Compliments and Connections

ComplimentRecently I stepped into the elevator with a beautiful woman. She was tall, probably in her late sixties, with silver hair fashionably styled and her makeup skillfully applied. She was dressed in a stylish black and white outfit which looked great with her hair. I’d seen her before. She didn’t look up when I entered. Continue reading

Facebook and fresh tomatoes

I love a good fresh homegrown tomato.

Don't you love a good tomatoGrowing up in the rural south they were always available right from our garden in summer. Now, living in the city I eat tasteless, thin-skinned grocery store tomatoes all year and eagerly look forward to my first ‘real’ tomato in summer. Continue reading

5 reasons to Enjoy Life

Joy is contageousYou know that ‘Enjoy Life and Do Good!’ is my life philosophy and business tagline, right? If you didn’t or if you want to read the story about how I came to choose it, you can click here.

Some folks may wonder if enjoying life is really important. Isn’t it more important to work hard? Be successful? Serve others? I don’t believe so. Here’s why: Continue reading

When We Accidently Went To Mass

Church in TampaLast week, after speaking at a conference in Tampa, my friend Carol and I were walking through the business district and came upon a beautiful, old Catholic church.

“Let’s go in!” she said. I agreed.

Carol is Catholic. I’m not. I do love old churches and when visiting New York or Europe I’ve been in many historic churches to stand reverently in the beauty, soak up the generations of spiritual energy, say a prayer and light a candle. Continue reading

A Day With Women Supporting Women

Buckhead Club panel
Executive Women’s panel: Joan Herbig, Joanna Irwin, Myra McElhaney (moderator) Becky Blalock and Helene Lollis

This Wednesday, March 8th was International Women’s Day and some groups were calling women to stay home. Not work. Not shop. Not contribute. No show. Let the world see the economic impact of women not being available. I couldn’t stay home. Most of us couldn’t. We have jobs, appointments and obligations. Continue reading

14 Ways to Enjoy Valentine’s Day Alone

213Many of my friends are single, divorced or widowed, like me. Some of them hate Valentine’s Day. I don’t.

Before I married at the ripe old age of 34 I was never the gal who was always in a relationship. In my adult life I’ve spent about as many Valentine’s Days alone as I have with a boyfriend or spouse. Continue reading

Do you see the tremendous treasure of time off?

champagne-on-rooftop

Rooftop Toast!

Finding ourselves dateless and craving a stress free New Year’s Eve, my friend Susan and I decided to celebrate the passing of 2016 with a relaxing movie marathon sleepover.

We scheduled massages in the afternoon of the 31st, saw a movie and then she came to my place. We talked of life, shared stories, listened to music, made a sumptuous dinner of braised lamb shanks, and drank a little Champagne. (And by ‘a little’ I mean a lot!) Then we Continue reading

Big Blunders to Avoid in Networking

speaking-at-book-festivalHaving been a speaker and writer for many years, I attend a lot of networking events and I enjoy them. Over the years I’ve created quite a strong network of connections. Many of my friends who are speakers, writers and coaches have been telling me for years that I should talk about networking because of my reputation for knowing and introducing people.

Like most folks I tend to devalue something that comes easily to me and not think of it as a skill. (I’m getting better with that!) Now I’ve taken their advice and begun Continue reading