Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday of all time. I love the food, the smells, the crowd, the preparation. I love having people I love around me and I love that you can eat really good food and you don’t have to rush off to synagogue.
I’ve made Thanksgiving for most of the last 30 years. For [...]

Isn’t it romantic?

I was out to dinner with Mr. Engineer last night. Now, I’m not really interested in him romantically. He’s very nice, but there’s no spark at all (even though he’s an engineer – pun intended). But I enjoy going out with him for dinner and I feel like it’s good for me to remind myself [...]

Elul reflections

We are in the month of Elul, the last month of the Jewish calendar. As we prepare for Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish new year, we take time during Elul to reflect on the waning year and to prepare for the time of renewal that the High Holy Days bring.
As I reflect on the last year [...]

In the final analysis

So, with August 17th looming in front of me, staring me in the face like the combination of a dreaded dentist appointment (painful, yes, but a certain end to a lingering problem. And f’ing expensive) and spending three hours cleaning out closets (loved it once, don’t need it any more), I find myself going back [...]

You’re fired . . .

Image by late night movie via Flickr

I just finished watching Tory Johnson on GMA (Good Morning America. I guess I just negated the use of the acronym). She’s their getting back to work features person. Tory started a successful company running recruiting events for women after being fired from a lucrative position in PR. Well, [...]

Tu B’Av and me

Today is the Jewish holiday Tu B’Av (the 15th day of the month of Av). What? You didn’t know about Tu B’Av? No worries, it’s a teensy holiday. It’s a workday in Israel. Not even a Hallmark holiday, really.
It’s been compared to Valentine’s Day in that it celebrates love. In earlier times Tu B’av was [...]

Entertaining…

I realized recently that one of the casualties of my divorce (which, by the way, becomes final on August 17th) is entertaining. Mr. Ex and I were consummate entertainers. It was not unusual for us to have company every weekend during the summer – usually our very good friends and their kids (um, that would [...]

Best advice ever . . .

God bless Facebook for putting me in touch with old friends. One of the best reconnections I’ve made is with a former (gulp) student who’s now a counselor/coach. She’s got a terrific blog and has some great things to say. The following is some of the best advice I’ve read for the recovering once-married:
Is it [...]

And she lived . . .

So, having decided to stay in the house, I’ve started making changes and planning changes that will truly make it mine. I gathered up all my courage and ventured into the garage to see what really is in there, and rescued some items to remake. I found a huge mirror that used to belong to [...]

Homemaking

I’ve been spending a lot of time thinking about my home lately. Well, you know.
First I was going to put it on the market and buy something that has always been just mine. But the realities of the current real estate market and the fact that we refinanced and pulled out equity within the last [...]