Happy Friday. I've decided that every Friday will be deemed such as I begin my pursuit of the Art of Happiness and I would love to have you join me. Our journey begins with a little book of big ideas, and my 15-year-old daughter gave it to me for my birthday last summer. She knew intuitively … Continue reading In Pursuit of Happiness (and a little Zen)
Author: Kelly B
Why I Hate Thursdays and How They’ve Helped Me Grow
I've lost three family members in the past four years, all of them on a Thursday. A chilly Thursday in November 2008--Thanksgiving in fact--ended not with post-turkey coma and pumpkin-pie-smeared faces being shooed up to bed, but with my father-in-law being rushed to the hospital after suffering a heart attack in front of his family, … Continue reading Why I Hate Thursdays and How They’ve Helped Me Grow
The Best Present
I realized something at midnight January 1, 2013, as my family and I watched the ball drop: New Year's is the only truly universal celebration. While the networks panned over clips of song and glitter from all corners of the globe and my own family toasted and cheered and reeled through our lofty resolutions, I … Continue reading The Best Present
My Penelope Trunk Hangover
Note: Last week I took a webinar course on "How to Write About Your Life" with Penelope Trunk, a wildly successful blogger, author and entrepreneur. She also has quite a wild history and an edgy present. I learned a lot but came away questioning whether I had the chops to successfully write about my own … Continue reading My Penelope Trunk Hangover
The Charm of Yesteryear
Gray chilly days make me nostalgic (who am I kidding, most anything will make me wax poetic about something in my past), and I just came across this picture of my grandmother in her Charm School circa late 1950s. Yes, I wrote "Charm School." My mother's mother, Julia but "Gam" to us, was the owner … Continue reading The Charm of Yesteryear
An agnostic believing in afterlife
I saw a piece on Good Morning America today about a neurosurgeon who just completed a book about his near-death experience. This is a BRAIN scientist (and not really a practicing Christian) describing incredible details about an experience that occurred during a seven-day coma where he had no brain function whatsoever. This Newsweek article gives a taste … Continue reading An agnostic believing in afterlife
Life is good. Until it’s not.
Life is good. In addition to being a lifestyle apparel company, it was also one of my father's favorite sayings. Whether he was traveling the world for his job, weeding in his beloved backyard, giving tours of his 1890 Victorian or hovering over a putt on the golf course, he couldn't keep himself from smiling … Continue reading Life is good. Until it’s not.
Nego, nego, nego
This is a popular phrase often uttered by my mother, who truth-be-told is an eternal optimist (often infuriatingly so). It's her standard response whenever she hears negative thoughts coming from her children, and it has spread its influence to the in-law branches of the family tree. Sometimes I cringe when I hear it (or even … Continue reading Nego, nego, nego
The more things change, the more they remain the same
This was the title of my SAT essay, written on a balmy Saturday in a steamy CT classroom way back in 1985. How do I actually remember the content of that essay? I've never forgotten it because I've always seen it as a theme to my life. Perhaps I didn't fully realize this, though, until … Continue reading The more things change, the more they remain the same
Nobody likes me, Everybody hates me…
Think I'm gonna go and eat worms. Ok that little childhood ditty is pretty gross, but my husband was just teasing me with it as I was complaining about one person after another not responding to me electronically. Colleagues, friends, moms of my kids' friends. This is a huge pet peeve of mine... I don't … Continue reading Nobody likes me, Everybody hates me…