The president of a house of worship in Connecticut told me that a congregant, well past retirement age, who said he had been a very successful marketing executive, stood up at its annual meeting to comment on the need for a better marketing plan to attract more members. His remarks were not received well by the president. It had nothing to do with the merit of his ideas. “That’s great” she replied, at first. “Can you take charge of putting a plan together and managing it?” His reply is what rankled her: ...

I can’t seem to slow this holiday season down! There is still so much to do and I try to savor every day, every experience and memory. Today, there are five days until Christmas and I’m about to embark on an epic mom and daughter holiday weekend in the city.  I think we have every quintessential New York experience on our agenda. I can’t wait to share that diversion. There are many moving parts and personalities to consider so its best left to full disclosure next week.  What I’m thinking about right now is ...

I’m not an expert on insects, but one day as I was on my way down to the basement with a big basket of laundry, something jumped out from under the stairs that was definitely not one of our pets or my children. Being a calm, suburban mom who can take most things in stride, I naturally shrieked, stumbled, and hurled the basket of laundry down the stairs. “Aaaahhhh!” I yelled from behind the heap o’ laundry that separated me from the monster insect thing. My husband came running down the stairs. “What is ...

Already, really dumb things are happening in 2019, so I had better get through covering 2018. Here are the rest of the news items from last year that you swore you didn’t have anything to do with, and no one believed you. ELON MUSK LAUNCHES TESLA INTO SPACE When I first read this headline I assumed he launched his Tesla into a parking space, which seemed a bit of overkill, but Musk is kind of a nutty guy. In fact, he launched the Tesla into outer space on top of a SpaceX rocket that was headed there anyway. Once out of the Solar ...

Flipping through the channels the other night, I ended up watching Lidia Bastianich making meatballs on her Italian cooking show. Lidia’s homey recipes and thick Italian accent reminded me of the Italian side of my family. When I was very young, my parents drove us from our home in Queens to visit relatives in Brooklyn once or twice a year. My mother’s paternal grandfather and a host of Uncle Tonys and Aunt Marys always greeted us warmly. The hallways of their four-story brick row house smelled of freshly simmering tomato sauce.