Renee Robbins, Author at Urban Mommies

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Renee Robbins

Writer. Kamikaze Mom. Participation Trophywife. Trying to achieve a balance of principal and practice without shouting obscenities at too many people.

Cinema-Inspired Cocktails for Stay-at-Home Date Nights

EAT, Mommy Mixology By Renee Robbins February 19, 2021 Tags: alcoholic drinks, cocktails, drinks for couples, drinks for date night No Comments

There’s no denying the importance of “couple time.” Date night gives you the chance to reconnect with the person you knew before they became the person with whom you co-parent. Time alone together lets you strengthen your commitment, rekindle a romantic spark, and relieve stress. These days, going ‘out’ during lockdowns isn’t really an option for most people. Here are some movie ideas – classics, romances, and comedies – along with specialty cinema-inspired cocktails to enjoy while you snuggle.

8 Ways Aging Has Made Me Better

beauty, fitness, self By Renee Robbins September 17, 2019 2 Comments

I try not to think about it, this aging business. It’s not easy. You think that the shock, after that first time you are called “Ma’am”, or when you realize the cute guy at the gym isn’t hitting on you (he’s trying to help you because you remind him of his mom) will wear off, and you won’t be quite as sensitive. You think that your skin will get thicker and you won’t notice. But you’re wrong.

Smells Like Tween Spirit

FAM, kids By Renee Robbins August 26, 2019 6 Comments

Who solves a Rubik’s cube in under a minute, yet can’t figure out how to turn his clothes right-side out before they go in the hamper?

Who takes 3 showers a day but can’t remember to grab a towel before he goes in?

Who smells like feet and used car salesmen?

My son. My son does.

Mommy Mixology: 5 Summer Cocktail Recipes

entertain, Mommy Mixology By Renee Robbins June 6, 2019 No Comments

Summer! The time of year that we take a dip in a clear, cool swimming pool and grill burgers and wild asparagus on fired-up barbecues. It’s also the optimal time to get the freshest ingredients to make refreshing summer cocktails! There are so many delicious options!

If you are planning a summer event and you want to treat your guests to more than basic beer and wine, a few signature drinks are cool and memorable. You’ll also keep the headache of in-the-moment prep to a minimum by choosing drinks that can be prepared ahead of time with multiple servings, have similar or complementary ingredients, and will work with a variety of appetizers. Set yourself up for entertaining success! For those who prefer small gatherings with a few close friends (or just you and a good book!) fruit-based summer drinks are still the perfect choice.

Putting Your Best Face Forward

beauty, LIVE By Renee Robbins August 24, 2017 Tags: natural beauty products No Comments

When I received my sample of SeabuckWonders Exfoliating Facial Cleanser, I admit that I was a little jaded.

If you look in the closet in my bathroom (Please don’t ever do that. Seriously.) you will see,gathering dust on the third shelf next to a triple-barrel curling iron and one of those wands that was supposed to give me spiral curls but actually wound up burning most of the whorls off my thumb and index finger: several half-used tubs of sea salt/sugar scrubs in varying sizes and scents, yellow gloves, a giant loofah, multiple bath poofs, and a plastic bin full of sample tubes from different product lines, all for the purpose of exfoliating my skin.

Some of them…many of them…smell bad. Others are gooey and unpleasant. Still others left me looking freshly peeled or caused breakouts. And one kept clogging my bathtub drain.

DERMAFLASH – A New Paradigm in Beauty

beauty, GEAR By Renee Robbins June 28, 2017 No Comments

They had me at “hummingbird wings.”

I was super excited to be asked to review DERMAFLASH in exchange for trying the product – partly because I love to get things in the mail, so much so that I unwrap them on the front porch as you can see, and partly because I thought Dermaplaning was something you did on vacation in the Swiss Alps.

There’s a Hole in the World

FAM, kids By Renee Robbins March 6, 2017 1 Comment

Dear Nate –

I know it seems weird to hear from me, your best friend’s mom. Even weirder than the time I sang “Watch Me Whip” in public or came to school in my Griffindor bathrobe. But something happened today, and I didn’t know where else to turn.

Today was a terrible day, Nate. I didn’t know this day would come so soon.

Today there was a hole in the world.

When the Bully is The Girl Next Door

FAM, grow, kids, LIVE By Renee Robbins October 5, 2016 No Comments

She is beautiful. She doesn’t know it, not yet—but she is starting to become self-aware. When I looked into her face, she wouldn’t meet my eyes as she allocuted and apologized, in that soft voice. I absently noted that her eyebrows were growing in, heavy and awkward. The arch seemed wrong. I realized that it was something she had done herself, probably from a video on YouTube, or one of the many sites she visits on her phone and her tablet. She doesn’t have limits on her screen time, she never has.

The End of Summer Blues

LIVE By Renee Robbins August 18, 2016 No Comments

Summer is almost over. If I didn’t know by the calendar, I would know by the feel of the air—the mornings stay cooler a little longer, and there is a heaviness that makes me anxious. In a few days my boy will begin seventh grade and my daughter, fourth.

I think this is more traumatic for me than it is for them. I get melancholy every fall, because I know these days aren’t mine to keep. This year my son has no interest in being near me and my daughter is pushing back against anything that she thinks threatens her autonomy.

The long, slow days of summer, the moments we have together, they’re growing shorter. I have the end of summer blues.

10 Ways Parenting is like the Olympics

laugh, LIVE By Renee Robbins August 3, 2016 No Comments

Like many parents, as I read about how Rio De Janeiro has been preparing for the 2016 Summer Olympic Games, I can’t help but think of my children.

Their dreams, yes. Their aspirations and opportunities, of course. But more specifically, as I find myself staring at a photo of Guanabara Bay, which bbc.com captioned a “stinking mass of sewage, household rubbish and industrial pollutants,” and depicts a Disney backpack floating among piles of fabric and filth and plastic things that I do not recognize—I see a very strong similarity to their bedrooms.

In fact, as I drink my coffee from a mug that has “World’s Gre test om” lovingly inscribed on the side, by a company that hawks them to school children at book fairs across the country, I realize that there are many crossovers between the Olympics and raising children. Except that with parenting, no-one really goes home with the gold.

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