If you are an old friend and reader from my past, welcome back. You know the drill: don\u2019t take anything I say too seriously but know I speak (mostly) truth. It\u2019s great to see you again.<\/p>\n
If you are new to this side of the picket fence, welcome. If you are reading this for the first time, you probably just read an annotated version of Thelma and Louise’s Summer Adventure Series<\/a> or I got arrested and the evening news just referenced this blog as evidence of my weakened mental state. Spoken truth as well.<\/p>\n In either case, I believe some reintroductions are in order.<\/p>\n Hi, I\u2019m Tracey. Or Suburban Diva, and I\u2019m a kidder from way back. This blog is so old in fact, that it was around before there were blogs\u2014just thoughts written on internet sites that no longer exist in the dark ages of 2002. It has been featured there, on various other websites, my own, a syndicated newspaper column, a monthly magazine, a book, and no doubt in psychiatric journals across the globe. It has mostly been a light-hearted pursuit through motherhood<\/a>, suburbia<\/a>, cooking<\/a>, holidays<\/a>, politics<\/a>, travel<\/a>, spousal transcripts<\/a>. Occasionally, more serious subjects are addressed like oddly specific medical advice<\/a> and missing my mom<\/a>.<\/p>\n Some things are evergreen, and some things have changed. We\u2019ve relocated from Florida to Nashville (like a million years ago, where have you been?) and we\u2019ve got a college student, high schooler, middle schooler and elementary student among our ranks these days. Sean is still solidly my co-star on this cast of crazies, and I\u2019ve somehow talked Louise into a recurring role. And of course, Mrs. Kravitz, (we all have a Mrs. Kravitz) follows me to every neighborhood.<\/p>\n Another solid fact with no alternative? This place has brought me a lot of joy and connected me to some really great people in real life, and hopefully you\u2019ve shared a few laughs or tears with me along the way.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s see if we can bring some of that to 2017. <\/p>\n I think we all could use a little.<\/p>\n \u00a92017 Tracey Henry<\/p>\n <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" If you are an old friend and reader from my past, welcome back. You know the drill: don\u2019t take anything I say too seriously but know I speak (mostly) truth. It\u2019s great to see you again. If you are new to this side of the picket fence, welcome. If you are reading this for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[2],"tags":[101],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3NIOM-c9","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":671,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2016\/07\/05\/the-trip\/","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":0},"title":"The Trip","date":"July 5, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"We are firing up the ol\u2019 blog today in an effort to chronicle the epic road trip in which 13 people\u20149 of them kids\u2014load up in an RV and attempt to navigate the next 5000 western miles and still remain coherent, contributing members of society when we pull back into\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":685,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2016\/07\/13\/day-5-and-the-strange-beauty-that-is-sioux-falls\/","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":1},"title":"Day 5 and the Strange Beauty that is Sioux Falls","date":"July 13, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Walmart Cashier: Welcome to Walmart! Did you find everything you were looking for? Thelma: Yes, thank you. We don't need a bag for the Venus Flytrap. Cashier: (Scanning eclectic mixture of consumer goods.) That is sure a lot of Band-Aids and Neosporin you've got there. Thelma: Four-square accident. And I'm\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":282,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2013\/11\/11\/old-school-rice-pilaf\/","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":2},"title":"Old school rice pilaf","date":"November 11, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"This easy and flavorful side is a souvenir from my youth when I thought rice only came in two varieties: Minute or pilaf. I left the Minute Rice back in the 80\u2019s and the pilaf seemed doomed to stay there as well until a few months ago when I resurrected\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recipe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/IMG_2294-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":219,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2013\/08\/21\/summers-not-over-baked-beans\/","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":3},"title":"Summer’s Not Over Baked Beans","date":"August 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"We\u2019ve discussed how they are trying to pretend summer is over for us all by starting school so a-b-c-d-e-effing early, but as long as Labor Day is still weeks ahead, we all know the truth. Here\u2019s a great baked bean dish to eat every day until September. Slow-cooker BBQ Beans\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Recipe"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_2044-300x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":883,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2019\/07\/14\/halfway-there-and-indeed-living-on-a-prayer\/","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":4},"title":"Halfway there and indeed, living on a prayer","date":"July 14, 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"Un-stranding yourself from an island is more difficult than you might think. After 5 days on the beach, a Quincearna baseball game and a private fireworks show from one of the world's richest men that we just happened upon with no invitation; we attempt departure from the sheer randomness of\u2026","rel":"","context":"With 1 comment","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":840,"url":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/2018\/07\/12\/days-9-and-10-and-11-ish\/","url_meta":{"origin":753,"position":5},"title":"Days 9 and 10 and 11-ish","date":"July 12, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"To close out our sports Halls of Fame quadrumvirate, we showed Springfield, Mass a thing or two. Our very own Sundance won the Rick Perry free-throw shooting contest! Which doesn't sound like a thing at all because who would name a basketball game after the former governor of Texas, but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Column"","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/IMG_8315-e1531363511699-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=753"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":759,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/753\/revisions\/759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.suburbandiva.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}