. His next step is chemo & radiation to shrink what is left of the tumor. My favorite neurosurgeon on TV is Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He describes Kennedy’s treatment plan on his blog: Paging Dr. Gupta Above is a photo of the day I met Senator Kennedy in Maine. I had just graduated as a Mass Comm/PoliSci major and was asking him about KSG (Kennedy School of Government). At the time I was studying to apply to KSG for a Master’s in Public Policy. During this conversation I found myself asking him for the opportunity to work in his office instead. The senator was absolutely amazing & I ended up working in his office assisting his counsel. I spent much of my time researching technology & education issues. It is one of the best experiences I have had. One of my favorite memories is of Senator Kennedy’s dog, Blarney, running around the office in the Russel Building. Working in his office set me on a great path-especially as a political news reporter.

Sex & the City private preview

With very special thanks to my Mercedes dealership, my sister & I attended a VIP screening of the Sex & the City movie tonight (my invite is above). You won’t find any major spoilers here, but I will say that I have never seen so many moviegoers bawling their eyes out than they did in Titanic! Definitely a “chick flick”, there are certainly some shockers in this one. You could hear the collective gasp of the audience in several scenes. Everyone was served popcorn & martinis in our seats. If you are a fan of the show, definitely see it on the big screen. As a big fan of Charlotte’s, I will say that even her dog, “Elizabeth Taylor” has not been forgotten after so many years. Enjoy! My sister, LeAnita & I are heading into the show...

Memorial Day 2008-Major General Robert Bernstein

As an Army brat, I think of our fallen military men & women often. Memorial Day is a time for all of us to remember, honor and respect the memory of the men and women (and their families) who have given their lives for our freedom. I was born at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington D.C., where my father retired as a Colonel. My “proxy” grandfather, Maj. General Robert Bernstein served as WRAMC’s Commanding General from 1973~1978. He died in July 2007 at 87 years-old and I will especially be thinking of him this Memorial Day.

Senator Edward M. Kennedy

Senator Edward M. Kennedy has been diagnosed with a malignant glioma in the left parietal-lobe, according to his physicians at Massachusetts General Hospital. This is a photo of Senator Kennedy with me on my last day working in his office. I will have more photos up soon of my time working in Senator Kennedy’s office, shortly after I graduated from my university. I had an amazing time working on the Hill, learning invaluable skills that set me on a very successful career path. The Kennedys are in my thoughts & prayers.

Walk for Israel by the Lake

Today my niece, Alex & I walked with Israel for Solidarity Day. My synagogue loaded onto two buses to join the huge crowd by Lake Michigan. The money raised helps the children in Sderot, in Israel's Negev.  They have lived under rocket attacks for several years and the Walk with Israel fundraiser will assist children by sending them to a special summer camp run by Youth Futures. 

Alex covered her face with blue stickers to show extra special solidarity :)