Small triumphs are important to acknowledge to ourselves — and all of cyberspace, of course. Shining example: I got up this morning in time to get my car to the fixer by 8:45. Usually, I sleep from about 1:30 a.m. to 8:30 a.m. But maybe rising at 7 doesn’t qualify as small; this is probably […] Read More

So how’s the holiday prep going? And getting all the work done before daring to take time off? Still staying calm, happy, festive, and organized? One thing at a time, I tell myself. I seem to have gotten the idea this year that if I simply buy enough boxes of Christmas cards and sheets of […] Read More

My psychologist husband Bob told me a few weeks ago that he now knew how to help me stop clenching my teeth at night. Yesterday we took on that project, which involved first about a half an hour interview (what was the most frightening moment in my life? angriest moment in my life? etc) and […] Read More

In case you're feeling too old for an adventure, check out the salsa of 75 year old Paddy Jones, if you haven't already. She's dancing on Tu Si Que Vales, a Spanish reality/talent/dancing program. [youtube _ETKnG7rzhg nolink] Add to del.icio.us – Stumble It! – Subscribe to this feed – Digg it Read More

This morning was the Christmas brunch with five other women I’ve been getting together with for 34 to 39 years. Always fun and this one for no particular reason was particularly so. This time instead of getting each other bath products, etcetera, we each gave some money to some good cause. Mine was to pay […] Read More

I’ve been posting less the last few weeks because I’ve been working extremely hard. Didn’t want you to think it was because my boldness was flagging. I grew up in a retailing family, and December was the time of most intense work; so that feels normal. As a writer/editor/critiquer/consultant, I’ve found that December is either […] Read More

The New York Times City Room blog is carrying a story on Dickens’ handwritten revisions of “A Christmas Carol.” This post “A Christmas Rewrite” by Alison Leigh Cowan is a companionable reminder that we all have to revise–and Dickens made at least one major after the copy had gone to the printer. I was mainly […] Read More

My friend Carrie throws more parties in a year than the total number I attend in the same period. (She’s the same one who started an international music festival in Raleigh.) This afternoon I’m popping in at an affair in which she has long been a/the major sponsor: the 17th annual Boylan Heights Arts Walk. […] Read More

I was slow to go to see Julie and Julia. I’m not a cook. And the movie is, as you likely know, about a blogger named Julie who spends a year cooking every recipe in Julia Child’s grand-opus cookbook. But last night it was on at the $1.50 theatre, and Husband Bob (who is a […] Read More

I just wrote a perfectly nice post on this subject with lots of links, hit Publish, and the text disappeared totally, nowhere to be found. Here’s roughly what it said. The Dallas Morning News has a story today that says: Wanna feel rich? Give. The story cited the book I co-authored with Allan Luks: The […] Read More