The text from a friend in New York came in at 11:25 a.m. on July 16. “Did you hear about the shooting in Chattanooga? It’s at a naval facility. It’s still happening. Thought you’d want to check in with your mom.” I was at the Royal Sonesta Hotel on Bourbon Street in New Orleans attending Tales of the Cocktail. The crowd was lively as you would expect at a massive cocktail conference. I read the text and felt strangely disoriented. I stepped into a small courtyard to make a phone call to my mother and check breaking news in Chattanooga.
Read more →Do women apologize too much? According to several articles including one recently in The New York Times by Sloane Crosley (June 23, 2015), women say “I’m sorry” more than they need to and far more than men do. Excuse me for asking (whoops!), but why is that? One study reports that “men apologize less frequently than women because they have a higher threshold for what constitutes offensive behavior.” So men can be boorish where women are polite to the point of being overly apologetic. I agree that many of us apologize too often for reasons that don’t really matter. As in “I’m sorry to bother you.”
Read more →Every cancer survivor I speak with remembers their “cancer-versary.” It’s the date you were diagnosed. And every cancer survivor will tell you hearing the news is gut wrenching. Your head spins; your heart skips a beat, and many people, including myself, go numb or break down in tears. Imagine being a beautiful young woman whose life is filled with promise hearing this news. Maybe you are newly married or a new mother. Maybe you are a fun loving single gal who looks forward to finding that someone special. The future and its possibilities seem limitless. Then cancer pays an unwelcome visit
Read more →Recently I received three invitations to “pop-up” events. All were taking place within a few days after the invitation arrived in my inbox. I explained to the senders that my schedule was booked and I wish I’d been given more notice. Two replied: “But these are pop-up events.” I don’t understand why pop-up events are so popular. There are countless pop-up restaurants, stores, parties and beauty bars being promoted from cities to resorts. The problem is you never seem to have enough notice to plan to attend them. Many of us have pretty full schedules. Popping into a pop-up isn’t always feasible. I’m a
Read more →Last night watching the Tony Awards on television the “memorial section” came up flashing all the photos of those in the theater who passed on in the last year. I turned to my husband and asked, “Who will remember me when I am gone?” I don’t mean to be maudlin but June 8 would have been my father’s 85th birthday and Father’s Day is around the corner. I remember my father this week for his wise and helpful guidance through my business, his devotion to my mother and me, his loyalty to country and community and for his tenderness when I needed a shoulder
Read more →
“It’s quittin’ time!” “Who says it’s quittin’ time?” “I say it’s quittin’ time. It’s quitting time!” David and I have had this exchange more than once, not only about working too much but also about over-imbibing. Both David and I work in the wine and food business. We’re Frequent Flighters who’ve logged a lot of mileage both producing and attending professional wine events. We spit a lot. It’s allowed and appropriate. But sometimes it’s tough, especially when the day involves tasting many wines at different events. Last week we had a triple header- three tastings in one day. I was
Read more →I have a confession to make: For the first 18 years living in New York City as a single woman I turned on my oven maybe a dozen times to cook a dish. It usually involved re-heating leftovers from a meal taken elsewhere the night before. Mostly I stored my over abundance of shoes in the unused oven and turned on the stove top to boil water or steam vegetables. That’s about it. I took my meals out; or I ordered in. Simply put: I loved to eat and hated to cook. Living in New York City and working in the food and
Read more →You want to know what’s in a name? Would you like get people to (unknowingly) do what you want? Kerrie Hopkins is a personality profile expert on what she refers to as “onomalogy,” the correlation between a person’s name, and his or her behavior and personality traits. Kerry says, “There is a direct correlation between people’s names and their unique personality traits, and when onomalogy is applied to sales, personal life and family you can predict who is more likely to buy or not, how others will react in relationships and in your home, and why.” She’s published three books based on her years of experience
Read more →I used to say that when it was snowing the “the angels were brushing their hair.” This year, the angels have really let their hair down, giving much of the country a cold shoulder. If hell actually froze over it may have been this winter. Like many living in the icy parts of the country I had my cold snap this past week. In my winter meltdown I wailed to my husband….and to the snow angels, “I’ve had enough! As God is my witness, I want to go home to Tara!” In reality, my “Tara” in Chattanooga, Tennessee, received a
Read more →There’s been several news stories recently about the new U.S. Dietary Guidelines. The bottom line: Nearly 90 percent of the U.S. population needs to eat more vegetables and we all eat too much sugar. A few foods that many of us were shying away from for health reasons received a cleaner bill of health: eggs and shellfish in the cholesterol category and coffee (without the cream and sugar) if consumed in moderation.
Read more →Sometimes Valentine’s Day makes me see red. There is so much emphasis on loving couples toasting each other with loving cups of fine wine and sharing platefuls of delicious food. Expectations are as high as the romance meter, not to mention prices at restaurants for those coveted two top tables. One NYC restaurant is charging $1000 per couple for a “gourmand experience.” It’s all fine if you want to buy into it…and if you are a couple. But many of you are single and fabulous. There should be no shame or sadness in being single, either by choice or by
Read more →Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin once said, “Dis-Moi Ce Que Tu Manges, Je Te Dirai Ce Que Tu Es.” (Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.”) Sadly if most people living in the U.S. were defined literally by what they eat we’d have a lot of genetically modified, artificially produced adults and a bundles of sugar babies. When I was diagnosed with breast cancer five and a half years ago I took a hard look at what I was putting into my body, especially when it was no longer receiving infusions of chemo cocktails every few weeks.
Read more →