Join Me in a Big Deep Breath for the Busiest Week of My Life

Harlow’s Bat Mitzvah is this Saturday. I wish I could say that is unequivocally the biggest thing happening to us this month, but nope, it’s got competition! Let’s go in order, shall we?

For starters, this spring, we have been doing lots of college touring with Mazzy as she devises and refines her “college list” of where she will apply in the fall. You might have seen on Instagram that we visited some schools in LA, but please know, we are looking all over. Mazzy is trying to find the best college fit for herself and location is not one of the things she has a hard and fast rule about, so she’s keeping her options open. What are her hard and fast rules? She wants a school with the program she is interested in, a good reputation academically, and a pretty campus. Anything less than an campus that could double as a college movie set is non-starter. Initially it seemed a little silly to be googling campus visuals as the main prerequisite for consideration, but I’ve come to understand it. Mazzy is a visual person and a beautiful setting motivates and inspires her. To be honest, I’m the same.

I don’t think making her exact college choices public is a good idea, but I am cool with posting about the experience in a more general sense. What Mazzy determined while we were in LA is that she’d only want to go that far away for one of her top choice schools. Her preference is to be closer to home if all other factors are equal. Although she did really appreciate that LA universities have a diverse student body which feels similar to NYC, while some of the other schools we have visited in other parts of the country feel more homogeneous, so she added diversity to her list of must-haves.

Another takeaway we got from the college tours we have been on (in three different states so far) is that seeing a college when it’s on break does not sell it. Mazzy really needs to see what the campus feels like when it’s in session, with the students milling about. This means that we are trying to shove more tours into the next few weeks before colleges finish in mid-May, as opposed to waiting for the summer to see them. There will also be time to visit schools in the fall, but if I could do it over, I would have started touring colleges a bit sooner. Although, seeing Northeast schools in the winter doesn’t sell them either. Fall and Spring are really the only seasons for college tours, especially if you have a kid who bases her opinion heavily on vibes and campus aesthetics!

When we got back from spring break, Mazzy had one more really exciting thing that happened. Her photo was awarded a Gold Key from Scholastic and as a winner, it will be hanging in the Met all throughout this month. Mazzy and I went to visit it last week, and although she noted that it’s in a side room that doesn’t feel quite like it’s hanging amongst the masterpieces, it’s still really exciting. I don’t know anyone else who can say their art has hung on a wall at the Met! FYI, Mazzy took the photo in Italy when she was on her Travel for Teens tour, so that trip was well worth it for many reasons!

Mazzy’s photo is the one of the pink buildings. Obviously.

Now, you’d think at this point in the post, we’d be up to Harlow’s Bat Mitzvah, but nope! Not yet. Last weekend, my family went in all different directions. Mazzy and Mike flew to Atlanta to look at more colleges, I flew to Austin to be Instagram’s mom correspondent at Mom 2.0 Summit, and Harlow woke up in NYC all on her own, got herself to school and then stayed with a friend for the weekend. I haven’t been to a Mom 2.0 Summit in a number of years and it was so fun to reconnect with old blogging friends, this time as a representative for a brand. I spent most of the time at the Instagram booth talking to moms about how they monitor their teens’ social media and showing them how to use all the parental supervision tools within Teen Accounts. Most of them had no idea how much information and control you have in the back end if you pair your account with your teen, like seeing who they’ve DMed in the past seven days, and controlling their time spent. Also, you can now monitor your teen’s activity online across supported Meta apps like Instagram, Meta Horizon, Facebook, and Messenger all in one place with the Meta Family Center. I'm so glad Instagram is continually putting protections in place to help teens have safer, more age-appropriate experiences online. I’ll be posting a full recap reel soon!

Okay, now we are up to Harlow, but not the Bat Mitzvah, because on the Sunday I returned from Atlanta, she was asked to interview the stars of The Sheep Detective on the red carpet; the most exciting celeb for Harlow being Hugh Jackman. She asked him where his character would go if he visited NYC and he said the petting zoo in Central Park. Good answer. The movie was about a flock of sheep whose caretaker (Jackman) reads them murder mysteries until he, himself is murdered. Then when the police fail at their jobs, the sheep try to solve the murder themselves. It’s heartwarming and adorable and I highly recommend. I’ll be posting a full recap of that soon too!

Now we are up to present day, so I can only tell you what’s to come. Nope, not just the Bat Mitzvah! On Thursday and Friday nights, Harlow will be starring in her school musical. She is Elle Woods in Legally Blonde, so it’s quite an undertaking. This week is tech week at school, which means there are lines to memorize and costumes to bring in and lots of singing in the shower. Also, since our whole family is coming into the city for the Bat Mitzvah on Saturday, we’ve had lots of ticket requests. It’s a lot of pressure, as you can imagine, so Harlow has said only the grandparents are allowed to come. I promised everyone else there would be video.

And then Saturday, it’s the Bat Mitzvah! I won’t say too much because I assume there will be much more to say after. Or maybe I will be just like I was with Mazzy and unable to process my thoughts for three full years. Do you know I still have a half written post about Mazzy’s Bat Mitzvah languishing in my drafts?

And that’s not all! Because if Harlow is able to pull herself upright at the end of this very busy weekend, she has been invited to interview Broadway stars on the red carpet for Miscast again this year. That’s on Monday. Now, she might have turned this opportunity down due to her incredibly busy schedule, but she said yes for two reasons: Lea Michele and Darren Criss. I don’t know if they will actually walk the red carpet or if they will stop to chat with Harlow, but they are both scheduled to perform, so this is her best shot!

Let’s all take a big deep breath for Harlow and wish her well! Take one for me too. I am STRESSED.