Did you have a nice Thanksgiving holiday? I did! But post-holiday? Hmm...not so much. Unfortunately, I was sick all last week, stuck in bed with a monster cold that made me very sleepy and Kleenex very rich.  And I watched more corny Lifetime movies than I care to admit, not to mention Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (SVU) re-runs. For some reason, either Law & Order or Law & Order SVU seems to be my go-to show whenever I'm sick. (Maybe it's that darn 'Dun Dun' sound effect, I don't know...) In one episode of Law & Order SVU … [Read more...]

T.J. Maxx may be trying hard to convince you to be a Maxxinista, but being a Gratatista is way cooler, if you ask me. What's a Gratatista, you ask? Well, if a Maxxinista is someone who's super savvy at finding the latest and greatest fashions at super savvy prices, a Gratatista is someone who's super savvy at finding ways to show gratitude when they barely have the time to grab lunch.  Between juggling family or career or both, we think it's so hard to find the time to show the people in our lives that we care. We think it will take so much … [Read more...]

I know. I said the word, 'funeral'. And you're probably thinking, "Great, she's talking about death this week." But, hold up. Not so fast.  I'm actually talking very much about life. About what it takes to live our best life and to be our best selves. And, so, yes, that does mean I'm going to talk about funerals for just a wee bit. But I promise, I'll get to the 'life' part really quickly...so hold tight! (Trust me, you'll want to watch the video at the end for lessons only a person who's faced what he's faced can teach us!)  It takes a … [Read more...]

OK, tell me you've been here before. You're standing in line at the grocery store and the person in front of you is taking forever. Making small talk with the cashier AND writing a check! Or, you’re stuck driving behind the person who’s seemingly going five miles an hour. And you’re already running late! Ouch! Has there ever been a time when you’ve needed more patience with others? Last week, in part one, I talked about developing more patience with ourselves. This week, I want to talk about something equally as important – developing more … [Read more...]

Ask any beauty queen what she'd wish for if she could only wish for one thing, and she'd probably say, "world peace". And that would make sense since there's a whole lot of fighting (or potential fighting) going on in the world right now. Iran's closer to getting a nuclear weapon. Israel's threatening to strike preemptively. Syria's a complete mess. And more... But I say world peace can wait. What we need right now is world patience. Well, actually, more like...more patience with ourselves and with others. Because, in my humble opinion, in … [Read more...]