I have a couple of trips planned for the rest of the year that involve air travel. I don’t mean to sound all Beverly Hillbillies marveling over the cement pond, but it’s pretty miraculous that I’m going to wake up in the cool November autumn of New York and by that very afternoon, I will be dangling my toes in…
Yesterday I asked you to tell me what you’re grateful for — you could win PRIZES! To get you thinking, here’s a sampling of some posts I’ve written in the past about things I’m grateful for: kitchen gadgets including our mandoline, automatic coffee maker and the SodaStream seltzer maker farmers markets New Orleans Jazz Fest And if you’d like a…
In New York, it’s not uncommon to meet people who don’t cook. At all. They proudly talk about using their fridge only for beverages and maybe leftovers, and keeping shoes or sweaters in their ovens. I’m thankful not to be among them. As much as I do love going out for a good meal, I take serious pleasure in the…
A guest post from the ever-fabulous Lara Zielin: I probably spend too much time online and, if my increasingly strobe-light-like brain is any indication, it might not be doing me as much good as I think. But I will say one thing about the experience: being online, and utilizing social media tools in particular, has connected me to some…
Back in my college newspaper days, one of the big editors sat me down for a talking to because as a junior editor, I was laughing on the job. Being a cocky 19 year old, I responded that I was sorry she didn’t like her job but I liked mine and as long as I was getting the work done,…
I’ve written quite a bit about how grateful I am for my fabulous piano teacher, but today I need to give a little equal time to my personal trainer, Cory. It’s a little confusing why I’m paying someone to torture me – after our first session, I literally could not walk down stairs without a sad, painful little…
Preservation Hall Jazz Band plays New York tonight and I’m such a geeky fan girl that I’m going even though I think I’ve seen them five times already this year. Traditional jazz is my soul music. It never fails to make me happy. Whether I am covered in mud on a rainy day at New Orleans Jazz Fest or packed…
I’m no Pollyanna about our political system. From negative campaign ads to the influence of money, I get that American democracy suffers numerous problems. AP’s Liz Sidoti wrote of Washington, D.C. recently: This is still a city of red-hot polarization, gridlock the norm, with partisan rancor from the Capitol to the White House. Neither party is giving the country what…
Thanksgiving is about a month away — on Nov. 25, in case you haven’t checked your calendar. That means I’m getting ready to do another Month of Thanksgiving. Maybe you recall that last year I did a post every day leading up to Thanksgiving, focusing on gratitude and getting in a thankful mindset. What’s so cool is that Paul Taubman,…
Have you heard about Dan Savage’s It Gets Better project? Upset by yet another gay young person committing suicide, Savage used his relationship column to call on gay adults to tell their stories and assure teens that if they can endure the persecution they’re experiencing, life will get better as adults. There was so much I hated about high school.…
Before we moved to New York, some friends shared their strategy for successfully living in NYC’s small apartments: every time they brought something new in, something old had to go. Sharing an apartment smaller than the one I rented as a college senior has forced us to be ruthless in casting off anything unnecessary. This has been liberating. We’re such…
We all get mad about something — coworkers, family, neighbors, bad drivers, lousy service, too much to do … I’m getting mad just thinking about the possibilities. That’s why I liked this post from “How To Become a Better You in 365 Days.” It’s a normal human reaction to get angry, but if you can’t control the things that make…
Did you hear the recession is over? And has been for a year? As the blog Death and Taxes wrote this week: The recession is over. It is official. According to The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER), our “Great Recession” lasted 18 months, beginning December 2007 and ending June 2009. Monday’s announcement from the NBER probably came as a…
I heart New York. John and I made a very intentional move to New York City more than four years ago and it’s amazing here. I look out my office window at the Empire State Building every day and sometimes still can’t believe this is my life. People from all around the world travel to vacation in our city. They…
When I was a kid, fall meant the start of the new season of TV, so if you watched the night soaps like Dallas or Dynasty, you needed a refresher of what happened on the cliff hanger so you could be ready. I haven’t left you with any cliff hangers this summer, but in that spirit, here’s a round up…
Another season of Mad Men, another round of Sunday night obsession with what America’s favorite misogynist is up to. I wrote a while back about what a loathsome creep I think the lead character of this cult show is, but Linda Stasi at the New York Post did a far better job: So, what’s his appeal? Simple. Don Draper represents,…
Earlier this week, I wrote about how love at work can help leaders succeed. It’s Friday in August so I’ll give you a nice, easy post to help that message sink in — a sampling of love-themed songs from YouTube. Nat King Cole gets us started by spelling L-O-V-E [youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JErVP6xLZwg] A snippet of the sweet Beatles-themed musical Across the Universe,…
South by Southwest Interactive has a great way of selecting speakers and panels for its schedule — it includes expert review, staff consideration and the will of the people. SXSWi Panel Picker crowdsources the decision of who should speak. Voting started this week and I’d love your support in getting on the roster. Here’s my pitch: Explore how you might…
