When my children were in elementary school, we set a family goal to visit all 50 states by the time our oldest son graduated from high school in 2011. In 2009, we reached 49 states when we traveled to Alaska. Then with only Hawaii left, we hit a bump in the road called a “job layoff,” and we had to alter our travel ambitions.  It’s now "Hawaii or Bust" by 2013, the year our youngest son graduates from Royal Oak High School. While we save our pennies for the Aloha State, we decided to revisit North Carolina this summer. We’d always felt uneasy saying we’d been there. It was the only state we …

I felt like I was living in a fabulous 1980s dream on Thursday night. I was backstage at Pine Knob (I suppose I'll never get used to calling it the DTE Energy Music Theatre) with the Go-Go's Kathy Valentine (bass), Gina Schock (drums) and Jane Wiedlin (guitar). All in our 50s, we were behaving like 20-something school girls, dancing while the B-52's sang "Roam" to a crowd of thousands of enthusiastic fans before the Go-Go's turn to take the stage. The Go-Go's and the B-52's have been two of my favorite bands for 30 years. I remember the first time I saw the Go-Go's video for "Our Lips are …

“The 2011 graduation season has officially begun,” Royal Oak High School Principal Michael Greening told students and parents at an academic honors breakfast Thursday at Jimi’s Restaurant. The morning program honored students who will graduate cum laude (Latin for "with praise") or higher. Greening explained that cum laude grads have a grade-point average of 3.65-3.79 on a 4.0 scale. Magna cum laude indicates a 3.8-3.89 GPA, and summa cum laude indicates a GPA of 3.9 or higher. “I’m not going to do the math, but that means you all had very good grades,” he said. The principal also reminded …

One of the things my family loves about living near the downtown area is the number of places we can walk to, such as the library, post office, cool stores, great restaurants and movies. Now that spring seems to have finally arrived, we are looking forward to dusting off our walking shoes and strolling to a brand-spanking-new venue: the Emagine Royal Oak Theatre and Star Lanes. We’ll be able to get a sneak preview of the 10-screen, state-of-the-art movie theater and 16-lane bowling center when the complex opens its doors May 15 for a community fundraiser. Emagine Royal Oak promises to be one …

When I signed up my son Dylan to play Royal Oak youth soccer in 1999, I was told there were not enough coaches. If no one stepped forward, there would be no team for my kindergartner to play on. I volunteered to coach. I suppose I am a sucker when it comes to my children, but I thought, “How difficult can this be?” I found out when they gave me a 3-inch binder with the rules and some ideas on how to run practices. I remember crying myself to sleep after the first coaches meeting. What did I get myself into?  Sometimes, just looking the part will fool some people. I bought a shirt that said “…

What a relief. I just completed my 2010 tax returns, and we are getting a refund. Yippee! This is the earliest I have ever had my tax returns prepared. In the past, we have always owed money, so I tended to wait until the last minute. The pageantry at the Royal Oak post office on April 15 – the radio stations, schwag and traffic jams on Second Street – seemed to take off a little of the sting of writing a check to the Internal Revenue Service. Why did I do our taxes early this year? Answer: We have a high school senior, and we need to complete a FAFSA. All high school parents should be …

The Community Media Network’s slogan is “as real as TV gets." That pretty much says it all. It’s a place where residents from 11 southeast Oakland County cities, including Royal Oak, can take a 10-week production class and have their own TV show. People like me. A couple of years back, I took the 10-session Production Certification training course with my son, Dylan. We learned about audio, lighting, directing and editing from CMN’s Joe Johnson – the most patient man on earth. With Johnson’s guidance, I produced a 20-minute documentary called Behind the Red Door about a memoir-writing class I…

So this column is a little different. It’s not about my kids or the amazing things happening in Royal Oak. It’s about my husband. When I met John Davids in 1978, I fell for his charming personality, his Angel Flight pants and the scent of his Jovan Musk cologne (both popular with teen boys in the late '70s). I was not so interested in his unusual hobby. John is a military modeler. That means he paints little army guys that are 1/35th scale to be exact. Long before John noticed me, he was interested in the hobby of modeling. When he was 12 years old he would ride his bike to the Squadron Shop …

Life is always exciting when you are young and active and in apparent good shape. But every year, student athletes throughout the country have heart attacks – often caused by a heart defect that has gone unnoticed. Some parents of Royal Oak High School basketball players won’t have to worry about such hidden heart defects now, thanks to William Beaumont Hospital’s Ernst Cardiovascular Center. On Thursday, students on the high school basketball team were given an in-depth heart screening called a “Healthy Heart Check," which included a medical history check, blood pressure check and an …

My son Willie, 15, arrived home the other weekend from a four-day conference at the University of Michigan in a business suit. He walked in the front door, and the first words out of his mouth were, “I’m starving." No surprise there. "He’s always hungry," I thought. But wait a minute. "He’s in a suit?" As a 50-year-old in an all-mom punk band—the Mydols—I couldn’t help thinking, “Where did I go wrong?” I don’t think my husband even owns a suit. I had one of those Elyse Keaton moments. If you are old enough to remember the 1980s TV sitcom Family Ties, you’ll recall hippy parents Elyse and …

Jennifer Ward of Royal Oak and Viki Higle of Berkley were a couple of friends who wanted to put on a big show. Now, I’m familiar with this notion: I have a lovely family, a job that keeps me busy and a warm house — but I wanted more. I was itching to do something creative and big. It’s how The Mydols was born. In Ward's and Higle's case, they wanted to produce a musical, so last year they bought the rights for Forever Plaid and decided to give away any proceeds they made to charity. Ward talked to her pastor, Tom Rice of the First Presbyterian Church of Royal Oak, and he suggested they raise …

With fantastic weather and great performances by the Gin Blossoms and The Romantics, Rockin' The Eve was a smashing success. It was great to see so many of my friends and neighbors smiling and having a wonderful time in our hometown. I have lived in Royal Oak since 1986 and this is the first year we celebrated New Year's Eve downtown. It was magical and free, too. It was nice to see a huge crowd of diverse age ranges all coming together and enjoying a beautiful night and some really good music—music I could hear at my house a half-mile away! And the ball drop? It was really pretty cool. I …

Donna and Tony Iljkoski bought Niki's Restaurant in 1986 after years of looking for a business to call their own. The previous owner had been in operation for only six months in the location at 703 N. Main St., but the couple kept the restaurant's name and hoped their luck would be better. The restaurant business is a tough one, and conventional wisdom holds that it's a lot harder when you have four children. However, the Iljkoski family may challenge that wisdom. Indeed, Niki's is a true mom-and-pop business. All three of Donna and Tony's children help out at the restaurant when they can…

Just the other day my husband John and I attended Jingle Bell Jazz at the Royal Oak Farmers Market on a very cold December night and the place was packed. We saw so many friends and neighbors, we lost count. Even Mayor Jim Ellison stopped by. The Farmers Market is a magnificent place to hold a big event. With twinkling lights hanging from the rafters, yummy food and great music, the night was magical. At one point in the evening my husband looked at me and said "Don't you just love living in Royal Oak?"I do.Royal Oak is filled with great things to do any time of year, but in December — when …

More than 270 students at Northwood Elementary decorated napkins with an eco-friendly message in a poster contest as part of a Michigan Green Schools event. The state of Michigan has an official Michigan Green School Law that encourages all public and private schools to participate in energy saving and environmental activities that protect Michigan's resources. Green schools, like Northwood, do things like recycle papers and reuse newspapers and magazines. They adopt an endangered species animal from one of several organizations that offer adoption and they plan energy saving programs. …

This time of year I realize I have so much to be thankful for--great kids and a loving husband, a warm house and a job that I love. It's easy to get caught up in the holiday spirit when everything is going right.  (We've been in the mood to put up some festive lights on our house since Halloween, but we are trying to show a little restraint.)When there is so much shopping to do, cookies to bake and parties to go to, it's hard to believe just a few years ago I lost my job in a company-wide layoff and things felt quite different. I was scared. During the many months I spent working on my resume…

When I was growing up in the 1960s and '70s my mother would use the word "gallivanting" all the time. Her idiom for "painting the town" seems a little old-fashioned these days, but authors Teri Williams of Pleasant Ridge and Tamara Stone, a Royal Oak native who now lives in Ferndale, are bringing back the expression with a hip and playful spin. The pair penned a girls' guide to balance, bliss and fun called "Girlavanting." What is Girlavanting? I caught up with Williams at the cozy cafe What Crepe? on Washington Avenue for a lesson in Girlavanting. "It's all about finding activities that …