My Favorite Childhood Halloween Costume

Before the days of Man vs. Wild, Top Gun wingmen, and Dharma Initiative costumes, there was trick-or-treating. The primary objective was the acquisition of candy needed to last until Christmas. Costumes were simply the currency we exchanged for the candy. I honestly don’t remember a lot of my childhood Halloween costumes, but a few stand out. My … Read more

Does Having More Friends Make You Happier?

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you know that I’m fascinated by the idea of happiness. What makes us happy? How can we be happier? What’s really important when it comes to personal happiness? Thus I was rather intrigued to find an article online that listed 10 keys for determining happiness. The … Read more

My First Photoshoot

Two weeks ago, I was contacted by St. Louis Magazine (a magazine devoted to all things about the patron saint of streets with mispronounced French names, Louis) about my annual Festivus party. Apparently the magazine was looking to do an article on Festivus, and I have the only Festivus party in St. Louis that Google … Read more

Pet Please #32: The Solo Grocery Hike

You’ve had a long day at work. You forgot your shopping list, so you wandered around the grocery for what felt like hours until you had what you needed. Then the cashier hands you these pink grocery bags that support breast cancer…how? By making a fortune for artificial pink dye companies? You drag your three-wheeled … Read more

Survive This

The CBS show Survivor is currently in its 21st season, and I continue to be an avid viewer. I think I’ve only missed one or two seasons, and the producers continue to surprise and delight me every year. One of the things the show does to mix things up is create special parameters by which … Read more

Compliments That Stick

The other day a friend shared a compliment she had once been given by a complete stranger. I’ll leave it to her to post the comment if she chooses, but the fact that she remembered this lone compliment after so many years go me thinking about compliments that stick. If you’re open to it, share … Read more

The Future of the Condo

This weekend I spent some time thinking about the future of the condo. Specifically, my condo. I’m interested in making my condo a “smart home,” one of those homes that Microsoft predicted we’d all have by now to dock our flying cars into. So I dreamed big this weekend. I don’t have a background in … Read more

Important One-Question Survey!

Run, don’t walk over to Blank Slate Press to vote on the best book cover for my publishing company’s first novel. If you sign up for the mailing list, you could win a signed first edition of The Samaritan. Thanks so much! https://blankslatepress.wordpress.com/ Also, I have a friend in St. Louis who is looking for … Read more